Originally published October 13, 2023 11:49 am PDT
Before the catastrophic Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7th, intelligence sources have revealed that the Biden administration received several alerts highlighting the heightened risk of Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Despite being frequently briefed on the issue, it appears that U.S. and Israeli officials might not have been fully prepared for the gravity of the impending situation.
Based on various intelligence sources, including data provided by Israel, the U.S. intelligence community had formulated at least two assessments indicating an uptick in threats.
On September 28th, a report highlighted Hamas’ inclination to amplify rocket attacks targeting Israel.
A CIA communication on October 5th further emphasized the heightened risk of violent actions by Hamas, according to a report from CNN.
Furthermore, just a day before the tragic event, U.S. intelligence disseminated information sourced from Israel that pointed towards suspicious Hamas activities, underscoring an imminent threat.
However, these assessments fell short in specifying the actual magnitude or the brutality of the attack Hamas launched on October 7th.
The extent to which the U.S. shared its findings with Israel remains unclear, even though Israel is a major source of intelligence for the U.S.
One individual who is privy to the regular intelligence briefings revealed that areas like Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank are consistently flagged as “hot spots” in reports to top officials.
Still, an inside source noted, “The problem is that none of this is new.”
They further stated, “This is something that has historically been the norm between Hamas and Israel. I think what happened is everyone saw these reports and were like, ‘Yeah of course. But we know what this will look like.’”
These intelligence reports were not isolated warnings.
In the preceding year, both U.S. intelligence and Middle Eastern allies conveyed multiple high-level alerts to the Biden administration.
Questions are now arising about the alertness of the U.S. and Israel to such threats.
In a poignant statement, a high-ranking official from an Arab nation in the vicinity remarked that they had time and again apprised US and Israeli officials about the escalating Palestinian resentment, the CNN report notes.
“But they never listened every time we warned them,” the official said.
A diplomat from the Middle East, based in Washington, D.C., affirmed to CNN that they had persistently cautioned U.S. officials and the White House about the accumulation of weapons by Hamas in Gaza and rising Palestinian frustrations.
“The arms that exist in Gaza is beyond the imagination of anybody’s thinking,” they emphasized.
Further, the diplomat added, “The arms that exist in the West Bank, via Hamas, are also becoming a real problem and Hamas control of the West Bank is a real issue.”
They also mentioned having raised these concerns in “every meeting, every meeting in the last year and a half.”
On Wednesday, following a closed-door intelligence briefing, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman and U.S. representative Michael McCaul (R-TX) confirmed that Egypt had warned Israel of a potential attack.
“We know that Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen,” Rep. McCaul said. “We’ve heard from the administration, there seems to be a failure of intelligence as well. We’re not quite sure how we missed it. We’re not quite sure how Israel missed it.”
These strategic alerts seemed insufficient in preparing the U.S. or Israel for last weekend, which saw over 1,000 Hamas militants infiltrating Israel, resulting in the tragic loss of over a thousand Israeli lives.
