Israeli defence official says spying on US allegations 'baseless'

A senior Israeli defense official has blasted allegations, in the weekly American magazine Newsweek, that Israel maintains a vast espionage network in the US as "baseless."

Speaking anonymously for DefenseNews on Friday, the official said that there had been no concerns raised by American interlocutors over the alleged spying operations. "We have unique cooperation at all levels, including with leading US security companies, and we are not abusing this, for sure."

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has also rejected the allegations.

"We're talking about lies and falsehood, simply libel which is baseless and unfounded," he said.

Lieberman added Israel was not involved in any form of espionage against the United States, either direct or indirect in nature.

The minister said Israel had "learned its lesson" from the case of Jonathan Pollard, a US naval analyst who was arrested in Washington in 1985 and sentenced to life in jail for spying on the United States for Israel.

His arrest sparked a crisis in ties that only ended with Israel promising to end all espionage activities on US soil.

"Whiff of anti-semitism"

An anonymous Israeli official has been quoted in the Israeli media as saying the Newsweek story had the "whiff of anti-semitism in it."

The Jewish Independent has also criticised Newsweek's source for the story, former CIA operative Paul Pillar, for being an outspoken supporter of the American Studies Association boycott of Israeli universities, claiming the story has "the aroma of a campaign generated by a politico-military establishment against the foreigner Jew, the swarthy Johnny-come-lately meddling in our affairs."

But a former US intelligence operative, with experience in Israeli espionage, has rejected the claims of anti-semitism. Speaking to Newsweek he said there was "a small community of ex-CIA, FBI and military people who have worked this account who are absolutely cheering on the story. Not one of them is anti-Semitic. In fact, it has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. It has only to do with why [Israel] gets kid-glove treatment when, if it was Japan doing it or India doing it at this level, it would be outrageous.”

Industrial and technical secrets

The main targets of the espionage, according to Newsweek, are US industrial and technical secrets, quoting classified briefings on legislation that would make it easier for Israeli citizens to get visas to enter America.

Newsweek said a congressional staffer familiar with a briefing last January called the testimony "very sobering ... alarming ... even terrifying", and quoted another as saying the behavior was "damaging."

"No other country close to the United States continues to cross the line on espionage like the Israelis do," said a former congressional staffer who attended another classified briefing in late 2013, according to Newsweek.

It said that briefing was one of several in recent months given by the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the FBI and the National Counterintelligence Directorate.

The former congressional staffer said the intelligence agencies did not give specifics, but cited "industrial espionage -- folks coming over here on trade missions or with Israeli companies working in collaboration with American companies, [or] intelligence operatives being run directly by the government, which I assume meant out of the [Israeli] Embassy."

Israel's espionage activities in America are unrivalled and go far beyond activities by other close allies, such as Germany, France, Britain and Japan, counter-intelligence agents told members of the House Judiciary and Foreign Affairs committees, Newsweek said.

"I don't think anyone was surprised by these revelations," the former aide was quoted as saying.

"But when you step back and hear ... that there are no other countries taking advantage of our security relationship the way the Israelis are for espionage purposes, it is quite shocking."