All the president's men
Prof. Abraham Ben-Zvi- Israel Hayom Newsletter Thursday December 31, 2015
http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=14827

It was only a month ago that the saga of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard was
finally laid to rest when, after three decades in a U.S. federal prison, he
was "released" under draconian, hurtful and humiliating terms, as though he
poses a clear and present threat to the security of the United States.

Though the current American administration, like its predecessors, has made
it very clear that it has not forgiven Israel for sending the Jewish analyst
to spy on the American intelligence community, it emerged this week just how
hypocritical and self-righteous the White House's attitude actually is.

While Pollard was wasting away in his cell, the National Security Agency, at
the behest of the White House, was busy eavesdropping on Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conversations with his aides, U.S. lawmakers,
and American-Jewish groups.

It seems that the fading echoes of the scandalous Snowden affair, during
which the extent of the U.S. surveillance program was revealed to include
eavesdropping on other friendly leaders such as German Chancellor Angela
Merkel, have not deterred U.S. President Barack Obama, who, despite the
embarrassment and apologies, continued to pursue a policy of double
standards with the U.S.'s "closest ally," Israel.

Instead of engaging in maximum cooperation with Israel in the negotiations
with Iran, which will have enormous consequences for the security and the
very existence of Israel, Obama chose to exclude Netanyahu almost entirely
from that arena.

With the enthusiastic support of National Security Adviser Susan Rice,
Washington opted to keep Israel in the dark on the nature and the extent of
the concession it was willing to make during the negotiations between the
six world powers and Iran in the months leading up to the July 14 agreement.

Instead, all the president's men used the NSA's advanced surveillance
technology to expose information Israel was receiving from European sources
on the dynamics of the negotiations and on the red lines the American
administration had repeatedly crossed regarding Tehran's nuclear
infrastructure.

This is the reasoning behind the American surveillance policy, designed to
complement the strategy of exclusion and concealment.

Paradoxically, the more Israel criticized the U.S.'s advances toward a
nuclear agreement at any cost, the more the American administration stepped
up its spying on Israel. This was done to better prepare for the
confrontation awaiting the administration in Congress over the nuclear
issue, instead of taking steps to improve the dialogue with Israel, thereby
minimizing the expected blow to Israel's security.

This policy, which runs inherently contrary to the nature of the "special
relationship" between the U.S. and Israel, reflects not only the preferences
of the president himself, but also the growing anti-Israel faction led by
National Security Adviser Susan Rice. This faction replaced the officials
who sought open, constant dialogue with Israel, while taking Israel's
position on key issues, like the Iranian nuclear program, into
consideration.

We can only wait and see whether this bleak era, which is not characteristic
of a relationship between partners, will end when the U.S.'s 45th president
is sworn in.