Tom Cotton blasts Biden for 'deliberately misleading' the public about withholding weapons to Israel

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., slammed President Joe Biden for what he said was "deliberately misleading the American people" regarding the administration's rhetoric with regard to weapons shipments to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that the U.S. is withholding weapons shipments to Israel, which the Biden administration denied, saying that aid is flowing normally to Israel.

"Your administration is engaged in bureaucratic sleight-of-hand to withhold this crucial aid to Israel during a shooting war," Cotton wrote in a letter to Biden.

The White House is required to notify Congress about foreign arms exports; however, the Biden administration has been withholding formal notification from Congress about deliveries to Israel, which allows the administration to claim the shipments are "in process," while never being ultimately delivered, according to Cotton.

"You’re playing politics with the nation’s honor and our ally’s security. Worse still, your administration lacks the honesty to communicate its true policy to the American people, instead preferring to hide behind weasel words and bureaucratic process," Cotton said.

Cotton called on the Biden administration to provide answers about what weapons and ammunition are being withheld from Israel and what issues are preventing the administration from expediting shipments as requested by Israel.

Netanyahu reiterated his concerns about weapons shipments as recently as Sunday during a cabinet meeting, when he said there had been a "dramatic drop" in U.S. weapons deliveries, according to The Associated Press.

The reported decline in weapons shipments comes as the Biden administration has faced pressure for months from within the Democratic Party to halt such shipments to Israel during its war with Hamas.

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