by tyler | Oct 25, 2023 | CNN, politics
Intelligence shared with the United States suggests a small cell of Hamas operatives planning the deadly surprise attack on Israel communicated via a network of hardwired phones built into the network of tunnels underneath Gaza over a period of two years, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
The phone lines in the tunnels allowed the operatives to communicate with one another in secret and meant they could not be tracked by Israeli intelligence officials, the sources told CNN.
During the two years of planning, the small cell operating in the tunnels used the hardwired phone lines to communicate and plan the operation but stayed dark until it was time to activate and call on hundreds of Hamas fighters to launch the October 7 attack, the sources said.
They avoided using computers or cell phones during the two-year period to evade detection by Israeli or US intelligence, the sources said.
“There wasn’t a lot of discussion and back and forth and coordination outside of the immediate area,” one of the sources said.
The intelligence shared with US officials by Israel reveals how Hamas hid the planning of the operation through old-fashioned counterintelligence measures such as conducting planning meetings in person and staying off digital communications whose signals the Israelis can track in favor of the hardwired phones in the tunnels. It offers new insight into why Israel and the US were caught so flat-footed by the Hamas attack, which saw at least 1,500 fighters pouring across the border into Israel in an operation that killed at least 1,400 Israelis.
CNN has not seen the specific intelligence but spoke to sources familiar with it. The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment and the Israeli embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.
CNN previously reported that a series of strategic warnings from US and Israeli intelligence agencies did not lead officials from either country to anticipate the events of October 7.
The Israel Defense Forces colloquially refers to the tunnels built by Hamas over the last fifteen years or so as the “Gaza metro.” The tunnels make up a vast labyrinth that is used to store rockets and ammunition caches, as well as provide a way for militants to move about unnoticed. The IDF also says it contains vital Hamas command and control centers.
Yocheved Lifshitz, an 85-year-old grandmother who was one of two hostages released by Hamas on Monday, said after she was kidnapped, she was taken into the network of tunnels and slept on a mattress on the floor in one of them.
According to the sources briefed on the Hamas assault, the small cell waited until just before the attack was launched to prep a larger group of fighters above ground to carry out the specific operation. One of the sources said that though ground unit commanders and fighters were being trained for many months and kept at a state of general preparedness, they were only informed of the specific plans in the days leading up the operation.
“That’s how you compartment and keep something that’s tight,” the source added, noting that’s what happened in this case.
One of the sources said some of the training above ground was observed but did not ring major alarm bells. The thinking was, “oh they always train people like this. It didn’t look different,” the source said.
A third source familiar with the latest intelligence said Iran has helped Hamas develop their operational security tactics over the years, though US intelligence does not believe Iran played a direct role planning the October 7 attack itself.
Israel was aware that Palestinian militants had been using hardwired communication systems prior to the October attack.
It encountered what appeared to be a similar kind of communication system when the Israeli military raided the city of Jenin in the northern West Bank this summer, according to an Israeli official. When Israeli troops moved in as part of what was dubbed “Operation Home and Garden,” the Israel Defense Forces discovered secure, hardwired communication lines and closed-circuit surveillance cameras to give advance warning of Israeli troop movements.
At the time, the IDF said it had struck a joint operational command center used by militant cells in Jenin, noting that it was used for “advanced observation and reconnaissance.” It was, the IDF said, a “hub for coordination and communication among the terrorists.”
by tyler | Oct 25, 2023 | CNN, politics
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that while “the United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” it will act to defend itself “swiftly and decisively” against attacks by Iran or its proxies, and called on United Nations member states to urge Iran not to become directly involved in the Israel-Hamas war.
That message has been conveyed “consistently” to Iranian officials “through other channels,” Blinken said at a UN Security Council meeting Tuesday.
The top US diplomat’s pointed public missive comes in the wake of an uptick in attacks by Iranian-backed proxies against US interests in the Middle East.
US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked at least 13 times since October 17, according to the Defense Department.
Multiple US officials told CNN that the US has intelligence that such groups are planning to ramp up attacks against US forces in the Middle East as Iran seeks to capitalize on the backlash in the region to US support for Israel.
In his remarks Tuesday, Blinken reiterated the US’ full-throated support for Israel to defend itself and called on the international community to “unequivocally condemn Hamas’s barbaric terrorist attack against Israel.”
He stressed that “Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people, and Palestinian civilians are not to blame for the carnage committed by Hamas.”
“Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians,” Blinken said.
However, rather than call for a ceasefire, Blinken instead said that “humanitarian pauses must be considered” to allow desperately needed aid to reach civilians in Gaza.
There is growing international condemnation over the civilian death toll in Gaza and limited aid that has been allowed into the strip. A limited number of aid trucks only began to access Gaza over the weekend, and aid agencies and doctors on the ground have warned that if fuel runs out, it will be catastrophic.
“I’m here today because the United States believes the United Nations – and this council in particular – has a crucial role to play in addressing this crisis,” Blinken said Tuesday, noting that the US had “put forward a resolution that sets out practical steps that we can take together toward that end.”
“A broader conflict would be devastating, not only for Palestinians and Israelis, but for people across the region and, indeed, around the world,” the top US diplomat said.
“To that end, we call on all member states to send a firm united message to any state or non-state actor that is considering opening another front in this conflict against Israel or who may target Israel’s partners, including the United States: Don’t. Don’t throw fuel on the fire,” he said.
He specifically called for countries to not only urge Iran to show restraint, but also “make clear that if Iran or its proxies widen this conflict and put more civilians at risk, you, you will hold them accountable.”
“Act as if the security and stability of the entire region and beyond is on the line – because it is,” he said.
He said he would discuss preventing the conflict from spreading with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Washington later this week.
Blinken again urged countries to leverage their connections to press for the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas, saying that “every member of this council, indeed, every member of this body should insist on that.”
Four hostages – two Israelis and two Americans – have been released in recent days, but more than 200 hostages are believed to be trapped in Gaza.
The top US diplomat also said that the UN should “redouble our collective efforts to build an enduring political solution to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.”
“The United States stands ready to work with anyone ready to forge a more peaceful and secure future for the region, the future its people yearn for and so deserve,” he said.
by tyler | Oct 25, 2023 | CNN, politics
Florida’s attorney general on Tuesday asked the US Supreme Court to allow a law that a federal court judge says amounts to a crackdown on drag shows to go back into effect while legal challenges play out.
Attorney General Ashley Moody said the law – dubbed the state’s “Protection of Children Act” – was designed to “prevent the exposure of children to sexually explicit live performances.” The 2023 law makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly admit a child to an sexually explicit adult live performance that would be obscene for the “the age of the child present.”
The district court judge blocked the law pending appeal, holding it likely violated free speech and due process protections and that it was unconstitutionally vague. The 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals declined Florida’s emergency application for a stay of the district court’s injunction, triggering the state’s ask to the Supreme Court for relief.
The law was originally challenged by a popular Orlando restaurant – Hamburger Mary’s – that hosts drag brunches and claimed that the new legislation resulted in a loss of business.
Florida asked the justices to scale back the state-wide injunction so that it would only apply to the restaurant. “Florida is now unable to enforce its statue at all, to the detriment of Florida’s children and the State’s sovereign prerogative to protect them from harm,” Moody argued.
Moody additionally said that Hamburger Mary’s is not impacted by the law because its shows are not sexually explicit.
The law was a priority for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
The governor, upon signing the law in May, said that the state “is proud to lead the way in standing up for our children.”
“As the world goes mad, Florida represents a refuge of sanity and a citadel of normalcy,” he said in a statement at the time.
The justices are expected to ask for a response from the restaurant before issuing an order.
by tyler | Oct 25, 2023 | CNN, politics
US Rep. Tom Emmer, the House majority whip who withdrew his bid for the speakership after it was thrown into immediate jeopardy Tuesday afternoon, has tried to balance an at-times moderate voting record while trying to appeal to the Donald Trump-aligned base of the Republican Party.
The move comes hours after the Minnesota Republican emerged as House Republicans’ new speaker nominee in the scramble to succeed Kevin McCarthy, who was removed from the role in a historic ouster on October 3. With a razor-thin GOP majority in the House, Emmer could only afford to lose four Republicans, and 26 voted against him behind closed doors. And despite a phone call with Trump over the weekend, the former president continued in recent days to post negative messages about Emmer on his Truth Social platform.
Several Republicans who opposed Emmer told CNN Tuesday they would not change their stance and called for a new candidate.
Emmer had recently faced criticism by the right-wing of the Republican conference for, among other things, voting for the bipartisan law to avoid a debt default and to codify same-sex marriage.
Perhaps most importantly, he voted to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, a flagrant rejection of Trump’s oft-repeated falsehoods that the results were illegitimate.
But Emmer has a history of supporting the former president. In interviews and public comments, reviewed by CNN’s KFile ahead of the speakership vote, Emmer also refused to say Joe Biden won the election and bashed the press for calling the race in the wake of the 2020 election.
The Minnesota lawmaker was first elected to Congress in 2014 and became majority whip earlier this year. Emmer, who lost a race for Minnesota governor in 2010, was a state representative from 2004-2008. He sits on the House Financial Services Committee and is a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
As majority whip, Emmer has experience with keeping the GOP’s narrow majority in line. Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry, who is currently interim House speaker, told CNN in January that Emmer helped hammer out the negotiations between the 20 hardliners and the speaker’s office that eventually won McCarthy the gavel after 15 ballots.
McCarthy had backed the Minnesota Republican for speaker and urged the conference to elect him by the end of the week.
“This is not a time for a learning experience as speaker. Tom would be able to walk into the job and do it on day one,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.
Soon after McCarthy lost the speaker job, some members floated Emmer as a contender, but he quickly rallied around House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who later dropped out after the GOP failed to coalesce around him.
South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, told CNN earlier Tuesday that although he “didn’t agree with that vote,” referring to Emmer’s decision to certify the 2020 election, he he had not yet ruled out supporting him.
“Trust is something people are looking for,” Norman said, adding: “Tom’s honest.”
This headline and story have been updated with additional developments.
by tyler | Oct 25, 2023 | CNN, politics
In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Tom Emmer, a Republican member of the House of Representatives, baselessly said there were “questionable” practices in the 2020 presidential election.
Later, Emmer signed an amicus brief in support of a last-ditch Texas lawsuit seeking to throw out the results in key swing states.
Though he would vote to certify the results on January 6, 2021, the comments and actions show Emmer flirted with some of the same election denial rhetoric as far-right members of the Republican caucus.
Emmer was selected as the GOP’s nominee for speaker of the House Tuesday, but dropped out of the race later in the day after his bid appeared on the verge of collapse amid opposition from the right flank of his conference and fresh attacks waged by Trump.
Speaking with the radio show for the far-right publication Breitbart News 12 days after the election, Emmer baselessly suggested that mail-in ballots might have “skewed” the election against Trump.
“I think that you will see the courts, if nothing else, this president is making sure that he stays focused and his team stays focused on these questionable election practices,” Emmer said. “We’re gonna find out – if it’s accurate – how much they skewed the outcome of the election in Georgia and elsewhere.”
“I had one of my colleagues telling me in Georgia that where we got voter ID we’re doing great, where we can’t reasonably identify the voter, we’re getting killed,” he added, saying he hoped the state would restrict vote by mail in the then-upcoming January Georgia Senate runoff elections.
Emmer was quieter than many Republicans in the aftermath of the 2020 election. But in interviews and public comments, reviewed by CNN’s KFile ahead of the speakership vote, Emmer refused to say Biden won the election and bashed the press for calling the race.
Speaking to local news outlets in early December 2020 – after results had been certified in all swing states – Emmer attacked the press for calling the race for Joe Biden.
“Everybody has the right to count every vote. Right now, we’re in a process where the media wants to call the race, the media wants to create this situation that they’re the ones that determine when people are done with the process,” Emmer said. “It’s about making sure that everybody – people that voted for Joe Biden, people who voted for Donald Trump, or people who voted for somebody else – that they know every legitimate vote is counted and they have confidence in the outcome.
“There’s a process,” Emmer added. “The process is the votes are cast, if there’s a question, there are recounts, there are signature verifications. This time across the country, mail-in ballots threw a whole new curveball into it. And then if you have specific areas where there’s more to be done, you do have the right to go to a court to have a difference of opinion result. That’s all following the process. It’ll be resolved soon.”
Emmer later defended signing the amicus brief in support of the Texas lawsuit filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton to invalidate 62 Electoral votes in swing states won by Biden – which would have effectively thrown the election to Trump. The lawsuit was rejected by the US Supreme Court.
“This brief asserts the democratic right of state legislatures to make appointments to the Electoral College was violated in several states,” Emmer said in a statement published in the local St. Cloud Times. “All legal votes should be counted and the process should be followed – the integrity of current and future elections depends on this premise and this suit is a part of that process.”
Speaking at a forum on Dec. 17, 2020, Emmer acknowledged Biden’s win was certified by the Electoral College days earlier but said the process still had yet to play out and declined to call Biden president-elect when prompted.
“The media would like to declare the ultimate end to this process. I think certain elected officials would like to declare the end of this process, but as someone who was in a recount himself 10 years ago, I know that we need to respect the process whether you agree with it or not,” Emmer said. “Because once it’s over you’ve got people that are going to be on one side or the other, and they’ve all got to be satisfied that our election was conducted in a fair and transparent manner.”
by tyler | Oct 25, 2023 | CNN, politics
Republicans’ House speaker morass continued Tuesday with a little help from former President Donald Trump.
Yet another lawmaker with support from most House Republicans – Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, who was picked as their party’s nominee – failed to get the support of nearly all Republicans. He dropped out of the running Tuesday afternoon, leaving Republicans again back at square one.
Emmer, who supports military aid to Ukraine and who voted to certify the 2020 election, saw his chances fade in the most bizarre possible way hours after being picked.
Trump lobbied against Emmer with a social media post that hit while Emmer was trying to convince a few dozen skeptics on Capitol Hill and Trump was inside a New York courtroom facing civil fraud charges. Trump later told reporters outside the courtroom, “It looks like he’s finished.”
After one fired speaker and three failed candidates who got majority but not universal support, no one seems currently capable of uniting their tiny House majority – and the idea of getting help from Democrats remains, for now, unthinkable to both Republicans and Democrats.
It’s a situation that highlights not only Republican divisions, but also the bright line between Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
But it’s important to note that it was born of a fringe protest meant to demonstrate there’s no difference at all between the two parties.
The term “uniparty” has been a favorite of people like Steve Bannon, the former Trump White House official turned podcaster. He’s been using it for years in conjunction with the similarly cynical idea of Washington as a swamp that needs to be drained or the belief in a deep state that needs to be rooted out.
Bannon’s goal is to mobilize support for dismantling the current version of the US government.
The term also features prominently in the more-conservative-than-Fox-News media environment – networks like One America News, known as OAN, and Salem Radio.
“Right now, we are governed by a uniparty,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, the Florida Republican, told the former Trump administration official Sebastian Gorka in a September interview on the right-wing Salem News Channel in which he argued then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy was in cahoots with President Joe Biden and the Democratic leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York. Gaetz posted the interview on his official House website.
“You’ve got a small band of House conservatives who are fighting, really, in a lot of ways, a political guerrilla war against that uniparty,” Gaetz said. In early October, it was Gaetz who moved to successfully oust McCarthy from the speakership.
It’s indisputable that government spending has ballooned in recent years and reasonably arguable that it is out of control. But blaming a perceived “uniparty” is oversimplified nonsense.
Republicans under Trump passed a tax cut bill all by themselves. Democrats under Biden passed a spending bill without help from Republicans.
Reforming costly programs seems impossible because the two parties rarely work together, not because they secretly collude.
Multiple Republicans who supported McCarthy have argued Democrats are to blame for the current lack of a speaker because they did not break party ranks and support McCarthy.
There has been no substantive movement toward a unity speaker of some sort, although it is becoming hard to imagine any Republican getting enough support to become speaker without help from some Democrats.
The current math is that any Republican can lose the support of only four party comrades and become speaker without Democratic help.
Another lawmaker who voted to oust McCarthy is Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, who argued back in September that allowing the government to run out of money would not be that bad.
“Don’t let the DC uniparty scare you into thinking that a government shutdown is the end of the world,” Biggs said on social media in September, before McCarthy used Democratic votes to pass a funding bill.
This is a line of thinking that will get more attention, perhaps, when the government again faces a funding lapse November 17.
RELATED: The last time the government faced a funding lapse, just last month, CNN documented how a government shutdown could impact Americans.
Any potential speaker must find a way to both get the support of people like Gaetz and figure out how to fund the government in a little more than three weeks.
Emmer’s downfall is yet another cautionary tale. The majority of House Republicans backed Emmer, their fourth choice this year to be speaker, in both secret ballot voting and a behind-closed-doors roll call vote.
He had been working to convince holdouts when the post opposing him hit Trump’s social media account. For the fringe of the party, counts against Emmer include that he is a supporter of additional funding for Ukraine to repel Russia’s invasion. Foreign aid is a chief target of those who believe there is a uniparty.
Politico noted back in 2017 that the term has roots on the American left, in the rhetoric of Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate turned Green Party presidential candidate.
While there is not much polling on the idea of a uniparty, there is a lot of polling about the two main political parties.
In a Pew Research Center survey published in September, just 10% of Americans said they saw “hardly any” difference between the parties. A larger portion of the country – 25% – does not feel either party represents the interests of people like them, but that sentiment is held by roughly equal shares of Republicans and Democrats.
Similarly, about a quarter of both Republican and Republican-leaning voters and Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters do not feel well-represented by their parties.
Interestingly, despite gripes about a uniparty by the Republican fringe, Republicans are less likely than Democrats to express an interest in more party choices, according to Pew’s survey.
