Netanyahu blocking defense establishment chief from meeting US officials

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prevented the head of the Mossad, David Barnea, and the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, from meeting with the vice chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Republican Senator Marco Rubio, during his visit to Israel about three weeks ago, according to two senior American officials.

Netanyahu's decision not to approve the holding of the meetings joins a series of other cases since October 7 in which he prevented or tried to prevent American members of Congress and senior members of the Biden administration from meeting with the heads of the defense establishment and the intelligence community.

Senior American and Israeli officials believe that the reason Netanyahu is preventing the holding of these meetings is his desire to control the message that members of Congress and senior officials in the Biden administration are hearing from the Israeli government, at a time when tensions between Israel and the US are increasing.

Rubio, who is considered a great supporter of Israel, visited Israel during the Passover holiday and asked to meet the heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet as part of his role as vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee of the US Senate - one of the most important positions in Congress.

Netanyahu met Rubio but did not approve the meetings with the heads of the defense establishment and the intelligence community. Netanyahu's office and Rubio's office refused to comment on the matter.

Netanyahu suspicious of defense establishment

Netanyahu's move was not directed against Rubio. Senior American and Israeli officials say that the prevention of the meetings comes against a background of growing paranoia and suspicion between the prime minister and the heads of the defense establishment since the beginning of the war.

Many of the heads of the defense establishment and the intelligence community believe that the fact that Netanyahu refuses to discuss a strategy for the day after the war in Gaza harms Israeli interests.

Some of the heads of the defense establishment even believe that Netanyahu's decisions are motivated by considerations of political survival and not by considerations of national security, and that he is completely dependent on the extreme members of his government, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who wish to eliminate the Palestinian Authority and occupy the Gaza Strip.

All heads of the Israeli defense establishment took responsibility for the failures of the October 7 attack. The head of Military Intelligence, Aharon Haliva, even resigned from his position. On the other hand, Netanyahu is the only senior Israeli government official who did not take responsibility.

Netanyahu and his supporters have been busy in recent months trying to direct the criticism of the October 7 failure toward the defense establishment and rejecting the claims that the political echelon's decision-making led to the disaster.

US officials traditionally meet with defense establishment heads

For decades, delegations from the US Congress and senior officials from the White House and the US State Department visiting Israel have met with the heads of the defense establishment and the intelligence community.

Senior American officials consider the senior officials of the IDF, the Mossad, the Shin Bet, and other security agencies to be trustworthy, professional, and non-political.

In recent months, Netanyahu, to whom the Shin Bet and the Mossad are directly subordinate, and who must approve meetings with American politicians or senior officials in advance, has tried to prevent them - and in many cases succeeded.

Only one delegation of American senators has met with the heads of the Mossad and the Shin Bet since October 7. A source privy to the details said this was a significant decrease compared to the number of meetings of this type before the war.

A senior American source said that since the beginning of the war, Netanyahu prevented several meetings between senior US State Department officials and the Shin Bet and Mossad officials.

A few months ago, Netanyahu tried to prevent a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi. The solution was for Halevi to join Blinken's meeting with Netanyahu and the members of the War Cabinet.

"There have been several cases of this type," said an American official. "It is clear to us that Netanyahu is trying to prevent the US government from receiving information about the war in Gaza that contradicts his line."

The American official noted that Netanyahu's ban is only partially effective, and this is due to the close relationships between senior officials of the two countries who have found ways to circumvent the ban and work together.