Wikileaks intends to publish thousands of secret documents related to Israel six months from now, co-founder Julian Assange told Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV’s "Without Borders" program.
Asked if Israel has been in contact with him, Assange said, “No, no contacts with Israel, but I am sure Mossad is following our activities closely, [just] like Australia, Sweden and the CIA." He said it is not true that he has a deal with Israel not to publish the secret files.
Assange appeared to contradict himself when he later said, “We will publish 3,700 files and the source is the American embassy in Tel Aviv” – after he had previously said “there are 3,700 files related to Israel and the source of 2,700 files is Israel… In the next six months, we intend to publish more files, depending on our sources.” It was unclear if he was referring to files included in the 3,700 aforementioned files, or to others.
After he referred to the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, Assange curiously said, “Prime Minister [Binyamin] Netanyahu was traveling to Paris to talk to the U.S. ambassador there. “
Assange said the files contain “some information” from “files classified as Top Secret” about the Second Lebanon War between Israel and Hizbullah in the summer of 2006. He also indicated that some files incriminate Israel in the assassination of Hamas terrorist leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai.
Originally from Australia, Assange is under house arrest in England pending an extradition hearing; he is wanted for questioning in Sweden regarding alleged sexual offences. He denies the allegations and claims they are politically motivated.
Asked by Al-Jazeera if there are “any files about agencies providing intelligence information about famous personalities in the Arab world?,” Assange replied, “I am not sure about that, but there are files about Hizbullah in Lebanon.”
Regarding Israel and its Mossad intelligence agency, he said, “Most of the files related to Mossad are classified as top secret but there may be some files related to the role of Mossad in killing a Lebanese military leader in Damascus by sniper bullets. There 2,500 files related to Mossad and I have read only 1,000. So I don’t know about everything, I need more journalists including Arabs to read and analyze and put everything in the context for the benefit of the readers.”