Report: Israeli soldiers admit government has spied on international phone calls since 1973

Wednesday November 07, 2007 08:34 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

Israeli TV Channel 10 released a report on Tuesday revealing that Israeli authorities have been spying on citizens' phone calls without warrants for over 30 years.

Daniel Seaman, head of Israeli Government Press Office

In the report, Channel 10 interviewed Israeli soldiers who described being part of an organization which was started by the Israeli military in 1973, and remains in place until today. The organization is part of the Military Censor's Office, which monitors all work by foreign journalists working inside Israel.

According to Channel 10's report, the military personnel involved in the phone tapping operation admit that, although their mandate was to listen to calls related to the security of Israel (which in itself is extremely broadly defined), they listened to many phone calls which were completely personal in nature -- simply to entertain themselves.

According to the Israeli Government Press Office, which accredits all foreign journalists reporting from Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, “The Military Censor is interested in information relating to the security of the State of Israel. All journalists applying for accreditation of Government Press Office cards are requested to sign a form whereby they undertake to abide by the rules of the Military Censor which are designed to safeguard this security.”

Journalists have challenged this policy as detrimental to their work, but the Government Press Office has responded by shutting out journalists who question the censorship order.

But if the Channel 10 expose is accurate, the phone tapping operations are not just limited to journalists, but include all foreign phone calls made from inside Israel or the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories by anyone, calling anywhere outside Israel.

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