US Intel Flagged Israeli War crimes risk, Biden Team Uneasy

In a startling revelation, US intelligence agencies discovered that military lawyers within the State of Israel had privately warned that the country’s operations in Gaza might amount to war crimes, a disclosure that sent alarm through the Joe Biden administration. 

While Israel publicly maintained its campaign represented legitimate self-defence against Hamas, the internal assessments painted a very different picture: the tactics used, and reliance on US-supplied weapons, raised serious legal and moral questions. 

According to a Reuters report cited in the analysis, the intelligence flagging the warnings surfaced in late 2023 and was shared with US leadership only shortly before a congressional briefing in December. The delay in wider disclosure within the administration deepened concern in Washington over civilian deaths and aid-distribution interference in Gaza. 

US State Department lawyers reportedly had cautioned Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel’s conduct may breach international humanitarian law. Despite such legal alarms, officials opted not to formally classify Israel’s actions as war crimes citing insufficient independent US evidence and the potential fallout of suspending aid and military-intelligence cooperation. 

The dilemma for the US: on one hand, maintain a strategic alliance with Israel; on the other, respond credibly to mounting global concern and a United Nations Commission of Inquiry which found “reasonable grounds to believe” Israel had committed four of the five acts of genocide under international law. 

Officials reportedly described the oversight process as focused “on justifying a political decision” rather than strictly legal accountability, as one former official put it. 

As the Biden team briefed the incoming administration in January, uncertainty lingered over how far Washington will press Israel on accountability or modify its weapons‐sharing posture. The episode reveals the tension between strategic alliances and legal-moral imperatives in conflict zones.

This intelligence led moment may mark a turning point in how the US approaches its role in the Middle East balancing geopolitical priorities with upholding international law.