Why was Israel spying on the US or was it at all?

It started with a claim in Politico that Israel had been spying on the US.

Politico is a serious medium with a nice leftwing/rightwing balance. I see no ground to suspect that they just wrote that to get publicity or sow enmity. Yet, it has been accused of antisemitism in the past couple of years and that could be a reason why Antisemites would give them this “scoop.”

What are its sources? Their report is supposedly “based on accounts provided by three former U.S. officials.” How do we know that they spoke the truth? Maybe there was no spying at all. And who says that Israel must have done this? One source added: “that as opposed to other incidents of foreign spying on U.S. soil, the Trump administration did not rebuke the Israeli government or took any official steps against it.” One good reason for a Trump “inertia” could be that this “spying” was completely made-up.

Unsurprisingly, another US intel source denies it: Though everyone spies on everyone, since the Pollard debacle, Israel doesn’t spy on the US.

So, who’s telling the truth? I’ll come back to that.

Israel denies it. But had it done it, it would also deny it, so that’s futile.

However, the spy story is so unbelievable because it says that Israel had been spying on Trump which is as unuseful as lowering spy devices into a fish bowl with one goldfish. Because that’s how transparent (and orange) Trump is. You kiss him twice and he tells you everything that’s on his mind.

Netanyahu suggests that his political opponents in the upcoming election have done this. That’s, of course, just electioneering. It is contrived to assume that the opposition would foster animosity between Trump and Bibi to show that the latter isn’t such a successful international diplomat.

The Iranians make fun of it: The US doesn’t need enemies [read: Iran] with friends like that [Israel]. Nail on the head. Israel and the US are buddies.

Still, going into history and numerous details does not give an answer.

Motive

There seems no smoking gun. But from the above people, who’s a motive?

Recently, Jonathan Pollard has again requested permission to leave for Israel, this time on humanitarian grounds — his wife is seriously sick.

Antisemites in the US intelligence community have stopped this aliyah for decades now. Their greatest pretext: we need to remind Israel all the time that it should never spy on its prime ally again. So, they have “reason” to lie now again that Israel is not trusting the US and spying on its friend. To make sure that Pollard is not excused to leave.

They have the motive — they have done it, as far as I’m concerned.

US President Trump doesn’t believe the spy story. If it was any other administration in any other country or epoch, I would have doubted this. So often, a government has spread rumors against Jews to deflect anger against it upon the Jews, next to “deplore” the aggression against them.

But, because of the way Trump relates to Jews, I don’t suspect him of this. And he can prove that I’m right. By releasing Jonathan Pollard and his wife to Israel and even come to the airport to bid and wave them goodbye.

The only People with a memory will remember this forever.

About the Author

MM is a prolific and creative writer and thinker, previously a daily blog contributor to the TOI. He often makes his readers laugh, mad, or assume he's nuts—close to perfect blogging. He's proud that his analytical short comments are removed both from left-wing and right-wing news sites. None of his content is generated by the new bore on the block, AI. * As a frontier thinker, he sees things many don't yet. He's half a prophet. Half. Let's not exaggerate. Or not at all because he doesn't claim G^d talks to him. He gives him good ideas—that's all. MM doesn't believe that people observe and think in a vacuum. He, therefore, wanted a broad bio that readers interested can track a bit what (lack of) backgrounds, experiences, and educations contribute to his visions. * This year, he will prioritize getting his unpublished books published rather than just blog posts. Next year, he hopes to focus on activism against human extinction. To find less-recent posts on a subject XXX among his over 2000 archived ones, go to the right-top corner of a Times of Israel page, click on the search icon and search "zuiden, XXX". One can find a second, wilder blog, to which one may subscribe too, here: https://mmvanzuiden.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the globe icon next to his picture on top. * Like most of his readers, he believes in being friendly, respectful, and loyal. However, if you think those are his absolute top priorities, you might end up disappointed. His first loyalty is to the truth. He will try to stay within the limits of democratic and Jewish law, but he won't lie to support opinions or people when don't deserve that. (Yet, we all make honest mistakes, which is just fine and does not justify losing support.) He admits that he sometimes exaggerates to make a point, which could have him come across as nasty, while in actuality, he's quite a lovely person to interact with. He holds - how Dutch - that a strong opinion doesn't imply intolerance of other views. * Sometimes he's misunderstood because his wide and diverse field of vision seldomly fits any specialist's box. But that's exactly what some love about him. He has written a lot about Psychology (including Sexuality and Abuse), Medicine (including physical immortality), Science (including basic statistics), Politics (Israel, the US, and the Netherlands, Activism - more than leftwing or rightwing, he hopes to highlight reality), Oppression and Liberation (intersectionally, for young people, the elderly, non-Whites, women, workers, Jews, LGBTQIA+, foreigners and anyone else who's dehumanized or exploited), Integrity, Philosophy, Jews (Judaism, Zionism, Holocaust and Jewish Liberation), the Climate Crisis, Ecology and Veganism, Affairs from the news, or the Torah Portion of the Week, or new insights that suddenly befell him. * Chronologically, his most influential teachers are his parents, Nico (natan) van Zuiden and Betty (beisye) Nieweg, Wim Kan, Mozart, Harvey Jackins, Marshal Rosenberg, Reb Shlomo Carlebach, and, lehavdil bein chayim lechayim, Rabbi Dr. Natan Lopes Cardozo, Rav Zev Leff, and Rav Meir Lubin. This short list doesn't mean to disrespect others who taught him a lot or a little. One of his rabbis calls him Mr. Innovation [Ish haChidushim]. Yet, his originalities seem to root deeply in traditional Judaism, though they may grow in unexpected directions. In fact, he claims he's modernizing nothing. Rather, mainly basing himself on the basic Hebrew Torah text, he tries to rediscover classical Jewish thought almost lost in thousands of years of stifling Gentile domination and Jewish assimilation. (He pleads for a close reading of the Torah instead of going by rough assumptions of what it would probably mean and before fleeing to Commentaries.) This, in all aspects of life, but prominently in the areas of Free Will, Activism, Homosexuality for men, and Redemption. * He hopes that his words will inspire and inform, and disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed. He aims to bring a fresh perspective rather than harp on the obvious and familiar. When he can, he loves to write encyclopedic overviews. He doesn't expect his readers to agree. Rather, original minds should be disputed. In short, his main political positions are among others: anti-Trumpism, for Zionism, Intersectionality, non-violence, anti those who abuse democratic liberties, anti the fake ME peace process, for original-Orthodoxy, pro-Science, pro-Free Will, anti-blaming-the-victim, and for down-to-earth, classical optimism, and happiness. Read his blog on how he attempts to bridge any tensions between those ideas or fields. * He is a fetal survivor of the pharmaceutical industry (https://diethylstilbestrol.co.uk/studies/des-and-psychological-health/), born in 1953 to his parents who were Dutch-Jewish Holocaust survivors who met in the largest concentration camp in the Netherlands, Westerbork. He grew up a humble listener. It took him decades to become a speaker too, and decades more to admit to being a genius. But his humility was his to keep. And so was his honesty. Bullies and con artists almost instantaneously envy and hate him. He hopes to bring new things and not just preach to the choir. * He holds a BA in medicine (University of Amsterdam) – is half a doctor. He practices Re-evaluation Co-counseling since 1977, is not an official teacher anymore, and became a friendly, powerful therapist. He became a social activist, became religious, made Aliyah, and raised three wonderful kids. Previously, for decades, he was known to the Jerusalem Post readers as a frequent letter writer. For a couple of years, he was active in hasbara to the Dutch-speaking public. He wrote an unpublished tome about Jewish Free Will. He's a strict vegan since 2008. He's an Orthodox Jew but not a rabbi. * His writing has been made possible by an allowance for second-generation Holocaust survivors from the Netherlands. It has been his dream since he was 38 to try to make a difference by teaching through writing. He had three times 9-out-of-10 for Dutch at his high school finals but is spending his days communicating in English and Hebrew - how ironic. G-d must have a fine sense of humor. In case you wonder - yes, he is a bit dyslectic. If you're a native English speaker and wonder why you should read from people whose English is only their second language, consider the advantage of having an original peek outside of your cultural bubble. * To send any personal reaction to him, scroll to the top of the blog post and click Contact Me. * His newest books you may find here: https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AMoshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&s=relevancerank&text=Moshe-Mordechai%2FMaurits+van+Zuiden&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1