Israel Spied on Iran Talks

[Colorado Vince]

Last edited Tue Mar 24, 2015, 02:29 AM - Edit history (1)

Source: Wall Street Journal

By Adam Entous
March 23, 2015 10:30 p.m. ET

Soon after the U.S. and other major powers entered negotiations last year to curtail Iran’s nuclear program, senior White House officials learned Israel was spying on the closed-door talks.

The spying operation was part of a broader campaign by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to penetrate the negotiations and then help build a case against the emerging terms of the deal, current and former U.S. officials said. In addition to eavesdropping, Israel acquired information from confidential U.S. briefings, informants and diplomatic contacts in Europe, the officials said.

The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program, current and former officials said.

“It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,” said a senior U.S. official briefed on the matter.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/article_email/israel-spied-on-iran-talks-1427164201-lMyQjAxMTA1MTI0MzIyNDM0Wj

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Edited to add that you can read the full WSJ article by clicking the link, whether you're a subscriber or not.

[Purveyor]

1. Wow, indeed! Thank you for posting. eom

[BillZBubb]

2. No surprise.

Our "ally" uses spying to stab us in the back. Not the first time.

[DonCoquixote]

3. so how is this NOT treason?

The espionage didn’t upset the White House as much as Israel’s sharing of inside information with U.S. lawmakers and others to drain support from a high-stakes deal intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program, current and former officials said.

So the GOP used info from a foriegn government to undermine the president's effort to establish diplomacy with a nation that, by the way, is an enemy of ISIS.

Folks, replace Bibi with Castro, and there would have been a COUP.

[delrem]

6. Well, it isn't because Israel is a sovereign state,

so what Israel does isn't covered by treason against the US.
And that Israel then shared the info it gathered with US persons doesn't constitute those US persons having committed treason, unless 'treason' is read dangerously broadly.

[DonCoquixote]

19. so the the GOP willingly using foriegn intelligence

to undermine our government is not treason? Please, they shot Mati Hari and fried the Rosenbergs with far less evidence.

[Scootaloo]

4. well, that's what happens when another nation knows you're its chump n/t

[freshwest]

5. They ALL spy on each other. Nations are focused on threats from within and without.

The Middle East can be a dangerous, complicated place. They all have too much to lose to trust each other, so like the White House, I'm not surprised.

[Behind the Aegis]

8. In the article, the "spying" was discovered because the US was spying on Israel.

The information could have easily come from France, which is stated way down in the article, or it could be spying.

[freshwest]

9. As I said, they ALL spy on each other. But Israel is the eternal bad guy.

Recall the wildly hyped stories of how Germany was 'shocked' the USA was spying on them last year?

But never a peep was heard when it was revealed that Germany had been spying on Kerry and HRC this year already.

All that outrage, wasted! Now, pull my other finger!

[ForgoTheConsequence]

12. Way to not read the article before going into defense mode.

The spying isn't the point.


“It is one thing for the U.S. and Israel to spy on each other. It is another thing for Israel to steal U.S. secrets and play them back to U.S. legislators to undermine U.S. diplomacy,”

That is.



You support the right wing Israeli government using stolen secrets to use again the Presidents negotiations?

[former9thward]

7. Israel would be suicidal not to spy.

Iran has consistently pledged to destroy Israel. Why wouldn't they spy?

[azurnoir]

10. It's not the spying that is the problem it's feeding the intellegence reports to the Repubicans

to undermine the Democratic POTUS that gives pause, you do understand that, right?

[Kingofalldems]

17. I guess he forgot.

[24601]

21. Not really - as I recall from the early 2000s, the point is that Congress is entitled to the whole

truth from the Executive Branch. Congress is entitled to the same intelligence, especially Constitutional Officers and the Majority & Minority leaders.

[azurnoir]

22. You do understand this was a foreign government feeding it's intelligence to the Republicans

in order to undermine the POTUS, no US intelligence involved

[ForgoTheConsequence]

11. One right wing state feeding the right wing establishment in the US.

And the so called "progressive" or "liberal" Israel at any cost crowd is already in full defense mode. Funny how that works.

[still_one]

13. The problem isn't so much the spying, that occurs all the time among nations, friend or foe. The

problem is that Israel involving itself in U.S. policies by trying to sabotage the Iranian negotiation, and that is very troubling

[Behind the Aegis]

16. Correct.

[uwep]

14. Nixon, Reagan, Bush all did things similar

and only Nixon got caught because we had better investigating reporting.

Reagan, before he was elected, undermined negotiations with Iran and
convinced them to hold off releasing the captives until after the elections,
and allowed guns to be sent to Niagara. (all his minions fell on their swords)

Bush, started an illegal war with lies and subversion, and has never faced
prosecution. He destabilized the middle east and gave birth to ISIL.

All the repugs colluded to marginalize the electoral process in this country
by using nefarious methods (gerrymandering, voter intimidation, voter suppression).
repugs is the true name of these political thugs.

These thugs have undermined all of President Obama's initiatives, so what is
different. The national media is not investigating this, they all play along with
faux entertainment. They are leading us down the same path to destruction
as did the senators of the Old Roman empire. At some point they will appoint
their own president for life. Remember they contemplated allowing Arnold to
run for president, and now they are allowing a Canadian to run.

[mrdmk]

15. Spying/espionage is one thing, but subterfuge is quite another

At this moment congress is jumping through its ass to say, 'I never received such a report from Israel!'

That would imply that members of congress were receiving information from a foreign country to undermine ongoing negotiations by the president of the U.S.A.

It would be juicey to have a few names put out there, but then the White House would be spying on congress.

[Larry Engels]

18. This is not surprising.

Israel has spied on the US in the past, and the US certainly spies on Israel.

[herding cats]

20. The issue is that Israel fed the information to the US Congress in an attempt to undermine the talks

The spying, if that's what it was, is expected. It's how they used the information which is a problem.

Their attempt to undermine the president of a nation they're supposed to be allied with by spreading this information to the U.S. congress, while negotiations are still actively taking place, was a major breach of ethics. If it turns out France was behind this, they've just earned the same untrustworthy status as Netanyahu.

This is a tangled up mess of international proportions which should never have taken place, and could possibly have future repercussions on relations. Not to mention it's created unnecessary unrest among some Americans over our support of Israel, and created a partisan rift on the topic which should never have occurred.