White House Says It Deleted Uncensored Photo of Special Forces Personnel in Israel

U.S. President Joe Biden disembarks upon his arrival at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport on Oct. 18, 2023, amid the ongoing battles between Israel and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

The White House said Thursday that it had deleted a revealing photo of what appeared to be U.S. special operation force members meeting with President Joe Biden, who was on a high-profile visit to Israel on Oct. 18.

Self-proclaimed intelligence analyst Sam Shoemate shared a screenshot of the photo—which he had censored—on X, saying that the White House posted it on Instagram without blurring out the faces of Delta Force operators.

The now-deleted photo was captioned with: “In Israel, President Biden met with first responders to thank them for their bravery and the work they’re doing in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks.”

Mr. Shoemate said the photo was removed an hour later after it had garnered over 6,000 likes. “This is a massive failure on the Biden admin,” he stated on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Oct. 19.

The U.S. Department of Defense generally blurs off the faces of special operations forces troops in photos and videos due to the sensitive nature of their operations.

The White House later apologized for the error and said that it had deleted the photo from its social media account.

“As soon as this was brought to our attention, we immediately deleted the photo. We regret the error and any issues this may have caused,” a White House representative told Fox News.

Republican congressional candidate Joe Kent, also a retired Green Beret combat veteran, criticized the Biden administration for revealing the identities of service members involved in “our nation’s most dangerous mission.”

“The Biden Admin operates at the confluence of hubris, malice & incompetence,” Mr. Kent stated on X.

“Nothing says thank you for doing our nation’s most dangerous missions like showing every terrorist in the world the identities of our warriors,” he added.

US Providing Intelligence Support to Israel

During a press briefing on Oct. 19, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder was asked if the service members in the photo were indeed special forces operators and whether there is a policy against having special forces have their photo taken.

Brig. Gen. Ryder responded by saying: “I'd have to refer you to the White House on that. I just don’t have any information to provide.”

Defense Department spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder holds a press conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Aug. 31, 2023. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

When asked about the presence of U.S. special forces operators in Israel, Brig. Gen. Ryder said the United States is “providing planning and intelligence support to the Israelis, as it pertains to hostage recovery,” but he did not elaborate.

“If your question is do we have special operations forces conducting, you know, boots on the ground operations, again, you’ve heard us say that we are not going to have boots on the ground,” he said.

The Israeli ministry has confirmed that 199 hostages are being held in Gaza by Hamas. The hostages, which include elderly people and babies, were taken captive by terrorists during Hamas’ terror attack on Oct. 7.

In retaliation, Israel has bombarded Gaza and imposed a strict blockade of food, water, and power until all hostages are freed.

There are several Americans among the hostages. The U.S. government is engaging with Israel to rescue the hostages, President Biden said last week. However, White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Oct. 12 that the administration has no plans to send U.S. troops to Israel.

The State Department has confirmed the deaths of 30 U.S. citizens. In addition, 13 Americans are missing. Authorities have been in touch with their families.

Naveen Athrappully contributed to this report.