The Biden Administration Is Warning Israel: ‘Our Trust For You Is At An All Time Low.’
The Biden administration has been warning Israel that its trust is at an all time low, as we read in Axios:
The Biden administration has in recent weeks grown increasingly distrustful of what the Israeli government says about its military and diplomatic plans in the multi-front war it is fighting, four U.S. officials told Axios.
The worsening trust crisis is magnified by Israel’s planned retaliation against Iran for its massive missile attack, which requires coordination with the U.S. in case Iran responds.
The Biden administration isn’t opposed to Israel responding to the Iranian attack last week but wants it to be measured, U.S. officials said.
“Our trust of the Israelis is very low right now and for a good reason,” one U.S. official said.
Behind the scenes: Two U.S. officials told Axios that during a call on Friday White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Israel’s minister for strategic affairs Ron Dermer that the U.S. expects “clarity and transparency” from Israel about its plans to retaliate against Iran because it will have implications for U.S. forces and interests in the region.
Sullivan was signaling that if the U.S. doesn’t know what the Israelis are planning to do, it wouldn’t automatically be on board to help defeat another Iranian missile attack against Israel, one official said.
The U.S. officials admit that the U.S. would very likely help Israel defend itself regardless.…
U.S. officials say the Biden administration has been surprised several times recently by Israeli military or intelligence operations.
In some cases, the U.S. wasn’t consulted or notified in advance. Or, it was given a heads up as Israeli jets were already on their way to conduct an airstrike somewhere in the Middle East.
The Israelis didn’t tell the Biden administration in advance about the dramatic move to assassinate Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.…
U.S. officials said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was fuming when his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant told him about the Nasrallah assassination minutes before the Israeli jets dropped their bombs over Beirut.
