IndustryStandard

Hours before Tulsi Gabbard appeared for a combative hearing on her nomination as director of national intelligence on Thursday, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden gave some public advice to the woman who once pushed for his pardon.

“Tulsi Gabbard will be required to disown all prior support for whistleblowers as a condition of confirmation today. I encourage her to do so. Tell them I harmed national security and the sweet, soft feelings of staff. In D.C., that’s what passes for the pledge of allegiance,” Snowden said on X.

Even after facing more than a dozen questions about Snowden, however, Gabbard refused to back down.

Instead, Gabbard told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Snowden broke the law and that she would no longer push for his pardon — but that he had revealed blatant violations of the Constitution.

An automated social media profile developed to harness the powers of artificial intelligence to promote Israel's cause online is also pushing out blatantly false information, including anti-Israel misinformation, in an ironic yet concerning example of the risks of using the new generative technologies for political ends.

Among other things, the alleged pro-Israel bot denied that an entire Israeli family was murdered on October 7, blamed Israel for U.S. plans to ban TikTok, falsely claimed that Israeli hostages weren't released despite blatant evidence to the contrary and even encouraged followers to "show solidarity" with Gazans, referring them to a charity that raises money for Palestinians. In some cases, the bot criticzed pro-Israel accounts, including the official government account on X – the same accounts it was meant to promote.

The bot, an Haaretz examination found, is just one of a number of so-called "hasbara" technologies developed since the start of the war. Many of these technologically-focused public diplomacy initiatives utilized AI, though not always for content creation. Some of them also received support from Israel, which scrambled to back different tech and civilian initiatives since early 2024, and has since poured millions into supporting different projects focused on monitoring and countering anti-Israeli and antisemitism on social media.

US President Donald Trump has said his administration temporarily halted foreign spending to “look at the scams, dishonesty, waste and abuse that’s taking place in our government for too long”.

That included $50m “sent to Gaza to buy condoms for Hamas”, the president said, repeating a claim made earlier by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

“You know what’s happened to them? They’ve used them as a method of making bombs,” Trump said in televised remarks.

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) contraceptive funding for 2023 does not list any funding for condoms for the entire Middle East region that year.

Pilot ejected before crash

The Jenin Brigades said its fighters detonated a “guided bomb” against an Israeli military infantry force that was advancing inside the besieged Palestinian camp.

The coalition group of armed fighters added on its Telegram channel that its operatives “confront the storming infantry forces and military vehicles with heavy showers of bullets and explosive devices, achieving confirmed injuries”.

The Jenin Brigades also reported detonating an explosive device planted under a road in the al-Damaj axis in Jenin camp, and said a military vehicle was attacked and put out of commission by an explosive.