Two Israeli intelligence officials confirmed to the American news website BuzzFeed on Tuesday that Israel had shared specific intelligence with the United States regarding Islamic State (ISIS) plots to smuggle explosive laptops onto planes.
The officials told the website that it appeared that that intelligence had been shared with Russia without prior coordination and that this fact was Israel's "worst fears confirmed", according to one of the officers.
"We have an arrangement with America which is unique to the world of intelligence sharing. We do not have this relationship with any other country," the officer, who spoke to BuzzFeed on condition of anonymity, said.
"There is a special understanding of security cooperation between our countries," added that official. "To know that this intelligence is shared with others, without our prior knowledge? That is, for us, our worst fears confirmed."
The comments follow Monday’s report in The Washington Post, which quoted unnamed officials who said that President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week.
On Tuesday, The New York Times claimed that Israel was the source of the intelligence that Trump shared with the Russian officials.
Israeli officials refused to comment on that report, and Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, told the newspaper that the two nations would continue to cooperate closely in the field of counter-terrorism. READ MORE
