In an interview on Israel's Army Radio, Rabinovich recounted a longtime
U.S. espionage operation that lasted from at least 1993 through 1996, Middle East Newsline reported.
Rabinovich, regarded as pro-American, said Israeli security officers
discovered the U.S. wiretap on the embassy years after it had been
installed.
U.S. intelligence was believed to have broken the code on Israeli secure
communications from the embassy, Rabinovich said. He said this led Israeli
diplomats to reduce cable traffic from the embassy to the government in
Jerusalem.
"Every juicy telegram was in danger of being leaked," Rabinovich said
on Nov. 28. "We sent very few of them. Sometimes I came to Israel to deliver
reports orally."
This marked the first time a senior Israeli accused the United States of
espionage. The assertion took place amid an Israeli campaign to win the
release of former U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard, sentenced to life for
relaying classified data to the Jewish state.
"It is hypocritical for the American government — which we now know has
continuously spied on its allies and even operated a mole within a
friendly government — to continue to keep Jonathan imprisoned while
ordering American civil servants to commit similar acts," Israeli deputy
parliamentary speaker Danny Dannon said.
In the interview, Rabinovich said the Israeli embassy in Washington was
notified of the U.S. espionage operation. He said every embassy staffer was
warned that U.S. intelligence was listening to all communications.
Officials said U.S. intelligence was believed to have intensified
operations against Israel over the last decade. They said Israeli diplomats
and other staffers have been warned that anything they say abroad could be
recorded.
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