Germany’S BND Spied on Netanyahu, US, UK, Austrians and Others
Germany’s BND (Federal Intelligence Service) reportedly has been spying on the office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according a report Saturday by the German weekly Der Spiegel.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the report.
Israel’s espionage agency provided deep intelligence to Germany about an imminent terror attack on a list of targets. The alert, which included the Hanover soccer stadium, came just days after the Nov. 13 (2015) terror attacks in Paris, according to a report in the Stern weekly. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was set to attend the match together with other government officials to show solidarity with the French.
The BND pretty much has been spying on everyone, according to the report in Der Spiegel, which is what international intelligence agencies do. But it’s considered very bad form to get caught in the process, especially by media, who nearly always expose a spy agency for doing so.
Germany’s BND has been caught by Der Spiegel more than once, which prompts other media to wonder what this is really about.
The German weekly also reported the BND spied on American diplomats placed in various locations around Europe, the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Air Force and NASA, the U.S. space agency.
Other targets that were under the German spy agency’s surveillance were the British Ministry of Defense, the International Monetary Fund, the interior ministers of Austria and Belgium and the headquarters of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Six months ago Der Spiegel reported the BND was monitoring all communication devices of the embassies and consulates belonging to the U.S., UK, France, Sweden, Spain and other nations. It also spied on the Vatican, the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, U.S. diplomats at the United Nations and in Brussels, the U.S. Department of the Interior, NATO officials and European Union states.
Apparently, Merkel took the American president at his word when he said last week at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington D.C.: ““We’re all going to have to do more when it comes to intelligence sharing.”
