. . ."The leaked assessment demonstrates how closely the intelligence community monitors Israeli military activity," said Harrison Mann, a former analyst with the Defense Intelligence Agency who resigned to protest the Biden administration's support for Israel's war in Gaza.
"The FBI announced Tuesday that it is investigating an alleged leak of highly classified U.S. intelligence documents, days after assessments containing information about Israel's potential plans for a retaliatory attack on Iran were published on an Iran-linked Telegram account.
" 'The FBI is investigating the alleged leak of classified documents and working closely with our partners in the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community," the FBI said in a statement. "As this is an ongoing investigation, we have no further comment."
"White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that it is unclear whether the documents were made public through a leak or a hack. He said the government does not expect additional classified information to be made public without authorization.
"Early this month, Iran fired a barrage of nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel, a response to the killings of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July and Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in Beirut in September. Tehran has been bracing for a retaliatory strike since then.
"Kirby said Monday that President Joe Biden is "deeply concerned" about any leak of classified materials.
" 'That is not supposed to happen, and it's unacceptable when it does," Kirby said. "And you can rest assured that he will be actively monitoring the progress of the investigative effort to figure out how this happened, and obviously he'll be very interested in hearing any mitigation measures and recommendations that come as a result of the investigative efforts and how to prevent it from happening again."
"Kirby said the Biden administration had been in communication with the Israeli government about the disclosure.
"The intelligence assessment shows that the U.S. government believes Israel is preparing a major strike against Iran that would be a retaliation for a massive Iranian ballistic missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1. The Biden administration has urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to carry out only a limited response that would not provoke yet another Iranian retaliation, in a bid to avoid a regional war.
"U.S. officials have been pushing Netanyahu to focus on Iranian military targets, not Iran's energy infrastructure or sites related to its nuclear program, which would far be more sensitive. Any attack on Iran's oil facilities could also roil the U.S. election on Nov. 5 by creating a spike in energy prices.
"The leaked assessment focused on U.S. observations of Israeli airfield activity on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week that it said were consistent with exercises to engage in long-range strikes that involve air-to-air refueling, something that would be necessary if Israeli fighter jets were to launch strikes on Iran. The assessment also discussed the movement of munitions carts on Israeli airfields. Two related documents were posted on the Telegram account, both dated Wednesday of last week." . . .
WaPo report discloses true Hamas intent to destroy Israel 'In “Captured documents reveal Hamas’s broader ambition to wreak havoc on Israel” (10/12/24), the Washington Post, perhaps for a moment, revives its former glory by engaging in investigative reporting. This, on a topic that has lacked investigative reporting for years: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In this article, the Post discloses a treasure trove of documents recovered from Israeli incursions in Gaza. These documents give a clear picture of Hamas’s warfighting plans and intent. In one communication, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “was crystal clear about his ultimate intention: the destruction of the state of Israel. He repeats the point multiple times in the captured letters and asks Iranian officials to help him in his quest.” . . .
"If there were any residual hope that the Palestinians wanted a two-state solution, this news should dispel it once and for all." . . .
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