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The secret war in Iran: "Netanyahu hides intelligence from Biden"
The New York Times reported that the former prime minister had reduced the sharing of information because he did not trust the administration, which relied on Israeli intelligence after Iran dismantled the US spy network. This is in a meeting with Biden tonight
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Iran
United States
Joe Biden
Benjamin Netanyahu
Naftali Bennett
News agencies
Thursday, 26 August 2021, 14:04
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Will try to preserve Israel's freedom of action.
Bennett and US Secretary of Defense, yesterday (Photo: Government Press Office, Avi Ohayon)
Iran has managed to dismantle most of the United States' spy network in the country, and relied on Israel - but former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reduced intelligence sharing with Washington because he did not trust the Biden administration.
The report was released today (Thursday) in the New York Times, ahead of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's meeting with President Joe Biden at the White House.
According to the paper, the two leaders will try to rebuild the long-standing intelligence cooperation between the Allies, which was most close during the tenure of President Donald Trump's previous administration and Netanyahu's government.
The challenge, however, lies in the fact that the two support opposing approaches.
Biden wants to return to the nuclear deal with Iran, from which Trump withdrew, while Israeli sources believe that only military action can curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Senior Israeli officials told the New York Times that Bennett, who met with senior government officials yesterday, would seek continued White House support for Israel's covert operations against Iran's nuclear program.
Israel hopes that any new agreement with Iran, if any, will not restrict its freedom of action, which in the past included harming Iran's nuclear facilities and scientists.
More on Walla!
White House officials: If diplomacy with Iran fails, we will consider acting in other ways
To the full article
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The US was not updated in time before the attack. Satellite image of the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz (Photo: Reuters)
The summit of Bennett and Biden takes place a few weeks after CIA chief William Burns' visit to Israel, and his meetings with Bennett and Mossad chief David Barnea. According to the New York Times, this is a sign of the importance of intelligence cooperation between states.
Bennett's hand in the meeting with Biden will be strengthened thanks to the fact that the United States has become more dependent on Israel to obtain information about Iran. Washington has other sources of information, such as NSA wiretaps, but it has lost its spy network within the Islamic Republic, unlike Israel.
An example of this intelligence dependency was obtained in April, during the sabotage operation at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility. According to American and Israeli sources, Netanyahu ordered a reduction in the transfer of information to the United States about planned Israeli actions against Iran. According to the sources, the Mossad updated its colleagues in the United States only two hours before the operation, and did not leave them enough time to examine the operation or ask Jerusalem to cancel it.
After the operation, Burns called his counterpart, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, and expressed concern that the United States had not been updated in a timely manner.
According to sources briefed on the content of the call, Cohen said the late alert was due to operational considerations and uncertainty regarding the timing of the operation.
In Israel, it is believed that the United States leaked information about its actions against Iran. Netanyahu (Photo: Flash 90, Olbia Fitoussi)
Israeli sources said the precautionary measures were taken because the Americans leaked information about some of Israel's actions, although American sources deny this.
Other Israeli sources said the Biden administration was not sensitive to Israel's security concerns, and was too focused back on the nuclear deal.
After the operation in Natanz, Burns called his counterpart, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen, and expressed concern that the United States had not been updated in a timely manner.
According to sources briefed on the content of the call, Cohen said the late alert was due to operational considerations and uncertainty regarding the timing of the operation.
In Washington, many believe that Netanyahu simply continued to maintain his resentment towards the Obama administration, of which Biden was vice president, since he was the one who negotiated with Iran.
Senior officials in the Biden administration have said that Israel has violated the old and unwritten agreement that it at least consults with the United States about its covert operations, and allows it to resist.
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