State Department spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday refused to discuss a report from late Tuesday that the U.S. continued to spy on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in order to counter Netanyahu’s expected opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement.
Kirby was asked on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday whether the spying operation against Netanyahu strained Secretary of State John Kerry’s relationship with the Israeli leader.
“Well, without getting into intelligence matters, and I would remind you that the president made clear that we’re not going to collect intelligence on national leaders unless there’s some strong, compelling national security case,” he said. “So I’m not going to talk about the specifics of that article.”
Obama himself said in 2014 that spying against close friends and allies might still take place when there’s a “compelling national security purpose.”
After one of the hosts noted that the administration isn’t refuting reports of U.S. spying against Netanyahu, Kirby refused to take the bait. “I’m just not gonna address the intelligence aspects here,” he said.
And when asked if Kerry supported the intelligence operation against Netanyahu, Kirby again declined.
“I’m just simply not going to talk about intelligence matters,” he said. “Israel is a close partner and friend in the region, and we enjoy a strong relationship with them.”
Kirby did stress, however, that Kerry and Netanyahu speak “frequently,” and said they get along even though they don’t always agree. “He has a very, very healthy relationship with the Prime Minister, and works at that relationship very hard,” Kirby said.
