Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
Trying to combat published reports that the FBI has scolded Israeli diplomats dozens of times for spying on American intelligence since 9/11, the former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. said the allegations were baseless.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the former ambassador, Michael Oren, insisted the relationship between the two countries has been solid and was never compromised by unfounded claims of rampant Israeli spying.
Newsweek magazine published reports last week that Israeli officials were frequently spying on the U.S. and were summoned by the FBI dozens of times to knock it off.
“Beginning in the mid-1990s, well after Israel promised to stop spying in the US in the wake of the Pollard affair, the FBI regularly felt compelled to summon Israeli diplomats in DC for a scolding, two former top counterintelligence officials told ‘Newsweek.’ During the decade following 9/11, one said, the Israelis were summoned ‘dozens’ of times and told to ‘cut the shit,’ as one, a former top FBI official, put it. But as an ‘ally,’ the Israelis almost always got off with only a warning.”
