I’m a bit amazed that almost no one in the JBlogosphere has been posting on the terrible, treasonous case of over 2,000 classified documents that were stolen and either sold or released to a reporter. I am of course, referring to Anat Kam and her theft of these documents, which she subsequently gave or sold to Ha’aretz reporter Uri Blau.
Let’s see how Arutz-7 reported this:
Investigators …identified [the source of the documents] as 23-year-old Anat Kam of Tel Aviv, a media-affairs journalist at the Walla news portal. Kam was questioned, and revealed that during her military service in the office of then-Central Command Head Major-General Yair Naveh, she had stored thousands of classified documents on the computer provided to her by the IDF. Shortly before her release from service in June 2007, she stored more than 2,000 of the files on a 'disc-on-key' device.
She then copied the files onto her personal computer at home, despite being aware that possession of the documents was a serious crime. The documents taken included top-secret files with information on special operations, intelligence reports, General Staff meeting notes, ongoing IDF operations, troop deployment, and more. Had the information fallen into enemy hands, it would very likely have led to the deaths of military personnel, military sources said.
Kam has been under house arrest since January, although a normal country would have jailed her until her trial, which will hopefully be soon, and send her to prison for life!
And the Ha’aretz reporter? Oh, he’s safely abroad [as is Ehud Olmert], avoiding his own arrest. Of course, the left-wing controlled media, which has a virtual monopoly in Israel [since they shut down the Arutz Sheva radio station], is taking the offensive and calling the possible indictments and arrests a “threat to democracy,” although even Yediot’s Ynet site did boldly ask, “And had she been a settler?”
As usual, the story was first broken abroad in the international media, which forced the hands of Israel to allow its disclosure here. And of course, most of that media took the left stance of a “threat to democracy.” However, Judith Miller who first published an article calling it “Israel’s Censorship Scandal,” did change her mind when she found out how treasonous the info Kam handed out was.
The NFC Hebrew website reported that:
After hearing the position of the Shin Bet, the American journalist Judith Miller says that she has questions about Kam and Blau. Judith Miller, an American journalist, writes that she now realizes that Israel and not Anat Kam and Uri Blau are right, contrary to what she wrote in an article in which she attacked the gag order that was issued in Israel, an article which might have precipitated the exposure. In an interview this morning (Sunday, 11.4.10) Army Radio [Razi Barkai, "Ma Boer?"] said that she heard from a friend about the affair which led her to write about it. According to her, this episode is not the same case for which she sat in jail…"I sat for three months in jail until my informant agreed to expose himself. I never stole or received classified documents." But Miller said that she "understands the backup gives Ha'aretz reporter Uri Blau, but has questions after hearing the position of the Shabak, including:
Let’s see how Arutz-7 reported this:
Investigators …identified [the source of the documents] as 23-year-old Anat Kam of Tel Aviv, a media-affairs journalist at the Walla news portal. Kam was questioned, and revealed that during her military service in the office of then-Central Command Head Major-General Yair Naveh, she had stored thousands of classified documents on the computer provided to her by the IDF. Shortly before her release from service in June 2007, she stored more than 2,000 of the files on a 'disc-on-key' device.
She then copied the files onto her personal computer at home, despite being aware that possession of the documents was a serious crime. The documents taken included top-secret files with information on special operations, intelligence reports, General Staff meeting notes, ongoing IDF operations, troop deployment, and more. Had the information fallen into enemy hands, it would very likely have led to the deaths of military personnel, military sources said.
Kam has been under house arrest since January, although a normal country would have jailed her until her trial, which will hopefully be soon, and send her to prison for life!
And the Ha’aretz reporter? Oh, he’s safely abroad [as is Ehud Olmert], avoiding his own arrest. Of course, the left-wing controlled media, which has a virtual monopoly in Israel [since they shut down the Arutz Sheva radio station], is taking the offensive and calling the possible indictments and arrests a “threat to democracy,” although even Yediot’s Ynet site did boldly ask, “And had she been a settler?”
As usual, the story was first broken abroad in the international media, which forced the hands of Israel to allow its disclosure here. And of course, most of that media took the left stance of a “threat to democracy.” However, Judith Miller who first published an article calling it “Israel’s Censorship Scandal,” did change her mind when she found out how treasonous the info Kam handed out was.
The NFC Hebrew website reported that:
After hearing the position of the Shin Bet, the American journalist Judith Miller says that she has questions about Kam and Blau. Judith Miller, an American journalist, writes that she now realizes that Israel and not Anat Kam and Uri Blau are right, contrary to what she wrote in an article in which she attacked the gag order that was issued in Israel, an article which might have precipitated the exposure. In an interview this morning (Sunday, 11.4.10) Army Radio [Razi Barkai, "Ma Boer?"] said that she heard from a friend about the affair which led her to write about it. According to her, this episode is not the same case for which she sat in jail…"I sat for three months in jail until my informant agreed to expose himself. I never stole or received classified documents." But Miller said that she "understands the backup gives Ha'aretz reporter Uri Blau, but has questions after hearing the position of the Shabak, including:
* Why did Anat Kam - if indeed she was ideologically motivated - have to copy 2,000 documents beyond what was needed?
* Why did Blau publish the documents in a way that the GSS would be able to trace their origins?
Finally, the “Samson Blinded” blog did report the following:
Shabak’s briefing on Anat Kam’s case reveals a crazy situation: the less-than-almighty security agency is so afraid of the leftist press that it actually negotiated the return of top-secret documents from Uri Blau, the reporter who received them from Kam. Shabak did not arrest Blau even though he had committed a clear-cut crime and endangered state security.
During negotiations, Blau agreed to give up some 50 documents. Shabak then allowed this ultra-leftist to travel abroad even though he probably possessed copies of Israel’s top-secret military plans. Granted, Shabak and the army exaggerate the documents’ importance, but documents do not receive “top-secret” marks for nothing.
Now it is clear that Blau hid hundreds more documents - perhaps thousands more. He still has not been arrested.
So, I ask, where’s the outrage? It’s high time we took off the gloves and raise hell, to have these criminals duly arrested and tried for no less than treason!!!
Shabak’s briefing on Anat Kam’s case reveals a crazy situation: the less-than-almighty security agency is so afraid of the leftist press that it actually negotiated the return of top-secret documents from Uri Blau, the reporter who received them from Kam. Shabak did not arrest Blau even though he had committed a clear-cut crime and endangered state security.
During negotiations, Blau agreed to give up some 50 documents. Shabak then allowed this ultra-leftist to travel abroad even though he probably possessed copies of Israel’s top-secret military plans. Granted, Shabak and the army exaggerate the documents’ importance, but documents do not receive “top-secret” marks for nothing.
Now it is clear that Blau hid hundreds more documents - perhaps thousands more. He still has not been arrested.
So, I ask, where’s the outrage? It’s high time we took off the gloves and raise hell, to have these criminals duly arrested and tried for no less than treason!!!
7 comments:
Yitz, thanks for posting this! I agree with you.
I have 2 posts on my blog. one concerning the event itself and the left wing continual attempts at dragging the condemnation of the nations on us and another about the incredibly stupid comments made by the ha'aretz assistant editor. Go to http://eretzyisrael.posterous.com to read.
Apology not accepted:
INN: Haaretz Editor Sorry for Calling Fallen Soldier 'Jihadist'
Why does any substantial number of subscribers still subscribe to Ha'Aretz? Perhaps Ha'Aretz is subsidized by the EU.
Batya - thank you, glad it's appreciated!
Yonatan - thanks, I did look at them. It should be mentioned that our friend Jameel at the Muqata has a number of posts on this affair, which are a must!
Shy Guy - your comment has led me to wonder that perhaps besides the ideological issue, maybe Anat was motivated by money? Maybe she SOLD these documents to the highest bidder [she did offer them to Yediot], or perhaps the EU funded their purchase. Who knows?
It's all very disturbing. I hope this is fully investigated.
Yitz, if she did it for money, do you think that's better or worse?
To me the difference is whether her head shop be chopped off with a hand or a power saw (ideology versus greed, respectively).
I think people are miffed - I don't feel outrage though because I'm pretty much done with going from one extreme emotion to the other and this is just another story in the unfolding history of Israel. I do though see why these crimes - on every notch of the spectrum are occurring - and they all have their root in gevurah and it's as if we are to hold a mirror to ourselves in the process and see if I possess any of those traits - in even the most minute of degrees. And then to do Teshuvah. Justice? Only by Hashem. To avert a collective punishment - Teshuvah.
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