In 2010, Wikileaks published a diplomatic exchange between Israel’s then-head of military intelligence, Major General Amos Yadlin, and the US Ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, supporting a Hamas-run Gaza Strip that Israel could then declare hostile.
Wikileaks has repeatedly posted on X a reminder of the diplomatic exchange. Obviously, Wikileaks considers this a significant revelation about the workings of the deep state.
The purpose of encouraging Hamas to take over Gaza could be to have a reason to invade the Gaza Strip. The Hamas party won the Palestinian parliamentary elections in January 2006 but was prevented from forming a government as required by the Palestinian constitution.
A year later, the Hamas party was able to form a government in Gaza after months of attempts by the US-backed Fateh party to seize power. The leaked correspondence was documented just hours before the Hamas government was formed in Gaza in June 2007.
Amos Yadlin wrote to US Ambassador Richard Jones that he would be ”very happy” if Hamas formed a government in Gaza ”as long as they have no (air or sea) port”. He also wrote that Israel would then work with the rival Palestinian political party, Fateh, to form a government in the West Bank and then undermine the Hamas government in Gaza.
This is what happened, according to the International Middle East Media Center’s summary of the Wikileaks cable. Shortly after the meeting between Yadlin and Ambassador Jones, Hamas formed a government in Gaza and Israel launched a massive siege and the largest-ever attack on Gaza in late December 2008.
In another telegram released by Wikileaks, Yadlin discussed with US Congressman Robert Wexler in December 2008 and wrote that ”Abu Mazen” (Mahmoud Abbas) and (Salam) Fayyad control the West Bank while Hamas has established a terror unit in Gaza”.
Sources
- Wikileaks
- International Middle East Media Center: Wikileaks cable: Israeli intelligence chief encouraged Hamas takeover of Gaza Strip