South Carolina Republican senator visits Israel to discuss Iranian nuclear threat and expansion of Abraham Accords, warns that Pentagon document claiming Mossad helped anti-judicial reform protests has damaged America’s position.

By: WIN Staff – worldisraelnews.com

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham visited Israel Sunday, meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, as part of a Middle East trip.

Graham first stopped in Saudi Arabia, meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last Tuesday, before flying to Israel in an effort to reassure American allies in the region, after Pentagon documents were leaked to the internet, “damaging” U.S. relations with multiple countries, Graham said.

“I’ve been to Saudi Arabia, I’m in Israel. I can promise you, it’s been very damaging,” Graham told ABC on Sunday, citing leaked American intelligence reports claiming Israel’s Mossad agency aided the anti-government protests against the judicial reform plan.

“There’s information about Mossad supposedly helping the protesters. There’s information about the air defense capability of Ukraine.”

“And everybody in the region is really worried because, who wants to share information with the United States if you’re going to read about it in the paper or find it on the internet.”

“So, this has done a lot of damage to us in the region.”

During his visit to Israel, Graham spoke with Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, during which the two discussed the need to present a credible military threat in order to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

“The cooperation between Israel and the United States is essential to stop the Iranian nuclear program, which is a global threat,” Cohen said.

“We will continue to act to remove the Iranian nuclear threat from Israel, the Middle East, and the world as a whole. The way to bring about a change in Iranian behavior is by exerting comprehensive economic and diplomatic pressure in every area where Iran has an interest, including the establishment of a credible military threat against it.”

“I spoke with Senator Graham, a great friend of Israel, about regional challenges, opportunities to improve relations with neighboring countries, and his visit to Saudi Arabia, from which he arrived in Israel, and initiatives to strengthen Israel-US relations. I also expressed my deep appreciation for America’s move to deepen and expand the Abraham Accords, which contribute to regional prosperity and stability.”

The leaked materials, which made headlines of several major U.S. publications, contain an assessment by a CIA Intel Update dated March 1, as was reported by i24News.com. It said that the Mossad leadership “advocated for Mossad officials and Israeli citizens to protest against the new Israeli government’s proposed judicial reforms, including several explicit calls to action that decried the Israeli government.”

INN reported that the FBI is investigating the leak, and it is currently believed that the leaked documents are authentic. Both newspapers reported that senior Israeli officials denied the reports.

I24 News also reported that Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office last week denied reports based on the leaked Pentagon documents alleging that the Mossad encouraged Israelis to participate in mass protests against the government’s judicial reform plan.

Netanyahu’s office said in a statement that, “The Mossad and its officials did not and do not encourage employees in the organization to go to demonstrations against the government, to political demonstrations in general, or to any political activity.”

(worldisraelnews.com)