https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/02/maher-bitar-and-israels-ideological-elections-caroline-glick/
Israel’s March 23 elections are being presented as a simple referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The media and Netanyahu’s opponents would have us believe that there is no ideological struggle; it’s all just a question of whether you love or hate Bibi.
But this is untrue. The coming elections are primarily about ideology. To understand why this is the case, we need to look no further than U.S. President Joe Biden’s appointments.
Last week, the White House announced that Maher Bitar had been appointed to serve as the senior director for Intelligence at the National Security Council. The position is one of the most powerful posts in the U.S. intelligence community. The senior director is the node to which all intelligence from all agencies flows. He decides what to share with the president. And in the name of the president, he determines priorities for intelligence operations and collection.
The senior director of intelligence also determines what information the U.S. intelligence community will share with foreign intelligence services. Likewise, he decides how to relate to information that foreign intelligence agencies share with the Americans.
As one former senior national security council member explained, “The senior director for intelligence controls the information everyone sees. And by controlling information, he controls the conversation.”
Usually, the sensitive position is reserved for a CIA officer who is detailed to the National Security Council. Bitar, however, is not an intelligence professional. He is an anti-Israel political activist.