Whistleblower Edward Snowden, who rose to notoriety in 2013 for leaking classified information from the American National Security Agency (NSA), is scheduled to speak via video to an Israeli audience at a closed November 6 event.
Snowden’s leaking of United States spy operations revealed a global surveillance system of unprecedented proportions, and sparked controversy between Washington and foreign leaders that had had their privacy breached.
According to a statement to the press released Wednesday, Snowden is expected to speak on Israel-related issues from his secret hideout in Russia at an event organized by the OH! Orenstein Hoshen strategic media & crisis management firm.
Snowden is expected to answer questions from the audience before former Deputy Mossad Chief Ram ben-Barak responds to his remarks.
Edward Snowden was working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and NSA when he made international headlines by publishing masses of classified information in the largest and most sensitive leak in the history of intelligence.
The leak included information about global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA, with the cooperation of European governments and telecommunication companies that include Google, Microsoft and Verizon.
In December 2013, documents leaked by Snowden revealed that the NSA had spied on Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu (Likud), as well as his predecessor Ehud Olmert (Kadima).
According to reports at the time in the British Guardian, the New York Times and the German Der Spiegel, Britain’s eavesdropping agency – known as the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – was also involved in monitoring Israel’s leadership.
The New York Times revealed that agents monitored the email traffic of several Israeli officials, including one target identified as “Israeli prime minister,” followed by an email address.
The prime minister at the time of the interception, in January 2009, was Ehud Olmert.
The following month, the report said, spies intercepted the email traffic of then Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Two Israeli embassies also appeared on the target lists.
The Israeli Yedioth Aḥronoth newspaper reported that the spying also continued when Netanyahu took over as prime minister.
According to the newspaper, the reason Washington was likely interested in intercepting the emails at the time was to better understand Israel’s strategy regarding Iran and whether Israel was planning to strike the Iranian nuclear facilities.
The Washington Post revealed in August, 2013 that a collection of clauses from the US government’s top secret $52.6 billion “black budget” – meant to finance the special operations of the intelligence services – included operations against the State of Israel.
The 178-page budget summary for the National Intelligence Program, which was obtained by the Washington Post from Edward Snowden, stated that US intelligence officials take an active interest in foes as well as supposed friends.
The revelation that Washington actively engages in espionage against Israel should come as no surprise to those closely analyzing the US-Israel relationship.
Among the many US documents made public by WikiLeaks was a secret state department cable in which Condoleezza Rice established an espionage network against Israel just before leaving her position as secretary of state, ostensibly to assist her successors in continuing to advance Washington’s Middle East agenda.
A cable signed by Rice and dated October 31 2008, one week before President Barack Obama’s election, instructed US diplomats in Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the CIA, to conduct a massive espionage operation against Jerusalem.
According to the leak, the sought-for information covered all aspects of Israel’s political system, society, communications infrastructures and military, as well as Israeli attitudes towards the US and potential ways to divide those seeking to resist the partition of the country into two states.
Snowden has been termed the greatest threat to the US in its history and remains one of the world’s most wanted fugitives. He could face life imprisonment or even the death penalty if ever captured.
