Netanyahu Changes to Harsher Tone on US Spying

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has gone from “soft” to “harsh” in his calculated reaction to revelations that the National Security Agency spied on former Israel prime ministers.

Apparently feeling in a minority amid the reactions of insults and rage to the idea that the United States would spy on its ally, which is what every country does these days, the Prime Minister stated, "In the close relationship between Israel and the United States, there are things which are forbidden to do, that are unacceptable to us."

He also picked up the thread that has accompanied virtually every other Israeli reaction questioning how the Americans spy on Israeli prime ministers and justify keeping Jonathan Pollard in prison. Pollard was not convicted for spying but only for handing over for Israel’ use classified  Pentagon information on the Iraqi nuclear program.

Netanyahu told the Likud caucus Monday, "I met now with Esther Pollard and updated her on the non-stop efforts to win Jonathan's release. He should have been released long ago. I think this is understood by everyone here and I believe it is also understood to an increasingly larger crowd in the United States.”