WikiLeaks: Sec’y Clinton Ordered Probe of UNRWA . looking for Hamas ties

WikiLeaks revealed Sunday that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ordered a probe on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as well as an investigation on possible ties between UN members and terror groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

“Washington wanted intelligence on the contentious issue of the ‘relationship or funding between UN personnel and/or missions and terrorist organizations’ and links between the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Middle East, and Hamas and Hezbollah,” the British Guardian reported, citing the documents leaked by the controversial Web entity.

Washington also sent out orders signed by Clinton or Rice (aka Condoleezza Rice, Clinton’s predecessor) ordering diplomats to gather “biographic and biometric” on various UN officials, including Ban, the report says.

It adds that the US may have “blurred the line between diplomacy and spying”, and that the country’s relations with the UN may now suffer due to the publication of the secret orders.

The US is one of the UN’s biggest funders, donating over $3 billion annually to its function.

Israel was also included in the orders to collect intelligence on Mukhabarat, the Palestinian Authority’s secret service, and Istikhbarat, its military intelligence; orders which Washington circulated among all of its embassies in the Middle East.

Diplomats in Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were asked to gather biometric intelligence on Palestinian Authority officials and senior Hamas agents in Gaza and the West Bank, the report says, in an effort to ascertain links between the officials and terrorists.

“Washington wanted intelligence on the contentious issue of the ‘relationship or funding between UN personnel and/or missions and terrorist organizations’ and links between the UN Relief and Works Agency in the Middle East, and Hamas and Hezbollah,” the British Guardian reported, citing the documents leaked by the controversial Web entity.

Washington also sent out orders signed by Clinton or Rice (aka Condoleezza Rice, Clinton’s predecessor) ordering diplomats to gather “biographic and biometric” on various UN officials, including Ban, the report says.

It adds that the US may have “blurred the line between diplomacy and spying”, and that the country’s relations with the UN may now suffer due to the publication of the secret orders.

The US is one of the UN’s biggest funders, donating over $3 billion annually to its function.

Israel was also included in the orders to collect intelligence on Mukhabarat, the Palestinian Authority’s secret service, and Istikhbarat, its military intelligence; orders which Washington circulated among all of its embassies in the Middle East.

Diplomats in Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia were asked to gather biometric intelligence on Palestinian Authority officials and senior Hamas agents in Gaza and the West Bank, the report says, in an effort to ascertain links between the officials and terrorists.