Trump 'risked life of Israeli spy who is embedded in ISIS' by sharing classified information with Russia
- The classified information Trump shared with Russia came from an Israeli spy who is embedded in ISIS
- ABC reports that Israel shared their reports with the US on the condition they remain anonymous
- Trump relayed the information to Russian's foreign minister and ambassador to the US
- He defended it on Tuesday, saying he was within his rights to do so as president
- Former Mossad director Danny Yatom said it could be a 'grave violation' and could lead to 'harm to the source'
- An Israeli intelligence officer said a 'special understanding' was violated and it represented 'our worst fears confirmed'
President Trump risked the life of an Israeli spy who is embedded in ISIS by sharing classified information with Russia, officials said on Tuesday.
Though Israel is yet to confirm that it is the source of the information that Trump shared, ABC reports that it was one of the country's spies who supplied it, citing 'current and former' US officials who said the individual was now in danger.
The sources said Israel only agreed to pass on the spy's findings to the US on the condition that the individual remain anonymous.
The information pertained to an ISIS plot to bring down airliners using laptop bombs.
Despite assurances from National Security Adviser HR McMaster that the president's actions were 'wholly appropriate', Israeli officials are distancing themselves from the administration.
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Officials say President Trump endangered the life of an undercover Israeli spy by passing on classified information about ISIS to Russia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pictured, right
Former Mossad director Danny Yatom told The Jerusalem Post this could be a 'grave violation' of intelligence sharing protocol if it's true and could l'lead to harm to the source.'
'We will think twice before conveying very sensitive information,' Yatom said.
Asked how the U.S. government can move on after the president's disclosure to the Russians, Yatom said, 'It can be repaired by asking again the Americans not to do it, not to convey such a nature of information, which is very sensitive and probably after a short period of time, the relations will be recovered, unless the phenomena of conveying information to a third party will continue.'
The Israeli government considers it to be facing an existential threat in Iran, with whom Russia maintains historic ties. Israeli officials are already expressing concern that information Israel passed on to the U.S. could somehow find its way back to Iran.
Israel's ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer said in a statement that: 'Israel has full confidence in our intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States and looks forward to deepening that relationship in the years ahead under President Trump.'
His statement provided a lifeline to the embattled White House, which has tried to bat away concerns that Trump may have inadvertently given away sources and methods by passing on the information.
National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said Trump's disclosure was 'wholly appropriate,' and did not reveal sources and methods. Asked whether Trump revealed the city in Syria where the information came from, he said most ISIS strongholds are well known to media consumers.
Donald J. Trump and Ron Dermer, Ambassador of Israel to the United States, attended the Wharton Club's 44th Annual Wharton Award Dinner at the Park Hyatt Washington hotel on October 22, 2014 in Washington. Dermer said in a statement 'Israel has full confidence in our intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States'
LET'S TALK: David Friedman, (R) the new United States Ambassador to Israel, with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin (L) in the president's Jerusalem residence as Friedman presents his credentials on 16 May 2017
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, February 15, 2017
Trump has exhibited a special bond with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Trump's inveighing against the Obama administration's Iran nuclear deal matched up with Netnyahu's view.
Dermer told AIPAC this spring: 'For the first time in many years, perhaps even many decades, there is no daylight between our two governments.'
At an off-camera briefing with reporters, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said he couldn't comment on the report on Israel, which maintains its heralded Mossad spy organization.
'I'm obviously pleased to see Ambassador Dermer's comment,' said Spicer.
'We appreciate the relationship that we have with Israel and appreciate the exchange of information that we have with them,' he added, without commenting further.
Defending himself, Trump wrote on Twitter: 'As President I wanted to share with Russia (at an openly scheduled W.H. meeting) which I have the absolute right to do, facts pertaining to terrorism and airline flight safety. Humanitarian reasons, plus I want Russia to greatly step up their fight against ISIS & terrorism.'
ALL SMILES: Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US President Donald Trump, and Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak (L-R) talking during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House. Alexander Shcherbak/TASS
The disclosure ensures that Trump will have plenty to discuss when he visits Israel, where Trump will meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pray at the Western Wall.
National security advisor H.R. McMaster, asked Tuesday sked if Trump thinks the wall is part of Israel, responded: 'That sounds like a policy decision.'
Netanyahu reportedly asked to join Trump as he prayed at the wall, but a U.S. official told him the site is 'not your territory,' the Associated Press reported, citing on reports out of Israel.
An Israeli intelligence officer told Buzzfeed News the information making its way to Russia represented Israel's 'worst fears confirmed.'
'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,' said the intelligence officer.
'There is a special understanding of security cooperation between our countries,' the officer continued. 'To know that this intelligence is shared with others, without our prior knowledge? That is, for us, our worst fears confirmed.'
The publication had reported in January about Israel's concerns Trump would pass information to the Russians, interviewing the same officer at the time.
'There has to be trust for this sort of arrangement. I cannot speak for Israel's entire security apparatus, but I would not trust a partner who shared intelligence without coordinating it with us first,' the officer concluded.
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