WASHINGTON DC (WSAU) – In a Wednesday night social media post, the White House mistakenly identified special forces members who are currently operating in Israel.
After President Joe Biden’s trip to Israel, the White House tweeted a picture of the president with what it dubbed “first responders,” who are thought to be members of the special forces. The White House deleted the post without explaining after observers pointed out that the personnel’s faces were not blurred.
“As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo. We regret the error and any issues this may have caused,” a White House spokesperson told the Daily Caller.
Biden acknowledged earlier this month that some of the hostages captured by Hamas were Americans. According to two senior U.S. military officials who spoke to The Messenger, the administration stated that the United States has sent hostage rescue specialists to Israel to help the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and that U.S. special operation forces had been put on alert in a neighboring nation in case they were required in Israel at a later time.
The Special Operations Association of America’s executive director, David Cook, told the Daily Caller that in addition to putting the lives and careers of the operators exposed in the photograph at risk, the security breach might also offer Hamas, whom the United States is assisting Israel in defeating, a “huge propaganda win.”
“The risk is high. These guys that got pictured, it could ruin their careers. They could put their families in danger. It could put them in danger,” Cook said.
Terrorists from Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are holding at least 200 hostages inside Gaza. The combined strength of those two terrorist organizations is currently thought to be around 50,000.
The United States, the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Canada, France, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and Australia are among the nations that have instructed their citizens to leave the region as soon as possible.
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