JERUSALEM: Israeli officials yesterday said they were not surprised by allegations the US and Britain had spied on the country’s leaders and played down the importance of any information its allies may have gleaned.
Leaked documents from former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden published on Friday showed the NSA and its British counterpart GCHQ had in 2009 targeted an email address listed as belonging to the Israeli prime minister and monitored emails of senior defence officials.
“Our working assumption is that not only Arab states but also world powers, including friendly ones, try to follow us,” Strategic Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz told Israel’s Channel 2 television.
The office of Ehud Olmert, who at the time was Israel’s prime minister, said in a statement that the reports, if accurate, referred to a public email address.
AFP
