Senior Israeli officials have called on the US to stop spying on Israel, after revelations that the National Security Agency had intercepted emails from the offices of the country's former leaders.
It is the first time Israeli officials have expressed anger since details of US spying on Israel began to trickle out in documents leaked by the former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The scandal has spurred renewed calls for the release of Jonathan Pollard, a former US intelligence analyst who has been imprisoned in the US for nearly three decades for spying for Israel.
"This thing is not legitimate," the Israeli intelligence minister, Yuval Steinitz, told Israel Radio. He called for both countries to enter an agreement regarding espionage.
"It's quite embarrassing between countries who are allies," the tourism minister, Uzi Landau, said. "It's this moment more than any other moment that Jonathan Pollard [should] be released."
Comment: These comments from Israeli officials are totally ridiculous as Israel is the King of spys and are spying on ALL countries. In the US they have direct access to all the information from the various alphabet soup agencies due to their dual citizens who are strategically placed in the various US administrations and departments. And those who are not dual citizens have already sworn their allegiance to Israel before any other country. And this is the case not just in the US.
Comment: Pretty ironic and hypocritical, considering that Israel's history of spying on both 'strategic allies' as well as 'perceived enemies' is rather well-documented. Below, just a few of many reports to ponder:
Mossad Spies Imprisoned in New Zealand: Our Passports Valued For Use By Israeli Covert Killers
The History of Israeli Spying: The Mother of all Scandals
False Flag: Mossad agents impersonating CIA agents to harm US-Iranian relationships
Another Israeli False Flag?
Israel's Mossad 'working closely' with NSA over spying
PRISM for your Mind: NSA, WikiLeaks and Israel
CIA considers Israel one of its biggest spy threats, but the U.S. continues to fund their military adventures
Iran says CIA, Mossad spy ring detected
Israel confirms running spy networks in Lebanon
Iran 'indicts 15 spies for US and Israel'
Israel has promised not to spy on the U.S. Given the extensive and ongoing histories and practices of both the U.S. and Israeli governments, how much weight do such promises really hold?