Israel handed over to the US an edited version of the intelligence report that justified the IDF airstrike on the Al-Jalaa tower in the Gaza Strip during the May 2021 conflict, Haaretz has reported, citing an anonymous source. According to the news outlet, the report, edited by Shin Bet, stressed that it was "necessary" to destroy the building, while closing the gaps in the intelligence input.
Some Israeli officials were concerned that feeding the US the altered intelligence report might "adversely affect the trust" between the two countries and impede cooperation between them in terms of defence, the source claimed. Nonetheless, then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly proceeded to give US President Joe Biden the edited version of the report via Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
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The original report was not viewed as "solid" by Israel itself, Haaretz claimed. Even after reading the altered report, an "uncomfortable conversation" followed between Biden and Netanyahu, the news outlet's source said. The US reportedly requested additional information, which Tel Aviv provided. Haaretz said that Washington did not comment on the issue afterwards.
PR Nightmare for Israel?
Haaretz's source also shed light on recent statements by the Israeli military last week that they did not know the Al-Jalaa tower hosted media outlets, including the Associated Press (AP) and Al Jazeera, when they were ordering the airstrike. The affected news organisations previously said they had notified the Israeli military at the onset of the May 2021 conflict about the location of their headquarters in Gaza. Haaretz's source, however, claimed that due to poor coordination this data had not been passed on to military intelligence or the Israeli Air Force.
The incident, which took place on 15 May amid a fierce armed confrontation between the IDF and Gaza-based militant groups, miraculously did not lead to any casualties among international journalists. They were given a one-hour heads up to evacuate the building, which turned out to be just barely enough to escape harm.
The levelling of the tower sparked an international uproar and the US requested a justification from Israel for the building's destruction. Tel Aviv insisted that the tower not only hosted Hamas troops (a claim challenged by news agencies in the building), but also their jamming equipment that impeded the operation of the Iron Dome short-range air defences – Israel's main line of defence against the militants' rockets.