By, Jessica Weinstein
1 min read
ByJessica Weinstein, Jessica Weinstein
America and Britain secretly monitored Israeli military operations, according to a report made public on Friday.
The report, part of an investigation by the magazine The Intercept, has revealed that US and UK intelligence agencies hacked into video feeds captured by Israeli drones in an operation code-named ‘Anarchist’. Among the operations monitored by Anarchist were Israel’s airstrikes on Gaza in 2008.
The Intercept report says that the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the American National Security Agency (NSA) targeted Israeli drones from a mountain top in Cyprus. In 2008, GCHQ instructed Anarchist to monitor drones flying over the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza, collecting information described in the report as “indispensable”.
“This access is indispensable for maintaining an understanding of Israeli military training and operations and thus an insight to possible future developments in the region,” a GCHQ report from 2008 is quoted as saying. “In times of crisis, this access is critical and one of the only avenues to provide up-to-the-minute information and support to US and Allied operations in the area."
Israel’s national infrastructure minister and former minister of intelligence Yuval Steinitz, said that the report didn't come as a surprise, however he did find the revelations “disappointing”.
"We know the Americans spy on the entire world, including us, including their allies," he said. "Nevertheless, [this report is] disappointing, in part due to the fact that we haven't been spying, collecting intelligence or decoding American code for decades."
An Israeli source speaking to Haaretz also downplayed the report.
"Our defence operations weren't harmed," the source said. "It goes without saying that foreign intelligence elements in the Middle East detect our operations, just like we detect the operations of other states in the region."
The report, based on documents released by former NSA and CIA agent Edward Snowden, includes images of video footage captured by Anarchist.
According to the documents, Anarchist first collected encrypted video signals in 1998. In 2010 it picked up information from Hizbollah drones in Lebanon, although the programme focused on Israeli activity.
