US SPIES ON ISRAEL
Washington, 24 Syawal 1434/31 August 2013 (MINA) – Israeli newspaper Maariv has revealed that US intelligence services set up a wide spying and data collection network in Israel in the wake of the 11/9 attacks as a part of the White House’s efforts to reinforce intelligence networks around the globe.
According to Maariv, The Washington Post obtained the leaked documents describing the extent of US intelligence efforts from Edward Snowden, a former agent of the US National Security Agency (NSA). MEMO Middle East Monitor quoted by news agency Mi’raj (MINA) as reporting on Saturday.
The documents revealed the US administration’s itemized “Black Budget” for intelligence services. The breakdown of this budget, which is estimated to be around $52.6 billion in 2013, has never been subject to public scrutiny before.
A number of US intelligence agencies, the documents showed, are carrying out spying activities and collecting data against ally countries such as Pakistan and Israel. Counter spying activities are also concentrated against Russia, China and Iran.
In addition, the documents revealed that the budget of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) rose to $14.7 billion in 2013. The documents also show that the CIA and NSA have made great efforts to hack into the computer networks of enemy states in order to steal information or to damage their informational systems.
Israel–United States relations are an important factor in the United States government‘s overall policy in the Middle East, and Congress has placed considerable importance on the maintenance of a close and supportive relationship. The main expression of Congressional support for Israel has been foreign aid.
Since 1985, it has provided nearly $3 billion in grants annually to Israel, with Israel being the largest annual recipient of American aid from 1976 to 2004 and the largest cumulative recipient of aid since World War II. Seventy-four percent of these funds must be spent purchasing US goods and services.
Congress has monitored the aid issue closely along with other issues in bilateral relations, and its concerns have affected Administrations’ policies. Almost all U.S. aid to Israel is now in the form of military assistance, while in the past it also received significant economic assistance. Strong congressional support for Israel has resulted in Israel receiving benefits not available to other countries.
Bilateral relations have evolved from an initial U.S. policy of sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in 1948 to an unusual partnership that links a small but militarily powerful Israel, dependent on the United States for its economic and military strength, with the American superpower trying to balance other competing interests in the region.
Others maintain that Israel is a strategic ally, and that U.S. relations with Israel strengthen the U.S. presence in the Middle East. Israel is one of the United States’ two original major non-NATO allies in the Middle East. Late Republican Senator Jesse Helms used to call Israel “America’s aircraft carrier in the Middle East”, when explaining why the United States viewed Israel as such a strategic ally, saying that the military foothold in the region offered by the Jewish State alone justified the military aid that the United States grants Israel every year. Currently, there are seven major non-NATO allies in the Greater Middle East. (T/P012/P04)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
