House Foreign Affairs Chair Michael McCaul told reporters both U.S. and Israeli intelligence operations failed to spot and warn ahead of the deadly terrorist attacks over the weekend.
“We’re not quite sure how we missed it,” McCaul (R-Texas) said following an all-members classified briefing. “I’m not quite sure how Israel missed it. We know that it Egypt had warned the Israelis three days prior that an event like this could happen.”
McCaul also said his understanding was there are “dozens” of U.S. hostages in the area, declining to get more specific than that.
“We will provide assistance to Israel to get them out of there,” he said. “It’s gonna be very difficult — going house to house like Fallujah in 2005 to rescue these hostages when they use them as human shields.”
The Texas Republican said the first thing the House should do provide support is pass a bipartisan resolution he’s offered with ranking member Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), which he says now boasts more than 400 co-sponsors.
