Kan and Channel 12 Say Two Arab States Are Planning to Deceive Israel, and Neither Names Them
Both Hebrew broadcasters ran the same unnamed-country intelligence claim within a day of each other, ten weeks before the 27 October election and four days after the Mecca defence pact was signed.
The Times of Israel’s liveblog entry timed 03:30 on 11 August summarises two separate Hebrew reports, one by the Kan public broadcaster and one by Channel 12, both published in the preceding day: Israel suspects that two Arab states intend to attack it, and are working to lull it into a false sense of security first by signing diplomatic agreements — deals meant, in the wording carried by ToI, to “anesthetize” Israel and remove scrutiny. Neither report names either country. The Files has not read the Hebrew originals and is relying on ToI’s English summary of both. The claim is placed against a documented event in the same week: Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed their defence pact in Mecca on Friday 7 August, a document Tehran welcomed in writing.
The Israeli press is not unanimous on how to read that pact. A Haaretz headline dated 8 August — retrievable only as an index line — reads “New Middle East pact seen in Israel as sign of waning U.S. influence,” which is a reading about American power, not about Arab deception. The election calendar is fixed and close: polls on 27 October for the 26th Knesset, candidate lists due around 10 September, Likud primaries next week, per Haaretz’s own explainer and the dating in Marc Schulman’s 10 August newsletter. The same 24 hours produced a second claim with no artifact behind it: asked in the Oval Office on 10 August about Netanyahu’s rejection of the Gaza roadmap, President Trump said, “I have a response. I put it out today on Truth — a good response.” ToI reported that no such statement had been posted.
Assessment: An intelligence assessment that names no state cannot be checked, contradicted or dated, which is precisely why it travels. Placing it with the public broadcaster and the largest commercial channel on consecutive nights gives it the appearance of corroboration while leaving no institution accountable for it. The operative question is not whether two Arab governments harbour hostile intent; it is what the claim does to the reception of any normalisation offer arriving before 27 October. Note the direction of travel: the pact that actually exists was signed by three states in Mecca, welcomed by Tehran, and read in Haaretz as evidence of American decline. Treat the broadcast claim as a claim.