Early ‘US, UK Intel’ on Sinai Plane Bombing Came From Israel

Post-Bombing, Intelligence Was Limited

In the hours after the downing of a Russian airliners over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, there was little to no intelligence comment from Western nations. It was only a few days later that they started giving credence to the idea that ISIS, who immediately claimed credit, was actually responsible.

It now appears that the intelligence they suddenly had on the bombing wasn’t internally gathered, as US diplomatic sources say Israel actually provided the two nations with intelligence of their own about the matter. Israel is so far not offering additional details.

It makes a lot of sense, both as to why the US was dismissing the ISIS claim initially, and why they suddenly got new intelligence seemingly out of nowhere. Israel has been closely cooperating with the Egyptian junta on the Sinai Peninsula war and likely would have access to additional channels of information gathering.

The big question this raises, however, is why Egypt continued to deny the bombing all week, and other than anonymous Egyptian investigators, the official story out of Cairo is still dismissive of the idea of a bombing, as they surely would’ve been among the first provided the intelligence by Israel.

Egypt’s junta appears desperate for the story of the attack to go away, fearing the severe damage it may do to their tourism industry, but the continued denials are ringing increasingly irresponsible in the face of growing evidence which has convinced virtually everyone else ISIS really did launch the attack.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.