Report: Netanyahu blocked Israeli intel chiefs from meeting US officials multiple times since Oct. 7

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blocked Israeli intelligence and security chiefs from meeting with US officials multiple times amid the ongoing war in Gaza, according to officials quoted by the Axios news site.

Most recently, Netanyahu banned Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head from meeting with Senator Marco Rubio while he was in Israel, according to US officials quoted in the report.

Instead, the prime minister met with the senator himself, the report adds, while noting that the officials said the move was not a shot at Rubio.

Officials quoted in the report believe Netanyahu is trying to control what US politicians and lawmakers hear from Israel amid deep divides in his cabinet about the handling of the war raging in Gaza.

Axios notes that US officials routinely meet with Israeli military and security chiefs, who are seen as “credible, professional and apolitical.”

According to the report, Netanyahu’s office blocked several meetings between Shin Bet leaders and US State Department officials since October 7 and also tried to prevent a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi.