(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) As President Joe Biden makes preparations for his first presidential trips to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, his administration’s Middle East policy has been undermined by the fact that Biden’s foreign policy team leaks like a sieve.
Biden officials are accused of “consistently leaking information to the media about alleged covert Israeli operations against Iran, from targeted killings to explosions at nuclear sites,” Just the News reported.
In late May, anonymous US officials told the New York Times that Israel had assassinated Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Colonel Sayad Khodayee in Tehran.
A month later, CNN reported — again relying on anonymous officials — that “Israel appears to have escalated its targeted killings and other gray-zone operations inside Iran in recent months.”
Israeli officials have condemned the leaks.
“We have very many close relationships and a lot of cooperation between us, which all depend on trust, and when it is violated in some way, then it damages future cooperation,” Knesset member Ram Ben Barak told i24 News.
Former CIA analyst Fred Fleitz told Just the News that the leaks betrayed the Biden administration’s incompetence.
“It’s a sign of extraordinary incompetence and unprofessionalism from Biden and his foreign policy team,” Fleitz said. “It’s outrageous they would leak this kind of information.”
Rather than incompetence, however, the leaks may indicate a shift back to former President Barack Obama‘s Middle East policy, which included shipping the infamous “pallets of cash” to Iran in 2016, after four years of pro-Israel policies from the Trump administration.
From the Arab perspective, Biden seems to be applying the same “strategic ambiguity” that characterizes his administration’s approach to China-Taiwan relations to the Middle East.
“The Gulf wants to feel that America stands with them, but the biggest question mark right now is whether the US can be relied upon,” Ali Shihabi, a Saudi operative told CNN.
“Ultimately, American politics are very volatile,” he continued. “And if the Kingdom and others have learned anything, it’s that they can’t put all their chips on the United States.”
