'Cables to be released on Israel, Lebanon, Mabhouh'

Israeli officials take in stride prospect of flood of Israel related WikiLeaks releases; Assange tells Al Jazeera newspapers hesitant to publish sensitive info.

By HERB KEINON
Updated: MARCH 27, 2018 09:28
Wikileaks Julian Assange (photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Wikileaks Julian Assange
(photo credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Government officials did not express undue concern Thursday at WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s comment to Al-Jazeera that there are around 3,700 cables yet to come out about Israel.
One government source said there is “not much of a difference between what we say publicly and what we say privately, so I wouldn’t say there is concern.”
Assange said the cables relating to Israel that will be released in the coming months have to do with the Second Lebanon War and the assassination of Hamas operative Mahmoud Mabhouh in Dubai earlier this year, the Qatari newspaper The Peninsula reported, citing the Al- Jazeera interview.
Assange said only a small number of documents related to Israel have been published so far because newspapers in the West that had exclusive rights to publish the material were hesitant to publish sensitive information about Israel.
“The Guardian, El Pais and Le Monde have published only 2 percent of the files related to Israel due to the sensitive relations between Germany, France and Israel. Even The New York Times could not publish more, due to the sensitivities related to the Jewish community in the US,” he said.
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the latest Wikileaks
Click here for full Jpost coverage of the latest Wikileaks
Observers in Jerusalem expressed disbelief that Assange had to go on the defensive that not more cables putting Israel in a bad light have been released, saying this line of questioning would not be taken regarding any other country in the world.
The Peninsula quoted Assange as saying there are diplomatic files about how “Mossad agents used Australian, British and European passports to travel to Dubai” as well as “the role of Mossad in killing a Lebanese military leader in Damascus by sniper bullets.”
Assange said WikiLeaks has 3,700 US documents regarding Israel, including 2,700 originating from Israel.

Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.