Walking on Eggs? – Israel’s Reaction to Wikileaks

As Wikileaks continues to astound and amaze people worldwide, many nations’ rulers are holding their breath wondering if their secrets will be revealed and their credibility blighted. One nation, however, comes off a little cleaner than all the rest. Many conspiracy theorists are asking the pertinent question: “Where is the real dirt on Israel?” Is the information being manipulated or does Israel really have nothing to worry about?

Gordon Duff, an editor of the anti-war website Veterans Today, believes that Israel struck a secret deal with Assange ensuring all documents that are damaging to Israel ‘disappear’.

Well, it might be all hearsay, sour grapes, or mindless paranoia, but at the end of the day, thus far, few cables have been leaked that could give Israel more than a dull headache.

But the Wikileaks saga continues, not everything has come out yet and there are more surprises on their way. After all, Assange is not the only one who knows the necessary passwords and how to access and pass along the information; the leaks continue even though Assange is being detained.

Ed Abington, a former US consul general in Jerusalem (1993-1997 ) suggests, on facebook, that the fact Israel does not have much of a mention on Wikileaks might have something to do with the level of information being offered out of the country. Abington said: “There’s a channel US embassies use for very sensitive information and I don’t think WikiLeaks has those cables. As for Tel Aviv, the last two ambassadors have not been risk-takers and have had a very low profile. I doubt they have been willing to rock the boat, and may not have had much, if any, inside information.”

The mystery continues as Abington also asks the whereabouts of the reporting from the US Consulate in Jerusalem.

While people conjecture, Netanyahu declares that, in fact, the Wikileaks revelations have been good for Israel. For one, Netanyahu says a big ‘I told you so’ concerning the Iranian nuclear program posing the biggest threat to the region and moreover, the Arab world is with Israel on this one.

 There is more happy news for Israel in a recently-released document, saying that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly urged the US to attack Iran and destroy its nuclear program; this was one of many Arab voices calling for tough action again Iran.

No longer painted as the greatest threat to world peace and with major Arab powers on board – Israel feels it can now rest safe, assured that its warning concerning Iran has been vindicated. Ironically, leaders talking openly about Iran’s nuclear program – from Israel’s point of view – spells a real breakthrough on the road to peace.

On a roll, Netanyahu himself added that Israel had worked in advance to limit any damage from the leaks.  Netanyahu said: “Every Israeli leader has known for years that dispatches are likely to leak out, so we adapted ourselves to the reality of leaks. That has a bearing on who I invite to meetings. No classified Israeli material was exposed by WikiLeaks.”

So, with attention being drawn away from Israel and onto Iran, the ‘second’ greatest threat to world peace, can now relax.