Glenn Greenwald: Secret NSA Documents Contradict Netanyahu's Spying Denials

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently denied a Wall Street Journal report, based on a White House leak, that Israel spied on U.S. negotiations with Iran and then fed what it gathered to Republicans in Congress.

“The state of Israel does not conduct espionage against the United States or Israel’s other allies,” Netanyahu’s office said in a denial that extended to all spying targeting the United States.

Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Fishman at The Intercept reported:

Israel’s claim is not only incredible on its face. It is also squarely contradicted by top secret NSA documents, which state that Israel targets the U.S. government for invasive electronic surveillance, and does so more aggressively and threateningly than almost any other country in the world. Indeed, so concerted and aggressive are Israeli efforts against the U.S. that some key U.S. Government documents – including the top secret 2013 intelligence budget – list Israel among the U.S.’s most threatening cyber-adversaries and as a “hostile” foreign intelligence service.

One top secret 2008 document features an interview with the NSA’s Global Capabilities Manager for Countering Foreign Intelligence, entitled “Which Foreign Intelligence Service Is the Biggest Threat to the US?” He repeatedly names Israel as one of the key threats.

While noting that Russia and China do the most effective spying on U.S., he says that “Israel also targets us.” He explains that “A NIE [National Intelligence Estimate] ranked [Israel] as the third most aggressive intelligence service against the US.” While praising the surveillance relationship with Israel as highly valuable, he added: “One of NSA’s biggest threats is actually from friendly intelligence services, like Israel.” Specifically, the Israelis “target us to learn our positions on Middle East problems.”