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I would absolutely put "Israel taps the National Security Advisor's phone" in a different category of risk to the two country's relationship than previous activ
by woodruffw 1y ago
I would absolutely put "Israel taps the National Security Advisor's phone" in a different category of risk to the two country's relationship than previous activities. This, again, isn't a normative argument.
(A piece of context that's often missing from - typically charged - discussions about US/Israel relationships is the degree of dependence between the two, and how that's varied over the years. Israel's defense policies have historically been informed by a desire to be fully self-sufficient during wartime, i.e. not require active support from countries like the U.S. That policy has been deprioritized over the last 20-30 years, to the point where the US is now a significant active defense provider for Israel, rather than just an arms supplier. This is a dependency relationship that's new to the ongoing conflict, and should color any analysis of Israel's willingness to do things that would threaten its relationship with the U.S.)
- megous 1y agoWhat makes you think it didn't already do so in the past and thus is a new thing? Allies spy on each other all the time. I guess US gov would not like to have it be out publicly, but they must understand that this is being at least attempted and US likely does it to Israel, too. https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-nsa-document-highlights-israeli-espionage-in-us/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/new-nsa-document-highlights-is...
- woodruffw 1y agoI'm sure they do. I would expect a little bit more, uh, flair to it than "you bought the spyware from us," though. My point here is pretty narrow: I'm sure Israel spies on the US, and we spy on them. My only doubt is whether TM SGNL itself is an element of that, or whether it's just another flavor of junk software sold to USG to paper over the gaps between technology and compliance requirements.