Edward Snowden is expected to speak via video link at a closed conference held in Israel. The event, which expects to hear Snowden touching upon US spying on Israel, will be joined by a former top Mossad official.

The NSA whistleblower is set to speak through a secure video system from Russia, at a conference organized by the local media consultancy company OH! Orenstein + Hoshen. He is expected to cover the issues “relating specifically to Israel” at the November 6 event, Israeli media report, speculating that this might involve the instances of the US snooping on Israeli officials.

“Snowden is a fascinating figure because his actions are so controversial. We have no intention of expressing support or an opinion on what he did. The audience will hear what he has to say, can ask tough questions and people can work out their own opinions on the matter,” the company said in a statement issued to the media. The participants, including Snowden, have been approved by the Israeli security officials including the military censor, the Israeli news service Arutz Sheva reported.

Snowden’s remarks are to be followed by a “response” from Ram Ben-Barak, the former deputy chief of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. Ben-Barak headed the Keshet division, responsible for gathering intelligence data through electronic means, and held the position of the Intelligence Ministry and Strategic Affairs Ministry director general. Some media reports also suggest that the current Mossad leadership will also be present at the closed event.

Snowden, who worked as a private contractor for the NSA, leaked a trove of documents in 2013 that revealed an extensive surveillance program run by the US intelligence, which involved spying on numerous foreign countries – including US allies. He also notably revealed the NSA was collecting sensitive data on hundreds of millions of people, including the US citizens. Ever since getting stuck in Moscow after his passport got revoked, Snowden has been living in Russia, where he was eventually granted a residence permit.

Some of the documents obtained by Snowden revealed that the NSA and the British intelligence service GCHQ have spied on Israel. This provoked an angry reaction in Tel Aviv, as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the time that such things are “unacceptable” and “must not be done” between close allies.

In 2016, another leak showed that the two agencies had been spying on Israeli air force’s operations for at least 18 years, while the British secret services have been spying on Israel’s diplomats, defense firms, and militarary.

https://www.rt.com/news/440920-snowden-speak-israel-mossad/

Deadly chemicals have ended up in the hands of Islamic State (IS, ISIS/ISIL) after pro-IS terrorists attacked a northern Syrian HQ of Al-Nusra, killing several militants and White Helmets and capturing canisters with chlorine.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on the attack on Wednesday, accusing the militant-allied Western countries of helping the terrorists acquire chemical agents. The “irresponsible actions” of these states in Syria have led to the situation, in which “chemical agents ended up in the hands of Islamic State terrorists, whose actions are impossible to predict,” the head of the Russian Reconciliation Center, Major General Vladimir Savchenko, said in a statement.

Moscow has previously accused the anti-government militants and their Western backers of preparing false flag chemical attacks to frame Damascus. The West, Savchenko said, completely “disregards the precarious situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone” with this alleged plan.

He said that on October 9, an extremist group affiliated with Islamic State raided a field command center of an Al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (now known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham). The jihadists managed to seize two canisters filled with chlorine during the raid while killing four Al-Nusra militants, as well as two members of the controversial White Helmets group.

Moscow’s warnings have been dismissed by Washington and its allies, and it instead accused the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad of preparing chemical attacks against civilians. While making one of her anti-Assad statements at the UN, the outgoing US ambassador, Nikki Haley, notably said in September that “if there are chemical weapons that are used [in Idlib], we know exactly who is going to use them.”

https://www.rt.com/news/440912-isis-seizes-chlorine-white-helmets/

>>3430644

and it's good that Sessions already turned over the McCabe memos

President Trump reportedly spoke with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s chief of staff Matthew Whitaker about replacing Sessions in his role, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Sources briefed on the matter told the Post that the conversation was vague and did not specify if Whitaker would take over in an interim or permanent capacity, or how serious the president's proposal was.

The attorney general and the president have had an embittered relationship since Sessions recused himself from the Justice Department’s (DOJ) investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to take over the probe after Sessions’s recusal. Mueller and his investigation have been targeted by Trump and his administration, often being denounced as a "witch hunt."

“The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself…I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined … and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!” Trump tweeted in June.

The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax continues, all because Jeff Sessions didn’t tell me he was going to recuse himself…I would have quickly picked someone else. So much time and money wasted, so many lives ruined…and Sessions knew better than most that there was No Collusion!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 5, 2018

Rosenstein has also been seen as a top target of Trump's, with reports last month suggesting the president could fire his deputy attorney general. Trump, however, sought to downplay reports, stating Monday that he would not fire Rosenstein.

Trump, last month, escalated his attacks on Sessions, telling Hill.TV, “I don’t have an attorney general.”

Speculation that the president would fire Sessions regained steam after Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that the attorney general would “very likely” be fired after November’s midterm elections.

“I think there will come a time, sooner rather than later, where it will be time to have a new face and a fresh voice at the Department of Justice,” Graham told Bloomberg News. “Clearly, Attorney General Sessions doesn’t have the confidence of the president.”

White House officials told the Post that they expect Rosenstein and Sessions to remain in their positions until November's midterm elections, fearing that their removal could be a detriment to House and Senate Republican candidates.

Whitaker penned an op-ed for CNN in Aug. 2017 in which he said Mueller would cross a “red line” if he began looking into the finances of Trump and his family.

If Whitaker were to replace Sessions, he could be in a position to supervise the Mueller probe, the Post noted. Ethics officials, however, would first likely review his past statements to explore any potential conflicts of interest, according to the paper.

The White House and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/410880-trump-talked-with-sessions-aide-about-serving-as-attorney-general