"In 2016, President Obama worked out a deal with Russian President Putin for military cooperation in Syria. He said he was gonna share intelligence with Russia, just like Trump and the Russians were supposed to do the other day. Our department of defense said it wouldn't share intelligence. And a few days later, they killed Syrian soldiers, violating the agreement, and that was the end of that. So, we can ask, who is making our foreign policy in Washington today?"Professor Cohen added, "you and I have to ask a subversive question, are there really three branches of government, or is there a 4th branch of government? These intel services. What we know, as a fact, is that Obama tried, not very hard but he tried for a military alliance with Putin, in Syria, against terrorism and it was sabotaged by the department of defense and its allies in the intelligence services."
President Donald Trump's decision to disclose highly classified information to Russia, which Israel reportedly provided to Washington, has put the intelligence services "in crisis," according to a former senior Israeli intelligence official and recruiter of assets for Israel's Shin Bet security service.
Israel says its "deep, significant security relationship" with the US will remain unaffected amid claims that Donald Trump shared classified information with Russia, which he allegedly received from Tel Aviv.
"The security relationship between Israel & our greatest ally the United States, is deep, significant, and unprecedented in volume," Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman tweeted on Wednesday.
"This relationship with the US is unprecedented in its contribution to our strength. This is how it has been and how it will continue to be," he wrote.
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Lieberman isn't the only Israeli figure attempting to downplay the situation, while US media simultaneously continue their finger-pointing at Trump and Russia.
Israeli Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz also said he has complete confidence in the US intelligence community.
"Intelligence cooperation between Israel and the United States regarding the threats posed by Iran and its proxies and ISIS and its affiliates will continue and deepen," he said, as quoted by AP.
Avi Dichter, a lawmaker in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party and a former head of the Shin Bet security service, said that even if the allegations were true, the ramifications would not be as severe as the mainstream media are portraying.
"The current president has been serving for slightly over 100 days. This is not enough time to accumulate experience that is as bad as it is described by the media," he told Israel's Army Radio.
"I am familiar with a few other cases over the years in other countries where they made use of materials — perhaps even in a more scandalous manner than was described by the media in this case."
Amnon Sofrin, a former head of the Mossad spy agency's intelligence directorate, agreed with Dichter.
"It may cause small damage or a local one but not a disaster," he said. "None of us in the intelligence community likes this event, but it can be put aside."
Trump spoke to Netanyahu over the phone for 20 minutes on Tuesday, shortly after news reports claimed the so-called classified information came from Israel. However, the prime minister's spokesman, David Keyes, said the only topic discussed was Trump's scheduled visit to Israel next week.
"There was a call yesterday between the president and prime minister for about 20 minutes," Keyes said on Wednesday. "The only topic discussed was the upcoming visit."
Comment: How far will this ridiculousness go? Maybe a total ban on all flights in the world?