Peter Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively to VK
The publication in Western media of reports that over the years the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) intercepted e-mails and listen to the conversations of the Prime Minister, Defense Minister and other members of the Government of Israel, provoked a strong reaction in the Israeli media. However, the correspondent of VK was convinced that, despite these angry publications, in reality, in the corridors of power in Israel there is complete peace of mind.
This is due to several reasons.
First, judging by the publications in the "Guardian" and "Spiegel", the Americans and the British intercepted only letters of the open, unencrypted mail of Ministry of Defense and the Office of the Prime Minister. Therefore, this correspondence cannot be considered secret (at least absolutely secret).
Secondly, and most importantly, all the Israeli leadership... knew that its conversations are tapped by the Americans, the British, the Arabs, and possibly representatives of special services of other countries. "If they overheard Merkel, why couldn’t they overhear Netanyahu?", an official of the Israeli Prime Minister’s office told VK.
Former Prime Minister and former Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that since 1983, when he had just entered the post of Chief of Army Intelligence (AMAN), and to this day he talks assuming that his words can be overheard. The most secret negotiations are conducted by him in informal areas which have previously been carefully checked for any listening devices or the ability to listen without those.
Another former Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, arriving in Egypt, used to call one of his ministers every night and talk about the beauty of Cairo, as well as to pay homage to the wisdom and foresight of President Hosni Mubarak. Answering his assistant’s question whether he could exaggerate reality, Sharon confidently explained that these conversations are tapped by the Egyptians and the Americans, and he says it for them.
Two recent Israeli Prime Ministers - Ehud Olmert and Binyamin Netanyahu - were also well aware that they are being watched and listened, and all the secret instructions given to employees are whispered confidentially in thoroughly-tested areas.
Shadowing the senior officials of the Jewish state is apparently conducted by the Americans around the clock. For instance, in June 2007 the Israeli secret service found that a senior U.S. embassy guardian rented an apartment in Tel Aviv directly opposite the house where Defense Minister Ehud Barak lived – almost window to window. On enquiry, the U.S. embassy said that it was a random coincidence - it is necessary for a security guard to live somewhere. However, the officers of Shin Bet (Israel's General Security Service) closely followed up the equipment that was imported into the apartment, after which they had no doubt that he is engaged in espionage activities. But Ehud Barak, as has already been said, was ready for it.
There were other cases of spying for Israeli politicians and diplomats that Shin Bet has revealed but not publicized. In general, as the official of the Israeli Prime Minister’s office noted in a conversation with the reporter of VK, the American interests concerned the following areas: Israeli actions in the "controlled areas" (apparently out of concern that Israel could mislead the U.S. on this matter); Israeli deals to sell arms (for fear of competition and the desire to seize the most profitable orders) and negotiations between Israel and “not quite friendly countries", especially, of course, Russia.
Although in the corridors of power in Israel there is complete peace of mind, in the media and in society a real storm is raging, largely fueled by the same authorities. The point is that the mere fact of revealing the Americans spying against Israel provides the latter a great chance for the release of Jonathan Pollard - a former officer in the U.S. Navy, convicted of issuing a series of secret documents to Israel and sentenced in 1987 to life imprisonment – from a U.S. prison. All lawyers say that the sentence imposed on Pollard does not correspond to the severity of his crime, but for 26 years the U.S. authorities have refused to commute the sentence of the Israeli intelligence officer, despite repeated requests by the leaders of Israel and a mass movement in the country demanding freedom for Pollard.
Although Prime Minister Netanyahu has said that "we do not need any special occasions to demand the release of Jonathan Pollard", everyone in the country understands that there is a reason, the reason is just great, and it will be used. Therefore, it seems that the scandal will gain momentum.
In conclusion, it remains to note that, according to experts in the field of high-tech, Israel today is the undisputed world leader in creating modern listening technologies, and these technologies enable the Israeli army and foreign intelligence to be perfectly oriented to what is happening in the corridors of power of most of the world. "Some people overhear us, but we overhear everyone. Nothing can be done - the world lives this way", the famous Israeli military commentator Shimon Schiffer said.
