FPI / May 15, 2024
With his recent comments on the ongoing Israel-Gaza war baffling many who have long been in the know in Washington, one might wonder where exactly U.S. President Joe Biden is getting his intelligence on the Middle East from.
That would be Maher Bitar, who serves as Special Assistant to the President and is White House Coordinator for Intelligence and Defense Policy at the U.S. National Security Council (NSC)
President Barack Obama with Maher Bitar, his wife and baby in 2015. / White House
What are his qualifications? He was a radical pro-Palestinian activist and a leader within Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), according to a Breitbart.com report.
Bitar is the fastest-rising Muslim official in D.C. and he is far from alone. As of 2022, the Arab-Americans in Foreign Affairs Agencies has more than 450 members, many with ties to the extensive Muslim Brotherhood network in the United States.
He is also an “anti-Israel political activist” and is likely telling Biden on a daily basis “of Hamas and Iranian allegations of Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip,” independent journalist Steve Rodan noted in a May 14 Substack.com analysis.
Under Bitar, “the intelligence community has been ordered to release information on Israel’s military and classified operations. The first to usually receive these tips have been Iran and Turkey, the latter another leading sponsor of Hamas,” Rodan noted.
“Bitar controls the intelligence President Biden receives every day as well as manages administration policy on defense programs, including aid and exports,” Rodan wrote. “He literally has a finger in every pie. Not bad, for a man who hasn’t yet turned 40 and retains zero professional experience.”
What Bitar does retain, Rodan continued, “is the vast clout of Qatar, a desert state the size of Connecticut that swims in crude oil and natural gas. Over the last 20 years, the Sunni emirate has funneled billions of dollars to coopt if not outright buy the American elite, particularly political parties, media and universities. More than anyone else, Doha has succeeded in the U.S. shift from Saudi Arabia to strategic cooperation with Iran, with ambitions to take over the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia.”
Bitar’s background, Rodan noted, “has been the Muslim Brotherhood network that works tirelessly for preferential rights for radical Islam, disinvestment of Israel and violence against Jews throughout the country.”
He first arrived in D.C. as a student at Georgetown University, where he became “a leading organizer in anti-Israeli activities on campus,” Rodan added.
After graduation, Bitar put in a short spell at the United Nations offices in Jerusalem and Malaysia.
“Then, he was invited to join the State Department and quickly turned from trainee to a leading staffer at the Office of the Special Envoy for Middle East Peace during the administration of President Barack Obama,” Rodan wrote.
Bitar became deputy to the U.S. envoy to the United Nations Samantha Power.
“Like Obama, Bitar’s biography has been shrouded in mystery. There is nothing regarding where he was born, his date of birth and how a young man with a Palestinian father and Lebanese mother arrived in the United States,” Rodan noted.