SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Report: Israel Spied on John Kerry Amid 'Peace Talks' Push
Germany's Der Spiegel quotes "reliable sources" who say Israel intelligence eavesdropped on US Secretary of State's phone calls
Aug 04, 2014
Israel's intelligence service Mossad spied on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly in 2013 as he tried to broker a new round of peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, the German news magazine Der Speigel reported on Sunday.
Citing "several intelligence service sources," the magazine reported:
During the peak stage of peace talks last year, Kerry spoke regularly with high-ranking negotiating partners in the Middle East. At the time, some of these calls were not made on encrypted equipment, but instead on normal telephones, with the conversations transmitted by satellite. Intelligence agencies intercepted some of those calls. The government in Jerusalem then used the information obtained in international negotiations aiming to reach a diplomatic solution in the Middle East.
In the current Gaza conflict, the Israelis have massively criticized Kerry, with a few ministers indirectly calling on him to withdraw from peace talks. Both the US State Department and the Israeli authorities declined to comment.
Israel is well known as a strategic intelligence partner of the United States, but is simultaneously believed to be one of the world's most aggressive targeters in terms of spying on the U.S.
For its part, the leak of classified NSA documents by Edward Snowden over the last year have revealed that the U.S. has repeatedly spied on world leaders--including German Chancellor Angela Merkel--in order to gain the upper-hand in economic trade talks, climate negotiations, and other purposes.
Regarding last year's talks, which ultimately failed, the Guardian's Rory Carroll adds:
Kerry invested his authority in the ambitious attempt to relaunch moribund Middle East diplomacy last year and persuaded Netanyahu and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to resume negotiations. The effort fizzled out in April, with each side accusing the other of bad faith.
Kerry made several publicly reported comments during the talks that frayed his relationship with Jerusalem. He warned that Israel risked becoming an "apartheid state" if it did not reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, prompting protests by Israeli and US politicians. Kerry apologised.
The secretary of state ignited another furore by warning that failure to reach a peace agreement would damage Israel's capacity to be a democratic state and could lead to more boycotts.
Israel's defence minister, Moshe Ya'alon, called Kerry "obsessive and messianic" in his pursuit of an agreement. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's intelligence minister, called his comments "offensive, unfair and insufferable".
Amid the latest violence in Gaza--as the U.S. government continues to assure Israel of its ongoing support--Kerry has repeatedly been berated by the Israeli press and goverment officials for specific comments.
On Monday, new documents leaked by Snowden and published by The Intercept revealed an inside look at the high-level of intelligence cooperation between the two nations.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Israel's intelligence service Mossad spied on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly in 2013 as he tried to broker a new round of peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, the German news magazine Der Speigel reported on Sunday.
Citing "several intelligence service sources," the magazine reported:
During the peak stage of peace talks last year, Kerry spoke regularly with high-ranking negotiating partners in the Middle East. At the time, some of these calls were not made on encrypted equipment, but instead on normal telephones, with the conversations transmitted by satellite. Intelligence agencies intercepted some of those calls. The government in Jerusalem then used the information obtained in international negotiations aiming to reach a diplomatic solution in the Middle East.
In the current Gaza conflict, the Israelis have massively criticized Kerry, with a few ministers indirectly calling on him to withdraw from peace talks. Both the US State Department and the Israeli authorities declined to comment.
Israel is well known as a strategic intelligence partner of the United States, but is simultaneously believed to be one of the world's most aggressive targeters in terms of spying on the U.S.
For its part, the leak of classified NSA documents by Edward Snowden over the last year have revealed that the U.S. has repeatedly spied on world leaders--including German Chancellor Angela Merkel--in order to gain the upper-hand in economic trade talks, climate negotiations, and other purposes.
Regarding last year's talks, which ultimately failed, the Guardian's Rory Carroll adds:
Kerry invested his authority in the ambitious attempt to relaunch moribund Middle East diplomacy last year and persuaded Netanyahu and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to resume negotiations. The effort fizzled out in April, with each side accusing the other of bad faith.
Kerry made several publicly reported comments during the talks that frayed his relationship with Jerusalem. He warned that Israel risked becoming an "apartheid state" if it did not reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, prompting protests by Israeli and US politicians. Kerry apologised.
The secretary of state ignited another furore by warning that failure to reach a peace agreement would damage Israel's capacity to be a democratic state and could lead to more boycotts.
Israel's defence minister, Moshe Ya'alon, called Kerry "obsessive and messianic" in his pursuit of an agreement. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's intelligence minister, called his comments "offensive, unfair and insufferable".
Amid the latest violence in Gaza--as the U.S. government continues to assure Israel of its ongoing support--Kerry has repeatedly been berated by the Israeli press and goverment officials for specific comments.
On Monday, new documents leaked by Snowden and published by The Intercept revealed an inside look at the high-level of intelligence cooperation between the two nations.
Israel's intelligence service Mossad spied on U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry repeatedly in 2013 as he tried to broker a new round of peace talks between the Israeli government and the Palestinian Authority, the German news magazine Der Speigel reported on Sunday.
Citing "several intelligence service sources," the magazine reported:
During the peak stage of peace talks last year, Kerry spoke regularly with high-ranking negotiating partners in the Middle East. At the time, some of these calls were not made on encrypted equipment, but instead on normal telephones, with the conversations transmitted by satellite. Intelligence agencies intercepted some of those calls. The government in Jerusalem then used the information obtained in international negotiations aiming to reach a diplomatic solution in the Middle East.
In the current Gaza conflict, the Israelis have massively criticized Kerry, with a few ministers indirectly calling on him to withdraw from peace talks. Both the US State Department and the Israeli authorities declined to comment.
Israel is well known as a strategic intelligence partner of the United States, but is simultaneously believed to be one of the world's most aggressive targeters in terms of spying on the U.S.
For its part, the leak of classified NSA documents by Edward Snowden over the last year have revealed that the U.S. has repeatedly spied on world leaders--including German Chancellor Angela Merkel--in order to gain the upper-hand in economic trade talks, climate negotiations, and other purposes.
Regarding last year's talks, which ultimately failed, the Guardian's Rory Carroll adds:
Kerry invested his authority in the ambitious attempt to relaunch moribund Middle East diplomacy last year and persuaded Netanyahu and the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to resume negotiations. The effort fizzled out in April, with each side accusing the other of bad faith.
Kerry made several publicly reported comments during the talks that frayed his relationship with Jerusalem. He warned that Israel risked becoming an "apartheid state" if it did not reach a peace deal with the Palestinians, prompting protests by Israeli and US politicians. Kerry apologised.
The secretary of state ignited another furore by warning that failure to reach a peace agreement would damage Israel's capacity to be a democratic state and could lead to more boycotts.
Israel's defence minister, Moshe Ya'alon, called Kerry "obsessive and messianic" in his pursuit of an agreement. Yuval Steinitz, Israel's intelligence minister, called his comments "offensive, unfair and insufferable".
Amid the latest violence in Gaza--as the U.S. government continues to assure Israel of its ongoing support--Kerry has repeatedly been berated by the Israeli press and goverment officials for specific comments.
On Monday, new documents leaked by Snowden and published by The Intercept revealed an inside look at the high-level of intelligence cooperation between the two nations.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.
To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good.
News & Opinion
Trending
Common Dreams, Inc. Founded 1997. Registered 501(c3) Non-Profit
Privacy Policy