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I personally was approached by what I now believe was an undercover spy agent in San Francisco. I believe he might have been Israeli. How we got there is a lon
by anon007 8y ago
I personally was approached by what I now believe was an undercover spy agent in San Francisco. I believe he might have been Israeli.
How we got there is a long story. But, the person (agent) came to a coffee shop that I frequented and made himself very visible talking audibly about certain areas that were my interest.
I'm a very outgoing person so after over-hearing him by the second or third encounter there, I approached him or he approached me by asking to share a table. Don't fully remember.
After several meetings, he tried to goad me into saying things which were utterly antisemitic and anti-Israel. So I started to suspect something was off and those days I had a very good memory and I started noticing some contradictory stories from meetings to meetings.
So suspecting something was wrong, I dropped all contact. Then he started calling me and asking me why I'm not coming to the coffee shop anymore and used other phone numbers that were not identified as his to try to call me.
After a while of ignoring him, he stopped calling. But, the whole experience was rather strange and made me realize how easy it is for the Israelis to run a spy network (or a soft spy network) in the open.
So when I see stories like these, I'm not only not surprised but I'm wondering why there are not more of these published on the press.
edit some related news:
1 - An Israeli spy firm was reportedly hired to dig up dirt on ex-Obama aides involved in the Iran deal
- https://www.vox.com/world/2018/5/7/17327278/ben-rhodes-black-cube-iran-deal https://www.vox.com/world/2018/5/7/17327278/ben-rhodes-black...
2 - UK campaign to smear Corbyn. Note, the source here might be a biased here as they're fighting what they perceived to be Israeli occupation
- https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/new-challenge-israels-effort-undermine-jeremy-corbyn https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/new-chal...
3 - Additional reporting on Israeli spying on American citizens
- https://www.thenation.com/article/how-israel-spies-on-us-citizens/ https://www.thenation.com/article/how-israel-spies-on-us-cit...
- jorblumesea 8y agoPlease report this to a local FBI office, this was obviously an agent trying to co-opt whatever movement you're associated with.
- tomjakubowski 8y ago"Ah, glad to hear Agent Johnson's been doing his job."
- isostatic 8y agoDisappointed to hear Agent Johnson was so obvious
- i_phish_cats 8y agoSounds like he was just trying to hit on you.
- skilled 8y agoI would love to throw in a joke in response to this comment but I get the feeling it would not age well.
- yourabanana 8y agoIt's fine just say it anyway.
- eesmith 8y agoI disagree. Even if it was meant as flirting, the repeated calls from multiple phone numbers approaches harassment, not "just hitting on" someone.
- mprev 8y agoYou’ve clearly never had a stalker. The behaviour sounds almost exactly like how my stalker inveigled his way into my life and then behaved when I cut him out.
- TomasSedovic 8y agoI would consider stalking closer to "harassment" than "hitting on someone".
- mprev 8y agoYes, of course, I can see how it looks like I conflated the two. But, I mean, it started out as being hit on, I guess.
- eesmith 8y agoYes, and harassers - including stalkers - take advantage of the fuzziness. Including by using terms like "just hitting on" for something which is much better described as "harassment".
- bayesian_horse 8y agoI don't quite get why an Israeli spy would like to get you to say something anti-semitic/anti-Israel. Would he want to blackmail you then? Did he want to make sure you are supportive of Isreal, sort of reverse-psychologically?
- Haga 8y agoMassive discredit for any cause you push?
- agumonkey 8y agoit's just a bit outside what I/we consider spies roles. This sounds more like the usual PR trick.
- meowface 8y agoIt's because it isn't the Israeli government/Israeli intelligence who's doing this (even if many or most of the operatives are ex-intelligence): it's people in private industry. It's plausible some aspects of the Israeli government also have a hand in this stuff, but I think it's explainable without that as well. NSO Group, the firm mentioned in this and other articles, and firms like Black Cube (hired by Harvey Weinstein to spy on accusers) seem to be effectively running an intelligence-agency-as-a-service model. They'll deploy agents and compromise devices to discredit any potential witness, gather reconnaissance on potential stories that are being written, spread disinformation, influence policy, etc. All you have to do is give them money. As for the motive: no idea. But this seems to be a popular tactic for discrediting people, especially recently after some people accused NSO Group of helping spy on Jamal Khashoggi (edit: and there's also at least one lawsuit). Tarring their accusers as anti-Semites is one way of dealing with bad PR. I don't know what the parent poster may have done or what their situation might be, but they or their employer may be in competition, or a feud, with some resourceful Israeli companies or individuals.
- agumonkey 8y agothat's what I was trying to say, boldly discrediting people seems outside the spying field. I defined it as 'stealth information acquisition'. Not political con artistry.
- dsl 8y agoPlease reach out to the FBI counterintelligence unit at the San Francisco field office. It sounds like nothing came of it, but screenshots of text messages, call logs, or other information you have may be of assistance in other investigations.
- _pmf_ 8y agoWhy would you want to paint a target on your back?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- arcticfox 8y agoDo you really believe the Mossad is going to assassinate (or otherwise seriously mess with) someone in the United States for reporting a funky, antisemitic conversation?
- 50656E6973 8y agoIf they believe the person will carry out an attack, why not??
- arcticfox 8y agoI believe the speculation is that they were on a fishing expedition to dig up political dirt / leverage, not perform some type of dangerous attack.
- TLAFanBoy 8y agoObviously, no one said anything about "assassination" by Mossad. Your attempted use of reductio ad absurdum was in bad faith. One would likely be more concerned with being accused of "anti-semitism" and having your name google-bombed by a Zionist smear campaign like Canary Mission. [0] Imagine having a potential client or employer finding your name on a list of "anti-semite Israel haters" for doing nothing more that suggesting Palestinians have human rights or that Israel engages in an aggressive espionage campaign against the United States? [0] https://canarymission.org/ https://canarymission.org/
- jonnydubowsky 8y agoThe spy vs spy comic strip gave us some early lessons on how deep these deceptions can go. Double and triple agents, even people creating anonymous accounts online to put forth whatever unfounded and creative stories they wish about anyone they choose.
- blazespin 8y agoReputation is everything.
- a_bonobo 8y agoHaving just finished reading Rise and Kill First on the history of Israel's targeted killings, getting your target to introduce themselves by talking loudly about their interests around them for several days is a tried-and-tested Mossad strategy. That way, the target will trust the agent more, as they think that they initiated the contact themselves.
- isostatic 8y agoCorbyn smears himself. With you quoting a site called “electronic infitada” you weaken your case dramatically.
- stef25 8y agoEither you're leaving out a lot of important parts to the story or you're just being paranoid?
- fbonetti 8y agoI'm pretty surprised that people are taking this loony story at face value. OP sounds like a literal tin-foiler.
- thatoneuser 8y agoThis message sounds like propaganda
- therein 8y agoDid he have colored cards that he used during conversation?
- klmr 8y ago> Note, the source here might be a biased here That’s putting it mildly: I’m entirely aware that there’s a concerted campaign in the UK to smear Corbyn by fabricating a story from out-of-context quotes and, despite not being a fan of Corbyn, I’m entirely on board with the idea that he’s being unjustly targeted and probably isn’t actually antisemitic. But so far there’s no evidence that Israel is behind this effort. A more likely explanation is that he’s a thorn in the side of the Tories and the conservative-leaning establishment media, and the campaign successfully undermined Labour’s (and specifically Corbyn’s) public support (which the polls clearly reflect: they’re losing out agains the most incompetent and least-liked UK government this generation has seen). There’s no need for Israeli operatives to get involved, and considering the potential fallout if this got out, it would seem to be a risky undertaking. Much easier to publicly denounce Corbyn, as both Netanyahu and the Israeli ambassador to the UK have done (along with the Foreign Ministry, if I remember correctly).
- noir_lord 8y agoOne of the things that annoys me about this debate is that anti-semetic !== Anti Israel I've no issue with the Jews (I don't actually know any) but specific things the Israeli government does sure I do. Of course it's useful for people to conflate the two as they do with Corbyn or anyone who condemns Israel. Frankly I've no dog in the fight, I think Israel and the Palestinian's are frequently in the wrong. It's quite possible for there to be no 'good guy'.
- gomijacogeo 8y agoIt could definitely have been a "bump" (a manufactured 'accidental' introduction). If you work in a sensitive field, I'd definitely report it. If you hold a clearance, you should have already reported it. I wouldn't spend much energy trying to second-guess who was ultimately behind the meeting. Especially if it is nefarious, often the initial contact is done with a cut-out or other intermediary and true affiliations are almost never disclosed initially (or perhaps ever).
- leesalminen 8y agoA very similar thing happened to a friend of mine in a coffee shop in LA about 15 years ago.
- porpoisely 8y agoDon't forget the anti-BDS laws state politicians have passed at the behest of israel. I think more than a dozen states have already passed this unconstitutional ( in my opinion ) law. Now congress is looking to enact it nationally. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-06/anti-bds-bill-approved-by-senate-avoids-first-amendment-questions https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-06/anti-b... Replace israel with russia. Can you imagine any politician passing a law criminalizing any company from protesting or boycotting russia? The hubris to even think up such an anti-american law like this is worrying.