Doc's Talk: Shin Bet: Leak poses 'direct threat

Friday, April 09, 2010

Shin Bet: Leak poses 'direct threat

AAKOV KATZ
08/04/2010 13:11

Allegedly stolen IDF documents include info on weapons, West Bank strategy.

Authorities on Thursday finally lifted the veil on a dramatic case that has made headlines overseas, involving alleged espionage, drastically-breached IDF security, and the conflicting demands of national security and freedom of the press. At an extraordinary press conference, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced that it now planned to accelerate its investigation of Haaretz reporter Uri Blau, who is believed still to be in possession of hundreds of top-secret classified military documents that were stolen from the IDF by a former soldier, Anat Kamm.

With the whereabouts of most of the documents still unknown, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin warned of a direct, ongoing threat to national security, and said his agency should have “taken the gloves off” long ago in pursuing the culprits.

According to the Shin Bet, in a case that was shrouded in secrecy for months until a court-imposed gag was lifted on Thursday, Kamm copied more than 2,000 documents when she was assistant to the bureau chief of OC Central Command Maj.-Gen. Yair Naveh between 2005 and 2007.

Kamm, who has been charged with espionage, is under house arrest in Tel Aviv, and Blau is in London, having refused to return to Israel to face investigation.

The stolen documents contained top-secret information concerning General Staff orders, personnel numbers in the Central Command, intelligence information, information on IDF doctrine, and data pertaining to sensitive military exercises, weaponry and military platforms.

The files also contained details on steps the Central Command takes in the event of a major military escalation, including how it deploys forces throughout the West Bank.

“This posed a direct and real threat to the lives of IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens,” Diskin said at the media briefing on Thursday.

He added that in the entire investigation to date, the Shin Bet had operated with utmost sensitivity due to the involvement of journalist Blau. Every step of the probe, he said, had been taken in conjunction with the attorney-general and the State Attorney’s Office.

Throughout its investigation, the Shin Bet reportedly infiltrated Blau’s computer and listened to his phone conversations.

On July 15, 2009, the Shin Bet signed an agreement with Blau under which he handed over 50 documents that he had allegedly received from Kamm, as well as his laptop computer, which was destroyed in his presence. The Shin Bet financed a replacement. Under the agreement, the Shin Bet was not allowed to use the documents returned by Blau to locate or track the source of the leak.

The agreement also stipulated that in the event that the journalist wanted to use information gleaned from the documents in the future, it would be done with the approval of the Shin Bet’s legal department. The Shin Bet also agreed not to launch a criminal investigation against Blau based on the information he had provided.

At this stage, the Shin Bet did not know who had leaked the documents. A short time later, the agency identified Kamm, now 23, as the source of the leak. During her interrogation, she confirmed that during her army service she had collected thousands of documents containing sensitive material. Toward the end of her service, in 2007, she burned them on a CD and transferred them to her computer at home.

In the summer of 2008, Kamm tried to interest another journalist in the documents; he was interested, but talks with Kamm fell through. Between July and October 2008, she transferred the documents to Blau. Diskin said that Kamm’s motivation for stealing the documents was “ideological.”

Upon receiving them, Blau went on to publish several articles based on the information. One article, published in Haaretz in October 2008, accused the IDF of defying a Supreme Court ruling against killing wanted Palestinian terrorists who could have been captured alive. The story, which was approved for publication by the military censor, suggested the military had unilaterally loosened its rules of engagement and marked terrorists for assassination.

Following the publication, which included the publication of army documentation, IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi – with permission from then-attorney-general Menahem Mazuz – asked the Shin Bet and police to open an investigation to discover who had leaked the documents Blau had cited.

The purpose of the probe was twofold: to discover the identity of the source, and to recover all the documents in the journalist’s possession. In early 2009, the IDF’s field security unit, together with the Shin Bet, began the investigation.

On January 14, 2010, an indictment, including the severe charge of espionage, was filed against Kamm. She has been held under house arrest for five months.

During the investigation and following Kamm’s interrogation, however, the Shin Bet realized that there was a major gap between the number of documents Blau had returned and the number Kamm said she had given him. Additional intelligence obtained by the security agency reinforced suspicions that Blau was still in possession of hundreds of documents classified as top-secret.

Blau is currently living in London, after leaving the country in December.

Diskin said Blau was wanted for interrogation, stressing that the journalist must immediately clarify the whereabouts of the additional documents that the Shin Bet suspected were in his possession. Diskin said that in the coming days, the Shin Bet would “accelerate” its investigation, with the goal of obtaining and securing the documents as soon as possible.

“The risk is great, since we do not know where these documents are,” he said. “We have reasonable grounds to suspect that Blau has additional documents in his possession.”

Explaining the need for the publication ban that was lifted on Thursday, Diskin said that until Tuesday, the Shin Bet had conducted negotiations with Blau’s attorney in an attempt to reach an arrangement under which the documents would be recovered. As a result, the Shin Bet had maintained the ban, deciding to lift it after receiving a negative answer from Blau’s attorney regarding the request to return all documents remaining in his possession.

“From a security perspective, and due to the needs of the investigation, after much consideration, we found it necessary to maintain the gag order until today,” Diskin said.

He added that Kamm had undergone checks for security clearance before being appointed to the sensitive position in Naveh’s office. He also said that after Kamm was discovered as the source of the leak, the IDF had made several changes and improvements to its information security apparatus to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future.

While calling the investigation of journalists a “minefield,” Diskin said it was possible the Shin Bet had been overly sensitive when conducting its probe of Blau.

“We carried on with this investigation too long,” Diskin said.

Comment: This is the other side of the story-the now infamous reporter, brave man that he is refuses to return to face the music while his "partner in crime" is arrested-he is such a brave man. This information is not provided by the likes of Gideon Levy or Akiva Eldar-they do not seem at all plussed that stolen top secret documents which impact the lives of Israeli boys, girls, children and adults were received by one of theirs!

2 comments:

sarah leah said...: They should be prosecuted for treason, and sentenced accordingly. They are traitors and cowards, the lot. Of all the words I can find to call them, "journalists" does not enter the list at any point.; 8:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Just like the White Rose; 8:18 AM

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk