American and Israeli officials played appeasement on Wednesday over deliveries of military aid to Israel, which have become a subject of tension since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deplored delays in a very poorly received video message in Washington.
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Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, visiting the American capital, said Wednesday that there had been “significant progress” on the issue of the transfer of American weapons to Israel, after discussions with various American officials.
“During these meetings, we made significant progress, obstacles and bottlenecks were removed, to move forward on a number of issues, and more particularly the question of the reinforcement of the forces and the delivery of munitions which we must bring to the State of Israel,” Mr. Gallant said.
“I would like to thank the government and people of the United States for their continued support of the State of Israel.”
The Israeli minister was speaking after meeting Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, following a visit during which he also saw Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterpart Lloyd Austin.
According to the White House, Mr. Sullivan “reaffirmed President (Joe) Biden’s commitment to ensuring that Israel has everything it needs to defend itself militarily and confront its US-backed adversaries. Iran”.
The Israeli prime minister recently accused the American government of having slowed down arms deliveries to Israel, which has been at war in Gaza against Hamas since the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement on Israeli soil.
Exasperated US officials strongly denied the accusations, saying they had frozen just one delivery, which included 900-kilogram bombs.
The war has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory of 2.4 million people besieged by Israel.
6.5 billion
Joe Biden had threatened to review American aid to Israel in the event of a major offensive in Rafah, but subsequently estimated that the operations carried out by Israel in this area of the south of the Gaza Strip remained limited, and did not require so no such decision.
The Israeli minister did not say more about the progress made.
A senior US official noted that the United States has sent weapons worth a total of more than $6.5 billion since October 7, including $3 billion in May alone.
“It’s a massive, massive operation, and there is only one delivery that is suspended,” he assured during an interview with the press, on condition of anonymity.
The official said the episode of tensions was due to misunderstandings about the “complexity” of American bureaucracy, and said that during meetings with Mr. Gallant, the Americans and Israelis had agreed on the “priority” to be given to certain shipments.
During his visit to the United States, Yoav Gallant distanced himself from his prime minister’s divisive positions and promised to try to bridge the differences between Israel and its biggest diplomatic and military backer.
The talks in Washington also focused on the risk of a generalized conflict in Lebanon, indicated the senior American official already cited.
“We don’t want war, but we are preparing for any scenario,” Gallant told reporters. “Hezbollah understands very well that we can inflict enormous damage on Lebanon if a war is launched,” he added.
The United States wants to believe that tensions between Israel and Lebanon would ease if an agreement was reached on a ceasefire and a release of hostages in Gaza, on the basis of a project presented by Joe Biden at the end of May .
