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Supporting Israel has consequences.
The US secret services expect an increased risk of terrorism.
Washington, DC - A top US intelligence official warned on Monday (March 11) that the war in Israel could embolden terrorist groups opposed to the United States' support for Israel.
“The crisis has led a number of actors around the world to resort to violence.
And while it is too early to tell, it is likely that the Gaza conflict will have a generational impact on terrorism,” Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said at an annual hearing on global security threats.
Avril Haines, Director of US National Intelligence.
© Sachs Ron/Imago
Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7 led to new threats against the United States from al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups, Haines said.
And Iran-backed militant groups would “use the conflict as an opportunity to pursue their own agenda” against the United States.
“And we have seen how he has inspired individuals to commit anti-Semitic and Islamophobic acts of terrorism around the world,” she added.
War in Israel Challenge for Arab partner states: USA in conflict
U.S. officials say more than 30,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, claimed in an interview with
Politico
on Sunday (March 1) that Israel had killed around 13,000 Palestinian fighters.
This cannot be independently verified.
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The hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee is a rare opportunity for top officials from key U.S. intelligence agencies to address a range of global challenges and hot spots in a public hearing.
The hearing was accompanied by the publication of an annual report by the secret services.
“The Gaza conflict represents a challenge for many key Arab partners who face public sentiment against Israel and the United States for the death and destruction in Gaza, but also see the United States as the power broker is best placed to deter further aggression and end the conflict before it spreads deeper into the region,” the report said.
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“The alternatives are worse”: CIA chief provides information on ceasefire in the Gaza Strip
CIA Director William J. Burns briefed on negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza that would include an influx of humanitarian aid and the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian detainees in Israel.
Burns, who has traveled to the Middle East eight times in recent months to lead talks on the release of more than 100 hostages in the Gaza Strip, returned from his final negotiating session in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday evening.
He expressed cautious hope that the ceasefire agreement “could be the first step towards a more permanent agreement.”
“I don’t think anyone can guarantee success,” he added.
“But I believe that one can guarantee that the alternatives are worse for innocent civilians in Gaza who are suffering in desperate conditions, for the hostages and their families who are also suffering in very desperate conditions, and for all of us.”
USA is becoming more critical of Israel because of the humanitarian situation - but remains on Israel's side
Intelligence officials sought to stay out of the debate over the war that has roiled U.S. politics and put U.S. President Joe Biden's administration in a difficult position.
Namely, to support an ally that is increasingly condemned by the United Nations and international human rights groups, as well as by liberal American voters, over the civilian death toll in Gaza and the creeping famine.
The White House has warned Israel not to move its operations to the town of Rafah on the border with Egypt in the far southern Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces view the city, where up to 1.5 million Palestinians have gathered fleeing bombardment, as the last bastion of Hamas militants that must be neutralized.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a staunch supporter of Israel, called on intelligence officials Burns and Haines to refute critics' claims that Israel's military campaign seeks to "exterminate the Palestinian people."
The officials refused to do this.
Burns said the administration understands "Israel's need" to respond to the brutal Oct. 7 attack.
“But I think we all also need to remember the enormous toll this is taking on innocent civilians in Gaza.”
As the U.S. Air Force parachutes humanitarian supplies over the central, northern Gaza Strip, fighting continues in several areas near Gaza City, as seen from southern Israel on March 10, 2024. © Jim Hollander/Imago
“Is Israel starving children in Palestine or Gaza?” Cotton asked, apparently referring to reports from the United Nations and humanitarian aid organizations as well as some Democratic lawmakers.
Thereafter, Israel's alleged refusal to allow the necessary amount of food aid into Gaza is causing an avoidable famine.
“The reality is that there are children who are hungry,” Burns said.
“They are malnourished because humanitarian aid cannot reach them.
It is very difficult to distribute humanitarian aid effectively unless there is a ceasefire.”
Gaza war is not the only issue for US security: Artificial intelligence and the Ukraine war
The speakers, who included the directors of the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, spoke about a range of challenges: from an ambitious China to the spread of artificial intelligence to... ongoing threat of cyber espionage and warfare.
Brett Holmgren, the State Department's top intelligence official, said the power of artificial intelligence could lower the hurdle for U.S. adversaries to interfere in elections.
Burns minced no words when discussing the importance of U.S. aid in the Ukraine war, which is currently stalled amid a contentious debate on Capitol Hill.
With a steady supply of U.S. military assets, “Ukraine can remain on the front lines starting in 2024 and continuing into 2025,” Burns said.
Kiev could continue to penetrate deep into Russia and also conduct operations against Russian naval forces in the Black Sea, which could enable Ukrainian forces to regain offensive initiative early next year, he added.
Ukraine faces “dark future” without US help
But if that aid fails to materialize, Ukraine would face a “much bleaker future” and would likely lose “significant ground” to Russia, Burns said.
“That would be a major and historic mistake for the United States,” he said.
Furthermore, failing to provide assistance to Ukraine's defense would "fuel Chinese leadership's ambitions" to take aggressive steps on Taiwan, Burns added.
“Ukrainians are not running out of courage and persistence.
They're running out of ammunition.
And we’re running out of time to help them,” Burns said.
To the authors
Abigail Hauslohner
is a national security reporter at The
Washington Post
focusing on Congress.
In her decade at the paper, she served as a correspondent, writing on topics ranging from immigration to political extremism, and covered the Middle East as the Post's Cairo bureau chief.
Shane Harris
writes about intelligence and national security.
He was a member of reporting teams that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and two George Polk Awards.
He was also awarded the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on National Defense.
Shane is the author of two books, The Watchers and @War.
Ellen Nakashima
is a national security reporter at The
Washington Post
.
She was a member of three Pulitzer Prize-winning teams: in 2022 for investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, in 2018 for reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 election, and in 2014 for reporting on the hidden extent of government surveillance.
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English on March 12, 2024 at the “Washingtonpost.com” - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.