The British government has been hacking into Israeli military jets and drones for 18 years after bypassing their security, according to secret documents released by Edward Snowden.
According to the Jewish News, GCHQ and the NSA snooped on the Israelis during military operations over Gaza and Lebanon after accessing its supposedly-secure aircraft in a top-secret programme called ‘Anarchist’.
Through Anarchist, the Americans and British kept tabs on the Israelis for years, monitoring their drone technology, watching their conduct over Gaza and even analysing their activity vis-a-vis Iranian nuclear sites and personnel.
A 2008 GCHQ document reads: “This access is indispensable for maintaining an understanding of Israeli military training and operations and thus an insight to possible future developments in the region. In times of crisis this access is critical and one of the only avenues to provide up to the minute information and support to U.S. and Allied operations in the area.”
In an email to Infosecurity, Sean Sullivan, security advisor at F-Secure Labs, said: “Given the strained relationship between Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama – I don’t think the news will have a significant impact on trust between the USA and Israel.
“Israeli intelligence is widely alleged to spy on Israel’s allies – that the reverse is true can hardly be surprising.”