The Biden administration may have accidentally revealed the identities of U.S. special operations forces in Israel when it posted a photo to social media that did not obscure the service members' faces, the Washington Examiner reported.
The White House communications team posted a photo on Instagram after President Joe Biden's visit to Israel on Wednesday that showed him shaking hands with "first responders," who may have actually been members of a Delta Force team.
The faces of the five potential special ops personnel were all at least somewhat visible in the photo, which reportedly did not blur out their faces or attempt to conceal their identities.
"In Israel, President Biden met with first responders to thank them for their bravery and the work they're doing in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks," the caption of the now-deleted post read.
When asked about the photo, a White House spokesperson told RealClearPolitics reporter Susan Crabtree that it was posted by mistake.
"As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo," the spokesperson said. "We regret the error and any issues this may have caused."
Sam Shoemate, a self-described intelligence analyst, called the move a "massive failure" on the part of the Biden administration.
According to Shoemate, the White House deleted the post "an hour later after hundreds of thousands had already viewed it."
The White House did not answer Crabtree's question about whether the American soldiers in the photo are members of a Delta Force team deployed to help advise the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
During a briefing on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the United States has established a small contingent of special operations forces in Israel that have been advising the IDF on the roughly 200 hostages the Palestinian militant group took following the Oct. 7 land, air, and sea attack in southern Israel.
"We are providing planning and intelligence support to the Israelis as it pertains to hostage recovery," Ryder said, according to the Examiner. "That's about the extent of what I'm able to provide right now."
On Tuesday, Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a statement that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin "placed approximately 2,000 personnel and a range of units on a heightened state of readiness through a prepare-to-deploy order." Such an order "increases DoD's ability to respond quickly to the evolving security environment in the Middle East," she said.
Though 32 U.S. civilians were among the approximately 1,400 people killed during the Hamas terrorist attack, Biden has not committed to U.S. boots on the ground on the front lines of the conflict.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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