The Israeli intelligence community fears that confidential data that has been exposed to the US will be leaked to Russia and from there to its close ally, Iran.
A man cycles past signs bearing the name of US President-elect Republican Donald Trump in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 14, 2016 (Photo: Reuters / Baz Ratner)
Israeli media claim that Tel Aviv is scared of a leakage of confidential data to Moscow and from there to Tehran, the Independent newspaper reported, citing an alleged secret meeting between Israeli and American intelligence officials.
According to the newspaper, the Israeli authorities fear that exchange of confidential data with the US can lead to the fact that Russia and Iran will get this information. In the past 15 years, the US intelligence has obtained some part of Israel’s top-secret information, which can be compromised after the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
The US President-elect is known for his good attitude towards Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who, in his turn, gets on well with the Iranian authorities. According to Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, the secret meeting between officers of the American and Israeli intelligence was held recently.
Sources told the journalist that Putin has “leverages of pressure” over Trump, as well as American intelligence officials warned their Israeli counterparts that they should “be careful,” sharing confidential data with the White House and the National Security Council. In order to avoid the leakage of secrets of Tel Aviv to Teheran, the Americans also advised Israelis not to transmit secret information to Washington until it becomes clear that nobody blackmails Trump, and he does not have inappropriate for a president relations with Russia.
If Israel’s confidential data was not kept confidential, this would be a serious danger for the national security of the state – since the early 2000s, the cooperation between the Israel and US intelligence communities has been intensified. According to reports, most of the joint operations between the two countries’ intelligence communities were directed against Iran, and a small part of them – against Hezbollah and Hamas.
