Top minister: US spying on Israel unacceptable
The Prime Minister's Office, the Defense Ministry and the Foreign Ministry have yet to officially comment on reports published over the weekend that the U.S. and the U.K. had monitored the email traffic of the offices of the prime minister and the defense minister. However, a senior government source said, "Israel will not allow the announcement to pass without comment" and that National Security Adviser Yossi Cohen would have to reach an understanding with his counterparts that "there are things one doesn't do among friends."
Over the weekend, The New York Times, The Guardian and Der Spiegel published a list of over 1,000 targets monitored by the National Security Agency and the U.K.'s Government Communications Headquarters. The list, leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, included the heads of international aid groups, a senior member of the European Commission, as well as the former Israeli prime minister and defense minister.
One of the reports, from January 2009, describes how the agencies monitored four Israeli targets, foremost among them former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The prime minister's email address was hacked into at a time when tension between Israel and the U.S. was relatively high due to the repercussions of Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, cyberattacks on Iran's nuclear facilities, and purported Israeli intentions to strike Iran.
A month after breaking into the prime minister's email, the agents worked on breaking into then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak's email address, and that of his chief of staff, Yoni Koren. Der Spiegel reported that by monitoring the defense minister's email -- minister@modgov.il -- the U.S. and U.K. were kept abreast of Barak's policies concerning Iran's nuclear program, among others. "It wasn't a forum for top-secret operations, but it was one for many internal decision-making processes," reported Der Spiegel. According to The Times, two Israeli embassies also appeared on the list, as well as a "Israeli grey arms dealer," but the paper did not identify them.
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=14181
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