by Ruthie Blum
According to a report
in The Wall Street Journal on Monday, when U.S. President Barack Obama
learned that his National Security Agency had been tapping the phones of
35 world leaders, including that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel,
the White House ordered a stop to it.
At a summit of European
leaders in Brussels last week, during which allegations of American
surveillance of tens of thousands of French phones were raised as well,
Merkel referred to Obama's alleged apology for the incident.
"Obviously, words will not be sufficient," she said. "True change is necessary."
Merkel is right, though
she should be aware that information-gathering, even among friends, is
and always has been accepted procedure in the intelligence community. It
is only the advance in technology that has made this practice so easy
for and accessible to spies and whistle-blowers, like fugitive CIA
employee Edward Snowden.
As a result, she and
her counterparts would have done well to take certain precautions that
come with the job. As British Ambassador to Lebanon Tom Fletcher tweeted
last week, "I work on assumption that 6+ countries tap my phone.
Increasingly rare that diplomats say anything sensitive on calls."
Then, last Friday,
another classified document leaked by Snowden emerged. This one dealt
with an attempt in May 2012 to hack into the communications network of
the Élysée Palace, during the final weeks of Nicolas Sarkozy's
presidency. What it revealed is that France had suspected the United
States of being behind the cyberattack. More strikingly, it showed that
the National Security Agency had denied any involvement in the incident
by hinting that the Israeli Mossad was the likely culprit. Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is probably pleased as punch with this
particular leak, as it comes on the heels of a Washington Post article
claiming that Turkey supplied Iran with the names of several Iranians
cooperating with the Mossad. It is likely that these were the same
"Israeli spies" whose executions were reported last April by Iran's
state media.
That Turkey is no
longer Israel's ally is a given. Providing damning information to Iran,
then, is in keeping with its hostility to the Jewish state in particular
and the West in general.
But, for the United
States to cast aspersions on Israel's covert operations is not only a
travesty; it brings to mind another case of the U.S. and France ironing
out their political differences by using Israel as a scapegoat.
Interestingly, it was also made public due to technological gadgets.
Two years ago, almost
to the date, during the Group of 20 summit in Cannes, Obama and Sarkozy
engaged in a tête-à-tête. Three minutes of what was supposed to be a
private chat was caught by the simultaneous translation device provided
to reporters located in a different room. The exchange was enlightening,
and not only because it showed how stupid politicians can be, even with
microphones attached to the lapels of their jackets.
Sarkozy told Obama that
he could no longer stand Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was a
"liar." Obama more than sympathized. "You are fed up with him, but I
have to deal with him even more often than you do."
The context of this
mutual Bibi-bashing was Obama's displeasure with Sarkozy for not having
warned him that France was going to vote in favor of Palestinian
membership in UNESCO. Sarkozy had promised Obama to help in the effort
to achieve Palestinian statehood through negotiations with Israel -- not
by gaining U.N. status beforehand. By calling Netanyahu a liar, then,
Sarkozy was deflecting his own deceit. A tiff with Obama was
successfully avoided.
This is in stark
contrast to what it takes Israel to appease the White House. No matter
what abominations it endures from its Muslim enemies, it is told to
exercise restraint. Nor is it given credit for any of its goodwill
gestures towards these enemies. Instead, it is reprimanded every time a
whiff of construction on existing settlements is in the air.
Netanyahu's apology to
Erdogan for the deaths of pro-Hamas Turkish activists on the Mavi
Marmara in 2010 was rebuffed by Ankara with no consequence from
Washington. His entering into "peace talks" with the Palestinians for a
two-state solution has been met with contempt on the part of the
Palestinians, who continue to insist on impossible conditions, while
inciting to violence against Jews. His current release of Palestinian
terrorists is also being taken for granted. He can't even get Obama to
pardon Jonathan Pollard.
Pollard received a life
sentence in 1987 for passing on classified intelligence to Israel. It
is rumored that this information is what led to Israel's 1981 bombing of
the Iraqi nuclear reactor. Though it was illegal for Pollard to have
betrayed his country -- and shortsighted on Israel's part to use a Jew
for this purpose -- Pollard was spying on behalf of a U.S. ally. In
addition, he pleaded guilty, something which usually buys a defendant a
degree of leniency. Furthermore, he has spent much of the 26 years he
has served so far in solitary confinement, in spite of suffering serious
illnesses.
Pollard is eligible for
parole in November 2015 -- 30 years into his sentence. It was foolish
for anyone to imagine that he would be released before then. Vice
President Joe Biden has been adamant about it. In September 2011, he
told a group of rabbis that though Obama was considering clemency for
Pollard, "I told him, 'Over my dead body are we going to let him out
before his time. If it were up to me, he would stay in jail for life.'"
This attitude towards Israel gives hypocrisy a bad name.
The reason that Obama
is now embroiled in an espionage scandal is that his security services
have been spying on everybody, at home and abroad, and that this
practice was leaked by insiders. Snowden, a former CIA employee, is one
such figure. Chelsea (previously known as Bradley) Manning is another.
Snowden is hiding in Russia, yet to be apprehended by U.S. authorities.
Manning, however, was
caught and convicted. The transsexual U.S. Army intelligence analyst had
leaked the greatest number of classified documents in American history.
In August, she was sentenced to 35 years in jail, with the possibility
(and likelihood) of parole in eight. Meanwhile, her sexual identity
disorder is being taken into account in prison, where she is likely to
be granted hormone therapy to help her become more physically female.
Such a blatant imbalance of justice epitomizes the phrase "double standard."
Israel is used to being
held to a higher standard, even by the U.S. What it has not yet
adjusted to is a world in which the moral compass at the White House is
broken.
Ruthie Blum is the author of "To Hell in a Handbasket: Carter, Obama, and the 'Arab Spring.'"
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6171
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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