A U.S. official has denied a report published in Israel Hayom (as well as the Jerusalem Post) on Friday that the U.S. government prevented the FBI from aiding Israel in the search for fallen IDF soldier Oron Shaul, who was initially feared kidnapped during fighting in Gaza this summer. It was later determined that Shaul had been killed in battle, but his remains have yet to be recovered. The U.S. official called the Israel Hayom report "incorrect and misleading." "Unfortunately, this story only contributes to the public's misunderstanding about the extent of efforts that both the U.S and Israeli government undertook in the search for Corporal Shaul," the official said. "There was significant cooperation between the U.S. government and the government of Israel in developing information in support of the search for Corporal Shaul. The FBI did immediately pass useful intelligence information to Israeli authorities related to Corporal Shaul's social media account which answered the initial Israeli request. The FBI further undertook other investigative efforts pursuant to legal authority as a result of follow on Israeli requests in an attempt to assist our allies in the search for their missing soldier. "U.S. and Israeli law enforcement and intelligence organizations enjoy a robust and continuing exchange of information and intelligence on any number of items of mutual interest on a daily basis. To characterize this instance as anything other than responsive and collaborative is simply misinformed." Steven Emerson, the author of the report published Friday in Israel Hayom and the executive director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, said in response: "My source said this explanation lacks any credibility. He reiterated the fact that 'law enforcement officials directly involved' were specifically told in writing that permission was withdrawn from the FBI to obtain a court order to present to Facebook to get server information on Shaul's Facebook page. The FBI was told to 'stand down' after previously having been given the green light. As such, no court order was ever issued to Facebook because they were prohibited from obtaining one. No such server information by Facebook was ever provided to the FBI when the soldier was missing. As the emails show, the FBI was told that Israel had to go through the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty process, a slow bureaucratic process that can take up to weeks to process and is not used in life or death situations especially with close allies. "Moreover, Israeli officials never got the Facebook information on Oron's Facebook account from the FBI when they requested it."
