White House cancels meeting, scolds Netanyahu in protest over video

The White House canceled a high-level U.S.-Israel meeting on Iran that was scheduled for Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video on Tuesday claiming the U.S. was withholding military aid, two U.S. officials tell Axios.

President Biden's top advisers were enraged by the video — a message U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein delivered personally to Netanyahu in a meeting hours after it was published, two U.S. and Israeli sources say.

Then the White House decided to go a step farther by canceling Thursday's meeting.

"This decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts," a U.S. official said.

"The Americans are fuming. Bibi's video made a lot of damage," a senior Israeli official said, using a nickname for Netanyahu.

Some Israeli officials were already en route to Washington when the meeting was cancelled.Two U.S. officials told Axios the meeting was canceled to send a message about the video. A third claimed the meeting was postponed rather than canceled, due to a scheduling issue.

In public, the White House expressed bafflement. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre noted that only one weapons shipment had been paused since the war began, while billions of dollars of weapons had flowed unimpeded.

"We genuinely do not know what he is talking about," she said.In private, Biden's team was angry and shocked by Netanyahu's ingratitude, according to one U.S. official.