Israel keeps U.S. in dark about response to Iranian ballistic missile attack

JERUSALEM – The Biden administration is reportedly furious at Israel for keeping it in the dark about its plans to retaliate Iran’s Oct. 1 ballistic missile attack on Israel. Washington, fearing any Jerusalem missteps could at least lead to all-out regional war, a situation it is desperate to avoid with the upcoming presidential election less than a month away.

The Wall Street Journal initially reported Israel’s reluctance to share specific information about its intended response with the Biden administration, which is still steaming from only learning of the plan to take out Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah in his Beirut headquarters while the Israel Air Force bombers were already in the air.

The problem here is that most Americans and Israelis operate under the delusion that under the Biden-Harris administration, the US remains Israel’s ally when all along, the opposite has been the case. https://t.co/hkHQ2MMuPo

— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) October 9, 2024

Israel has gone against U.S. wishes multiple times since the war, which Hamas brought to Israel due its bestial slaughter on Oct. 7, 2023, and Hezbollah joined a day later. Vice President Kamala Harris suggested she knew better than Israel’s military leaders with decades of experience of kinetic warfare between them about the apparent folly of encircling and entering Rafah, because she had “studied the maps.” They didn’t listen, went in anyway, and Hamas’ military capabilities are on life-support, although not yet dead.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was supposed to meet Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, in hopes of garnering more information about Israel’s plans. At the last minute, Gallant’s proposed trip was shelved, a move which various media outlets have laid at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s door, suggesting he set last-minute demands.

Netanyahu was alleged to have requested Gallant stay put until he had a chance to speak with Biden about Israel’s planned retaliation against Iran, and wanted the security cabinet to first approve the planned response. Biden and Netanyahu’s planned Wednesday conversation will be the first time the two have conversed directly since Aug. 21.

Israel has to try and delicately thread the needle in this situation. It has relied heavily on U.S. military aid for the duration of the war, although it is the one in actual existential danger from the Islamic Republic and its ring of proxies, which constantly threaten the Jewish state.

Jerusalem can also point to instances where the Biden administration has very publicly leaked information, giving Israel’s enemies a heads-up on planned strikes or operations, including immediately prior to the recent limited ground invasion into Lebanon. Reports also emerged Wednesday that the U.S. is circumventing Israel, and along with several Arab states is directly negotiating with Iran in secret.

The diplomatic wrangling and the claims and counterclaims are playing out against a highly unusual backdrop of the upcoming U.S. election. With Biden a seemingly increasingly peripheral figure following the former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi-led coup – although hysterically he seems to be attempting to torpedo Harris’ election bid with some impromptu press appearances in which he tied her past in office directly to his – there is some kind of vacuum at the top of U.S. politics.

Furthermore, recent leaks about Biden have emerged, and reflect how he has gotten almost every foreign policy position wrong during a 50-year-career highlighted by mediocrity. On a phone call with Netanyahu in late July, Biden roared down the phone, “Bibi, what the f***?!” on learning Israeli jets had taken out senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, upon whom the United States had a $5 million bounty for his role in the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut in 1983.

Biden being furious over Israel taking out a leading terrorist (Fuad Shukr) who had a $5M bounty on his head from us because of the Americans he killed kind of tells the whole story.

He opposes Israel fighting back beyond purely defensive measures and has the entire time. pic.twitter.com/SvAiq1jW2r

— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 8, 2024

Additionally, a soon-to-be-released Bob Woodward book “War,” explores Biden’s relationship with world leaders, very much including Netanyahu. On Israel’s entering Rafah, which Biden clearly though the IDF would not do, Biden was apoplectic with rage, “He’s a f***ing liar!” he said of Netanyahu privately. According to Woodward’s account, Biden privately referred to Netanyahu as “That son of a bitch, Bibi Netanyahu, he’s a bad guy. He’s a bad f***ing guy!” during a conversation with an associate in spring 2024 as the conflict in Gaza intensified.