White House mum on upcoming Israel weapons report

The White House declined to comment Friday on a soon-to-be-released report from the State Department regarding Israel’s use of U.S. weaponry.

News reports say that the investigation carried out by the Biden administration concluded that Israel has not violated its terms of use for American weapons. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will soon deliver the report to Congress.

The report comes on the heels of a recent decision from President Joe Biden to pause the transfer of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel to ensure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not proceed with his planned invasion of Rafah.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby fielded numerous questions from reporters on the topic Friday afternoon but repeatedly declined to comment on the report’s findings.

In fact, Kirby did not bring up the report at all during his opening comments, instead choosing to focus on the latest regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the widespread flooding and landslides in Brazil.

“I’m sure you’re not going to be shocked. I’m going to refer you to the State Department on that. I don’t have any updates for you on the NSM report. You really need to talk to State,” Kirby said in response to one question.

“The president has been briefed and is obviously aware of the contents. I am just not going to get into the specifics of when he was briefed and how that transpired, but he’s fully briefed on it,” he answered in response to a followup.

As Israel’s offensive continues to stack civilian casualties, U.S. lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), have pushed for stronger verification mechanisms regarding U.S. weapons used by American allies.

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“We make it clear to any ally or partner who’s receiving U.S. military systems, whether it’s through sales or whether it’s provided to them out of our own inventory, like in Ukraine — make sure that they understand our expectations for how those weapons are going to be used on the battlefield,” he said. “We are always willing to continue to work with Congress on that process.”