Trump's sharing of intelligence

Ronen Bergman

I cannot for a moment pretend to have a handle on the latest Trump-induced shit-storm in Washington, but if I had to guess, my guess is that Israel's displeasure may prove to be a cornerstone in the investigation yet to be. Israel, whatever else it may be, is a U.S. ally with some very savvy intelligence in the middle of an oil-rich part of the world. Playing fast and loose with its hard-won intelligence (its operatives kill and are killed in turn) is not something Israel is likely to sit still for ... and the United States cannot do without those intelligence efforts. The following is an excerpt from a public broadcast interview with an Israeli intelligence correspondent and sounds suspiciously like something of more importance than all the American talking heads on TV combined. Trading Israeli hard work for an American sociopath's posturing is going too far. Someplace in the interview, the correspondent suggests that Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is "afraid" of Trump. Imagine that -- one sociopath afraid of another.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (PBS): It was The New York Times that first reported yesterday that Israel was the source of that classified intelligence about ISIS that President Trump allegedly divulged to Russian diplomats.

If true, what are the ramifications, not only for the political relationship between the U.S. and Israel, but the close ties between the nations’ intelligence services?

For that, we turn to Ronen Bergman. He’s the intelligence correspondent for Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. His forthcoming book is called “Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations.”

And he joins me now from Tel Aviv.

Ronen, may I first ask you, were you able to confirm that this intelligence that the president allegedly divulged was in fact from Israel, and, if so, what the reaction among Israeli intelligence has been?

RONEN BERGMAN, Yedioth Ahronoth: This is not yet finally confirmed.

There’s an investigation going on in Israel, trying to check which of the many, many items of intelligence that was delivered to the United States during the last three or four months regarding Syria, the activity of ISIS, Russia, Hezbollah, Iran, all closely guarded by Israel, which of these items were given by President Trump to Foreign Minister Lavrov.

As per the emotions or the reactions inside Israeli intelligence community, I would say they are ballistic. (emphasis added).

In a suspicious age and viewing an ornately organized intelligence system, what a wonderful disinformation officer/mole for Netanyahu Bergman might make.