Israeli Official to Visit Washington after Pentagon Leaks

A demonstrator in Tel Aviv holds the flag of the United States during protests against the Israeli prime minister and his government (Reuters)
A demonstrator in Tel Aviv holds the flag of the United States during protests against the Israeli prime minister and his government (Reuters)
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Israeli Official to Visit Washington after Pentagon Leaks

A demonstrator in Tel Aviv holds the flag of the United States during protests against the Israeli prime minister and his government (Reuters)
A demonstrator in Tel Aviv holds the flag of the United States during protests against the Israeli prime minister and his government (Reuters)

The Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Eyal Zamir will visit Washington Thursday to discuss the leaks of the Pentagon’s secret documents that suggested the US had spied on some of its closest allies, including on Israel.

Highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online recently, including a report produced by the CIA, suggested that Israel’s main intelligence agency, the Mossad, had been encouraging protests against the new Israeli government’s proposed judicial overhaul.

Political sources in Tel Aviv expressed their hope that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be able to be invited to the White House to “repair the damage.”

They indicated that President Joe Biden’s administration deviated from the norm in relations between the two countries and did not invite Netanyahu to visit the White House.

The leaked documents angered many in Israel and US allies, waiting for the “big brother” to explain the reason for spying on their country and ensure that it won’t happen again.

The US administration including the White House, the National Security Council, and the Ministries of Defense and State sent messages of reassurance to Israel regarding those leaks.

Walla news website quoted Israeli officials as saying that the US approach within the framework of broader diplomacy aimed to reduce the political damage resulting from the leaked classified documents.

Israel was one of the countries that received reassuring messages, especially since it is one of Washington's central allies in military and intelligence cooperation.

An Israeli source revealed that Pentagon officials spoke with their counterparts in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, asserting their commitment to bilateral security relations.

Washington officials said they launched an investigation into the source of the leak, urging Israel not to exaggerate the matter. It was then that Israeli officials decided to send Zamir to Washington to meet with Pentagon officials and follow up on the matter closely.

Another Israeli source said that State Department officials asked their Israeli counterparts to ensure calm, asserting there is an inquiry into the matter.

The leaked confidential report alleged that Mossad "advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest the new Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli government, according to signals intelligence."

The Mossad and the Israeli Prime Minister's Office quickly denied it, describing the leak as a lie.

The Biden administration faced awkward talks abroad because it showed that the US was spying on its allies, even on Israel, one of its central allies.

The leak also revealed a major security breach in the US Department of Defense and the intelligence community and could impact the intelligence cooperation with Israel.



Risk of Further Floods in Texas during Desperate Search for Missing as Death Toll Tops 80

05 July 2025, US, Ingram: A K9 unit with the Texas Game Warden conducts searches in flood damaged areas next to Camp Mystic in Hunt. Photo: San Antonio Express-News/Express-News via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
05 July 2025, US, Ingram: A K9 unit with the Texas Game Warden conducts searches in flood damaged areas next to Camp Mystic in Hunt. Photo: San Antonio Express-News/Express-News via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Risk of Further Floods in Texas during Desperate Search for Missing as Death Toll Tops 80

05 July 2025, US, Ingram: A K9 unit with the Texas Game Warden conducts searches in flood damaged areas next to Camp Mystic in Hunt. Photo: San Antonio Express-News/Express-News via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
05 July 2025, US, Ingram: A K9 unit with the Texas Game Warden conducts searches in flood damaged areas next to Camp Mystic in Hunt. Photo: San Antonio Express-News/Express-News via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

With more rain on the way, the risk of life-threatening flooding was still high in central Texas on Monday even as crews search urgently for the missing following a holiday weekend deluge that killed at least 82 people, including children at summer camps. Officials said the death toll was sure to rise.

Residents of Kerr County began clearing mud and salvaging what they could from their demolished properties as they recounted harrowing escapes from rapidly rising floodwaters late Friday.

Reagan Brown said his parents, in their 80s, managed to escape uphill as water inundated their home in the town of Hunt. When the couple learned that their 92-year-old neighbor was trapped in her attic, they went back and rescued her.

“Then they were able to reach their toolshed up higher ground, and neighbors throughout the early morning began to show up at their toolshed, and they all rode it out together,” The Associated Press quoted Brown as saying.

A few miles away, rescuers maneuvering through challenging terrain filled with snakes continued their search for the missing, including 10 girls and a counselor from Camp Mystic, an all-girls summer camp that sustained massive damage.

Gov. Greg Abbott said 41 people were unaccounted for across the state and more could be missing.

In the Hill Country area, home to several summer camps, searchers have found the bodies of 68 people, including 28 children, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said.

Ten other deaths were reported in Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green and Williamson counties, according to local officials.

The governor warned that additional rounds of heavy rains lasting into Tuesday could produce more dangerous flooding, especially in places already saturated.

Families were allowed to look around the camp beginning Sunday morning.

One girl walked out of a building carrying a large bell. A man whose daughter was rescued from a cabin on the highest point in the camp walked a riverbank, looking in clumps of trees and under big rocks.

One family left with a blue footlocker. A teenage girl had tears running down her face as they slowly drove away and she gazed through the open window at the wreckage.

Searching the disaster zone Nearby crews operating heavy equipment pulled tree trunks and tangled branches from the river. With each passing hour, the outlook of finding more survivors became even more bleak.

Volunteers and some families of the missing came to the disaster zone and searched despite being asked not to do so.

Authorities faced growing questions about whether enough warnings were issued in an area long vulnerable to flooding and whether enough preparations were made.

President Donald Trump signed a major disaster declaration Sunday for Kerr County and said he would likely visit Friday: “I would have done it today, but we’d just be in their way.”

“It’s a horrible thing that took place, absolutely horrible,” he told reporters.

Prayers in Texas — and from the Vatican Abbott vowed that authorities will work around the clock and said new areas were being searched as the water receded. He declared Sunday a day of prayer for the state.

In Rome, Pope Leo XIV offered special prayers for those touched by the disaster. The first American pope spoke in English at the end of his Sunday noon blessing, saying, “I would like to express sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones, in particular their daughters who were in summer camp, in the disaster caused by the flooding of the Guadalupe River in Texas in the United States. We pray for them.”