Speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed the US has supplied Israel with no weaponry since 7 October, amid growing criticism of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military campaign in Gaza from allies.
The senior Democrat official was asked by Tim Sebastian whether the US was every bit as complicit in the brutal assault on Gaza due to it being Israel's main arms supplier.
"We have always supported Israel as our national security friend largely because it was in our interest to do so. We had shared values, [it’s] the only democracy in the region," Pelosi responded at the Munich Security Conference.
"The behaviour of Netanyahu is, in my view, inexcusable in terms of how it has affected the collateral damage of children and families and the rest, but nobody can take away the right of any country to defend itself that has been brutally attacked in that way."
She then appeared to suggest the US has supplied no additional weapons to Israel since the war on Gaza, which has killed nearly 29,000 Palestinians, began after the 7 October attacks.
“Israel is very well equipped with weaponry. There’s nothing that we have sent since Oct. 7 that has contributed to this brutality," she said, according to Mondoweiss. "In the longer run, they are in a dangerous neighbourhood."
The US is currently in the process of approving a $14.1 billion package for Israel's war effort, along with $3.8 billion in military aid to the country it sends the country every year.
It has also approved at least two emergency sales of weapons to Israel since 7 October including tank shells - weaponry which one former State Department official said has contributed to many civilian deaths in Gaza.
"This is shameful, craven, and should frankly turn the stomach of any decent human being," Josh Paul, a weapons expert, told The Washington Post.
Washington has strongly supported the Israeli campaign in Gaza with diplomatic backing at the UN and other areas.
Nancy Pelosi has been a strong supporter of Israel resulting in activists camping outside her San Francisco home, dumping horse manure at the entrance last week.