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While Hamas Planned Its Attack on Israel, Biden’s Intel Community Was Focused On Climate Change
Biden admin focus on climate change under renewed scrutiny after US failed to detect Hamas attack
By Adam Kredo
While the Hamas terror group was working with Iran to launch its Oct. 7 attack on Israel, the Biden administration’s intelligence community was ramping up efforts to combat climate change, raising questions about America’s failure to detect the terror attack.
As the Israel-Gaza conflict enters its second month, congressional leaders are beginning to examine whether the Biden administration’s intelligence shift—which included adding a climate scientist to his Intelligence Advisory Board, a task force that tracks national security issues, and executive orders that required the intelligence community to assess security threats posed by climate change—may have contributed to America’s failure to spot Hamas’s planning beforehand. Hamas had been planning the attack for over a year, according to reports
"The world faces unprecedented threats from Communist China, the Iran regime, and Russia yet the Biden administration is shifting intelligence and defense assets to focus on climate change," Rep. Mike Waltz (R., Fla.), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told the Washington Free Beacon. "Just this past March, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified before Congress that climate was an intelligence priority. The blatant political posturing on climate change within our intelligence community endangers the U.S. and our allies by sidelining other threats."
In January, President Joe Biden signaled his administration’s shift to climate change when he appointed the first-ever climate scientist to his Intelligence Advisory Board, a decades-old task force that tracks national security issues across the globe. Brown University professor Kim Cobb, an "expert on climate extremes and coastal flooding," was tasked with reviewing "the work of U.S. spy agencies to make sure they are considering threats from all angles," as well as policing the board "to make sure that the intelligence offered to the president is taking into account climate-related security issues," the Washington Post reported.
Biden followed this with several executive orders that reportedly "required the intelligence community to assess the national security threats posed by climate change." Biden’s focus on climate change also extended to the American military, with the Pentagon classifying these issues in 2021 as "a critical national security issue."
The American intelligence community’s pivot to climate issues is under renewed scrutiny from Republican foreign policy leaders in Congress in the wake of Hamas’s slaughter of more than 1,200 Israelis—an attack that has raised many questions about how the United States failed to spot Hamas’s military buildup in advance. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said during an Oct. 11 press briefing that the attack was "a massive intelligence failure."
The Biden administration’s focus on climate change was on full display during Haines’s testimony earlier this year in front of Congress.
"Climate change remains an urgent threat that will increasingly exacerbate risks to U.S. national security as the physical impacts increase and geopolitical tensions mount over the global response to the challenge," Haines said.
The State Department, America’s diplomatic face across the world, followed the intelligence community’s lead when it appointed John Kerry as its first special presidential envoy for climate, a position that has enabled the former secretary of state to cut deals with China on issues like carbon emissions.
The administration’s focus on what Republicans view as far-left priorities may have diverted America’s intelligence capabilities, leading to what even the White House admits was a significant intelligence failure on Oct. 7, according to one congressman.
"Joe Biden is pushing to publicly release the Pentagon’s carbon emissions, needlessly gifting our adversaries valuable intelligence on U.S. military strength. At the same time, he’s telling American intelligence officials to focus on phantom weather risks instead of the growing and all-too-real threats of Iranian-backed terror and Communist China," Rep. Jim Banks (R., Ind.), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, told the Free Beacon.
"The administration’s obsession with putting leftist politics before our national security has had disastrous effects on morale, public trust, recruiting, overall readiness, and even intelligence collection," Banks said. "Our adversaries are laughing at us."
The politicization of America’s intelligence bodies was also spotlighted during a recent conversation between Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Rick Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence during the Trump administration.
"How on Earth did we get to a point where we missed the boat?" Cruz asked Grenell during an episode of his podcast, referring to the United States’ failure to detect Hamas’s months of planning.
"I actually don't believe that we didn't know that Iran and Hamas were planning, there's just no possible way that we didn't have pieces of raw intelligence," Grenell told Cruz. "I think one of the crises that we have within the intelligence world right now is we have too many people playing politics that are analyzing the information."
With Hamas, those analyzing the raw intelligence failed to connect the dots, Grenell said.
"I actually believe that the United States and the Israelis, of course, had the raw intelligence, that the analytical people just didn't put it together," he said. "They didn't want to assume that Hamas was going to make such a jump."
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Hamas planned 'second phase' for Oct. 7 massacre
Sent by Max Paul
A planned second phase of Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel involved joining forces with terrorists in Judea and Samaria, The Washington Post reported on Sunday, citing Western and Middle Eastern security officials briefed on evidence obtained by Israel.
Some of the Hamas terrorists that participated in the attack carried enough food, ammunition and equipment for several days, the officials said, and had instructions to continue deeper into the Jewish state once the initial massacre succeeded, potentially with the goal of attacking larger population centers.
One group of terrorists carried maps and other surveillance information suggesting their plan was to continue on to the border with southern Judea, two senior Middle East intelligence officials and one former U.S. official familiar with the evidence told The Washington Post.
“They planned a second phase, including in major Israeli cities and military bases,” said one senior Israeli intelligence official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
According to the report, day laborers from Gaza who were permitted to enter Israel carried out reconnaissance in preparation for the terrorist onslaught. Before Oct. 7, Israel provided work permits for some 17,000 Palestinians from Gaza.
Some of the Hamas terrorists carried high-resolution maps, estimated to have been produced by drones flying as low as 150 feet, according to The Washington Post.
Hamas’s plans for the Oct. 7 attacks also included detailed instructions on “which [terror] commander should rape which [Israeli] soldiers in different places,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told The Washington Post on Sunday.
The report confirmed some of the worst atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, including one instance where terrorists in Kibbutz Be’eri “cut open the belly of a pregnant woman and dragged her fetus onto the ground.”
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We have been penetrated. Read Sen. Cruz's: "Unwoke." (I edited out the donation parts of this Op Ed.)
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Friend in case you missed the Iranian influence at high levels in the US gov't
Iran has infiltrated the highest levels of the U.S. national security
apparatus.
There are people who make decisions about the defense of our nation
who have obedience to Iran’s Ayatollahs instead of the United States
of America.
Two of them even still have top-secret security clearance!
This is a monumental failure of the Biden administration. I went on
War Room with Steve Bannon to sound the alarm, but I’m afraid it
will take more to bring this to the attention of the
American people!
I will tell you about three members of this dangerous conspiracy
below, but first, I have to ask you for a favor.
Let’s start with the Iranian influencer installed at the highest
ranks of the Pentagon.
Ariane Tabatabai is currently serving as the chief of staff to the
assistant secretary of Defense for special operations. Tabatabai, on
multiple occasions, requested guidance from the Iranian Foreign
Ministry dating back to at least 2014 when operating inside of the
U.S., supposedly for our best interests.
As the former chief of staff for the Department of Defense (DoD)
myself during the Trump administration, anyone caught seeking
permission and guidance from the world’s largest state sponsor of
terror would’ve been fired and relationships with the government
terminated.
AND THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION AWARDS HER EFFORTS!
AS OF TDAY, SHE STILL HAS ACCESS TO OUR NATION’S MOST SENSITIVE
INTEL, LEADING SPECIAL OPERATIONS AT DOD.
Maher Bitar has been the senior director for intelligence programs on
Joe Biden’s National Security Council (NSC) since 2021. Bitar is a
Palestinian sympathizer.
Before entering senior governmental positions, Bitar served as the
executive director of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which
supported convicted terrorist Leila Khaled to raise money for their
causes. After Hamas launched its war against Israel, the SJP called it
a “historic win” — _for Hamas_.
BITAR STILL MAINTAINS THE HIGHEST SECURITY CLEARANCE AT BIDEN’S
WHITE HOUSE AND IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ESTABLISHING
INTELLIGENCE-COLLECTION PRIORITIES.
Finally, there’s Robert Malley, known for his tenure in the Obama
NSC and as one of the primary architects of the Iran Deal, the JCPOA.
Biden appointed Malley his special presidential envoy to Iran in 2021.
This role commands the massive authority to establish American policy
toward Iran— and keep the world out of war.
Recently, the FBI suspended Malley’s top secret security clearance
for _“mishandling classified documents.”_ Shortly thereafter, he
was put on a “leave of absence” by the State Department.
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Furthermore, why is the Biden Administration continuing to fund Iran with billions of $'s?
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ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA
ZOA Condemns Biden/Blinken for Outrageous Approval of $10 Billion Sanctions Relief for Hamas - Funding Iranian Terror Regime
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) National President Morton A. Klein released the following statement:
On the very same day when over three hundred thousand Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, travelled to Washington, D.C. to support Israel’s efforts to prevent Hamas from ever slaughtering innocent Jews again, President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved ten billion dollars of additional sanctions relief to the Iranian terror regime. (See “Biden Unlocks Fresh Funds to Iran Totaling Billions,” by Adam Kredo, Free Beacon, Nov. 13, 2023.)
It is beyond recklessly irresponsible, sickening and frightening that the Biden administration authorized releasing money to the Islamic Republic of Iran, while Iran is funding Hamas’ and Hezbollah’s and Iran’s other proxies murderous attacks against Israel and America. ZOA strongly condemns President Biden for approving these extraordinarily dangerous sanctions waivers for Iran, in disregard for the following pertinent facts and U.S. obligations:
Iran is the top funder, weapons-supplier, operations-planner and trainer for Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hezbollah and the Houthis. The administration’s release of more money to Iran will help the Iranian-backed Hamas and PIJ terrorists who murdered, raped, tortured and beheaded over 1,400 innocent Jews; are holding 240 innocent Jews and others hostage; are continuing to wage war against Israel and launched 10,000 rockets at Israel during the past 5 weeks; and vowed to repeat October 7th again and again until the Jewish State of Israel is destroyed. We will see even more death and destruction due to the release of these funds. Releasing these fungible funds to Iran thus thoroughly violates Biden’s vow of “rock solid and unwavering” support for Israel as Israel defends her people from Hamas.
Releasing money to Iran also escalates the conflict and further inflames the entire region: Hezbollah and the Houthis will expand their attacks on Israel.
Iranian-backed Hamas terrorists murdered 33 Americans on October 7th (among the 1,400-plus Jews Hamas murdered). Further, Hamas is holding approximately ten Americans hostage, including an orphaned 3-year-old American toddler whose parents were murdered by Hamas on October 7th. This is the largest American hostage crisis since Iranian terrorists took over the U.S. Embassy in Teheran in 1979. Releasing more money to Iran violates the president’s sacred duty to protect American citizens.
Iran is "actively facilitating" (the administration’s own words) rocket and drone attacks by Iranian proxies on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria. Again, enriching Iran violates the president’s sacred duty to protect Americans
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Ultra-Orthodox Israelis Are Joining the Army
Hamas’s atrocities spark a rethinking of the religious-secular status quo that dates back to 1948.
By Yehoshua Pfeffer
Soon after the May 1948 birth of the state of Israel, a meeting took place between David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, and Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz, a leading religious figure and head of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox (in Hebrew, Haredi) community. The result was the Status Quo Agreement, which charted two parallel lines: one for Jewish Israelis at large, whether secular or religious, the other tailored to the needs of Haredi Jews in particular.
Over the decades, the former “line” helped Jewish Israelis flourish in a modern state. The Haredi line restored the fortunes of a special religious world that, after being nearly destroyed in the Holocaust, was re-established. That world was upgraded with such institutions as Torah academies, synagogues, and Hasidic courts; in various subsects and religious activities; and in whole Haredi municipalities.
For decades, this parallel arrangement functioned efficiently. Both groups thrived. But given the growth of Haredi society, from 3% of Israel’s population in 1948 to almost 14% today, profound challenges have arisen. Part of Israel’s recent social unrest is the product of tension between the Haredi and non-Haredi public over the military draft. For Ben-Gurion, service in the Israel Defense Forces fulfilled two linked purposes: defending the homeland and molding the new, nationalistic and secularized model of the Israeli Jew. The Haredim have no theological objection to military service, but they were wedded to the old model and sought to opt out. Ben-Gurion, sensitive to the project of resurrecting the religious world from the ashes, acquiesced.
Statistically insignificant at inception, the opt-out has since become a huge issue. According to their political leaders, most Haredim hope to sustain their religiously devout and socially reclusive lives permanently under the protection of their longstanding civic exemptions. The rest of Israel demands and expects full participation.
Over the past couple of decades, there has been some slow progress toward integration, but it hasn’t been dramatic. Until now.
One recent vignette: After the Oct. 7 massacre, Erez Eshel, an IDF special forces reserve officer and former deputy director of Israel’s Education Ministry, made an uninvited appearance at several Haredi institutions. Clearly traumatized by what he had seen as one of the first fighters on the scene in Gaza, he urged his stunned audiences to aid their countrymen. Within two weeks, some 3,000 Haredi men had asked to join Israel’s armed forces.
Most of the men Mr. Eshel addressed weren’t conscription age. They, and their successors, have mainly been workingmen 26 or older, and their initial military service will last a few weeks rather than the normal three years. Yet the momentum generated by their actions has spread, for four reasons.
First, the sheer presence of Haredi soldiers in a range of settings and roles makes a deep impression. Second, actions to integrate many of them in a special IDF battalion have already borne fruit and raise the potential for a full Haredi brigade. Third, hundreds of noncombatant Haredim have helped gather, identify and bury, in accordance with religious law, the victims of Hamas’s slaughter. Photographs, videos and interviews reflect the dedication of these Israelis sorting through the carnage, whether in IDF units or as volunteers in emergency response teams.
Fourth, in smaller but notable numbers, Haredim have provided food and supplies to army bases and military outposts. Responding to an extraordinary demand by soldiers of all stripes, yeshiva students have been commissioned to tie tzitzit (ritual tassels) to uniforms. The head of one of the largest Haredi charities visited Haredi soldiers and made a generous donation. IDF army bases have hosted Haredi rabbinical leaders. The list goes on.
In light of these developments, it is tempting to imagine that Israel has turned a corner and things will never be the same. People made similar predictions during the pandemic, and most of them weren’t realized. We need to ensure that this time, things won’t simply bounce back to where they were. Yes, we are fighting a war, and the bandwidth for still more causes is limited. But initiatives undertaken with even few resources can exert outsize influence, and the opportunity must be seized.
The Haredim themselves must champion a confident and realistic endorsement of lasting change. In seeking a wider and deeper affiliation with the nation, we need to learn to provide, and to propagate, the kind of energy that can reform Israel’s stubbornly bifurcated system. It can’t be “us vs. them.” It has to be “us.” Getting there will require investments of all kinds from all sides.
On the internal level—here I speak for myself and many colleagues—we need brave leaders. We need role models who demonstrate how Haredi values, far from being inconsistent with full participation in Israeli life, are consonant with it. We need the institutions—communal, educational, intellectual, religious, political—that can supply the organizational heft and popular backing essential to every true movement of hearts and minds.
Non-Haredim must recognize the potential before the momentum dissipates. The IDF should accept as many recruits as possible. There is no exaggerating how good it feels to see one’s Haredi neighbor in an army uniform. The IDF could also work with civilian institutions to channel Haredi energy into real-life partnerships.
Israel’s calamity has sparked several awakenings. It’s obvious now that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however talented he may be, isn’t the Jewish messiah. We have seen the face of the true enemy and reabsorbed the ancient lesson that there is no negotiating with evil. It must be destroyed. We have discovered that the international left—at least when it comes to Israel—will largely support its favored “underdog” along with its unquenchable thirst for Jewish blood.
These awakenings are critical, and we should take them to heart. But there is another one, with its own message and potential. In terms of Israel’s future as a great society, it may be the most significant of all. Given the massive growth rate of the Haredi population—some 4% annually—the successful integration of this religiously intense and sociologically distinct group will have effects that might yet confer a blessing, wholly unforeseen, for generations. Once war is over and stability restored, Israel should bear this prospect in mind.
Rabbi Pfeffer heads the Haredi division of the Tikvah Fund and lectures at Hebrew University’s Law Faculty.
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