I have 2 questions:
- Why wasn’t Congress kept in the loop in the first place?
- Should we send all future FOIA requests to the Israelis?
Here’s the real troublesome part:
Now I don’t think its treasonous if Congress doesn’t report it, but it definitely is shady all around.
Congress is not the Executive Branch. They enact legislation, they don’t make operational decisions.
But it’s OK. John Boehner just informed everybody today that he is shocked – shocked, I tell you – that Israel could have done such a thing! If this information is correct it appears that Israel was playing some of these Republican morons like a violin, but Boehner is apparently the Sergeant Schultz of the 114th US Congress – he sees nothing … he knows nothing!
Hahahaha. Unless you’re quoting another article, the article listed in the OP says Boehner is shocked and baffled by the Obama administration claim that Congress had received such information from Israel.
*The House speaker, John Boehner, said he was “baffled” by the report and denied having received any information from Israel.
“I read that story this morning, and frankly, I was a bit shocked, because there’s no information revealed to me whatsoever,” Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, told reporters at a press briefing. “I was shocked by the fact that there were reports in this press article that information was being passed on from the Israelis to members of Congress. I’m not aware of that at all. I’m baffled by it.”*
NM…I see it’s already been asked.
Congress denies receiving such information from Israel. Israel denies providing such information. The Obama WH spies claim Israel is spying on the Iran nuclear negotiations. Who should the public believe?
Did France supply Israel with information about the talks?
For there to be an accusation of crime, there must be enough evidence to constitute probable cause. Potentially receiving classified information, or disseminating classified information or acting on it could potentially violate various laws, including the espionage act. That is one of the things that Mr. Snowden’s benefiting journalists are in potential hot water for. But we don’t have information regarding the circumstances here. Assuming the Israeli’s have a source in the Iranian foreign office feeding them information, the Israeli’s could disseminate it in a way that suits them best and it is highly unlikely that any US laws would be broken. Not the same if their source is in the US State Department and the material is classified.
But at this stage, this is all a bunch of rumors.
What branch or people are the “Obama WH spies”?
According to the cited article, it was a “senior administration official” who broke this story (rumor?). Where do senior administration officials usually get their information from? CIA? NSA? DNC? Putin? Valerie Jarrett?
The Wall Street Journal cited a senior administration official who accused Israeli officials of eavesdropping on the talks and obtaining information from confidential US briefings.
That would be Mr Senior A. Officials, also known as “their ass”.
This is the pot calling the refrigerator black. The Obama administration has done far worse than spying on a hostile nation which does not recognise your right to exist and is quite open about wanting you to die. It’s like if you entered negotiations with the North Korean government and were somehow stupid enough to be surprised that South Korea knew what the North Koreans were saying about it afterwards.
That is essentially what the Israeli foreign minister is claiming:
Now, I’m not saying he’s a reliable source.
As a general principle, I don’t think foreigners have a moral obligation to obey our laws. But in the case of the Israelis, it’s a matter of self-interest to do so.
Does anyone really care that Israel spies on us? That seems to be kind of missing the point of the Administration’s outrage.
Again, can you show me where in the OP article Israel was accused of spying on the US? Not “spying on nuke talks” - on the US.
And as for Administration’s outrage - yes, Obama does not want the Congress to know what exactly is being discussed/agreed upon in the talks and is trying to prevent that. That is what he is outraged about. I think Congress should know what is going on. So I don’t share Obama’s outrage.
@ Grumman and doorhinge:
So no idea then from either of you? Obama’s men in black, so to speak.
I’d love to know what you’re thinking by changing kettle to refrigerator… I mean a fridge doesn’t get black so it’s like the opposite meaning of the standard phrase but I honestly don’t get your point.
Again this seems to be a strawman. It doesn’t matter if they were spying on the US or Iran or nuke talks or the secret vote of The Voice or whoever. Israel could be tapping Obama’s personal phone and that’s wouldn’t be the big deal here. (Though if someone is spying on nuke talks involving two parties, they are kind of spying on both parties aren’t they?)
So going around the acceptable lines of communication is ok if you think the receivers of information “should have known” about it? Does this also apply to say Edward Snowden?
The talks involve many more than two parties.
Well, then the answer to your question is apparent, isn’t it? They are spying on all the parties involved.
Edward Snowden disseminated classified information. Can you explain, if the information came from non-US sources, how exactly it could be classified?
To give you an example: if Edward Snowden somehow got hold of Russian intelligence files that concerned US CIA operations and disseminated them - what would he be guilty of, under US law?
I don’t think so.