Richard Silverstein in the Jerusalem Post says he didn’t like the NYT front page story’s focus on US spying on Israel– right. The story should have emphasized the leaks that Silverstein was privy too, what was in them. Alas, this story is still vague, and filled with exciting suggestions. Travel schedules of politicians? Committee assignments– ok, Richard, tell me, is that about Jane Harman conspiring with Haim Saban?
“I didn’t like the focus on the fact that there was US spying on the Israelis,” he said. “Everyone knows the Israelis do that to the US in Tel Aviv, and every country does that to every other country. For me, the issue was what Israel was doing in the US, and every activity being monitored was secretly being done – so no American knew the types of things Israelis were doing related to Iran, and Gaza.
“That’s the whole reason Shamai and I did that,” Silverstein said, referencing Liebowitz’s transfer of FBI transcripts to Silverstein. “We were really concerned about what we were learning from the transcripts – that the Israelis were monitoring travel schedules of politicians, their committee assignments, etc.”
Some of the monitored conversations, Silverstein said, happened during and after Operation Cast Lead: “There was a lot of material in there about Obama’s inauguration, and whether the Israelis were going to stop the hostilities before the inauguration or not.”
