The US and Israeli Defense Ministers met last Tuesday at the Pentagon (Reuters)
A report published by the American newspaper "The Wall Street Journal" stated that a secret memorandum of intelligence cooperation between Washington and Israel after the attack of last October 7 increased fears in American political circles that it was contributing to the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Among the concerns is the fact that there is no independent oversight to ensure that intelligence provided by the United States is not used in attacks that indiscriminately kill civilians or damage infrastructure.
The secret intelligence-sharing agreement between the United States and Israel has received less public criticism than US arms sales to Israel. However, the file is raising increasing questions from Democratic lawmakers, human rights activists, and now from President Joe Biden's administration itself.
US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee member Jason Crow said, "What concerns me is that intelligence cooperation with Israel will be consistent with our values, security, and national interests."
Crowe, who in December wrote to the DNI and requested details about sharing arrangements, added that he was concerned that “what we are currently sharing does not serve our interests.”
He also said that he met separately with a senior member of the Israeli army and with US intelligence officials (CIA) and noted that there was a "very big contradiction" in the reports of both sides about the price the Palestinians are paying in Gaza.
Secret memo
Intelligence information is being shared with Israel under a secret memo published by the White House shortly after the October 7 attack and corrected several days later, according to US officials.
Around the same time, the United States expanded intelligence collection operations on Gaza, after relying heavily on Israel on the issue in recent years.
The CIA has identified instances of potential violations of the laws of armed conflict by both sides in Gaza, as part of a joint military operation, and produced a bi-weekly report titled “Summary of Potential Unfair Acts of the Crisis in the Gaza Strip,” describing specific events and trends related to the war, according to a source. beginning.
American officials added that the goal was primarily to help locate the leaders of the Al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), find detainees, and monitor Israel's borders.
The officials stressed that the United States does not share intelligence information dedicated to ground or air attacks in the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.
Source: Maariv + Wall Street Journal