Israeli officials have raised concern as the Biden administration depletes the U.S. ammunition stockpile stored in the country amid the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Tel Avi-based newspaper Israel Hayom reported Thursday.
The warning comes as Israel faces multi-pronged rocket and terrorist attacks along its northern and southern borders. The Iranian regime is working to encircle Israel by building a terrorist axis comprising Islamist and terrorist groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Israeli TV channel i24news reported that “Israeli officials are worried of their depletion due to the threat of a multi-front war, amid heightened tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon and terror groups in the Palestinian territories.”
Reports first surfaced three months ago that the Biden administration was secretly shipping large amounts of artillery shells stored in Israel to the Ukrainian front-line. The Biden administration was “quietly shipping hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to Ukraine from a massive stockpile in Israel,” The Times of Israel reported in January 2023.
The ammunition belongs to the U.S. military and has been stored for quick deployment in any future conflict in the Middle East. There is however an understanding that Israel could use the stockpile in case of a dire military need, Israeli media reports suggest. “There has been an unofficial understanding between Jerusalem and Washington that the depots placed in Israel could be used by the hosts in the event that the Jewish state found itself in an emergency situation,” i24news explained.
The Israel Hayom reported growing concern in Israel over the depleting stockpile:
The amount of US munitions stored in Israel has been dwindling due to the Ukraine war and it is still unclear when it will be replenished, Israel Hayom has learned from Israeli sources.Earlier this year, it was reported that the depots storing US munitions in Israel had been partially tapped in order to help Ukraine fend off the Russian invasion. The depots are officially designated as US military storage facilities and as such enjoy diplomatic immunity under bilateral agreements with Israel. The implicit understanding between Jerusalem and Washington over many decades has been that the munitions there would be earmarked for Israel in times of emergency if the Jewish state faces a major attack along the scale as the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when it faced a combined invsasion by Syria and Egypt.According to sources who spoke with Israel Hayom, some of the munitions have been shipped out in recent months through the Port of Ashdod – mainly on Saturdays – to avoid drawing media attention. The shipments out of Israel, which began under the premierships of Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, have continued until recent weeks. Israeli and foreign sources have toldIsrael Hayom that the reason those munitions had been tapped is the ongoing shortage of reserve stockpiles in the West in the wake of the continued fighting in Ukraine.A defense official said that the White House made the decision to shift resources outside of Israel to another front, but in light of Israel’s fragile security situation in recent weeks, this could have other effects. “These are Israel’s reserve stockpiles for times of war,” a former cabinet minister said. “The move has had a bigger implication in light of the threats on Israel in multiple theaters.”
After 14 months of intense fighting, the Ukrainian military is running low on ammunition and heavy weaponry. “NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine was using ammunition faster than NATO members could produce it,” the German state-run DW TV reported in February.
The recently leaked Pentagon documents also suggest that Ukraine may soon run out of various types of ammunition. “Ukraine’s air defences risk running out of missiles and ammunition within weeks,” British newspaper The Guardian reported earlier this month citing the cache of leaked classified U.S. documents.
The country desperately needs more antiaircraft missiles and ammunition. “Kyiv is depleting its last reserves of S-300 missiles, making it possible for Russia to achieve air superiority,” The Wall Street Journal reported recently citing the same leaked documents. “Russia could achieve its long-sought goal of air superiority in Ukrainian skies as early as May because Ukraine is running out of antiaircraft missiles.”
The massive pullout of the U.S. stockpile also coincides with President Joe Biden’s growing hostility towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Last month, President Joe Biden told PM Netanyahu to “walk away” from the proposed judicial reforms that seek to give Israel’s elected government more power to appoint Supreme Court judges and amend the constitutional framework.
The Israeli government accused the Biden White House of “inappropriately intervening” in the country’s domestic affairs. Responding to President Biden veiled threats, PM Netanyahu affirmed that “Israel is a sovereign country which makes its decisions by the will of its people and not based on pressures from abroad, including from the best of friends.”
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