以色列和美国之间的公开口水战周四继续进行，在拜登政府再次否认美国在加沙与哈马斯作战期间向以色列扣留武器的说法后，本雅明·内塔尼亚胡总理尖锐地回应了白宫。
他的回应是在白宫国家安全委员会发言人约翰·柯比(John Kirby)周四在与记者的电话中称内塔尼亚胡的说法“至少可以说令人困惑”后不久做出的，两天前白宫直言“真的不知道他在说什么”。
在他本周早些时候发布的一段视频中，内塔尼亚胡声称“政府一直扣留以色列打击哈马斯所需的武器和弹药”。
周四，他说，“如果以色列从美国获得其生存战争所需的弹药，我准备遭受人身攻击。”
柯比重申了白宫的失望。
“显然，我们不知道视频会出现，至少可以说，这令人困惑，当然令人失望，特别是考虑到没有其他国家采取更多措施来帮助以色列抵御哈马斯的威胁，坦率地说，他们在美国的地区面临的其他威胁，”他说，并补充说他“不知道”是什么促使以色列政治家发布它。
“我们的姿态没有变化，”国务卿安东尼·布林肯在周二坚持说这是“常规命令”除了一批2，000磅的炸弹因拜登公开表示担心而暂停之外，这些不精确的弹药可以用于加沙南部城市拉法和其他平民密集的地区。
两名参与批准向以色列转让武器的官员支持国防部长的评论，告诉美国广播公司新闻，政府正在继续处理长期以来的申请和冲突爆发后的新订单。
“你必须和首相谈谈是什么促使他这么做，”柯比在谈到他的视频评论时说。“再一次，这让我们感到烦恼和失望——尽管这是不正确的。所以，很难确切知道他在想什么。”
当被问及内塔尼亚胡就该视频道歉的幕后努力时，柯比还表示，“我认为，我们已经通过各种方式向我们的以色列同行非常清楚地表明，我们对该视频中表达的言论深感失望，我们对这些言论的准确性感到担忧。”
尽管公众日益紧张，但两国官员周四在华盛顿会面，讨论正在进行的战争。柯比证实，国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文仍将与前往白宫的以色列高级官员会面。
“杰克(沙利文)今天将会见他的对手，”柯比说，他指的是以色列国家安全委员会负责人扎奇·哈内格比。他还表示，以色列战略事务部长罗恩·德默尔(Ron Dermer)也将出席会议。
柯比在会前说:“我想你可以想象，这将是一场广泛的讨论，涉及加沙战争的所有事情，我们对以色列的支持，我们努力更好地了解他们如何继续对哈马斯采取行动，以及继续谈论达成这项协议的重要性。”。
一名美国官员周三告诉美国广播公司新闻，拜登的团队对内塔尼亚胡的视频感到愤怒和沮丧，并补充说，美国官员已经向以色列人明确表示，内塔尼亚胡的视频是不准确的，也是出格的。
在这次会议之前，美国取消了美国和以色列官员之间讨论的另一次会议伊朗针对内塔尼亚胡的视频，官员们向美国广播公司新闻证实。
但白宫否认了美国和以色列原定于本周四举行的伊朗问题高级别会议因该视频而被取消的说法。相反，它指出时间安排问题是取消会议的原因。白宫也坚持会议将被重新安排。
美国国务院发言人马特·米勒周四宣布，布林肯将于周四下午会见德默尔和哈内格比。
米勒说，在会议期间，官员们将讨论“我们正在努力达成停火，以确保所有人质的释放”，以及以色列北部与黎巴嫩边境的局势，以及正在进行的“将人道主义援助运入加沙的工作以及加快和改善这一进程所需做的工作”
Netanyahu and White House continue public disagreement over claim US withholding weapons amid Israel's war with Hamas
The public war of words between Israel and the U.S. continued Thursday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responding pointedly to the White House after the Biden administration again denied his claim the U.S. is withholding weapons from Israel amid its fight in Gaza with Hamas.
His response came shortly after White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, in a call with reporters on Thursday, called Netanyahu's claim "perplexing to say the least" and two days after the White House bluntly said it "genuinely didn't know what he's talking about."
In a video he released earlier this week, Netanyahu claimed "the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions" Israel needed to fight Hamas.
On Thursday, he said, "I am ready to suffer personal attacks provided that Israel receives from the U.S. the ammunition it needs in the war for its existence."
Kirby reiterated the White House's frustration.
"Obviously, we didn't know that video was coming and it was perplexing to say the least, certainly disappointing, especially given that no other country is doing more to help Israel defend itself against the threat by Hamas, quite frankly, other threats that they're facing in the region in the United States," he said, adding he had "no idea" what prompted the Israeli politician to post it.
"There has been no change in our posture,"Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted on Tuesday, saying it was "regular order"with the exception of one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs paused over Biden's publicly expressed concern the imprecise munitions could be used in the southern Gazan city of Rafah and other areas heavily populated by civilians.
Two officials involved in approving arms transfers to Israel backed up the secretary's comments, telling ABC News the administration is continuing to process both longstanding requests in the pipeline and new orders made after the onset of the conflict.
"You'd have to talk to the prime minister about what prompted him to do that," Kirby said of his video comments. "Again, it was vexing and disappointing to us -- as much as it was incorrect. So, difficult to know exactly what was on his mind."
Kirby, asked about a behind-the-scenes efforts to get an apology from Netanyahu over the video, also said, "I think we've made it abundantly clear to our Israeli counterparts from various vehicles our deep disappointment in the statements expressed in that video and our concerns over the accuracy in the statements made."
Despite the growing public tensions, officials from both nations met in Washington on Thursday to discuss the ongoing war. Kirby confirmed that national security adviser Jake Sullivan would still be meeting with high-level Israeli officials coming to the White House.
"Jake [Sullivan] will be meeting today with his counterpart," Kirby said, referring to Tzachi Hanegbi, the head of Israel's National Security Council. He also said that Ron Dermer, Israeli's Minister of Strategic Affairs, would be in the session.
"It'll be a wide-ranging discussion, I think you can imagine, about everything that's going on with the Gaza war with our support to Israel, with our efforts to get a better sense of how they're continuing to prosecute operations against Hamas, as well as continuing to talk about the importance of closing on this deal," Kirby said ahead of the meeting.
Biden's team was enraged and frustrated by Netanyahu's video, a U.S. official told ABC News on Wednesday, adding that U.S. officials have made clear to the Israelis that Netanyahu's video is inaccurate and out of line.
The meeting comes after the U.S. canceled another meeting between American and Israeli officials to discussIranin response to the Netanyahu video, officials confirmed to ABC News.
But the White House pushed back on claims that a high-level U.S.-Israel meeting on Iran scheduled for this Thursday was canceled specifically because of the video. It instead pointed to scheduling issues as the reason for the cancellation of the meeting. The White House also insists that the meeting will be rescheduled.
At the State Department Thursday, spokesperson Matt Miller announced that Blinken would meet with Dermer and Hanegbi Thursday afternoon.
Miller said that during the meeting, the officials would discuss "our ongoing work to try to reach a ceasefire that will secure the release of all hostages" as well as the situation in north of Israel along the country's border with Lebanon, as well as ongoing work to "get humanitarian assistance into Gaza and work that needs to be done to accelerate and improve that process."
