The White House on Monday pushed back on reports from the Times of Israel and Washington Post that it is offering ‘sensitive intelligence’ to Israel on the whereabouts of Hamas leaders, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declines to engage in a full-scale invasion of Rafah.
President Biden has in recent days warned Israel against incurring into the southern Gaza city, threatening to halt munitions shipments if an invasion commences.
Four people familiar with the situation told the Washington Post the administration is offering intel on Hamas tunnels and the hideouts of its leaders if Israel pulls back.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, a National Security Council spokesperson said the U.S. continues to help the IDF target Hamas leadership.
‘[T]hat work continues on an ongoing basis. We’re not holding anything back,’ the official said.
‘We believe [Hamas chief Yahya] Sinwar should and indeed must be held accountable for the horrors of the October 7 attack.’
Former Trump National Security Council official Victoria Coates told Fox News Digital late Monday that intelligence sharing is the ‘bedrock of our security partnership with Israel.’
‘It’s unique and extremely sophisticated, and if one partner is not fulfilling their obligations, it calls the whole thing into question,’ Coates said.
‘So, if the administration has information on Hamas leadership, which… still holds eight Americans — five alive and three dead in Gaza — and isn’t sharing that with the Israelis and hasn’t shared it with the Israelis, this is deeply troubling.’
Coates, who is now the Heritage Foundation’s national security and foreign policy institute vice president, said that, if true, the report depicts the Biden administration as playing a ‘political game’ versus a battle for the survival of the Jewish State.
When asked about allegations that the Biden administration has been playing politics with the Israel issue, Coates indicated Biden’s need to win the youth vote, which she described as more in favor of the Palestinians than any other U.S. age bloc.
‘That’s what elected Biden in 2020 and staved off the red wave in 2022. So they know they need the 18-to-24 group. And what’s been revealed over the last six months is that group is strongly pro-Palestinian, if not overtly pro Hamas,’ she said.
‘And so I think that’s actually the demographic they’re pandering to.’
Ric Grenell, who served as both Trump’s intel chief and ambassador to Germany, called the president’s behavior an ‘impeachable offense.’
‘Let’s be clear, Joe Biden is using U.S. intelligence as a weapon to first demand help from Israel to win Michigan — when he should be providing every piece of intel we have in order to bring the American hostages held by Hamas home,’ Grenell said on X, formerly Twitter.
Meanwhile, Fox News radio host Guy Benson called the report, ‘surreal.’
According to the Post report, Biden and senior aides have also offered to help construct food delivery systems and shelter for Palestinians evacuated from Rafah.
The White House has tried to sway the Israelis to conduct only targeted strikes within Rafah versus the tack threatened by Jerusalem, as well as hope more granular intelligence assistance to Israel could dissuade them from major offensives.
In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. government retains the same objectives as the Israelis.
‘We want to make sure that Hamas cannot govern Gaza again,’ Blinken said.