The full truth, revealed here for the first time, is much more severe:
apparently, during Operation Protective Edge, the USA had completely stopped
all connections with Israel's defense procurement delegation based in the
USA. For days, no item whatsoever could be shipped. The expected airlift of
US ammunition had never even arrived at its point of departure.
US-Israeli Relations: National Security Trauma
Pursuant to developments during Operation Protective Edge, the Israeli
defense establishment will reduce the production of weapon systems in the
USA in the context of joint Israeli-American projects, and will rely more
heavily on Israeli-made products
Amir Rapaport, Washington 16/10/2014
http://www.israeldefense.com/?CategoryID=483&ArticleID=3169

US-Israeli Relations: National Security Trauma Here is another unfamiliar
result of Operation Protective Edge: the Israeli defense establishment will
reduce the production of weapon systems in the USA in the context of joint
Israeli-American projects, and will rely more heavily on Israeli-made
products. Under a veil of secrecy, a decision has already been made at IMOD
not to enable the production of at least one highly sensitive weapon system
on US soil, despite the fact that the manufacture of said system in the USA
may be funded through US defense aid instead of being paid for in NIS with
Israeli taxpayer money.

The Israeli defense establishment will also intensify the manufacture of
Israeli missiles that can substitute US-made munitions. The decision, in
itself, will not have a substantial effect on Israel's security status, but
it represents a major trauma in US-Israeli defense relations: things that
had been taken for granted until Operation Protective Edge, like the fact
that Israel could always count on a US airlift of ammunition in a time of
trouble, are no longer certain at all.

The cause of this trauma was, naturally, the decision by the USA not to
enable the shipping of ammunition to Israel during Operation Protective
Edge. The story was revealed for the first time by Wall Street Journal,
which reported that a shipment of Hellfire missiles for helicopters was
withheld, based on US sources.

The full truth, revealed here for the first time, is much more severe:
apparently, during Operation Protective Edge, the USA had completely stopped
all connections with Israel's defense procurement delegation based in the
USA. For days, no item whatsoever could be shipped. The expected airlift of
US ammunition had never even arrived at its point of departure.

The crisis began about ten days into Operation Protective Edge, pursuant to
allegations that the percentage of uninvolved civilian deaths in the Gaza
Strip was extremely high (IDF admitted that about one half of all
Palestinian deaths were probably civilians who had not been involved in the
fighting).

At that stage, the Israeli defense establishment submitted to the USA a
request for various types of munitions, including Hellfire missiles, to
replenish the dwindling inventories of IDF.

The urgent request was submitted using a procedure that the Israeli defense
establishment practices as part of every training exercise and wartime
scenario – through the European Command of the US military (EUCOM).

The order to stop the processing of all Israeli requests came from a senior
echelon – probably the White House, among other reasons, because Israel had
ignored the initiatives of Secretary of State John Kerry and preferred to
end the operation through a direct channel with the Egyptians. The State
Department had been annoyed with Israel for several months, since it was
revealed that Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon had referred to Kerry
as 'Messianic' in closed sessions.

The freezing of working relations vis-à-vis the Israeli procurement
delegation generated a lot of frustration, but it should be noted that at
the same time, strategic cooperative alliances between Israel and the USA
continued through other channels. The Americans even allowed the IDF to use
the materiel inventories they keep in storage depots on Israeli soil, which
constitute 'backup' for the IDF inventories, in accordance with previous
agreements between the two countries.

Israeli defense establishment authorities thought initially that the
Americans delayed the airlift for the first time since the Yom-Kippur War of
1973, but US sources in Washington pointed out that a similar step was taken
during the first Lebanon War in 1982.

Israel Defense has learned further that within the Israeli defense
establishment, this recent affair has led to a reassessment of the almost
automatic reliance on an airlift of ammunition from the USA as a part of
practically every wartime scenario.

Among the measures currently under consideration is a review of the option
of increasing the amount of US materiel stored in Israel in advance and a
massive transition to Israeli-made munitions. For example, the Hellfire
missiles the Americans failed to deliver may be replaced by IAI missiles,
while precision guided munitions by Rafael may replace US-made
air-to-surface munitions. Since Operation Protective Edge, Israeli defense
industries have already received urgent procurement orders for arms and
munitions worth billions of NIS.

Israeli and American defense industries have numerous joint projects under
way, but pursuant to the developments during Operation Protective Edge, the
standing order is for the weapon systems, at least in the context of one
specific project, to be manufactured on Israeli soil.

Emerging from the Crisis?

It should be noted that the arms issue was resolved toward the end of
Operation Protective Edge and that despite the recent events, the strategic
defense relations between the two countries continue even now, including
extensive intelligence cooperation. US DOD and IMOD are also proceeding with
numerous joint research and development projects and US defense aid will
remain a substantial element of the Israeli defense budget, which enables
Israel to acquire such extremely costly systems as the F-35 future fighter
aircraft. The Americans have also increased their support for the Iron Dome
project during Operation Protective Edge. Thus far, they have financed,
through a special budget (beyond the usual defense aid), the acquisition of
most of the new batteries.

The AUSA 2014 Annual Meeting & Exposition was held this week in Washington
DC, and the Israeli presence at the event was massive.

Next week, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and IMOD Director General
Dan Harel will arrive in the USA for talks at the Pentagon. Apparently, the
events of Operation Protective Edge will be one of the issues discussed in
the context of these talks.