Special to WorldTribune.com

JERUSALEM — Israel has been preparing for an investigation of U.S. espionage.

Officials and parliamentarians said Israel would seek details of U.S. espionage operations in the Jewish state. They said Israel long suspected that the United States was monitoring the telephones and e-mails of officials.

“We need to know if the United States listened in to us, what it listened to and what should be our response,” parliamentarian Nachman Shai, a member of the opposition Labor Party, said.

The call for an investigation came after a report in a U.S. daily that Washington long tapped the communications of Israeli leaders. The New York Times, citing documents released by U.S. defector Edward Snowden, identified targets of U.S. and British intelligence as then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Officials said the disclosure of U.S. espionage in Israel violated an agreement between the two countries. They said the agreement was reaffirmed after the imprisonment of U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard, sentenced to life for relaying classified information to Israel. Washington has rebuffed repeated appeals by Israel for Pollard’s release.

“We do not spy on the president of the United States or the White
House,” Intelligence and Strategic Threat Minister Yuval Steinitz said. “The
rules have been made clear. We have made certain commitments on the matter
and we honor them.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has sought to play down the
allegations of U.S. spying. Officials said Netanyahu did not want to
exacerbate tensions with the administration of President Barak Obama,
already pressing Israel for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the
West Bank and Jerusalem in 2014. Israeli media reports said Netanyahu might
link a Palestinian state to the release of Pollard.

“In the close relationship between Israel and the United States, there
are things which are forbidden to do, that are unacceptable to us,”
Netanyahu, who did not elaborate, said.

In one case, U.S. intelligence officers were said to have rented an
apartment opposite the Tel Aviv penthouse of Barak. The Israeli daily Yediot
Aharonot said the espionage operation stemmed from the U.S. embassy in Tel
Aviv, which in 2007 placed a “large quantity of electronic equipment” to
monitor Barak’s movements and communications.

“If it’s true it is very, very grave,” said parliamentarian Tzahi
Hanegbi, a former chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee. “That’s classic espionage for which Jonathan Pollard has been in
prison for almost 30 years. If it’s true, Pollard’s cell door should be
opened and he should be allowed to go home before the end of the day.”

  Downplayed by Netanyahu, Edward Snowden, Israeli lawmakers seek investigation of suspected U.S. spying, Jonathan Pollard, Nachman Shai, Yuval Steinitz