Intelligence sharing brouhaha has more to do with protecting Israel
By The Wayne Madsen Report
Official Washington was all aflutter in the late afternoon of May 15 with news that President Trump shared "highly-sensitive" intelligence from a "close Middle East ally" with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak.
The National Security Council and other White House staff requested The Washington Post, New York Times, and other press outlets not to provide details of the intelligence Trump is said to have shared with his Russian visitors.
However, in a tweet sent on May 16, Trump wrote: ""As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism."
What was learned was that Israel provided the United States with intelligence on a planned terrorist attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The U.S. Intelligence Community then slapped the intelligence with a sensitive compartmented intelligence code word, restricting it from wide access within the intelligence community.
Details of the ISIL terror plan had already leaked out and it was pretty much in plain sight. Apparently, the Israelis had a mole inside an ISIL bomb making unit located in a Syrian town still occupied by the terrorist group. The Israeli agent reported that he had witnessed ISIL constructing bombs in laptop computers. That intelligence was used as justification by the Trump administration to order the Transportation Security Administration to ban laptop computers from passenger cabins on flight to the United States originating from specific Middle Eastern airports. That ban has now been extended to U.S.-bound flights from Europe. Passengers with laptops are required to check them with their baggage.
The top secret intelligence Trump shared with Russians was about bombs in laptops.
In 2015, ISIL placed an online advertisement looking for bomb makers to travel to Syria and join the group. The advert was run by British ISIL operative Abu Sa’eed Al-Britani, whose actual name is Omar Hussain. It is ISIL-related online items like these that are "discovered" by the Israeli intelligence-linked Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE), which is run from Washington, DC, and run as "news" by the major media.
Israel and its supporters in the United States are livid about Trump sharing the intelligence with the Russians. National security adviser H. R. McMaster and his deputy Dina Powell are insisting the report about Trump blabbing to the Russians is not true. Yet, they also asked the media not to publish details about the story.
The reason for Israel's and its supporters' angst about the intelligence disclosure is that this is yet another example of Israel's rather close relationship with ISIL, a group that has murdered Americans; Middle East Christians, Shi'as, Alawites, moderate Sunnis, and Yazidis; and nationals of American allies. The fact that Israeli intelligence could place an informant so close to an ISIL bomb making operation is testimony to the Israel-ISIL relationship.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that last November, ISIL "apologized" to the Israeli Defense Force after an ISIL unit exchanged fire with the IDF "by mistake." The Israelis are reticent about reporting cases of "friendly fire" between its military and ISIL.
Although it is not known in what Syrian town the laptop bomb making factory is located, it is reasonable to believe that it is close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in southwestern Syria. Wounded ISIL fighters have been transported to Israel over the 1974 Syria-Israel cease fire "Disengagement Line" in the Golan region for medical treatment and the Golan-Syria "border" has served as a practical meeting point between the Israelis and the Islamic State. Israeli logistics aid, including ISIL flags, has also been supplied to ISIL by the Israelis across the Golan armistice line. The Israeli-ISIL cooperation in Golan makes it a much easier location from which to slip Mossad agents into ISIL ranks.
As for Russia learning about the Israeli intelligence on ISIL, they likely already knew about it. The relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin is much closer than that between Putin and Trump. Since Russian airlines fly numerous routes to the Middle East, including Israel, it is inconceivable that Israel had not already informed Moscow about the laptop bomb plot.
Official Washington was all aflutter in the late afternoon of May 15 with news that President Trump shared "highly-sensitive" intelligence from a "close Middle East ally" with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak.
The National Security Council and other White House staff requested The Washington Post, New York Times, and other press outlets not to provide details of the intelligence Trump is said to have shared with his Russian visitors.
However, in a tweet sent on May 16, Trump wrote: ""As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism."
What was learned was that Israel provided the United States with intelligence on a planned terrorist attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The U.S. Intelligence Community then slapped the intelligence with a sensitive compartmented intelligence code word, restricting it from wide access within the intelligence community.
Details of the ISIL terror plan had already leaked out and it was pretty much in plain sight. Apparently, the Israelis had a mole inside an ISIL bomb making unit located in a Syrian town still occupied by the terrorist group. The Israeli agent reported that he had witnessed ISIL constructing bombs in laptop computers. That intelligence was used as justification by the Trump administration to order the Transportation Security Administration to ban laptop computers from passenger cabins on flight to the United States originating from specific Middle Eastern airports. That ban has now been extended to U.S.-bound flights from Europe. Passengers with laptops are required to check them with their baggage.
The top secret intelligence Trump shared with Russians was about bombs in laptops.
In 2015, ISIL placed an online advertisement looking for bomb makers to travel to Syria and join the group. The advert was run by British ISIL operative Abu Sa’eed Al-Britani, whose actual name is Omar Hussain. It is ISIL-related online items like these that are "discovered" by the Israeli intelligence-linked Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE), which is run from Washington, DC, and run as "news" by the major media.
Israel and its supporters in the United States are livid about Trump sharing the intelligence with the Russians. National security adviser H. R. McMaster and his deputy Dina Powell are insisting the report about Trump blabbing to the Russians is not true. Yet, they also asked the media not to publish details about the story.
The reason for Israel's and its supporters' angst about the intelligence disclosure is that this is yet another example of Israel's rather close relationship with ISIL, a group that has murdered Americans; Middle East Christians, Shi'as, Alawites, moderate Sunnis, and Yazidis; and nationals of American allies. The fact that Israeli intelligence could place an informant so close to an ISIL bomb making operation is testimony to the Israel-ISIL relationship.
Former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that last November, ISIL "apologized" to the Israeli Defense Force after an ISIL unit exchanged fire with the IDF "by mistake." The Israelis are reticent about reporting cases of "friendly fire" between its military and ISIL.
Although it is not known in what Syrian town the laptop bomb making factory is located, it is reasonable to believe that it is close to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in southwestern Syria. Wounded ISIL fighters have been transported to Israel over the 1974 Syria-Israel cease fire "Disengagement Line" in the Golan region for medical treatment and the Golan-Syria "border" has served as a practical meeting point between the Israelis and the Islamic State. Israeli logistics aid, including ISIL flags, has also been supplied to ISIL by the Israelis across the Golan armistice line. The Israeli-ISIL cooperation in Golan makes it a much easier location from which to slip Mossad agents into ISIL ranks.
As for Russia learning about the Israeli intelligence on ISIL, they likely already knew about it. The relationship between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin is much closer than that between Putin and Trump. Since Russian airlines fly numerous routes to the Middle East, including Israel, it is inconceivable that Israel had not already informed Moscow about the laptop bomb plot.
