Existence of and information about 'secret' IDF unit was on internet for a year and a half
The IDF soldiers in the picture have nothing to do with the story, at least as far as I know.
The IDF discovered over the weekend that information about and the very existence of a secret unit have been
open-sourced on the internet for the last year and a half. Don't go looking for it too much though - it's been taken down.
Authorities were astounded to discover Sunday that the name of a
top-secret IDF unit, as well as the commander who heads the unit, had
been leaked online for over a year and a half.
IDF Radio reported Sunday that the name - which has not been
released for publication - was revealed in the text of a thank-you
letter to the unit by the Civil Administration. The letter was
apparently posted online and remained up and available for public
viewing for over 18 months, according to the report.
A request from the poster eventually brought the letter down, and it
was deleted from the system. The officer responsible for investigation
has been reprimanded and an investigation has been launched, according
to an IDF spokesman.
The unit itself is also being questioned - not on sending the
thank-you letter, which is a matter of professional courtesy, but why
the decision was made to include the full name of the unit as well as
members of the staff.
When will the IDF and the government
take this sort of thing seriously?
Labels: Anat Kam, IDF
Ugly Betty sues Haaretz
Anat Kam Ugly Betty got an early release from prison on Sunday, and took a total of three days to sue Haaretz for
disclosing to the government that it was she who gave classified information to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau.
Anat Kam is suing Israeli newspaper Haaretz for 2.6 million shekel on charges of leaking her identity through the IDF documents she submitted to journalist Uri Blau.
Kam was released earlier this week,
after serving just two thirds of her prison sentence for espionage. Kam
was convicted of stealing the documents during the period of 2005-2007,
when she served in the IDF as a secretary in the IDF's Central Command
headquarters. She copied thousands of sensitive documents to a
disk-on-key (USB drive) which she proceeded to hand over to reporter Uri
Blau of the left-wing Haaretz.
Blau published some of the information in the documents, but he
claimed that the information he used was not classified or damaging to
the country's security.
Kam was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for her theft. The sentence was later reduced by one year, after an appeal by Kam's lawyers that the sentence was unnecessarily harsh.
Now, she and lawyer Ilan Bombach are suing the daily for revealing
her identity - after it was promised to her that her safety would not be
compromised and her identity would be kept secret throughout the media
leak.
I would say that lawsuit ought to be thrown out as against public policy, but hey... this is Israel.
Labels: Anat Kam, Haaretz, treason
Pot calls kettle black: Ugly Betty sues Haaretz
Convicted thief Anat Kam, who got off a lot easier than she deserved, is suing Haaretz and reporter Uri Blau for NIS 2.6 million for
publishing the material that she gave them.
According to media reports, Kam claims that Haaretz's
decision to publish pictures of some of the classified documents,
without consulting with her, along with some of the articles based on
those documents, was what caused the Shin Bet to suspect her.
More
specifically, the Shin Bet was able to figure out from the specific
documents that were published that the leak came from inside the office
of the IDF commander of the homefront.
The lawsuit also claims
Blau violated his responsibilities toward Kam by turning over certain
documents only with the condition that they not be used legally against
the originator of the leaks, without also adding the condition that they
not be used investigatively to determine who leaked the documents, said
the reports.
Ilan Bombach's office confirmed that it had filed the lawsuit on Kam's behalf.
Kam gave Blau 1,800 classified IDF documents on a USB key. What did she think he was going to do with them?
The lawyer who filed this one ought to be sanctioned for wasting the court's time.
Labels: Anat Kam, Haaretz, IDF, treason, Uri Blau
Ridiculous: Uri Blau gets four months community service for aggravated espionage
Haaretz reporter Uri Blau, who published hundreds of classified documents that he received from IDF jobnik Anat Kam, was sentenced to - get this -
four months of community service on charges of 'aggravated espionage.'
In July, Blau pleaded guilty to possessing classified information without intent to harm state security, after citing classified IDF documents stolen by Anat Kamm in reports accusing the IDF of defying a High Court ruling against targeted killings.
The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court convicted Blau of aggravated espionage.
The conviction came after Blau’s lawyers and the state reached a plea deal earlier in July, under which Blau agreed to plead guilty in return for a four-month sentence.
Blau obtained around 1,800 classified IDF documents from Kamm on a portable USB storage device.
Kamm, who stole the documents during her military service, is serving a four and a half year prison term following her conviction in February – also under a plea bargain – in which she pleaded guilty to gathering and storing classified military documents and transferring them to Blau.
I'm sure that sentence will weigh heavily on the next Haaretz reporter who wants to publish classified documents. Isn't it great how the branja take care of their own?
Labels: Anat Kam, Haaretz, IDF, Uri Blau
This is rich: Anat Kam may sue Haaretz
Anat Kam, who got a four-year jail term for leaking documents she obtained during her IDF service, while her handlers at Haaretz got off scot free, is now threatening to sue Haaretz and reporter Uri Blau for - get this -
exposing that she was his source (link in Hebrew). Here's part of a
Google translation:
Kam intends to file suit against a newspaper "Haaretz", Uri Blau, due to its exposure as a journalist, he found today (Monday) lawyer, attorney Ilan Bombach, during an appeal filed up to the Supreme Court against the sentence four and a half years imposed on it for delivery of documents IDF's secret. However, the claim will be filed only after the appeal decision, which depends on the sentencing Blau at the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, after reaching a plea bargain with the prosecution for possession of confidential information.
...
Bombach also reminded the Tali Fahima convicted in December 2005 into contact with a foreign agent and providing information to the enemy, because of "the tone of regret" was sentenced to three years in prison. "Got completely cooperated with the ISA, once admitted, did not have to shake it or bring the Captain George". Attorney Bombach also argued that KM is not correct to attribute improper ideological motive. "She was young and acted frivolously," he said. He also claimed to be reckoned with in articles and talkbacks against it, that she acquired the label of a traitor, and that she sat for nearly two years under house arrest. He added that if released today, life will be as before, and she always walk around with a mark of Cain.
1,800 documents is an awful lot of documents to give someone 'frivolously.' Something smells really bad here.
Tali Fahima was dating the head of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. She wasn't in the IDF. Yes, she was a traitor, but at least she wasn't stealing information as part of her IDF duty. Sorry, but Kam should stay in jail, although Blau should be there with her.
Labels: Anat Kam, Haaretz, traitor, Uri Blau
Outrageous: Once again, the branja protect their own
The only institution in Israel that might be more unfairly Left than its Supreme Court is its prosecutors' office, whose 'stars' end up Supreme Court justices (yes, there is definitely a symbiotic relationship there, but we can discuss that another time).
Please recall Uri Blau, the Haaretz reporter who was
indicted for
receiving, holding onto and using classified IDF documents from self-proclaimed crusader
Anat Kam. Recall also (from the first link in this paragraph) that one of the reasons that Blau was indicted was because he violated a deal he made with the State's attorneys to return all the documents in his possession.
In light of all that, you may be surprised to learn that Blau will soon be back in the field writing anti-Israel drivel for Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily. You see, the uber-Leftist prosecutors' office has reached a deal with the uber-Leftist reporter for Israel's uber-Leftist newspaper, pursuant to which Blau will be sentenced to four months in jail... all of which will be converted into
community service.
The deal was sealed between Haaretz attorneys Mibi Muzar and Jacque Chen, who represented Blau, and Ariella Segal Antaler and Hadas Forer Gafni of the District Attorney's Office.
At the same time it filed the plea bargain, the District Attorney's office submitted its indictment against Blau, in which it accused him of illegally possessing approximately 1800 "top secret" and "secret" IDF documents.
Many journalists, including the Jerusalem Journalists Association, had loudly protested Blau’s arrest, even demonstrating outside the Justice Ministry in the capital over Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein’s decision to indict Blau.
Weinstein had announced that he would charge Blau with possession of classified military documents, which he received from former OC Central Command secretary Anat Kamm. The decision followed a 2008 story in which Blau, using leaked documents, revealed that the military planned in advance to kill Palestinian leaders and fighters, but then passed their deaths off as mishaps during “failed” attempts to arrest them.
Before the plea bargain, Blau was expected to be charged with aggravated espionage, which stipulates that obtaining, collecting, preparing, recording or keeping secret information without authorization, but without intent to harm state security, is punishable by seven years in prison.
Earlier, the attorney-general explained that before deciding to indict the reporter, he had taken into account “all the relevant considerations,” including the need to preserve the character of a free press and allow the media to carry out its essential role in ensuring the public’s right to know.
The next step is that Kam - who is appealing
her 4.5 year sentence - will have that sentence commuted to time served since, after all, it now appears outrageous compared to Blau's joke of a sentence.
You can bet that those Neturei Karta guys who scribbled
outrageous and offensive graffiti on Yad vaShem and several other sites will get stiffer sentences than four and a half months, and maybe even stiffer than four and a half years. After all, who is really endangering our national security? (And no, I'm not saying they should get off scot-free - only pointing out the likely imbalance in the sentences).
Labels: Anat Kam, Israeli national security, Uri Blau
Journalists group calls on AG to drop 'espionage' charges against Haaretz reporter
An international journalists group has written a letter to attorney general Yehuda Weinstein urging him to drop
espionage charges
for wrongfully possessing classified documents against Haaretz reporter Uri Blau.
Blau, who published excerpts from a cache of classified military documents, was charged last month with aggravated espionage for his alleged unauthorized possession of classified materials and, if convicted, could face a seven-year prison sentence.
In the letter to Weinstein, the journalists – all of whom are executive board members of the International Press Institute (IPI) – called on the attorney-general to drop all criminal charges against Blau, pointing out “it is inevitable that journalists covering military and political affairs around the world will end up possessing secret documents.”
“It is vital for any democratic system that they not be prosecuted for this, in particular if, as in the case of Uri Blau, the documents are used solely to serve a strong public interest,” said the letter, which was signed by 21 journalists from some 14 countries.
“As members of the world’s oldest global press freedom organization, grouping publishers, editors and journalists from around the world, we believe that the prosecution of Uri Blau for possession of classified documents will set a grave precedent for the future of Israeli journalism, especially investigative reporting,” said the letter.
They're right. The crime here wasn't that he possessed the documents, but that he published them. That's a more serious charge? So be it.
While it may be inevitable that journalists come into possession of classified documents during the course of their work, that doesn't give them the right to publish those documents with the knowledge that (a) they were classified and (b) they were stolen from the IDF. If Blau had gone and returned the documents to the IDF - even if he did not disclose his source - he would not have merited punishment. But the fact that he
knowingly published stolen, classified documents (to further his, his newspaper's and the thief's political agenda) is something that a democracy cannot ignore or leave unanswered.
Labels: Anat Kam, freedom of the press, Haaretz, Uri Blau
Of course: Journalists' association to protest Blau indictment
The Jerusalem Journalists' Association is going to
hold a demonstration to protest Attorney General Yehuda
Weinstein's decision to indict Haaretz reporter Uri Blau. This is from the first link.
In a statement released Thursday, Jerusalem Journalists Association said the decision to indict a journalist for holding classified documents set a dangerous precedent for press freedom in the country and called on all its members to join the protest on Sunday.
The attorney-general said he had carefully considered arguments Blau’s attorneys had put forward, but had decided to reject them.
Blau is to be charged under the Penal Code with aggravated espionage, which stipulates that obtaining, collecting, preparing, recording or keeping secret information without authorization, but without intent to harm state security, is punishable by seven years in prison.
In a statement, Weinstein noted that though Blau was being charged under the “aggravated espionage” clause, the indictment would not attribute the offense of “espionage” to him in the traditional sense of that term.
As a result of Weinstein’s decision, the Tel Aviv district attorney is expected to file an indictment against Blau in the Tel Aviv District Court within a few weeks.
The attorney-general explained that before deciding to indict the reporter, he had taken into account “all the relevant considerations,” which he said included the need to preserve the character of a free press and allow the media to carry out its “essential role” in ensuring the public’s “right to know.”
If the mainstream media here were really interested in the public's right to know and not in pursuing an agenda, I might be more sympathetic. But the mainstream media here pursues a radical Leftist agenda, and having a reporter - particularly from Israel's Hebrew 'Palestinian' daily - holding a classified document, is a danger to state security. That is a precedent that cannot be allowed to be set.
Labels: Anat Kam, journalists, mainstream media, Uri Blau
Uri Blau to be charged with espionage
Uri Blau, the Haaretz reporter who
received thousands of classified documents from
former IDF soldier Anat Kam, and published many of them, is to be charged with aggravated espionage. After a plea bargain,
Kam received a four-and-one-half-year jail term, whose length she is appealing. Blau had reached a plea bargain with the prosecutors, but they allege that
he violated its terms. If convicted,
Blau could face seven years in jail.
Blau will be charged under the Penal Code with aggravated espionage, which stipulates that if a person obtained, collected, prepared, recorded or kept secret information without authorization, but without intent to harm state security, he will face a maximum seven years in prison.
Significantly, Blau will not be charged with intending to harm state security, which attracts a maximum 15 year prison term.
The district attorney also emphasized that while the offense with which Blau will be charged under the Penal Code is "aggravated espionage", the indictment will not attribute to Blau the offense of "espionage" as it is usually understood.
The prosecutors could have gone further.
UPDATE 3:12 PMYNet reports that Blau violated his agreement by
not returning all of the documents in his possession.
Some two months ago, the Tel Aviv District Prosecutor's Office said it was withdrawing its agreement with the journalist. It claimed that Blau had falsely made it appear as though he returned all of the classified documents that had been in his possession. Blau had previously handed over some 50 documents he had received from Anat Kam to the Shin Bet.
The prosecution further stated that the State had provided Blau with the necessary sum needed for a new computer after it had destroyed his PC. "Blau had blatantly broken the agreement signed with him, allegedly lied to investigators and handed over only a small part of the stolen military information he had obtained.
Blau, a journalist with Haaretz, returned to Israel after a long period abroad following an agreement with the State Prosecutor's Office. He said he had turned over all of the documents he received from Kam to the State and had pledged to forward any secret document he had otherwise obtained over the years.
According to the agreement, the authorities would shred the documents without checking the source. Blau also committed to being investigated by the Shin Bet and police and declared he was no longer in possession of any of the documents. As part of the agreement the journalist also pledged to undergo a lie detector test.
I don't know why the government agreed to a ridiculous deal where they would shred all the documents without checking their source. Maybe that's why they are charging Blau with a lot less than he deserves.
Labels: Anat Kam, Israeli national security, Uri Blau
Anat Kam II?
I trust that you all remember
Anat Kam.
We now have another instance of an IDF soldier downloading classified documents onto his personal computer. But this soldier is a
senior NCO (non-commissioned officer).
In a case bearing a startling resemblance to that of Anat Kam's, the Military Police are investigating suspicions suggesting a senior NCO with the IDF's Teleprocessing Branch illegally copied thousands of secret documents.
The NCO is suspected of exceeding authority and endangering national security. The extent of the security breach and its damage have yet to be ascertained.
The Military Police have confiscated the NCO's personal computer; he was questioned under advisement and suspended from all duties pending the conclusion of the investigation and a decision on an indictment.
In his interrogation, the suspect claimed he had no intention of breaching national security or IDF protocol, saying he downloaded the documents so he could study them and be better prepared for his new assignment.
"The issue of information security is pivotal in the IDF. The military invests great resources in education, monitoring and detecting such infringements," an IDF statement said.
"The case was discovered by the monitoring systems. a Military Police investigation is ongoing and its conclusions will be forwarded to the Judge Advocate General's Office for further review."
So what did this latest genius decide he had to do? Save the country from attacking Iran? Stop the arrest of 'poor Palestinians.' What could go wrong?
Labels: Anat Kam, spying
The right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater
Writing in the
New York Times, Dimi Reider characterizes the conviction and sentencing to jail time of Anat Kam as
an attack on freedom of speech.
The verdict sends several chilling messages. To young soldiers it says: shut up, even if you suspect your commanders of violating the law; they will go unpunished and you will go to jail if you leak. To the source it says: no one will protect you; don’t be a self-sacrificing fool. And to the journalist it says: know your place; cover what we tell you to cover, print our news releases, and keep within your bounds.
The sentencing of Ms. Kamm — who has already spent two years under house arrest — marks a watershed in the relationship between the public and the news media in Israel.
Leaks are used by journalists as a matter of course. Journalists routinely meet people like Ms. Kamm — ordinary patriotic soldiers who are horrified by the contrast between their expectations of their country and its actual conduct.
These ordinary patriots are sometimes moved to make shocking revelations about their country’s inner workings. They act out of civic duty and a belief that their compatriots need to know the truth, regardless of what official institutions think the public should know.
Ms. Kamm and Mr. Blau operated by the unwritten code of conduct that has enabled the Israeli press to monitor at least some aspects of the country’s powerful security establishment for the past 63 years. Ms. Kamm did not leak her secrets to an enemy, or even to a foreign journalist. She gave the documents to a fellow Israeli, who consulted his editors, and submitted his article to the military censor, who gave him the go-ahead.
On Sunday, we learned that this code of conduct no longer applies.
But the code of conduct that Reider is imagining never applied. If Kam really suspected war crimes, then she should have gone to Israel's military advocates, who are independent of the army and can conduct their own investigations. What Reider is seeking for Kam and potentially others is the military equivalent of the right to shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater.
In 1919, Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote in
Schenk v.
United States,
The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent.
While the ruling was limited in the 1969 case of Brandenburg v. Ohio to instances where there is a likelihood of inciting imminent lawless action, the principal remains: Freedom of speech is subject to restrictions of time, place and manner. That includes publishing or causing the publication of war plans in the run-up to a war, which is what Kam and her cohort Uri Blau (of Haaretz) are accused of attempting to do. It is so clear that what Kam did was over the line that Monday's imposition of jail time will not lead to any weakening of freedom of speech in Israel.
The IDF has means of dealing with war crimes. Its legal department has the right to independently investigate such charges without interference by its high command. If Kam really thought there were war crimes being perpetrated, that was the place to go.
Labels: Anat Kam, freedom of speech, Operation Cast Lead, Uri Blau
Ugly Betty gets 4.5 years in jail
Anat Kam, who stole between 700 and 2,000 confidential documents from the IDF, and turned them over to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau, was sentenced to 4.5 years in jail on Sunday morning, plus an additional year and a half of probation. The nearly two years she has spent under house arrest will not count toward her sentence. That's still less than the 15 years the prosecution had demanded.
Kam had
reached a plea bargain with prosecutors (pursuant to which she could not receive a life sentence for intentionally endangering state security), but her attorneys could not agree on a sentence with prosecutors. She was also the target of some
scathing criticism from the judges.
According to Tel Aviv District Court judges, "If the IDF would not be able to fully trust its soldiers, it would not be able to function as an army."
The court continued in its criticism of Kam, saying, "The passing on of the documents while violating basic duties constitutes a violation of the most severe criminal norms. An IDF soldier is expected to carry out his duty out of a sense of loyalty to the country. Kam disgracefully exploited this trust."
What Kam stole had serious military value.
The documents stolen by Kam contained plans of military operations, summaries of discussions within the IDF, deployment and order of battle (ORBAT) of IDF forces, summaries of internal IDF inquiries, IDF situation estimates, IDF targets and more.
Kam spent nearly two years under house arrest, and had to be
accompanied on bathroom breaks during the trial.
But Israel Radio reports that many Israelis consider the sentence too light, and are complaining that there is one rule for Tel Aviv and another for others.
In March, the Justice Ministry reported that it intends to
put Uri Blau, who has since
returned to Israel after hiding out in London,
on trial for charges arising from the Kam affair (link in Hebrew). Israel Radio reports that a hearing was held to allow Blau to be heard before a decision to try him is finally made, and a decision from the State's Attorney has yet to be received.
Labels: Anat Kam, Israeli national security, Operation Cast Lead, treason, Uri Blau
Israeli sportscaster suspended for 48 hours for supporting Anat Kam
Israel Radio reported at 2:00 on Sunday afternoon that Channel 10's soccer broadcaster - whose name I did not catch but I'm sure someone else will fill in - has been suspended for 48 hours for dedicating the broadcast of Saturday night's national game to Anat Kam, the IDF soldier who stole more than 2,000 documents - many of them top secret - from the IDF and handed them over to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau.
The broadcaster said that Kam was a big soccer fan who hasn't been able to go anywhere for the past several months (she's been under house arrest).
Apparently he realized during the course of the broadcast that he had done something really dumb and apologized for it.
Personally, I think he got off way too easily.
Labels: Anat Kam, Channel 10, soccer, Uri Blau
Israel to reopen case against Uri Blau?
Claiming that he violated the terms of his plea bargain, the Israeli government is considering
reopening its case against Uri Blau, the Haaretz reporter to whom Anat Kam passed some 2,000 confidential IDF documents.
Blau was abroad when the Kamm case broke last year, and returned only after brokering a deal through lawyers that would give him immunity from prosecution as long as he handed over classified documents in his possession.
The Justice Ministry is now considering charging Blau for holding unauthorized information, Ynet and Haaretz reported Wednesday.
Israeli authorities are now accusing Blau of violating his agreement, although it was not clear how, Ynet reported.
Haaretz said in a statement that it "regretted" the decision.
"We are confident the hearing will make it even clearer that throughout this affair, Uri Blau was doing nothing but his work as a journalist, and was acting according to the accepted norms in covering the defense establishment," the newspaper said.
Blau was 'acting according to the accepted norms in covering the defense establishment'?
Really?
Security sources say the documents contain top-secret information concerning General Staff orders, personnel numbers in the Central Command, intelligence information, information on IDF doctrine and data on sensitive military exercises, weaponry and military platforms. The files also allegedly contain details on what the Central Command does in the event of a major escalation – how it deploys forces to the West Bank and where it stations them there.
Far less comprehensible than Kamm’s alleged ideologically motivated decision to steal so many documents is Blau’s refusal to hand them back. He’s had the documents since at least October 2008, when he began publishing reports based on them.
Damage control is possible only after the Shin Bet verifies precisely which classified documents were taken by Kamm and who received them. The public interest in such damage control, given the sensitivity of the material, should be obvious to Blau and to Haaretz. This is a matter of life-and-death national security.
...
Regrettably, however, the unwillingness of Blau and his newspaper to meet the Shin Bet’s demand to return stolen documents whose content would aid our enemies and render our people more vulnerable raises grave questions about the paper’s priorities.
I hope they throw the book at him.
Labels: Anat Kam, Israeli national security, Uri Blau
Government reaches plea bargain with Anat Kam
Israel Radio reports that the government has reached a plea bargain with Anat Kam, the soldier who
stole thousands of documents from Yair Naveh, who is currently in line to be vice chairman of Israel's Chiefs of Staff, and to be chairman at least temporarily. Kam turned the documents over to Haaretz reporter Uri Blau, who published articles based on the documents, and then
hid out in London for months. The documents were highly sensitive, and involved, among other things, Israel's plans to defend itself in case of war.
Under the terms of the plea bargain, which will be presented to the court on Sunday, Kam would plead guilty to charges relating to the unauthorized retention of government property and documents, and the government will drop the treason charges that are pending against Kam. The government has also apparently agreed not to request more than a nine-year prison sentence with respect to Kam.
North Tel Aviv strikes again. If Kam had been a 'settler' and had stolen documents from a Leftist general, she'd probably be sentenced to life in prison. As I wrote in an
earlier post dealing with the possibility of a plea bargain for Kam:
Funny that no one offered 14-year old Chaya or Margalit Har Shefi - both of whom did much less to endanger the country's security - a plea bargain.
But that's just one example of the double standard at work in the Israeli 'justice system.' Here's another one - also from today. Israel Radio reported today (Tuesday) morning that the police are out in force to prevent demonstrators against the 'peace negotiations' from blocking highways in protest. You will recall that two months ago, the police shut down a major highway (the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv highway) at the height of rush hour to allow the Shalit family and their supporters to march in protest of 'government inaction' on Shalit's release.
The longer I live in this country, the more amazed I become at the blatantly unfair manner in which the law is applied here. When it comes to treating people fairly, we are on the level of a banana republic. The law is often selectively enforced.
It's happened again.
Labels: Anat Kam, IDF war preparations, treason, Yair Naveh
