Addressing reports of American spying activity in Israel, Knesset Speaker Yuli-Yoel Edelstein said, ”This is a severe case, and I hope this is the iceberg rather than the tip of the iceberg. Otherwise, this case is liable to do damage to our relations with the US.

”For 28 years, the American government has been preaching to Israel about the dangers of spying against a friendly state, and (the) mistrust (it generates), and today, we find out that it was nothing but lip service. I don’t know what to call it other than hypocrisy,” the Knesset speaker said Sunday.

Citing documents leaked to journalists by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, the New York Times reported Friday that in January 2009 spies monitored the email traffic of then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The next month, the laked documents indicated, then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s email traffic was intercepted.

Another target of surveillance, according to the report, was the Hebrew University’s Institute of Physics, an internationally recognized center for research in atomic and nuclear physics.

Edelstein called on the US to release convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard ”regardless of these new revelations.” Pollard`s imprisonment, he argued, ”is an ongoing injustice against a man who fell victim to self-righteousness and false pretenses. We Israelis mustn’t feel embarrassed or the need to apologize over this claim.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)