I commented that generally I support Israel, but that Israel conducts espionage against the United States, and when that happens, I do not support Israel.
The "friend" asked me for one example "pls". As I was looking for an appropriate example, apparently he deleted and blocked me.
No big loss - anyone who can't handle the truth is welcome to delete and block me. When he's ready to realize that he overreacted, I will be happy to be his friend again.
However, the topic now has my interest.
Established as a homeland for Jews, Israel is a small country surrounded by very hostile enemies whose religion calls for death to Jews. Do you see a potential problem for Israel here?
Needless to say, Israel has had to fight for its very existence ever since day one of that existence; when there has been peace, it is only because Israel has been strong enough to defend itself.
Since it is a small country surrounded by enemies, and since the United States plays such a vital role in guaranteeing Israel's existence by supporting Israel in a variety of ways, it is only natural that Israel's intelligence services are active. They spy on potential enemies, they spy on various organized crime syndicates (who do business with terrorists that seek to destroy Israel), and they spy on the United States. The need for intelligence activities to focus on the United States is acute; for example, Israel needs to know whether a current US administration will support Israel (the Obama Administration seems to be less friendly than one might hope), what the attitude in Congress is regarding issues that are important to Israel, and Israel seeks to gain valuable information about potential enemies and technical data that could improve Israel's battlefield performance.
I understand Israel's position in this regard; we do the same to them. But, when Israeli operations violate US laws and hurt US interests, there needs to be an accounting - just as Israel needs an accounting when US operations are discovered violating Israeli laws and hurting Israeli interests.
So, here is a cursory, non-systematic survey of some Israeli espionage activities that have impacted the United States.
From a background article on Jonathan Jay Pollard:
Born on August 7, 1954, Jonathan Jay Pollard appeared destined to enter into the world of the highly educated. The son of a prominent professor of microbiology, who taught at Notre Dame University, Pollard had no less than a dozen Nobel Prize winners at his fourth birthday party. During his formative years, he was an avid reader of the country of Israel and military history. His family lost over 70 European relatives during the Holocaust. The Pollards instilled in their son a deep respect for Israel, the Jewish faith and repeatedly acknowledged the U.S. as a Godsend for Jews.
When Pollard attended Stanford University he falsely claimed to hold dual citizenship with the U.S. and Israel (this did not become true until November 1995). He was known for telling tall tales, such as being a "Colonel" in the Israeli military and a member of the Mossad. After he attended Stanford, Pollard entered the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Boston to attain his graduate degree. While at Tufts, Pollard enacted some of his espionage fantasies by informing on foreign students to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Pollard applied for a position with the CIA, but was turned down due to his occasional drug use in college.
In 1979, Pollard began working for the U.S. Navy as an Intelligence Analyst. Before he started spying for the Israelis, Pollard provided classified political and economic analyses information to three friends he felt could use the information. It is believed his principal motivation at the time was to impress his "friends" of his knowledge and importance within the Navy. In 1982, Pollard attended a meeting between the U.S. Navy Intelligence Officers and officials of Israeli Intelligence and felt the U.S. was not sharing information of vital importance to Israeli defense. He also grew resentful over what he perceived as anti-Semitic sentiments among his co-workers.
On May 29, 1984, Pollard met with Colonel Aviem Sella, one of Israel's top war aces, in a coffee shop at the Washington Hilton Hotel. At that meeting, Pollard volunteered to spy for the Israelis and Colonel Sella became his handling agent. During his spying escapades, Pollard provided the Israelis with more than a thousand documents, classified cables and messages, and 800 documents, many of them labeled top secret. He was paid $2,500 a month from the Israelis to provide classified information. U.S. intelligence estimates the mother lode of the secrets Pollard stole and gave to the Israelis would occupy a space six feet by six feet by ten feet, basically a truckload. Much of the information given to the Israelis involved Soviet-made weaponry supplied to Arab countries that were hostile to Israel. His involvement directly led to the Israeli air strike in Tunisia and the destruction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization headquarters.
The PLO got bombed! Great!!
Pollard violated the trust that the American people, acting through our government, gave him; he broke the law. He is in prison where he belongs.
And, he was working for Israel.
From Israel: State Comptroller Report Says U.S. Deprived Convicted Spy of Due Process:
(Sep. 03, 2009) On September 2, 2009, a report was issued by Israel's State Comptroller, Micha Lindenstrauss, on the Israeli government's actions to obtain the release of Jonathan Pollard, who has been incarcerated in the United States since 1985 following his conviction for spying for Israel. Pollard, an American citizen, received Israeli citizenship in 1995 and was acknowledged as an agent working for Israel in 1998. While most of its content remains classified, an abstract of the report was released for publication.
The report was directed by the Knesset (parliament) State Control Committee and focused on the efforts exerted by Prime Ministers Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Olmert to secure Pollard's release. In preparing the report, the State Comptroller established an investigative team that reviewed numerous documents and met with former Israeli prime ministers and other officials whose portfolios cover national security and foreign affairs. The State Comptroller further ordered a professional legal opinion regarding all the procedures related to Pollard's trial from Professor Kenneth Mann, whom the report describes as "knowledgeable in American law and an expert in criminal law." According to the report, the request for Mann's opinion was initiated and paid for by the State Comptroller's office.
The report concluded that there has been strong and steady opposition on the part of U.S. administrations to releasing Pollard, based on U.S. intelligence claims that his release contradicts U.S. defense interests. The report further concludes that Israeli prime ministers had steadily raised the Pollard issue in discussions with U.S. presidents. These discussions, however, have not been recorded. Official contacts were also made by Israeli officials to their U.S. administration counterparts, as well as to Members of Congress. All efforts, however, were unsuccessful.
One effort was made late during the Clinton years. We consider an excerpt from a 2007 article entitled How former CIA chief foiled Pollard's release:
The drama reached its peak on Thursday, October 22, 1998, the night before the agreement was signed at the White House. The senior American staff, including Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and National Security Advisor Sandy Berger was present.
Berger told Tenet that then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put the Pollard matter on the table.
Upon hearing this, Tenet stormed out of the room, telling Berger that he was wrong and that Pollard was not on the agenda, calling the idea ridiculous and insisting that the Pollard issue had nothing to do with the talks taking place at Wye.
According to Tenet's account, Berger then told him that then US President Bill Clinton had not agreed to anything.
Tenet spent the next few hours contemplating how to respond. If Pollard was in the final package deal, no one at CIA headquarters would believe he had nothing to do with it, he thought.
Fearing that including Pollard in the deal would give the impression that an American citizen spying against his country was being rewarded and that he would have no moral capital in front of his soldiers and that his career in the CIA would be destroyed, Tenet decided that he would back out of the deal if the Clinton accepted these terms.
According to Tenet, the senior administration staff wanted the deal, but was afraid of his resignation.
Pollard worked for Israel, and Israel has the decency to admit it and try to take care of him.
There is also the case of Larry Franklin, in which AIPAC's use as a front by Israeli intelligence came to be widely known:
Larry Franklin, Senior Analyst for the Department of Defense at the Pentagon since 1979, held prestigious offices throughout the government, such as: The Office of the Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs; Office of Near East and South Asia; Office of Northern Gulf Affairs; Iran Desk. Franklin also held the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and was assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Defense HUMINT Services. In these positions, Franklin obtained TS/SCI clearances with access to the most sensitive U.S. secrets. An educated man (he holds a BA, MA and PhD in Asian studies), Franklin perhaps had a sense of grandiosity (he knows what is good for the country, more than the elected and appointed official over him). He felt he could share classified information with members of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) without authorization. On May 4, 2005, he was arrested on charges that in June 2003 he provided unauthorized persons classified information regarding potential attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq.
During a search of Franklins Pentagon office in June 2004, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found classified documents dated June 2003 which contained information believed to have been given to AIPAC representatives. Franklin admitted to FBI investigators in a June 30, 2004 interview, that he in fact provided the classified information to two individuals (lobbyists for AIPAC), Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, senior staff members of AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying organization.The affidavit also stated that Franklin disclosed classified information to a foreign official and members of the news media on other occasions. The FBI conducted a search of Franklins Kearneysville, West Virginia home, where they discovered 83 separate classified U.S. government documents, 30 of these documents being classified as Top Secret. These documents spanned three decades of classified information, one of them was even found on his coffee table! Some of these documents were situation reports from the Terrorism Threat Integration Center; one Top Secret document from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concerned al Qaeda. Other Secret documents were CIA information relating to Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda and a memorandum on Iraq.
I wonder if AIPAC is just infiltrated by Israeli intelligence, or whether organized crime cartels have it infiltrated, as well?
Franklin's side of the story can be found at Once Labeled An AIPAC Spy, Larry Franklin Tells His Story by Nathan Guttman, July 1, 2009.
More on shady dealings involving Israel can be found in a Congressional Research Report entitled Israeli-United States Relations, dated December 21, 2001:
The Washington Times reported on March 12, 1992, that the Administration of former President Bush was investigating if Israel transferred U.S. Patriot missile technology to China without U.S. approval. The Wall Street Journal reported the next day that the State Department Inspector-General and U.S. government intelligence agencies had been investigating unauthorized Israeli technology transfers to China, South Africa, Ethiopia, Chile, and other countries. Israeli leaders denied that Israel transferred U.S. technology without U.S. permission, and denied violating U.S.-Israeli agreements on weapons security and transfers. The State Department announced on April 2 that a team that visited Israel on March 21 found no evidence of an unauthorized transfer of Patriot technology to China. But, an Inspector-General's report released the same day said Israel did transfer other equipment and technology to other countries without proper U.S. authorization. The story resurfaced on October 11, 1993, when NBC news reported that Israel sold billion of dollars worth of military equipment, including U.S. sophisticated technology, to China, and reappeared again in October 1995 when it was reported that China had Lavi technology (Israel built a prototype Lavi aircraft with U.S. money and technology).
There are times when Israel transfers technology to some countries that we have to wonder about. Occasionally, Israeli sources are saying they have approval or even a request from the US government to do so.
What I suspect is that US officials, who are corrupt and working for foreign intelligence services or organized crime cartels, request Israel to transfer some information or some technology. Israeli officials do it, believing they are doing a favor for the United States government when, in fact, they are doing a favor for a corrupt US official who expects to get paid by the foreign intelligence service or organized crime cartel that requested the operation.
Skipping down:
The Espionage Affairs. In 1985, U.S.-Israeli relations were rocked by two spy cases. Richard Smyth was indicted in California for illegally exporting 800 Krytons to an Israeli company. Krytons are high speed electronic switches that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons. Israel claimed that it was not aware of needed export licenses for the devices. Smyth jumped bail in 1985 but was arrested by Spanish authorities in July 2001. Smyth was extradited to the United States in November 2001 and will stand trial on 30 counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act and filing false statements.
Hmmm....
Farther down:
In addition to the Smyth and Pollard cases, U.S. Customs agents raided 3 U.S. companies on December 12, 1985, to seize materials describing a metallurgical process for tank guns that were being transferred illegally to Israel. In another case, 3 Israelis were arrested on April 22, 1986, for conspiring to sell arms to Iran. On May 15, 1986, 2 Israelis were arrested in New York on another weapons selling scheme. On July 8, 1986, U.S. Customs agents searched 3 U.S. companies for information about a plan to transfer technical information for cluster bombs to Israel. An Illinois company said on August 8, 1986, that Israelis tried to steal data on aerial reconnaissance cameras. Israel denied any connection with any of these cases. In February 1997, an engineer at a military testing facility in Michigan admitted that he "inadvertently" gave classified materials to Israel over a ten-year period. Press reports in early May 2000 said that Israeli intelligence had tapped into White House and State Department communications, but a later FBI investigation cleared Israel.
If you are among those who believe that Israel can do no wrong, then you are, in principle, no better than the Islamofascists. If you can't take the truth and a disagreement, then you are, in principle, no better than the Islamofascists.
Delete me, block me.
Get a fatwa.
Send hitmen after me.
But, please, spell my name right, and tell others where to find my blog.
:)
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