Israeli ministers demand end to US spying

“It's this moment more than any other moment that Jonathan Pollard (should) be released.”

Documents leaked by Snowden and published in The Guardian, Der Spiegel and The New York Times last week revealed that British intelligence agency GCHQ worked with the NSA from 2008-2011 to target email addresses belonging to the offices of then-serving Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Amir Dan, a spokesman for Olmert, played down the revelations.

He said the email address targeted was one meant for queries from the public and was not used for sensitive communications.

“There is no chance there was a security or intelligence breach caused from this email address,” Dan said.

Barak could not immediately be reached for comment.
But top Israeli officials work on the assumption that they are being monitored.

Officials use special secure lines for certain types of communications, and for the most sensitive matters, issues are discussed only face to face in secure rooms.

Even so, Israeli officials reacted with uncharacteristic anger toward the U.S., Israel's closest and most important ally.

Lawmaker Nachman Shai, a member of the parliamentary foreign affairs and defense committee, which deals with intelligence matters, called for an urgent intelligence briefing on the reported spying.

Shai called for a “full report about what we know, what we have done, and just to find out.”

He added that he was “really surprised that my government, which is very easily responsive on any given issue, on this we keep silent, which is not the right policy and right behavior.”