US officials won’t call Hamas attack Israeli intelligence failure

As criticism begins to mount over whether Israeli intelligence was unprepared for the recent attacks by Palestinian militants, U.S. officials refused Sunday to label it as an intelligence failure.

Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented, multipronged attack on Israel on Saturday, prompting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to declare war on the group. Numerous critics and pundits have called the attacks — which have now left at least 600 dead in Israel and another 300 dead in Gaza — an intelligence failure.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken sidestepped questions on the Sunday morning news shows about whether the conflict was a result of an intelligence failure. Instead, the U.S.’s top diplomat reiterated that the U.S. and Israel will look into what they may have missed to prevent another surprise attack.

NBC’s Kristen Welker pressed Blinken on “Meet the Press” on whether it was an intelligence failure. Blinken said that the violence in the region was “an attack that I don’t think anyone saw coming,” but fell short of calling it a failure.

“We will have plenty — we will have plenty of time to — the Israelis will have plenty of time to look into that. All of us will have time to look into that. The focus now has to be on making sure that Israel has what it needs to deal with this attack and to make sure that its citizens are safe and secure. That’s the entire focus,” Blinken said.

Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer also dodged answering whether it was a failure, again reiterating that there will be time in the future to look into it.

“My response is we are laser-focused and President Biden, who has a 50-year record of solidarity, support and resolve for Israel, is focused on making sure that they have everything that they need to respond to this appalling attack — everything they need militarily, all the diplomatic support and all of the intelligence support,” Finer told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”

“There will be a time and place to look back on exactly how this happened, who knew what when, but that moment is not now when we’re still in the throes of the attack as your reporting just showed this is still ongoing,” he added.

Michael Herzog, Israeli ambassador to the U.S., also emphasized that it was a “surprise attack,” but noted that there will be “enough time to investigate” potential security failures after the conclusion of the war.