The White House tried to backtrack last week after publishing a photo on Instagram that showed President Joe Biden in Israel meeting with U.S. special operations forces, exposing their identity.

The common practice is for the Defense Department to blur out the faces of these soldiers because of the risks tied to their missions, The Washington Examiner reported. 

The Messenger, another news outlet, reported that the unaltered photo appeared on the White House’s official Instagram account for hours and had more than 6,000 likes and 792 comments before being taken down. The original post read: “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.”

The first photo showed four men dressed in desert fatigues that RT, the Russian news outlet, said wore patches that identified them as members of the elite Combat Applications Group (CAG), which also goes by Delta Force and Task Force Green.

The Messenger reported that U.S. special operations forces have been inside Israel to conduct possible rescue missions for the 100 or so hostages taken by Hamas. The U.S. said a Delta Team is currently working with Israelis to provide planning and intelligence support. 

A White House spokesman told RealClearPolitics that the communications team deleted the photo the moment it was informed of the blunder.

TRENDPOST: The incident even raised new criticisms of the Biden administration that it is insular in its views. The Huff Post reported that the pro-Israel stance by the Biden administration has been a drag on the morale of Muslim and Palestinian staff on his team, and renewed criticism that his inner circle is not diverse. 

The Biden administration’s decision to position troops inside Israel without taking an active military role is similar to its approach to Ukraine. (See “U.S. AT WAR WITH RUSSIA: NATO TROOPS ARE FIGHTING IN UKRAINE” 14 Feb 2023, “U.S. AT WAR WITH RUSSIA: TRAINING UKRAINE TROOPS IN AMERICA” 17 Jan 2023 and “RAMPING UP WAR, U.S. PUTTING TROOPS ON ESTONIA’S BORDER WITH RUSSIA” 20 Dec 2022.)

The U.S., at the minimum, is trying to intimidate Iran and Hezbollah from joining Hamas’s war effort by positioning two aircraft carrier groups in the Eastern Mediterranean and also reportedly deploying a rapid response force of 2,000 Marines and sailors.  

In response to the U.S. sending ships, in a show of force, China sent six warships to the Middle East.