I sometimes wonder what we’re paying them for.
US intel not aware of Hamas’ plan for Oct. 7 attack on Israel, John Kirby says.
The US would do the “same thing’’ Israel did if it suffered an attack like the Oct. 7 assault, a top Biden administration official said Sunday — while admitting US intelligence was unaware of a battle plan from Hamas that Israel obtained over a year before the attack.
“[Israeli officials] have every right and responsibility to go after the terrorist group that perpetrated these attacks and planet and oh, by the way, has made clear they’re going to do it again and do more,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told “Fox News Sunday.”
“We would do the same thing — any nation would,” Kirby said.
Kirby also referred to the recent reported revelation about Israeli security failures in the run-up to the bloody terrorist rampage.
More than a year before the deadly attack, Israeli officials obtained a roughly 40-page blueprint outlining Hamas’ battle plan but dismissed it as unachievable for the terror group, the New York Times reported last week.
Kirby suggested that the US did not learn about the document, dubbed “Jericho Wall,” when its staunch ally Israel did.
“The intelligence community has indicated that that they did not have access to this document,” Kirby told “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
“They have no indications at this time that they had any advance warning of this document or any knowledge of it.”
Hamas’ Oct. 7 onslaught led to the deaths of at least 1,200 Israelis and sparked a war that the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry claims has now killed more than 15,000 Palestinians.
Kirby underscored the complexities of intelligence gathering when pressed about why the US would not have had access to the Hamas terror-plot document.
“Intelligence is a mosaic, and sometimes you know you can fashion things together and get a pretty good picture,” Kirby contended. “Other times, you know that there’s pieces of the puzzle that are missing.”
“Jericho Wall” did not specify a date for when the attack would take place but rather laid out an offensive strategy to blow through Israeli defenses around the Gaza Strip, the New York Times reported.
But the terror group “followed the blueprint with shocking precision,” according to the outlet, which obtained a copy of the plan.
Internally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under intense scrutiny for the intelligence failures surrounding the bloody Oct. 7 attack.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu has already spoken pretty candidly about this and calling it, you know, a failure on their part,” Kirby said.
“They’ll take a look at this at the right time. They need to do that. Right now, though, the focus has got to be on making sure that they can eliminate this truly genocidal threat to the Israeli people.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also weighed in on the “Jericho Wall” revelation Friday, pledging that there would be “accountability” for the run-up to the attack.
“Right now, the focus is on making sure that they can do everything possible to ensure that it doesn’t happen again,” Blinken said in Dubai ahead of the COP28 climate summit.
Shortly after the Oct. 7 attack, reports emerged that Egyptian intelligence officials also had warned their Israeli counterparts about an attack days before it took place.
On Nov. 24, Israel and Hamas agreed to a humanitarian pause in the war to allow aid to flow into the besieged Gaza Strip and let hostages be freed.
That pause ended last Friday after Netanyahu accused Hamas of violating the terms of the agreement.
Israel then pulled out of further negotiations in Qatar, a third-party broker where many top leaders of Hamas are living.
“There are no official negations going on,” Kirby explained. “That’s because of Hamas. Hamas failed to come up with yet another list of women and children to be released, and we know they’re holding additional women and children.”
Kirby stressed that the US is still seeking to get negotiations back on track.
“We would like that to happen today. But honestly, I just don’t know,” he said when asked about when negotiations could resume.