Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is correct to complain that President Joe Biden is withholding arms from Israel, deliberately failing to finalize sales approved by Congress.
In a thread posted on X (formerly Twitter), Hagerty — who sits on the Senate Committees on Foreign Relations and Appropriations — explained:
.@WhiteHouse is mad bc @IsraeliPM @netanyahu is telling the truth. Biden Admin has refused to send Congress **formal** notifications to finalize a host of arms sales to Israel—incl F-15s, JDAM smart bomb kits, munitions—even after SFRC & HFAC informally cleared these sales! (1/3) https://t.co/OBBmjsGmAC
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) June 19, 2024
The norm is for the Executive Branch to submit formal notifications to Congress roughly 48-72 hours after committees informally cleared proposed arms sales. But the Biden Admin is violating this norm amid Israel’s multi-front war. (2/3) https://t.co/keqz6GfiXE
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) June 19, 2024
It’s shocking what @POTUS @JoeBiden is doing to Israel as our ally faces its darkest hour. As SFRC ranking member @SenatorRisch put it, it’s time for the Biden Administration to get out of Israel’s way & let it defeat these Iran-backed terrorists! (3/3) https://t.co/0fSxy9eydP
— Senator Bill Hagerty (@SenatorHagerty) June 19, 2024
As Breitbart News noted earlier, there is rising concern about a new rift between the Biden administration and the Netanyahu government over a possible withholding of arms, as Israel faces growing threats from Iran’s terror proxies.
Netanyahu posted a video to X on Tuesday urging the administration to stop withholding weapons. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded: “[W]e genuinely do not know what he’s talking about. We just don’t.”
The president confirmed in early May that the U.S. was withholding a shipment of heavy precision-guided bombs in protest at Israel’s decision to attack Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Biden threatened to withhold artillery shells as well, amid reports of generally slow delivery of U.S. weapons. Earlier this week, there were rumors that the administration said it would resume deliveries — until Netanyahu’s video, which caused a stir in the U.S. and Israel.
There were reports that the White House had retaliated by canceling a high-level meeting Thursday with Israeli officials to discuss Iran. The White House said it the meeting was just postponed. But Hagerty suggests the rift is real.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
