Despite previous criticisms from U.S. administration officials towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who complained last week about the slow pace of arms deliveries from his country’s main ally, there is some validity to his claims. U.S. officials revealed that shipments of American weapons to Tel Aviv have recently slowed compared to the initial months of the war in Gaza, as many of those weapons had already been shipped or delivered. These officials, along with Israeli counterparts, clarified that the slowdown began last March, after Washington had fulfilled all current Israeli requests, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A U.S. State Department official stated that the pace of shipment deliveries is normal, if not expedited, but appears slow compared to the first few months of the war. Giora Eiland, a former Israeli national security advisor, noted that at the beginning of the war in Gaza, the Biden administration accelerated the delivery of munitions that were expected to take about two years to complete, delivering them within just two months to Israeli forces.
However, he explained that the shipments naturally slowed down afterward, not for political reasons. He added, “Netanyahu said something correct from one perspective, but on the other hand, he provided a dramatic, unfounded explanation.” It is worth noting that the Israeli army maintains a large stockpile of weapons in reserve in case of a potential war with Lebanon, according to both current and former Israeli officials.
In May, the State Department had delayed the delivery of 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs to Israel due to concerns about civilian casualties in the city of Rafah. Yet, Netanyahu made fiery and unexpected statements last week regarding America’s delays in delivering arms to Tel Aviv, which drew the ire of the White House, describing those remarks as disappointing.
Tracking shipments of arms to Israel is complex, as arms requests are often issued years in advance. The U.S. government rarely announces these shipments, as many of the weapons provided to Israel are sent without public disclosure and often rely on previously approved arms sales, U.S. military stockpiles, and other means that do not require notifying Congress or the public, complicating the assessment of the quantity and type of arms sent. However, some estimates indicate that Washington has sent over $23 billion worth of weapons to Tel Aviv since the onset of the war in Gaza in October 2023.
President Biden is under pressure from progressives within his Democratic Party who have called for halting arms deliveries to Tel Aviv amid increasing civilian casualties in Gaza, which have surpassed 37,600.
