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Monday, April 12, 2010    

Israeli military changes battle plans after leak of 'top secret' documents

TEL AVIV — Israel's military has been forced to revise combat operations in wake of the theft of thousands of classified documents.   

An unidentified officer, in an interview with Israel Army Radio, did not say how the battle plans were changed after the theft, blamed on a former aide to then-Central Command chief Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh. The aide, identified as Anat Kam, has been accused of copying 2,000 documents from computers at Central Command and relaying them to Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

Seven hundred of the documents were said to have been classified "top secret." Ms. Kam, 23, has been indicted on charges of "serious espionage", Middle East Newsline reported.


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Officials have not ruled out the prospect that many of the documents ended up with United Nations human rights coordinator Richard Goldstone, something denied by Ms. Kam's attorneys. In 2009, Goldstone published a report that accused Israel of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The Israel Security Agency plans to investigate the Haaretz reporter who received the classified military documents. The reporter was identified as Uri Blau, who wrote stories of Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip, and was currently in Britain.

"We should have taken the gloves off a long time ago," ISA director Yuval Diskin told a news conference on April 7.

Ms. Kam has been under house arrest since December 2009 although she maintains access to the Israeli media. Officials said she served as aide to Naveh's office director from 2005 through 2007.

"Such information could cause the failure of operations," Israeli military analyst Shmuel Gordon said. "Don't forget that in wake of the theft planners were forced to revise commands in Operation Cast Lead so that terrorists couldn't stage ambushes. This is the grave repercussion of stealing documents and relaying them to the media."

A senior officer said the army modified combat operations in 2008 and 2009 after it determined that at least 2,000 documents were stolen from Central Command. The officer said the revisions included the conduct of the 23-day war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, known as Operation Cast Lead and which ended in January 2009.

"The plans were revised to ensure the safety of Israeli troops," the officer said.



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