Ehud Barak
Following reports that the United States was monitoring
Israeli senior ministers' emails and phone calls, it was revealed that in June
2007, shortly after Ehud Barak was appointed defense minister, the Israeli
defense establishment noted the US administration had rented an apartment on
the same Tel Aviv street in which Barak was residing, right across from his
high-rise apartment, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday.
Washington insisted there was no causal link between Barak's
appointment and the renting of the apartment, (which they insisted was for a
Marine who was working in the American embassy's security team) despite the
fact that Israeli intelligence detected sizable amounts of electronic equipment
delivered to the US-rented apartment.
Intelligence documents disclosed over the weekend confirmed
the Israeli suspicion, as Friday's reports – according to which the National
Security Agency and Britain's General Communications Headquarters (GHCQ)
intercepted the email traffic of former Israeli leadership – pertained to the
years 2008-2009, when Barak was defense minister.
The reports, by Der Spiegel, The New York Times and The
Guardian, said the offices of then prime ministers Ehud Olmert and Benjamin
Netanyahu were also being monitored.
Barak refuse to comment, but has spoken out on similar
issues in the past, and has always said, since his appointment to the chief of
the military intelligence directorate in 1983, that he was always taking into
account the fact that he might be monitored.
Olmert, who was the prime minister during most of the time
when the surveillance is known to have taken place, stressed that the email
account that was being monitored was "public, and the chance that any
security or intelligence damage was made is close to nothing."
Sources with the Israeli defense nonetheless estimate that
recent revelations might be the tip of the iceberg and though many of the
monitored outlets seemed to pose no great risk, more sensitive surveillance
incidents might be revealed.
Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz addressed the
reports, saying "We do not monitor the president of the United States, the
White House or the US Secretary of Defense. We need to reach a settlement with
the United States."
Steinitz said that Israel was aware that "everyone
wants to monitor us," stating that "it is illegitimate" to
monitor senior Israeli
officials, seeing as Israel has an intelligence alliance
with the United States. "Monitoring the prime minister and the defense
minister is unacceptable," he added.
Israeli sources also stressed that in light of the spionage
reports, the United States' detention of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard is
illegitimate. "If the Snowden affair manages to shock anyone in the wall
of American hypocrisy that is holding Pollard there – then maybe this report
will have done some good," a source said.
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said: "Now the
secret is out. The United States has been systematically spying on the
political-security leadership. Is that what friends do? Pollard was arrested
for much less. I intend to propose to the cabinet today that Israel demand an
American commitment to stop the surveillance and immediately release Pollard in
light of recent reports.
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