Posted on 12/30/2015 5:32:05 AM PST by KeyLargo
WSJ: White House Used NSA to Spy on Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu, Members of Congress, American Jewish Groups Dec. 30, 2015 7:23am Sharona Schwartz
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the target of National Security Agency eavesdropping which also netted the private conversations of members of U.S. Congress and American Jewish groups, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The alleged spying took place despite a promise two years ago by President Barack Obama -- after it was revealed that the NSA had listened in on German Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone calls -- that the U.S. "will not monitor the communications of heads of state and government of our close friends and allies."
(Excerpt) Read more at theblaze.com ...
The paper revealed that one of the tools used was a cyber implant into Israeli networks that allowed the NSA to monitor communications inside the prime minister's office.
According to the report, Obama justified the spying on Netanyahu because it would serve a "compelling national security purpose."
Bonus question: Is this latest outrage impeachable?
Posted on December 29, 2015 by Paul Mirengoff in Iran, Israel, Obama Foreign Policy, Privacy
Report: Obama’s NSA spied on Israel, Congress, and Jewish Organizations
President Obama announced two years ago that he would stop eavesdropping on leaders of U.S. allies, after the world learned the reach of long-secret U.S. surveillance programs. According to The Wall Street Journal, this meant an end to spying on French President François Hollande, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization leaders.
However, Israel apparently failed to make Obama’s list of true allies. The Journal reports that the NSA continued routinely to intercept the communications of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and send them to White House officials for dissection.
And that’s not all. Spying on Netanyahu reportedly led to eavesdropping on members of Congress and leaders of American Jewish organization with whom the Israeli prime minister and his government communicated.
Originally, the stated justification for spying on Netanyahu was fear that he would attack Iran without first warning the U.S. However, by 2013, U.S. intelligence agencies had determined that Israel wasn’t going to strike Iran, so the rationale shifted. Now, Team Obama wanted to know whether Israel had learned of secret negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.
As negotiations with Iran proceeded, Obama’s appetite for information about Netanyahu’s intentions grew. According to the Journal’s sources, the NSA tried to send updates to U.S. policy makers quickly, often in less than six hours after a notable communication was intercepted.
we had reached that by January 15, 2009.
Can only hope the Congress critters were Deamoncrats, otherwise no action or outrage.
“Convinced Mr. Netanyahu would attack Iran without warning the White House, U.S. spy agencies ramped up their surveillance, with the assent of Democratic and Republican lawmakers serving on congressional intelligence committees.
One tool was a cyber implant in Israeli networks that gave the NSA access to communications within the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Given the appetite for information about Mr. Netanyahu’s intentions during the U.S.-Iran negotiations, the NSA tried to send updates to U.S. policy makers quickly, often in less than six hours after a notable communication was intercepted, a former official said.”
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spy-net-on-israel-snares-congress-1451425210
Actually, it was the other way around. The NSA was spying on the Israeli government. It just so happened that the Israeli government was communicating with members of Congress and American Jewish lobbyists.
This was all perfectly legal, and there's nothing impeachable about it. If anything, the dumb bastards in Congress and these lobbying groups who conduct business with a foreign government this way should be cast out to sea on a burning garbage scow.
Neither is the NSA spying on foreign leaders and elected US Senators and reps. We've reached a point where nobody is representing us.
Meanwhile, Mosques are sacred to the NSA.
While you’re right that there’s nothing illegal or impeachable about the US spying on a foreign government, running this type of op on a formerly [emphasis added] close ally used to be considered a piss-poor way to do business among friends. The “unimpeachable” fact of the matter is that the Pretender in Chief was ultimately doing it to protect the interests of the Iranians and protect HIS negotiations with them, which was kept out of the public light for the better part of three years.
Well, we know Israel is neither our close friend nor ally anymore, so he’s just being consistent.
I’m so tired of the Kenyan imposter. No wonder our friends no longer trust us.
What concerns me far more is the apparent extent to which this administration is using information collected by NSA and our FVEYES allies as leverage against his political opponents.
NOPE! As it says in the GOP platform: Presidents immune from impeachment: (1) Skin melanin above 50%; (2) Skin color of PANTONE 4725, or darker.
You might not be comfortable with it but it occurs every day. Who do you think they talk to when they take foreign trips?
People who spent their careers in U.S. intelligence will all tell you this.
“Meanwhile, Mosques are sacred to the NSA.”
Maybe that will change?
Tags: Donald Trump | Immigration | Media Bias | Middle East
Trump’s Muslim Policy Unhinges GOP
By Patrick Buchanan | Friday, 11 Dec 2015
Calling for a moratorium on Muslim immigration “until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on,” Donald Trump this week ignited a firestorm of historic proportions.
As all the old hate words xenophobe, racist, bigot have lost their electric charge from overuse, and Trump was being called a fascist demagogue and compared to Hitler and Mussolini, the establishment seemed to have become unhinged.
Why the hysteria? Comes the reply: Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration tramples all over “American values” and everything we stand for, including the Constitution.
But is this really true?
The Constitution protects freedom of religion for U.S. citizens. But citizens of foreign lands have no constitutional right to migrate. And federal law gives a president broad powers in deciding who comes and who does not, especially in wartime.
Muslims lie to infidels. It's what they do.............................
When they take foreign trips, it’s an announced meeting with aides and others present. That’s very different from private secret conversations, probably intended to influence a policy or vote, secretly.
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