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The sound of the horn Israeli spies

antennas Urim

In the name of fighting terrorism, several countries have deployed monitoring systems, outside of any legal rule. The network Echelon, the most famous of these, see particularly involved in the U.S. and the UK. Less well known, the basis of Israeli of Urim is one of the largest station for intelligence exist.
A thirty kilometers from Beer-Sheva prison - where passengers of the "flotilla to Gaza" were briefly detained after sanguionoso assault of May 31 last year - in the direction of the Gaza Strip, is the location of most important spy of Israel. This basis, undiscovered until now, consists of a satellite antenna system that secretly intercept phone calls, e-mail and any other kind of communication from the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia.
The Power of Israel in the region is often associated with its armed forces, its nuclear arsenal and its secret service (Mossad).


But his ability to find information telematics appear equally important, whether to monitor governments, international organizations, foreign companies, political organizations or individuals.
espionage work is carried out mainly by this installation situated on the edge of Negev desert, about two kilometers north of Kibbutz Urim . Our informants have worked in the Israeli secret service, and they know this base directly.

describe the pylons of satellite dishes in various sizes and from one side of the road leading to the 2333 base of buildings and cabins. High wire mesh, fences and dogs protect the station. As anyone can see on the Internet, satellite images of this site are not obscured. The eye easily detects and distinguishes all the elements of a location of electronic surveillance.
A large circle indicates the position in the fields of research directional antenna (Hh / Df), for observation at sea.

The basis of Urim was installed decades ago to monitor the international communications that pass through the Intelsat satellite network, the main telephone repeater between different countries. Its work was extended to the maritime relations (Inmarsat), then quickly extended himself up to take a target regional satellites, more and more.

So, this base is "like - confirming the intelligence specialist Duncan Campbell - satellite earth stations interception echelon of the covenant." Echelon is the worldwide network of monitoring stations, which includes the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, established in 1996 (1). Satellite telephones used on ships en route to Gaza were an easy target for these high-tech equipment. Our Israeli sources describe how computers are "programmed to distinguish words and telephone numbers of interest" in the middle of calls, e-mail and information captured. The messages are intercepted transferred to the headquarters of Unit 8200 - the central Israeli intelligence - in the city of Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. There, are translated and forwarded to other agencies, in large quantities to the army and the Mossad.

The model of its British counterparts (Government Communications Headquarters, GCHQ) and American (National Security Agency, NSA), the 'Unit 8200 is much less well-known agency for foreign intelligence and special operations of the country, the Mossad. Still, the Mossad - like its counterparts in MI6 and the CIA - is less important in terms of funding and personnel.

The basis of Urim has to target several countries, friends and enemies.
A former analyst who has made his military service to the Central Unit 8200, claims to have worked full-time to translate into Hebrew of calls and e-mail in English and French. A task "interesting", he says, was to groom a lot of routine correspondence to find the nuggets. The section mainly controlled "traffic signals and other diplomatic offshore [international]." The recruits spent too much time to explore public websites (2). To complete the picture, the basis of Urim deals interceptions from submarine cables (especially those in the Mediterranean, linking Israel to Europe via Sicily) and has underground stations in buildings representing Israel abroad, such as embassies.

Unit 8200, dependent on officially by the military, intelligence has repeaters in the Palestinian territories and flies a Gulfstream aircraft crammed with electronics. With the exception of satellite television - unlikely objectives for a monitoring station - the majority of the transmitters located in an arc extending from the Indian Ocean is a potential target: not only are spied on Intelsat and Inmarsat, but also Russians, Arabs, Europeans or Asians. The images reveal the basis of thirty antennas surveillance, making Urim one of the largest station for intelligence on the planet. The only comparable structure The magnitude and located on the American base at Menwith Hill in Yorkshire (England).
Other monitoring stations are well-known '80s: near the German town of Bad Aibling is a large base of the NSA. Another American installation is located on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, near an airstrip where you stand two B-52 bombers. As for the main British center, its twenty antennas are left out in the top of the cliffs of Cornwall, Morwenstow. The Directorate General of Foreign Security (DGSE), France is not far behind with Frenchelon, a network that includes several bases in the hex and overseas territories.
Israeli resort Urim's, however, had managed to remain hidden from the public for decades. NICKY HAGER

Journalist, Wellington (New Zealand). Author of Secret Power.
New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network (Craig Potton Publishing, Nelson, New Zealand, 1996), the book that revealed the existence of the Echelon network.

(1) reads, Secret Power, op. cit. and Philippe Rivière, "Le système Echelon, Maniere de voir No 46 'Révolution dans la communication, "July-August 1999.

(2) See Thomas Keenan and Eyal Weizman, "Israel and the third threat," Le Monde diplomatique edition, July 2010.
(Translated by EG)

Source: http://www.monde-diplomatique.it