Each time Israel attacks Gaza and massacres its trapped civilian population \u2013 at the end of 2008<\/a>, in the fall of 2012<\/a>, and now again this past month \u2013 the same process repeats itself in both U.S. media and government circles: the U.S. government feeds Israel the weapons it uses<\/a> and steadfastly defends its aggression both publicly<\/a> and at the U.N.<\/a>; the U.S. Congress unanimously enacts<\/a> one resolution after the next<\/a> to support<\/a> and enable Israel<\/a>; and then American media figures pretend that the Israeli attack has nothing to do with their country, that it\u2019s just some sort of unfortunately intractable, distant conflict between two equally intransigent\u00a0foreign parties in response to which all decent Americans helplessly throw up their hands as though they bear no responsibility.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States has been trying to broker peace in the Middle East for the past 20 years,\u201d wrote the liberal commentator\u00a0Kevin Drum in\u00a0Mother Jones<\/em><\/a>, last Tuesday.\u00a0The following day, CNN reported<\/a>\u00a0that the Obama administration\u00a0\u201dagreed to Israel\u2019s request to resupply it with several types of ammunition \u2026 Among the items being bought are 120mm mortar rounds and 40mm ammunition for grenade launchers.\u201d<\/p>\n The new Snowden documents illustrate a crucial fact: Israeli aggression would be impossible without the constant, lavish support<\/a> and protection of the U.S. government<\/a>, which is anything but a neutral, peace-brokering party in these attacks. And the relationship between the NSA and its partners on the one hand, and the Israeli spying agency on the other, is at the center of that enabling.<\/p>\n Tally of UN Vote on July 22, 2014 to investigate violations of international law in West Bank and Gaza (Credit: Ken Roth, Human Rights Watch)<\/p><\/div>\n Last September,\u00a0the Guardian\u00a0<\/em>revealed<\/a> that the NSA \u201croutinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel\u00a0without first sifting it to remove information about US citizens.\u201d The paper published the full top secret Memoranadum of Understanding<\/a> between the two agencies governing that sharing. But the NSA\/ISNU relationship extends far beyond that.<\/p>\n One newly disclosed top secret NSA document, dated April 13, 2013 and\u00a0published today by the Intercept<\/em><\/a>, recounts that the \u201cNSA maintains a far-reaching technical and analytic relationship with the Israeli SIGINT National Unit (ISNU) sharing information on access, intercept, targeting, language, analysis and reporting.\u201d<\/p>\n Specifically, \u201cthis SIGINT relationship has increasingly been the catalyst for a broader intelligence relationship between the United States and Israel.\u201d Moreover, \u201cNSA\u2019s cyber partnerships expanded beyond ISNU to include Israeli Defense Intelligence\u2019s [Special Operation Division]\u00a0SOD and Mossad.\u201d<\/p>\n Under this expanded cooperation, the Americans and Israelis work together to gain access to \u201cgeographic targets [that] include the countries of North Africa, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf, South Asia, and the Islamic republics of the former Soviet Union.\u201d It also includes \u201ca\u00a0dedicated communications line between NSA and ISNU [that] supports the exchange of raw material, as well as daily analytic and technical correspondence.\u201d<\/p>\n The relationship has provided Israel with ample support for both intelligence and surveillance: \u201cThe Israeli side enjoys the benefits of expanded geographic access to world-class NSA cryptanalytic and SIGINT engineering expertise, and also gains controlled access to advanced U.S. technology and equipment via accommodation buys and foreign military sales.\u201d Among Israel\u2019s priorities for the cooperation are what the NSA calls \u201cPalestinian terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n The cooperation between the NSA and ISNU began decades ago. A top secret agreement between the two agencies<\/a> from July 1999\u00a0recounts that the first formal intelligence-sharing agreement was entered into in 1968 between U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and Israeli Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, and informally began in the 1950s. But the relationship has grown rapidly in the last decade.<\/p>\n In 2003 and 2004, the Israelis were pressuring the NSA to agree to a massively expanded intelligence-sharing relationship called \u201cGladiator.\u201d As part of that process, Israel wanted the Americans to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to fund Israeli activities. The specific proposed \u201cGladiator\u201d agreement appears never to have been consummated, derailed by Israeli demands that the U.S. bear the full cost, but documents in the Snowden archive pertaining to those negotiations contain what appear to be two receipts for one or more payments of $500,000 in cash to Israeli officials for unspecified purposes:<\/p>\n The surveillance-sharing relationship with Israel has expanded to include the\u00a0<\/strong>NSA\u2019s British and Canadian counterparts, GCHQ and CSEC, both of which actively participate in feeding the Israelis selected communications data they have collected. Several documents from early 2009, at the height of the Israeli attack on Gaza called \u201cCast Lead\u201d that left more than 1,000 people dead, detail some of this cooperation.<\/p>\n One top secret 2009 GCHQ project named \u201cYESTERNIGHT\u201d involved \u201cRuffle,\u201d the British agency\u2019s code name for ISNU. According to the document, the project involved a\u00a0\u201ctrilateral (GCHQ, NSA and Third Party RUFFLE) targeting exchange agreement covering respective COMSAT accesses.\u201d One of the \u201cspecific intelligence topics\u201d shared between the parties was \u201cPalestinians\u201d, although the GCHQ document states that \u201cdue to the sensitivities\u201d of Israeli involvement, that particular program does not include direct targeting of Palestinians and Israelis themselves. Another GCHQ document from February, 2009, describes \u201ca quadrilateral meeting for RUFFLE, NSA, CSEC and GCHQ.\u201d<\/p>\n The British agency noted in early 2009 that it had been\u00a0spying on emails and telephone numbers specifically requested by ISNU, \u201cand they have thanked us many times over.\u201d<\/p>\n The NSA and GCHQ receive intelligence about the Palestinians from many sources. The agencies have even succeeded in inducing the U.S.-supported Palestinian Authority Security Forces (PASF) to provide them with surveillance and intelligence about other Arab groups in the region. One July 2008 GCHQ document states:<\/p>\n Jordan also feeds surveillance data about the Palestinians to the NSA. One classified NSA document from 2013 describes how \u201cNSA\u2019s partnership with EWD [the Jordanian Electronic Warfare Directorate]\u00a0is a well established, long-standing and trusted relationship dating back to the early 1980\u2019s.\u201d Specifically, the two agencies \u201ccooperate on high-priority SIGINT targets of mutual interest\u201d that includes the Palestinian Security Forces.<\/p>\n The document continues: \u201cEWD provides high-interest, unique collection on targets of mutual interest, such as the Palestinian Security Forces; EWD is the sole contributor to a large body of NSA\u2019s reporting on this target.\u201d<\/p>\n But even as the NSA and its partners are directed by political branches to feed the Israelis surveillance data and technology, they constantly characterize Israel as a threat \u2013 both to their own national security and more generally to regional peace. In stark contrast to the public statements about Israel made by American and British officials, the Snowden archive is replete with discussions of the Israelis as a menace rather than an ally.<\/p>\n NSA documents previously published by the Guardian<\/em><\/a> stated that \u201cone of\u00a0NSA\u2019s biggest threats is actually from friendly intelligence services, like Israel.\u201d Another notes that the National Intelligence Estimate ranked Israel as \u201cthe third most aggressive intelligence service against the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n British officials have a similar view of the Israelis, describing them as a \u201cvery real threat to regional stability.\u201d One top secret GCHQ planning document from 2008 notes that \u201cpolicy makers remain deeply concerned over the potential threat that Israel poses to a peaceful resolution of the Iran problem, and to some of Israel\u2019s less desirable activities in the region.\u201d Moreover, \u201cIsrael\u2019s thinking on the long-term threat offered by Iran to its fundamental foreign policy strategy of armed deterrence may create very real threats to regional stability in 2009.\u201d<\/p>\n The NSA\u2019s 2007 Strategic Mission List, identifying priorities for surveillance targeting, repeatedly identifies Israel as one of the leading threats in a diverse range of areas, including:\u00a0\u201cCombating the threat of development of weapons of mass destruction\u201d and \u201cdelivery methods (particularly ballistic and nuclear-capable cruise missiles).\u201d The \u201cfocus area\u201d for that concern is \u201cWMD and missile proliferation activities,\u201d and one of the leading threats is listed as \u201cIsrael (cruise missiles).\u201d<\/p>\n The NSA internal discussion from that document regarding \u201cMastering Cyberspace and Preventing an Attack on U.S. Critical Information Systems\u201d includes a subheading on \u201cFIS [financial\/banking system] threats.\u201d The nations identified as the leading FIS threats include India, North Korea, Cuba and Israel. Similarly, Israel appears on the list of countries believed by the NSA to be \u201cEnabling EW (producers\/proliferators).\u201d<\/p>\n Another section of the threat assessment document is entitled \u201cForeign Intelligence, Conterintelligence; Denial & Deception Activities: Countering Foreign Intelligence Threats.\u201d It is defined as \u201cEspionage\/intelligence collection operations and manipulation\/influence operations conducted by foreign intelligence services directed against U.S. government, military, science & technology and Intelligence Community.\u201d The countries posing the greatest threat: \u201cChina, Russia, Cuba, Israel, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, France, Venezuela, and South Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked about its cooperative relationship with Israel, an NSA spokesperson told the Intercept<\/em>: \u201cWe are not going to comment on specific intelligence activities and relationships. \u00a0The fact that intelligence services sometimes cooperate in a lawful and appropriate manner mutually strengthens the security of both nations. \u00a0Whenever NSA shares intelligence information or technology, we comply with all applicable laws and rules.\u201d A GCHQ official refused to comment on the record beyond the agency\u2019s standard boilerplate claiming its activities are legal and subject to \u201crigorous oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n Legal or not, the NSA\u2019s extensive, multi-level cooperation with Israeli military and intelligence agencies is part of a broader American policy that actively supports and enables Israeli aggression and militarism. Every Israeli action in Gaza has U.S. fingerprints all over it<\/a>. Many Americans may wish that the Israeli attack on Gaza were a matter of no special relevance or concern to them, but it is their own government that centrally enables this violence.<\/p>\n _______________________________<\/p>\n Glenn Greenwald is a journalist, constitutional lawyer, commentator, and author of three New York Times best-selling books on politics and law. His fifth book, <\/em>No Place to Hide<\/em>, about the U.S. surveillance state and his experiences reporting on the Snowden documents around the world, will be released in April 2014. Prior to his collaboration with Pierre Omidyar, Glenn\u2019s column was featured at <\/em>Guardian US<\/em> and <\/em>Salon<\/em>. He was the debut winner, along with Amy Goodman, of the Park Center I.F. Stone Award for Independent Journalism in 2008, and also received the 2010 Online Journalism Award for his investigative work on the abusive detention conditions of Chelsea Manning. For his 2013 NSA reporting, he received the Gannett Foundation award for investigative journalism and the Gannett Foundation watchdog journalism award; the Esso Premio for Excellence in Investigative Reporting in Brazil (the first non-Brazilian to win), and the Electronic Frontier Foundation\u2019s Pioneer Award. Along with Laura Poitras, <\/em>Foreign Policy<\/em> magazine named him one of the top 100 Global Thinkers for 2013. He lives in Rio, Brazil.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Tally](\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/UNVote_KennethRoth-us-israel-gaza-palestine-300x223.jpg\")
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