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Friday, Jan. 29 '16, Shevat 19, 5776
HEADLINES:
1. REVEALED: US, UK INFILTRATED ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE
2. STEINITZ 'DISAPPOINTED' IN 18-YEARS OF US SPYING
3. 'AMERICA HAS JOINED THE ANTI-SEMITIC CAMPAIGN AGAINST ISRAEL'
4. BABY ADELLE'S MURDERERS SENT TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON
5. 'IT'S A MIRACLE, TERRORIST MISSED HIS HEART BY A MILLIMETER'
6. IRAN SAYS IT SPIED ON US AIRCRAFT CARRIER WITH DRONE
7. 'THE STATE OF SOUTHERN TEL AVIV IS OCCUPIED'
8. FOX SAYS TRUMP DEMANDED $5 MILLION TO DEBATE
1. REVEALED: US, UK INFILTRATED ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE
by Ari Yashar
A shocking revelation on Friday morning shows that the US and Britain have infiltrated Israeli intelligence for the last 18 years, spying on imagery sent by drones on sensitive missions in the Middle East back to their home bases in Israel.
The revelation comes from documents and images exposed by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden and published for the first time on Friday by Yedioth Aharonoth.
The infiltration of Israeli intelligence has been going on for the past 18 years from a fortified base in Cyprus, according to the documents.
In the breach, Israeli coding was cracked by the US and Britain, allowing them direct access to imagery broadcast by a large fleet of Israeli UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) flying sensitive missions in Gaza, Judea and Samaria, as well as throughout the Middle East back to their home bases including Tel Nof, Palmachim and Ein Shemer.
According to the revelations, the Israeli drones even flew missions to gather information so as to plan a bombing of Iran's nuclear program. Two of the drones were revealed to be armed with missiles and bombs, allowing them to be used in precise assassination missions against terrorists.
Thanks to the hacking, the US and UK were able to see Israel's targets, preferences and abilities, all from the eyes of Israel's own drones.
A senior Israeli intelligence official exposed to the revelation told the paper that "this is an earthquake."
"Apparently none of our encoded communications processes are secure from them," he said. "This is the most serious leak in the history of Israeli intelligence."
The revelation casts the case of Jonathan Pollard in a light of even greater hypocrisy. Pollard was jailed by the US for 30 years - half his life - on charges of spying for Israel after he passed information about regional threats to the Jewish state. Even after recently being paroled, he continues to suffer unprecedented draconian parole conditions.
Israel the main target
The infiltration mission, entitled "Anarchist," has been up and running since 1998. Its goal was to crack and intercept the broadcasts of major armies in the Middle East, along with their air forces and advanced weapon systems and radars.
In the framework of the mission, the codes of advanced combat and tracking systems of Hezbollah, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Syria were cracked.
However, at the center of the operation was one state which the majority of the resources and efforts were invested in - Israel, the supposed ally of the US and UK.
"Anarchy" was operated by the American NSA and the British GCHQ from two bases. One was a base in Menwith Hill, in northern England, that is jointly run with the US, and the other a British base located on the peak of the Troodos Mountains, the highest point in Cyprus. The base is massive, full of antennas, receivers and decoding equipment, with portions of the base dug underground.
The Snowden files include screenshots from intercepted broadcasts from Israeli drones in the midst of their operations. All that the powerful cameras of the UAVs picked up was transmitted to the American and British spies.
Also in the files were presentations prepared for internal lectures and training, including reports apparently addressed to senior commanders about the progress of the infiltration operation.
Members of the "Anarchist" operation were also able to locate where the drone footage was shot in a portion of the instances, whether by identifying the landscape such as that of an Arab village near the security barrier in Judea and Samaria, or else by cracking a special part of the broadcast in which the UAV updated its base regarding its location.
In one instance on June 24, 2009, the members of the base in Cyprus documented the movement of Israeli drones near Shechem (Nablus) in Samaria. In April 2010, they were able to figure out that the drones were near Atil in northwestern Samaria, not far from the 1949 Armistice line and Netanya.
"Critical access"
A British intelligence document from 2008 notes that "this access is irreplaceable in order to understand the Israeli army and its operations, and therefore it gives us the ability to understand future developments in the region."
The document further stated that "in times of crisis, this access is critical, and at times may be the only way to provide information and support to the operations of the United States and its allies in this arena."
Not mentioned in the document is the fact that Israel is itself a declared ally of the US and the UK.
The US invested serious resources in tracking Israeli preparations for a strike on Iran, as revealed by the documents which also showed great American concerns that Israel would conduct significant military actions in the region without coordination with the US causing instability.
The documents and pictures, published for the first time Friday in Yedioth Aharonoth as well as The Intercept and the German Der Spiegel, include images showing missiles that are said to be able to weigh up to a ton hanging from the wings of the Eitan drone. The images likewise show the takeoff and landing of the drone, also known as the Heron.
2. STEINITZ 'DISAPPOINTED' IN 18-YEARS OF US SPYING
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) responded on Friday to the morning's report revealing that the US and UK have infiltrated Israeli intelligence for the past 18 years, hacking into the video broadcasts of Israeli drones conducting sensitive missions in the region.
Steinitz, who served as Intelligence Minister in the last government, said he was disappointed by the revelation, made by Yedioth Aharonoth from documents and images exposed by National Security Agency (NSA) whistle-blower Edward Snowden.
"We are not surprised. We know that the Americans spy on everyone including us, their friends," he told Army Radio.
"It's disappointing nonetheless because of the fact that for decades we haven't spied or gathered intelligence or broken codes in the United States."
Steinitz's comment refers to the case of former US Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Pollard, who was arrested in 1985 and jailed for 30 years - half his life - before being paroled recently. Pollard was charged with spying for Israel, after passing information on regional threats to the Jewish state, and even now he suffers from unprecedented draconian parole conditions.
The American and British spying operation, called "Anarchist," focused on Israel and saw codes cracked allowing access to broadcasts from drones to Israeli bases in various areas, including in Iran ahead of an apparent planned attack on Tehran's nuclear program.
Despite Israel being an ally of the US and UK, they also penetrated F16 fighter pilots' heads-up display, in one case showing the aircraft tracking a target on the ground.
"It's as if they sat with them in the cockpit," wrote Yedioth Aharonoth. "It's a look into the secret Israeli combat world. Potential targets, aims, priorities and capabilities, from Israel's view of its enemies. The United States and Britain profited from Israel's superb intelligence abilities and saw everything that Israel saw."
A senior Israeli intelligence official exposed to the revelation told the paper that "this is an earthquake."
"Apparently none of our encoded communications processes are secure from them," he said. "This is the most serious leak in the history of Israeli intelligence."
AFP contributed to this report.
3. 'AMERICA HAS JOINED THE ANTI-SEMITIC CAMPAIGN AGAINST ISRAEL'
by Ari Yashar
Samaria regional council head Yossi Dagan responded sharply on Friday to reports the day before, revealing that the US reissued its orders to importers not to label products from Judea and Samaria as being from "Israel."
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Thursday defended the instructions, saying that they were not a new policy. The instructions were published on Saturday, calling to enforce the 1995 American law on marking goods from the region.
"Even though this is just a 'reissuing,' it is clear why US Customs 'remembered' to brush the cobwebs off this wretched law," said Dagan.
"Unfortunately sources in the US are joining the anti-Semitic campaign against the state of Israel, and we rely on the Foreign Ministry and Deputy Foreign Minister, the Israelis who will know to respond firmly and decisively to this unacceptable attempt to mark Israeli businesses."
Dagan concluded by saying, "we also trust that this time there won't be any influence on the businesses in Judea and Samaria. We will continue to produce and live our lives."
While the US guidelines do not distinguish between Jewish and Arab products, the Obama administration gave support to the EU decision last November to label Jewish products from Judea, Samaria and the Golan Heights.
Highlighting Dagan's accusations of American hostility, his response comes the same Friday that a shocking revelation was made from documents released by National Security Agency (NSA) whistle-blower Edward Snowden, showing the US and UK have been infiltrating Israeli intelligence drones on sensitive missions throughout the region for the past 18 years.
Regarding the legal status of Israel's presence in Judea and Samaria, and consequentially of products from the region, the 2012 Levy Report proved that Israel's presence is legal according to international law. However, despite being commissioned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, two consecutive coalition governments led by him have yet to adopt the findings of the report.
4. BABY ADELLE'S MURDERERS SENT TO 15 YEARS IN PRISON
by Ido Ben Porat
The five terrorists who in 2013 threw rocks at the car of the Biton family and critically wounded two-year-old Adelle, ultimately resulting in her death two years later, were on Thursday sent to 15 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter rather than murder.
It was reported in December that the terrorists' attorneys signed a plea bargain under which all five terrorists will confess to and be convicted of manslaughter, receive a prison sentence of 15 years and each will pay 30,000 shekels to the Biton family.
The plea bargain was approved by the Military Court in Samaria.
Adelle was critically wounded when the family car was attacked outside of Ariel in Samaria by Arab terrorists, who hurled rocks at the vehicle and caused it to veer off the road and crash headfirst into a truck.
The fist-sized rock struck Adelle directly in the head, leaving the two-year-old baby critically wounded and in mortal danger. Doctors said her recovery from the blow was nothing short of miraculous.
Adelle had been in and out of the hospital for two years following the attack in a grueling rehabilitation period, and died in February of 2015 after her condition deteriorated rapidly from a bout of pneumonia.
Responding to the sentence imposed on the terrorists, Adelle's mother Adva told Channel 1 News on Thursday, "It is time that our country hand out life sentences or death penalty to those terrorists, even though are minors."
"We decided to agree to the plea bargain so that we know that they are under lock and key," she explained.
5. 'IT'S A MIRACLE, TERRORIST MISSED HIS HEART BY A MILLIMETER'
by Eliran Aharon
Menachem Mendel Rivkin, who was stabbed and seriously wounded on Wednesday night by an Arab terrorist at a restaurant adjacent to a gas station just outside Givat Ze'ev to the northwest of Jerusalem, continued to improve on Friday.
Shaare Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem announced on Friday morning that Rivkin is still in the intensive care unit, and remains on artificial respiration and put to sleep with anesthetics, but his condition is improving steadily.
In the attack at around 11 p.m. on Wednesday, the 17-year-old Arab terrorist from Bayt Nabala arrived at the gas station adjacent to Givat Ze'ev and stabbed Rivkin, a resident of Givat Ze'ev who was going to eat at a restaurant right by the station with his wife Brachi. The terrorist tried to flee but fell, scraped his knee and was caught by civilians, before being brought to the hospital for medical treatment.
"We got out of the car, we walked just a meter I think," recalled Brachi Rivkin to Channel 2.
"We parked right next to the burger (restaurant), and suddenly in a second my husband says to me 'I'm stabbed.' I turned around and didn't see anyone, it was just a matter of seconds."
She said that "everyone jumped out to run after the terrorist. Then I was left with him, I don't really know, I felt that he was losing blood and wasn't with me."
Doctors at Shaare Tzedek Hospital fought to save his life from the very serious wounds inflicted in the attack.
"He had a really great miracle. Because the doctor said that another millimeter and it would have hit his heart, and I don't want to say what would have happened," said Rivkin's wife.
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6. IRAN SAYS IT SPIED ON US AIRCRAFT CARRIER WITH DRONE
by Arutz Sheva Staff
Iranian state TV on Friday gloatingly claimed that an Iranian surveillance drone flew over an American aircraft carrier and photographed it during recent naval drills.
The TV report did not specify when the fly-by happened, did not name the US vessel, and did not even show any of the alleged images, reports Associated Press.
Iran's state-run IRNA said that an Iranian light submarine also was closely involved in the surveillance operation.
Commander Kevin Stephens, a spokesperson for the Bahrain-based US Navy 5th Fleet, declined to respond to the report.
"I can say that we are confident in the ability of U.S. naval forces operating in the region to respond appropriately as the situation dictates, and will exercise our right to defend our forces against any threat," he said.
The incident comes just weeks after ten US sailors were abducted by Iran, following a technical malfunction that caused them to enter Iranian waters. Tehran said that in the tense stand off that followed it had rockets locked onto US ships ready to blow them out of the water.
Currently the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier is stationed in the Persian Gulf to help in the campaign against Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria.
Iranian state TV also said Iran's navy successfully tested surface-to-surface Noor cruise missiles and unveiled a new radar system during the drill.
The incident comes as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani returned to Iran on Friday after a five-day visit to Europe, where he signed billions of dollars worth of trade deals with Italian and French companies following the lifting of sanctions in the controversial nuclear deal.
US Secretary of State John Kerry last Thursday admitted part of the massive sanctions relief windfall will go to terror.
Even as the nuclear sanctions were lifted, the US last Sunday imposed new sanctions on Iran's ballistic missile program over Iranian breaches in recent missile tests, and in response Tehran vowed to defy the sanctions.
The report on Iran spying on the US with a drone comes the same Friday that a revelation was made from documents released by National Security Agency (NSA) whistle-blower Edward Snowden, showing the US and UK have been infiltrating Israeli intelligence drones on sensitive missions throughout the region for the past 18 years.
7. 'THE STATE OF SOUTHERN TEL AVIV IS OCCUPIED'
by Hezki Ezra
May Golan, chairman of the Hebrew City NGO and a long time champion of the rights of residents in southern Tel Aviv which has been plagued by illegal immigrants, went down to Eilat on Thursday to spread her message to the Likud committee event Likudiada.
Golan spoke with Arutz Sheva about the materials she was passing around at the event, saying, "I came here because I wanted to remind Likud members, MKs and ministers about the occupied state of southern Tel Aviv, along with other cities conquered by the infiltrators."
Statistics from last August suggested that infiltration by Sudanese and Eritreans into Israel is on the rise again, with figures showing the overwhelming majority are job migrants. Brutal crime committed by the illegal immigrants has tragically become a common occurrence, particularly in southern Tel Aviv.
"Precisely here they should remember that people are still suffering, and the time has come for this right-wing government to find a solution," said Golan at the Likud event. "They are the ones who are forming the right-wing government that is supposed to solve the crisis of the residents for the past 7 years."
"The disaster is now at the worst situation that it could be, the infiltrators breach all laws, the know they're living above the law because nothing is being done," added the activist, who is associated with the Otzma Yehudit party.
Golan pointed out that Shas chairman Aryeh Deri's first action after being appointed Interior Minister this month was to reduce the time spent by infiltrators at the Holot detention facility.
She demanded that the MKs and ministers not forget the problem, and that they help the southern Tel Aviv residents.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany recently said they would send back illegal Eritrean migrants because they do not meet the criterion of refugees, she noted, adding, "we don't need to be more humane than Europe."
"There's a solution, to legislate a basic law and remove the infiltrators to a third country or back to their country, but not to let them get a foothold here at the rate of 7,000 births a year. At this rate not only will southern Tel Aviv not remain, but a Jewish state won't remain here."
8. FOX SAYS TRUMP DEMANDED $5 MILLION TO DEBATE
by Ari Yashar
With Donald Trump boycotting the Fox News Republican presidential debates on Thursday night, the stage was set for an epic clash between Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Marco Rubio (R-FL), and the two did not disappoint.
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Cruz early on was asked to "address the elephant not in the room," and said, "I'm a maniac, and everyone on this stage is stupid, fat and ugly...now that we've gotten the Donald Trump portion out of the way."
Trump had announced he would be holding an event for veterans instead, after making yet more disparaging remarks against Fox journalist Megyn Kelly and badmouthing the news channel for "playing games" with him.
The station's chairman Roger Ailes said he had spoken with Trump three times on Thursday.
"Trump offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that FOX News contribute $5 million to his charities," said a Fox spokesperson. "We explained that was not possible and we could not engage in a quid pro quo, nor could any money change hands for any reason. In the last 48 hours, we've kept two issues at the forefront - we would never compromise our journalistic standards and we would always stand by our journalist, Megyn Kelly. We have accomplished those two goals and we are pleased with the outcome."
Amnesty
Thursday's debate is the last before Iowa caucuses next Monday, where polls show an even race between Trump and Cruz, with Rubio not far behind in third, and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson continuing his downward trend from recent weeks.
But even with Trump not on the stage, the debate featured plenty of fireworks between Cruz and Rubio, who clashed over "amnesty" for illegal immigrants who are already in America.
The two accused one another of lying about the issue and changing their position from one of support for "amnesty" to a more conservative policy.
They also clashed over defense spending, after Cruz said he would "utterly and completely destroy ISIS (Islamic State)."
"The only budget that Ted has ever voted for was a budget that Rand Paul sponsored that brags about cutting defense spending," Rubio said. In response Cruz insisted that he would "carpet bomb" the enemy as was done in the first Iraq war.
The last debate earlier this month was characterized by the first head-to-head clashes between Cruz and Trump, amid growing tensions in the Iowa race.
A new Pew Research Center poll this Wednesday indicated potential troubles for the real estate mogul's campaign, finding that nearly 60% of American think Trump is not religious or not religious enough, with 51% saying they were less likely to vote for a non religious candidate.
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