Israel Matzav

Wikileaks: Israel cooperated with Chile to monitor Iranian activity in South America

I know I've been devoting a lot of time to the Arab world today, especially to Libya, but I have to tell you that most of the Israel Radio news today has been about Libya. Let's go back to more normal fare for a minute.

A document released by Wikileaks reports that Israel cooperated with Chile to monitor suspicious Iranian activity in Latin America.

Israeli Defense Attache to Chile Yoeli Or said, according to the cable "that he works with Chile's Investigative Police (PDI ) and 'other agencies' sharing information, and providing training when possible."

The cable said that "while there are no signs of GOI affiliation with terrorist groups in Chile, the Chilean intelligence service and the Israeli government are screening for anything they deem suspicious."

Or told US diplomats that Israel was worried about increasing Iranian presence in Venezuela, Columbia and Iranian influence on Chilean Muslim and Palestinian communities.

The Israeli diplomat stated that ideally "Israel would be doing more to expand trade ties with Latin America, in part to help balance Iran's expanding influence in the region." However, he said that a lack of resources prevented Israel from properly carrying out this plan.

The revelations in the cable come after a number of South American countries at the end of 2010 recognized a Palestinian state.

Brazil was the first of the Latin American countries to initiate the move and was soon followed by countries such as Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Bolivia.

I guess we're not likely to be cooperating with Chile any more.

Labels: Chile, Iran, Israel, Venezuela, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:33 PM