By Palestine Chronicle Staff  

Axios reported that US President Joe Biden’s top advisers “were enraged by the video” and that the White House decided to cancel Thursday’s meeting.

The US-based news website Axios reported, citing American officials, that the White House canceled a high-level meeting with Israel regarding Iran that was scheduled for Thursday.

According to two officials, this decision was made in protest of a video by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about supplying the Israeli army with American weapons

Axios reported that “(US) President (Joe) Biden’s top advisers were enraged by the video” and that “the White House decided to go a step farther by canceling Thursday’s meeting.”

A US official was quoted by Axios as saying that “this decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts.”

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Axios also quoted an Israeli official as saying that “the Americans are fuming. Bibi’s video made a lot of damage.” 

Another American official, however, reportedly mentioned that the meeting was merely postponed to a later date due to organizational issues.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video in English on Tuesday that the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised him to remove restrictions on arms transfer to Israel, but Washington appeared to reject the claim. 

In the video, Netanyahu claimed he had a “candid conversation” about arms deliveries with Blinken during his last visit to Israel.

“I said it’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to Israel,” Netanyahu said, adding that Blinken assured him the Biden administration was working to remove “bottlenecks”.

Netanyahu was referring to the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs, which were reportedly held by Washington last May. 

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According to the US-based news website Axios, “Netanyahu’s remarks, made on video in English, were one of his harshest public criticisms of the Biden administration since the war in Gaza began on October 7.”

Responding to Netanyahu’s comments, however, Blinken told reporters that the US is committed to Israeli security and continues to ensure arms transfers to Israel on a “regular basis”. 

However, he said that the hold on the 2,000-pound bombs bombs remains in place.

“We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment that President Biden has talked about with regard to 2000-pound bombs because of our concerns about their use in a densely populated area like Rafah,” Blinken said. 

“That remains under review. But everything else is moving as it normally would move,” he added.

(The Palestine Chronicle)