Washington (CNN) � American officials went through a line-by-line explanation of hundreds of US weapons shipments to Israel in meetings this week with the country’s defense minister that President Joe Biden
The meetings with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant came amid a growing spat between the Biden administration and Netanyahu, who has claimed that armaments It was the latest spat between the two allies, which have diverged over Israel’s war tactics in Gaza.
US officials meeting Gallant this week to engage in “professional to professional� discussions that ticked through in exacting detail the current state of munitions shipments.
“We had a very good opportunity to sit down with experts from across our system and go through every single case,� a senior US administration official said. “This is one of the most complex security partnerships we have, one of the most multifaceted.�
The official attributed Netanyahu’s claims � made multiple times over the course of the last week, including in a video in English released on social media � to “misunderstandings� on the Israelis� part.
“There’s stuff happening literally every day across the US government and across the Israeli system, and we were able to go through everything,� the official said, adding the US was able to clarify the status of certain shipments as they make their way through a complex delivery process.
There was “real progress� in developing an understanding of that process and of prioritizing certain cases, the official said, adding there was an agreement to identify any “inefficiencies� going forward.
“This is a massive, massive undertaking, and nothing has paused other than that one shipment,� the official said, referring to heavy payload bombs that Biden paused last month. There are continued discussions on how to resolve that pause.
Instead, the official acknowledged there was a “complicated, bureaucratic� system that meant some shipments took a long time to be fulfilled.
Netanyahu publicly claimed the Biden administration was “withholding weapons� in a video posted to X last week, claiming that Secretary of State Antony Blinken “assured me that the administration is working day and night to remove these bottlenecks.�
While Biden did halt deliveries of the heavy bombs as Israel was preparing for an operation in the southern city of Rafah, other shipments of armaments continued.
Since Netanyahu first took his complaints public last week, White House officials have brushed off some of his comments as motivated by politics as he works to maintain a fragile grip on power. But they nonetheless caused deep frustration inside the White House.
Officials said they had no idea what he was talking about, and described the remarks as “perplexing,� “vexing� and “incorrect.�
Netanyahu responded, saying he was “willing to absorb personal attacks if that is what it takes for Israel to get the arms and ammunition it needs in its war for survival.�
By the weekend, the White House said it wasn’t interested in getting into a back-and-forth with the prime minister.
“We have made our position clear on this repeatedly and we are not going to keep responding to the prime minister’s political statements. We look forward to constructive consultations with the defense minister in Washington this week,� a White House official said.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
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