“Relations between Biden and Netanyahu’s teams are more strained now than at any point” since Hamas’s October 7 attack, Axios reported last week. The fundamental reason is that President Joe Biden’s administration has not delivered promised arms shipments that Israel needs to finish the war. But the proximate reason is that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said so publicly.

In a video message last Tuesday, Netanyahu pleaded with the Biden administration to deliver the promised weapons. “It’s inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel,” he said. “Israel — America’s closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies.”

“The Biden administration has admitted pausing or holding up at least one [shipment of] several thousand[-pound] bombs and munitions that were needed for the Rafah engagement,” Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) explained on Monday’s “Washington Watch,” “and now there’s suspicion that they’re holding up others.”

The White House’s public denial was swift and categorical. “We generally do not know what [Netanyahu’s] talking about. We just don’t,” insisted White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre that same day. She declared that the U.S. paused only one transfer of heavy bombs in March and is having “constructive discussions” about that shipment.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken evidently got the same talking points. “We, as you know, are continuing to review one shipment,” he stated. “That remains under review. But everything else is moving as it normally would.”

But the other shipments are not moving as they should. The shipments are “‘in process,’ according to the White House. But they’re not where they need to be, and that’s in the hands of the Israelis to defend their country,” lamented Moran.

In a Thursday letter, Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) accused President Biden of “deliberately misleading the American people and insulting a key ally.”

“Your administration is engaged in bureaucratic sleight-of-hand to withhold this crucial aid to Israel during a shooting war,” Cotton wrote. “The Arms Export Control Act requires the administration to notify Congress before sending weapons to a foreign country.” But the Biden administration is “withholding this formal notification to Congress of approved weapons sales,” he added. “Your administration can then claim that the weapons are ‘in process’ while never delivering them.”

Below the surface, the Biden administration’s reaction did not match their public denial. “In public, the White House expressed bafflement,” noted Axios. “In private, Biden’s team was angry and shocked by Netanyahu’s ingratitude.” (What is Netanyahu supposed to be grateful for, exactly?) The Biden administration’s stated position is so incredible that even the mainstream media immediately called it into question.

The Biden administration swiftly communicated their displeasure by canceling a strategic dialogue meeting on Iran. “There are consequences for pulling such stunts,” one official spewed angrily. Canceling such a meeting sends a serious diplomatic statement. The last time such a meeting was canceled, Netanyahu called it off after the U.S. declined to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. An Israeli source interpreted, “The Americans are fuming. Bibi’s video made a lot of damage.”

At least one administration official tried to tamp down the narrative of a diplomatic rift by claiming that the meeting was not canceled but rather postponed due to a scheduling issue. However, this explanation seems improbable, given that Israeli officials were already on their way to Washington when the meeting was canceled.

What does this reaction say about what has really been going on? If the perceived withholding of weapons was really just a misunderstanding, then the Biden administration’s response should have been, “We didn’t realize you felt that way. We’ll ship those weapons pronto.” Even allowing for some variation in the response, anger would be totally out of place.

But what if, instead, the Biden administration is trying to play both sides of a political binary — pledging military support for Israel to not anger most Americans, while withholding military support for Israel to not anger the rabidly anti-Semitic segment of the president’s base? In that case, the administration’s strategy would be to encase the weapons shipments in bureaucratic red tape, tying them up “in process” while ensuring they never survive. This strategy would only work if the administration could prevent anyone from catching on to the duplicitous game they were playing. They could string Israeli diplomats along in private talks — at least until election time.

And then Netanyahu had to go and declare publicly that the required weapons hadn’t arrived. Bibi spoiled the whole game! The untimely truth-telling could upset Biden’s whole ballot wagon. Here, at last, is a reason for anger.

Netanyahu, of course, doesn’t care about Biden’s political survival one way or the other. He is more concerned about Israel’s literal survival. If the Biden administration acted as a good faith partner to help Netanyahu, perhaps he could be induced to return the favor. But, as things stand, what has Biden done for Netanyahu that he should expect help in return? If anything, Biden has sought to damage Netanyahu politically, whispering about his ouster and endorsing regime change.

Perhaps Biden should stop and ask himself, “Do you do well to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4, 9). Did the Biden administration really expect they could indefinitely keep promising weapons they never delivered?

“They always just delay the information,” said Moran. “It takes us additional avenues, and pushing, and force, and legislative action to actually extract the information they don’t want us to have, [and] they don’t want the American public to have. But once we push, we find out the truth. And the truth is hardly ever what Karine [Jean-Pierre] tells us in her press conferences.”

“You’re playing politics with the nation’s honor and our ally’s security,” Cotton warned the president. “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. … Our ally is under sustained threat, and we must use all available resources to expedite military aid.”