Israel appears only in 77 Wikileaks docs

Press TV – December 8, 2010

A study of the U.S. State Department cables so far released by the WikiLeaks showed that there are merely 77 documents which mention Israel and only a handful have material pertaining to Tel Aviv.

On its website WikiLeaks says it has so far released “almost 20,000” of the “251,287 leaked United States embassy cables.”

The release, however, raised questions as it does not contain any incriminating or embarrassing document against Israel.

“No classified Israeli material was exposed by WikiLeaks,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in November, suggesting that Tel Aviv viewed the release as a positive.

An Israeli-born investigative journalist has found evidence that WikiLeaks “struck a deal with Israel,” based on which the website’s founder Julian Assange would withhold cables incriminating Israel in exchange for money.

Lia Abramovitch — an Israeli investigative Journalist born to holocaust-survivor parents — who writes for Syriatruth website, cites former WikiLeaks spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg as her source.

Domscheit-Berg says Assange had received money from semi-official Israeli sources and promised them, in a “secret, video-recorded agreement.”

That explains why there’s only one document that touches the issue of Israel’s nuclear weapons, albeit indirectly.

Cable 08PARIS245, which is a review of a meeting between acting U.S. Undersecretary of State John Rood and his British and French counterparts Mariot Leslie, Philippe Carre, reiterates the U.S., Britain and France’s support for Israel’s nuclear ambiguity approach.

“Furthermore, it is not in their interest to remove the ambiguity of Israel’s nuclear status which was stabilizing to the region. Carre agreed and said that there was no benefit to weakening the Israeli pledge not to be the first to use nuclear weapons in the Middle East,” reads the cable.

Highlights

Former WikiLeaks spokesperson Daniel Domscheit-Berg said he and other WikiLeaks dissidents are planning to launch their own whistleblowers’ platform to fulfill WikiLeaks’ original aim of “limitless file sharing.” Die Tageszeitung

Mr. Domscheit-Berg, who is about to publish a book about his days ‘Inside WikiLeaks’, accuses Assange of acting as a “king” against the will of others in the organization by “making deals” with media organizations that are meant to create an explosive effect, which others in WikiLeaks either know little or nothing about. Der Spiegel

“For us it is always about uncovering corruption and abuse of power, wherever it happens — on the smaller and larger scale — around the world. Recently, however, we have only focused on the major topics and applied practically all of our resources to them.” Der Spiegel

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been denied bail by a judge after surrendering to British authorities over a Swedish arrest warrant Thursday. Assange vowed in court to fight extradition to Sweden, where authorities are hoping to question him over a sexual molestation case. CBS

Assange was arrested at 9:30 a.m local time Tuesday and appeared before Westminster Magistrate’s Court. He surrendered Tuesday under an agreement reached between his own lawyers and the police. CBS

Facts

WikiLeaks was founded by Julian Assange in 2006 with the motto of “keep governments open.” It describes its objectives as bringing “important news and information to the public.”

The site claims it has released more than 1.2 million documents so far and is preparing to release more than two million other documents.

WikiLeaks most important release is arguably a video showing US troops aboard a helicopter opening fire on unarmed Iraqi civilians – including Reuters cameramen.

In May 2010, WikiLeaks said they had video footage of a massacre of civilians in Afghanistan by the U.S. military which they were preparing to release.

In a 2009 Computer World interview, Assange claimed to be in possession of “5GB from Bank of America” documents to be released in 2011.

In December 2010, Assange’s lawyer, Mark Stephens, told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC, that WikiLeaks had information that it considers to be a “thermo-nuclear device” which it would release if the organization needs to defend itself.