Why does Israel spy on the U.S.?

Because all countries spy on each other. In this case, however, there is no implication of Israel. This man did not spy for Israel, he agreed to sell secrets to FBI agents pretending to be Israeli. While I believe there are cases that appear to implicate Israel in spying on the U.S., this is not one of them.

Why does the US spy on Israel?

Everybody spies on everybody. Even allies.

NSA spies on Fluther. They spy on the whole Internet.

@gussnarp “Although the indictment does not allege that Israeli agents had already recruited Nozette, it says that he had already been paid a substantial amount of money to work as a consultant to an Israeli state-owned defence firm in return for “answering questions from the company”

@timothykinney From the AP story: “The complaint does not allege that the government of Israel or anyone acting on its behalf violated U.S. law.”

He was probably framed or scapegoated for not towing some line and the spy story is a cover.

Because they can and they learn things like policy direction and other things that are not in their interest and not to their benefit.. I’m sure everyone spys on everyone else…They do occasionally get caught and it is embarrasssing to get caught spying on an ally.. Still happens though..

In many ways, Israel is absolutely dependent on America for its continued survival. So, it’s in their own best interest to learn everything about our government’s potential actions and possible policies now and how they might shift in the future.

Spying is absolutely illegal, even if it’s a staunch ally. But the potential (and realistic) gain far outstrips the risk. It would be stupid for Israel not to spy on the U.S. for this reason and it’s every bit as vital for them to do so as it is for them to spy on their enemies as well.

In much the same way, the U.S. has spies (or informants or simply snitches) in its employ in the U.K., Australia, and probably every friendly allied power. And the same is reciprocal.

I spy on all of you.

Just letting you know.

And I knew that because I spy on you.

@loser
damn

I agree with @robmandu in that Israel is quite dependent on what the USA decides to do or not do. Thus, in their own defense they need to know what we are doing or thinking of doing.

And just because two countries are allies right now doesn’t mean that they always will be, or even that they both have the other country’s best interest in mind when they make decisions.

Why does anyone spy? They want information that the other person won’t give them voluntarily. It’s like an insecure lover. Do you really love me? Are you really my friend? Should I really trust you?

Friends might look at other people’s diaries, or ask other friends what the friend says behind their back. You are always looking for hidden or a planned betrayal. Where nations are concerned, it is hard to trust anyone, even your friends.

I am actually Israel’s official Fluther spy. I report on each of you on a regular basis.

@robmandu Said with so much authority, you’ve been given 6 GA awards already, when you wrote:In many ways, Israel is absolutely dependent on America for its continued survival. So, it’s in their own best interest to learn everything about our government’s potential actions and possible policies now and how they might shift in the future.

Spying is absolutely illegal, even if it’s a staunch ally. But the potential (and realistic) gain far outstrips the risk. It would be stupid for Israel not to spy on the U.S. for this reason and it’s every bit as vital for them to do so as it is for them to spy on their enemies as well.

That’s, how shalI put it mildly, a load of crap.

Israel is a great strategic ally to the U.S., both because it is the only democracy in the Middle East (U.S. oil interests and military interests – remember, Hizballah is in Lebanon, Syria and Lebanon are Iran financed – Syria supporting Iraq in the war, e.g. and now supports Iran – though less outwardly; Egypt gets about the same amount of assistance as Israel does, and has a Peace agreement with Israel – but who knows what’s going on there – the dictator there could be overthrown at any moment, or like Chavez, just continue to lead Egypt until he dies, or is killed. It was only in 1973 when Egypt, together with all the surounding arab nations (including Iraq even, attacked Israel from all sides during the holiest day of the year, and a day of fasting (it was strategic to attack when the |Israeris were substantioally less organized and weaker. 6 years prior, Israel was again attacked from all sides – this is known as the 6 day war – which is all it took Israel to defeat all the arab nations combined. Israel wasn’t assisted by the U.S. in those wars, and if you read a little history – even arms didn’t come in time. Just as the arans armies were replenished by the Soviets during the cold war, so the US thought it best to support the tiny democracy.

Israel didn;t need assistance again when they bombed the Iraqi reactor, either.

If you were up-to-date on the middle east, you might know that despite Turkey’s last minute withdrawal from the biggest joint U.S. Israel military exercise coming up (BIG MISTAKE ON TURKEY’S PART – HUGE), the U.S. has sided with Israel completely in its war on terror from Hamas in the South, Hizballah (which means party of Allah – the ones who suicide bombed the 240 Marines) and is installing the necessary protection against the rocket fire, which Israel has stopped after nearly 8 years and 6000 rockets, with the offensive against Gaza last year. Israel supports the US’s presence in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the exchange of info and training and support go both ways.

Is this biased? You betcha. But nothing I’ve said is desputable, except maybe opinion about the last war – which I agree was horrible for the Gazans, especially Hamas. But good for the people of Israel who could finally sleep after years of rocket-fire.

Israel, since the controversial Jonathan Pollard case, hasn’t had a spy in the U.S. – Pollard was, of course, an American, and acted on his own. Which is why he’s been rotting in a jail cell for the last 20 years. Israel hadn’t recruited him, nor recognized him as a spy, which they have done so in the past when Arabs had caught spies in exchange for theirs.

You wrote: Spying is absolutely illegal, even if it’s a staunch ally. But the potential (and realistic) gain far outstrips the risk What would Israel gain from this – except piss the Americans off? Israel has traded secrets (regarding Iran and many other common threats with the U.S. for the last 60 years. Why fuck it up? Are you a spy, or ex spy, and you are saying this from your own personal experience? You wrote: It would be stupid for Israel not to spy on the U.S. for this reason and it’s every bit as vital for them to do so as it is for them to spy on their enemies as well.

Cite an article – or speak from your own experience, if you’ve been a spy. For now, you are speculating, mistaken, and are just trying to stir up a little anti-Israel and anti-semitism which is so popular amongst the liberal left. Subtly, but the under-tomes are there.

@romandu, you dirty liberal~

They were probably just curious?

I slipped with tomes (which could sound like tombs), instead of tones. Freudian?

I agree with @NewZen and I have said this before. We need to keep things in perspective.

Hamas is a terrorist organization. Terrorists are criminals. Short-term Israel has to act, like the police has to act when criminals start killing people. The world had to act when the Taliban allowed criminals to be trained so that they can eventually fly airplanes into buildings. But mid-term and long-term we need to complement the strategy and not just be the police. We want less criminals on our planet. The problem with islamist extremism is that new terrorists and future suicide bombers are born all the time. I’m very sympathetic when it comes to Palestinians getting their own country. They are allowed live in peace and must behave peacefully. Israel deserves to live in peace. You know that I’m a moderate liberal, looking for a balanced view. But what is really going on in Gaza?

Hamas represents an ideology of intolerance and hatred. In a way they represent a modern form of facism. Hamas, like Iran, denies Isreal the right to exist. They randomly fire rockets into residential areas. They don’t want to negotiate. They brainwash school children. They teach hatred. Hamas ideology is as perverse as that of the Taliban or Iran’s or Saudi Arabian ‘religious’ leaders. It’s really close to fascism or Nazism. The Hamas ideology wants to erase pluralistic societies. They want to introduce religious policing, like Saudi Arabia or Iran. Ultimately our free and tolerant societies are at stake. How can anyone in the civilized West be sympathetic with Hamas’ cause? I’m not. The civilian voters in Gaza made a big mistake voting for Hamas. They were voting for confrontation and hatred and death and suicide. Democracy is a responsibilty. Voting is a responsibility. Voters will get what they elect.

Of course there are also extremists on the Israeli side. An example are fanatic ultraorthodox Jews and settlers preaching hatred, and there are terrorists like Baruch Goldstein, an American born Israeli physician who perpetrated the 1994 Cave of the Patriarchs massacre in the city of Hebron, killing 29 Muslims at prayer in the Ibrahimi Mosque within the Cave of the Patriarchs, and wounding another 150 in a shooting attack.But I think we are talking about far less than 10% of the Israeli population, who engage in this kind of extreme thinking and hatred. Hamas was elected by more than 50% of the Palestinian people. The really sad thing is that actually a majority democratically elected terrorists. Even Hitler only got 43.9 %. Democracy is not only a gift but also a responsibility. Not voting is irresponsible behavior. Voting for extremist parties is irresponsible behavior. The majority of the people in Gaza is guilty of that. The Israeli voters should also not vote for extremist parties. I’m no fan of the new Israeli government. Like I said earlier, this still means that Israel has to be more creative to allow the moderate Palestinians to live in peace and prosperity.

At some point the circle of violence has to be replaced by something more intelligent. In Europe the Germans and the French killed each other for centuries and there are examples of other countries. Today there are regular student exchanges. People fall in love with each other, have parties together, innovate together, use the same currency and so forth. Daniel Barenboim came to fame as a pianist but now is as well-known as a conductor, and for his work with an orchestra of young Arab and Jewish musicians, based in Seville, Spain, called the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he co-founded with the late Palestinian-American intellectual and activist Edward Said, whom Barenboim called his best friend. Barenboim has also been an outspoken critic of the Israeli settlements.We need more ideas like that. Look at what Queen Rania is doing. Weapons alone won’t solve all the problems in the Middle East.

@mattbrowne Thanks! But the Golstein event was 15 years ago and done by a deranged individual. Hard to compare that to the HAMAS, no?

@NewZen – No, that wasn’t my intention. It was a deranged individual, but there are indeed fanatic ultra-orthodox Jews and settlers preaching hatred, aren’t there?

@mattbrowne Nope.

Ok, maybe a few.

But they haven’t taken over the government in official elections, changed all the books to decry arabs as pigs (which the reverse is true, btw) declare jihad on all arab nations (ok, israel is the only one – but if there were more jewish states, they’d hate them too, for being jewish)... etc.

A little known fact: Israel’s national anthem is called the hope, and calls for peace with her arab neighbours; the word for peace in Hebrew, is SHALOM – and is a word in English now – look it up – it is said so often because it means hello, goodbye as well as peace.

Too many Hebrew and Israeli songs to mention here are about the desire and hope for peace with the arabs, and children in Israel and Jewish children around the glove are taught these songs – hoping one day there will be peace with them.

This will happen, one day, when… to quote Golda Meir: the arabs love their children more then they hate the jews. I will add: and stop strapping bombs to their chests, flying planes into tall buildings – and cease from teaching their children that the west are infidels, and the jews are dogs. One day, inshallah.

@NewZen Interesting you should mention “shalom”. I always like to point out to people that Jews greet each other with “shalom”, Muslims greet each other with “salaam aleichum” (peace be with you), and Christians during their church services stop and greet everyone around them with “peace be with you”. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking on my part, but I feel like there is hope in this, that maybe if everyone who said it realized that everyone else said it, and endeavored to live it, then we might get somewhere.

@NewZen – Do you expect the settlements to stop? Give Obama a chance?

@mattbrowne Link-It’s safe, don’t worry it won’t explode

It is said that Batman has plans to take on everybody that he meets.

Just like an elderly Father/Mother would keep tabs on their Son.
The Son may be wealthier and stronger but the parents still have the ultimate control :)
i.e. The USA is owned

Holy moly, who doesn’t spy on the help? People check out what the nanny is doing, if the butler is really handling business and since Uncle Sam is basically the help to Israel, a good and dutiful boot lackey why wouldn’t Israel spy on us? The fact that the US is often found to be two-faced don’t help. We say out the side of our neck ”Israel we are with you until the wheels fall off” but we are addicted to the black drug of their enemies. The US in a sense plays both ends against the middle to get only what is ultimately best for the US, always have and always will. If I were Canada, Mexico, England, Japan, pr Israel I would not trust the US as far as I could throw a A1 tank with a broken arm to boot.