Assuming they are veterans in the editorial department, they may just be trying to clue people in.
Personally, I wasn't privy to any such things, but I have seen some works by others from the spec ops and Intel communities (military/political fiction, mind you) that often have Israel playing a dangerous game in the shadows. One stood out in particular … I almost want to say it was a Dale Brown one, but I can't recall the name of the book. It had Israel playing both sides by using terrorists and U.S. defense contractors to create the public image of a threat to Israel to gain political favor.
The people who were going to do the bad thing were real, and wanted to cause harm to people, but their funding source and operational Intel ultimately came from the Israeli government - which was also working with the contractors (the main characters) to counter this group. The revelation was toward the end when the character recognized the same people and other senior people were well aware that such was often the game with Israel.
When I was younger - I largely dismissed the plot mechanic. But older and a bit wiser to the world, it was a fairly accurate portrayal. However, I don't think it was a Dale Brown work. I no longer have the book in question.