The US increased intelligence sharing with Israel to “unprecedented” levels under a secret memorandum issued in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.
The intelligence sharing and US weapons shipments have supported and facilitated Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the mass killing of civilians. “We are experiencing unprecedented levels of intelligence coordination,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said last week.
The Journal report said there are growing concerns in Washington about the intelligence sharing with Israel since there’s very little oversight to see if it’s being used in strikes that kill civilians. “What I’m concerned about is making sure our intelligence sharing is consistent with our values and our national security interests,” said Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO).
Crow added that he was worried “what we’re sharing right now isn’t advancing our interests.”
On top of the increased intelligence sharing, the US also stepped up its own intelligence collection on Gaza and began flying MQ-9 Reaper drones for surveillance over the Strip. The Pentagon has insisted the intelligence being shared with Israel is only to help locate hostages, but US officials told CNN there’s no way of preventing Israel from using the intelligence to launch strikes.
“Once the US provides a piece of intelligence to Israel, it has no control over how Israel combines it with other information, and there’s nothing to stop Israel from using that information to target Hamas operatives,” the CNN report said.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Monday that the death toll in the US-supported Israeli attack on Gaza has reached 32,845 Palestinians, which is considered a low estimate since it doesn’t take into account the thousands missing and presumed dead under the rubble. The Health Ministry has consistently said about 70% of the casualties are women and children. UNICEF has said over 13,000 Palestinian children have been killed by Israel, a number that also doesn’t take into account the bodies of children under the rubble.
When you are carpet bombing civilians, hospitals, schools, tents, buildings, basically everything, what purpose does intelligence serve?
I was thinking of the same… The intelligence must be mainly related to Israeli other foes such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, H0uthis in Yemen, but also on other Israeli neighbors like Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and includes Iran…!
Meanwhile… Israel spies on US…!
Yes, it might as well be on domestic opposition in “allied countries”, … a very, if not the most, important front.
As remarked above, the extremely high level of intelligence sharing – and boosted intelligence ‘observation’ of Gaza – reveals what you would expect: that US has seen, known, and supported Israel’s criminal, “indiscriminate” attacks on Palestinian civilians.
A tremendous amount of journalistic and social media coverage has already revealed this – exposing the US’s most recent lie that Israel is complying with international law;
this piece shows that within the US government, the US was fully apprised of – as well as directly complicit in – Israel’s crimes. A point already revealed here:
“Biden Knew Israel Was Bombing Civilian Targets in October” (antiwar 3/24)
Targeting. Locking and loading Zionists armaments on land, air and in the sea to kill Palestinians, maim their children. Gee whiz, I can hear the tune to “Victory at Sea”, hear the narrator, Leonard Graves, describing the “defense” of Israel from “terrorists” not yet 5 years old.
More proof that the US is FULLY COMMITTED TO and COORDINATING the Gaza Genocide, AND the expanded regional war which is coming.
People need to stop talking about anyone “stopping” this, because that’s not going to happen.
I believe you’re right. The NeoconNazis are ideologicaly committed to it. And clearly, the Beast keeps growing. Theoretically Russia/China/Iran could still nip it in the bud, but are so innately conservative that could never happen.
“proof that the US is FULLY COMMITTED TO and COORDINATING the Gaza Genocide”
you nailed it – that’s why the Pentagon is implausibly claiming its intelligence sharing was only to locate hostages, not for military acts
“Crow added that he was worried ‘what we’re sharing right now isn’t advancing our interests.’” I’m never worried about what those clowns are worried about because I’m worried about what those clowns want to do instead. Mark Twain — ‘Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.’
The US needs to wake up and smell the earth burning… The clock is ticking and there is a price to be paid, for everything…
I want to know if Musk is helping Israel in it’s targeting defenseless people, making Musk a collaborator with Israel in it’s Genocide of Palestinians. Why did Musk go kiss the rear of Netanyahu? Why is no American Journalist asking Musk what business he has with the Genocidal Zionist Monsters? The USA has always waged wars against Arabs, it has never been an honest broker, so nothing our treacherous politicians do is surprising. Arabs are not a threat to the USA, they just want us to stay OUT of their countries, stop killing their people, stop stealing resources and stop creating chaos.
The intelligence sharing and US weapons shipments have supported and facilitated Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the mass killing of civilians. “We are experiencing unprecedented levels of intelligence coordination,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said last week.
You’d think daddy warbucks would get pissed at Israeli officials spilling the beans on the enabling/support of this ongoing genocide. Or maybe they’re just rubbing the noses that feed them in dogshit merely because they can get away with it.
The Al Shifa Hospital slaughter? This? “‘This Is Unforgivable’: Israeli Airstrike Kills 7 World Central Kitchen Workers” (Commondreams 4/2/24)
These criminal acts are what the US’s amped up ‘eye in the sky’ over Gaza and intelligence sharing with Israel are directly zooming in on, witnessing and supporting.
Yet another example of Biden’s complicity in genocide.
Interests, interests, interests. That is all I hear out of the liars in congress.
“The Pentagon [insists] intelligence…shared with Israel is only to help locate hostages, but US officials told CNN there’s no way of preventing Israel from using the intelligence to launch strikes….’target[ing] Hamas operatives.’”
1/ ‘Locate hostages’ vs. ‘target Hamas operatives’? Since the US openly supports Israel’s official, asserted goal of ‘targeting Hamas to defend itself,’ it does not make sense that the Pentagon would have limited the purpose of intelligence sharing to ‘locating hostages.’ Think about it – 2000 lb bombs to ‘target Hamas,’ but intelligence only to ‘locate hostages’?
2/ Speculate it may be because recorded/archived US intelligence data can reveal exactly what the US saw/knew/shared – and, therefore, reveal how much the US directly and knowingly supported Israel in what could only be understood as deliberately indiscriminate criminal acts – pointing to direct, knowing US complicity in collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, genocide.
3/ Upshot: the US can give Israel weapons and pretend it was not responsible for how they were used; that’s harder when a US drone operator is deliberately showing Israel a mainly civilian target, which the operator then watches – in real time – as Israel “indiscriminately” bombs: the US is actually ‘co-bombing’ those civilians, and cannot deny its knowing support. Hence:
“Biden Knew Israel Was Bombing Civilian Targets in October” (antiwar 3/24)
Biden is aiding in the deaths of remaining hostages.
“Biden is aiding in the deaths of remaining hostages.”
It must make hostage families crazy, but both the US and Israel value the declared goal of ‘getting Hamas’ – and the undeclared goal of ‘ethnically cleansing and genociding Palestinians – above ‘getting back hostages…
…just as both the dominant political forces inside the US and Israel value ‘ending the Palestinian problem’ above the Israeli victims of October 7:
Biden is committing genocide with u.s. tax $. He’s awful.
What a shitshow. So is America in charge or is Israel or is there any difference? Just sucking all the tax dollars out of u.s. citizens to fund a genocide…nothing to worry about.
You must wonder whether our top intel orders are coming from Tel Aviv or DC sometimes.