John Kirby, the head for strategic communications for the National Security Council, said on NBC News on Sunday that the American intelligence community has stated it was unaware of Hamas’s plans to attack Israel.
Citing papers, emails, and interviews, the New York Times has claimed that Israeli authorities had access to Hamas’s preparations for its Oct. 7 strike more than a year in advance. According to The Times, the dossier was shared among Israeli intelligence and military officials, but analysts wrote the plan off as being too complex for Hamas to carry off.John Kirby
“Was the United States aware of this intelligence, and if not, why not?” presenter Kristen Welker questioned Kirby about the allegations during an appearance on “Meet the Press.”
“According to the intelligence community, they were not privy to this material. Kirby said, “At this point, there are no signs indicating they had access to this paper earlier.
“Have they? Considering how closely Israeli and American intelligence officers are expected to cooperate information, Welker enquired.John Kirby
“Kirby stated that intelligence is like a mosaic, and sometimes you can piece things together to create a fairly decent image.” “On other occasions, you are aware that certain pieces of the puzzle are absent.”
He said, “As I mentioned, our own intelligence community stated that they have looked at this.” “At this point, there are no indications that they were aware of this document or that they were given any advance notice of it.”John Kirby
When asked whether Israeli and American intelligence had failed in this case, Kirby said, “I think there’s going to be a time and a place for Israel to do that sort of forensic work.”
“Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel has already addressed this quite openly and called it a failure on their part,” the speaker said. “They’ll examine this when the time is appropriate. That is what they must do. However, the priority at this moment must be ensuring that the Israeli people are safe from this really horrific menace.
After negotiations to extend the ceasefire with Hamas broke down, Israel has increased the intensity of its shelling of the Gaza Strip in recent days. Health authorities in Gaza report that after weeks of Israeli airstrikes, over 15,000 Palestinians have perished and another 1.8 million have been displaced.
After more than 100 hostages were freed during a brief ceasefire, the IDF reported that more than 1,200 people were killed and over 200 were kidnapped during Hamas’ offensive on October 7. Approximately 140 individuals are currently being held prisoner in Gaza.John Kirby
Neither the Times story nor a copy of the 40-page “blueprint” paper that Israeli officials allegedly code-named the “Jericho Wall” have been independently confirmed by NBC News.
Kirby’s comments align with those of a U.S. official who said to NBC News last week that it doesn’t seem like American intelligence services have obtained a copy of the plan. The person said, “At this point, there are no indications that the intelligence community was provided the ‘Jericho Wall’ document reported last night by the New York Times,” and that the intelligence community in the United States would keep reviewing its data.
An Israeli person with knowledge of the situation told NBC News on Friday that military analysts in the nation informed their superiors of Hamas’s “plot intended to start a war.” However, their superiors disregarded their worries.John Kirby
on an email sent on July 6 with the subject line “Death in the Kibbutz, at any cost,” a female Israeli intelligence analyst who specialized in Hamas detailed a training session that the militant group had held in May. The session started early in the morning and continued late into the evening.
In addition to motorbikes and jeeps, the training featured a mock aircraft shoot-down exercise. The emails that were initially revealed by Israel’s Channel 12 news and the Financial Times were verified to NBC News by a senior Israeli official who talked to the media on the condition of anonymity.John Kirby
After receiving the first email, the Israeli intelligence analyst followed it up with details on Hamas terrorists talking about waiting for orders.
According to an Israeli official, six days after the analyst delivered the emails, an IDF commander complimented the analyst’s efforts but wrote off the training session as a “imaginary scenario” rather than a detailed war plan.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken promised on Friday that there will be “accountability, looking at what led up to Oct. 7,” in response to the Times’ revelation.
“At the moment, the emphasis is on ensuring that every effort is made to prevent it from happening again,” Blinken said to reporters when he was in Dubai for the COP28 climate conference.John Kirby
