Israel Shamir - Association With WikiLeaks

Association With WikiLeaks

Shamir is a vocal backer of the WikiLeaks organization. In a Sveriges Radio interview with WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson, Hrafnsson stated that Israel Shamir "is associated with" WikiLeaks, as are "a lot of journalists that are working with us all around the world" who "have different roles in working on project". Russian Reporter claims that it has "privileged access" to the 2010 United States diplomatic cables leak via Shamir. Shamir described his relation with WikiLeaks as being 'a freelancer who was "accredited" to WikiLeaks'.

Former Wikileaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg noted Wikileaks' ties to Shamir among the reasons he quit the organization. Domscheit-Berg described Shamir as a "famous Holocaust denier and anti-Semite."

Yulia Latynina, writing in the Moscow Times alleged that Shamir concocted a cable which allegedly quoted European Union diplomats' plans to walk out of the Durban II speech by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for publication in the pro-Putin Russian Reporter in December 2010, an accusation which was rejected by Shamir.

Shamir has also been accused of passing "sensitive cables" to the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. Index on Censorship has expressed concern that such an event could physically endanger Lukashenko's political opponents; Wikileaks has refused to reply to Index on the issue, although one Wikileaks representative called Shamir's alleged leaks "obviously unapproved."

Shamir's son, a journalist named Johannes Wahlström, is a spokesperson for WikiLeaks in Sweden.