Despite the United States repeatedly affirming its ongoing support for Israel amid recent disagreements between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden, Tel Aviv has not received all the weapons it requested. General Charles Q. Brown, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, clarified that Israel did not receive all the requested arms because some could affect the readiness of the U.S. military, and there are limits to its capabilities.
In a speech at an event hosted by the Defense Writers Group on Thursday, Brown stated, "While we support them with capabilities, they have not received everything they asked for." He added that "the reason is that the Israeli side requested things that the military currently does not have the capacity to provide or that the country does not wish to provide at this time."
A spokesperson for Brown later explained that his comments refer to a "normal practice before providing military assistance to any of America's allies and partners." Captain Grel Dorsey stated in a statement, "We assess the U.S. stockpiles and any potential impact on our readiness to determine our capacity to provide the requested assistance."
He emphasized that "there is no change in U.S. policy," affirming that the country continues to provide security assistance to its ally Israel as it defends itself against Hamas. These remarks followed a meeting earlier this week between U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant in Washington, where they discussed security assistance for Israel, according to the Pentagon.
