What is the story about?
The United States and Israel describe their partnership as ironclad. They share one of the world's closest security relationships. Hence, the recent US intelligence assessments have drawn considerable attention.
According to American intelligence agencies, US officials are worried over Israeli intelligence agencies' efforts to gather sensitive information about senior American officials involved in negotiations with Iran.
The assessment, first published by NBC News, comes at a time when the Trump administration is pursuing diplomatic engagement with Iran, while Israel is opposing talks aimed at ending the conflict.
We take a look.
Israeli spy agencies are eavesdropping on American negotiators working on a peace deal with Tehran, this is the concerned US intelligence reports have raised. Spying aims to understand the US negotiating position in talks with Iran.
The focus is reportedly on senior US officials, including Steve Witkoff, President Trump's top Iran negotiator; Elbridge A Colby, the Pentagon's top policy official; and one of his main deputies, Michael P DiMino IV,
the New York Times reported.
As per some American officials, both nations have been aware that Israel and the US collect intelligence on each other; however, these reported efforts by Israel to learn Washington's position in talks with Tehran have "crossed a line."
Amid the Iran conflict, the US military is sharing a huge amount of operational inputs with its Israeli counterparts. However, senior officials note that Israel's interest has exceeded that and it is eyeing insights into President Donald Trump's approach to the negotiations with Iran.
One intelligence assessment reportedly flagged an increased counterintelligence risk linked with Israel, upgrading the threat level from “high” to “critical.”
The report, written by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Security Agency contributed, underscores various incidents involving Israel's alleged attempts to spy on US military personnel and government officials.
The Defence Intelligence Agency report was drafted after a US defence personnel in Israel found that software allegedly capable of tapping their communications had been installed on their phones, the NYT reported.
Israel has strongly refuted spying on US government officials or American institutions. The Israeli embassy in Washington called it “completely false," NBC reported.
“Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials,” the news outlet quoted the spokesperson as saying.
"The entire story is false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of what’s going on," said a White House official, dismissing the reports, Al Jazeera reported, citing NBC.
Several current and former US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the counterintelligence warning in some aspects as no "Surprise." According to them, Israel has long conducted extensive intelligence collection operations against both its adversaries and allies, the New York Times reported.
Still, officials say Israel’s counterintelligence threat level is now higher than that of any other ally and even exceeds that of some adversarial countries, raising concerns about Israel’s espionage efforts.
One senior official called Israel's intelligence collection aggressiveness on senior American officials during Trump 2.0 "unhinged," the report noted.
Two top US military officials asserted that US personnel, especially those serving in Israel or with Israeli counterparts, were aware of the counterintelligence risks before the new report.
Israel has been involved in espionage cases targeting its ally America; however, such cases have been less discussed, given their close partnership, according to an
Al Jazeera report.
A famous case is that of Jonathan Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy, who spied for Israel. He was arrested in 1985 after sharing large quantities of classified information with Israel.
He later pleaded guilty to charges of espionage, served 30 years in prison, and was released on parole in 2015. In the history of US-Israeli relations, the Pollard case remains one of the most significant espionage scandals.
Andreas Kreig, professor at the Department of Security at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera, "Israel has a particularly long track record of conducting intelligence operations inside the United States."
“Over decades, Israel has sought to penetrate US policymaking circles through both formal and informal networks, including intelligence and lobbying channels, in order to gain insight into American strategic thinking and decision-making,” he said.
This report may add fuel to the fire as tensions between Trump and Netanyahu have come to the surface in the past week. POTUS reportedly called the Israeli prime minister “f****ing crazy” following Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.
However, neither Trump nor Netanyahu has responded to the espionage claim.
With inputs from agencies
According to American intelligence agencies, US officials are worried over Israeli intelligence agencies' efforts to gather sensitive information about senior American officials involved in negotiations with Iran.
The assessment, first published by NBC News, comes at a time when the Trump administration is pursuing diplomatic engagement with Iran, while Israel is opposing talks aimed at ending the conflict.
We take a look.
Israel spying on Trump's Iran negotiators?
Israeli spy agencies are eavesdropping on American negotiators working on a peace deal with Tehran, this is the concerned US intelligence reports have raised. Spying aims to understand the US negotiating position in talks with Iran.
The focus is reportedly on senior US officials, including Steve Witkoff, President Trump's top Iran negotiator; Elbridge A Colby, the Pentagon's top policy official; and one of his main deputies, Michael P DiMino IV,
As per some American officials, both nations have been aware that Israel and the US collect intelligence on each other; however, these reported efforts by Israel to learn Washington's position in talks with Tehran have "crossed a line."
Amid the Iran conflict, the US military is sharing a huge amount of operational inputs with its Israeli counterparts. However, senior officials note that Israel's interest has exceeded that and it is eyeing insights into President Donald Trump's approach to the negotiations with Iran.
One intelligence assessment reportedly flagged an increased counterintelligence risk linked with Israel, upgrading the threat level from “high” to “critical.”
The report, written by the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the Security Agency contributed, underscores various incidents involving Israel's alleged attempts to spy on US military personnel and government officials.
The Defence Intelligence Agency report was drafted after a US defence personnel in Israel found that software allegedly capable of tapping their communications had been installed on their phones, the NYT reported.
How the Israeli and US governments responded
Israel has strongly refuted spying on US government officials or American institutions. The Israeli embassy in Washington called it “completely false," NBC reported.
“Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials,” the news outlet quoted the spokesperson as saying.
"The entire story is false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of what’s going on," said a White House official, dismissing the reports, Al Jazeera reported, citing NBC.
What US officials said on counterintelligence warning
Several current and former US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described the counterintelligence warning in some aspects as no "Surprise." According to them, Israel has long conducted extensive intelligence collection operations against both its adversaries and allies, the New York Times reported.
Still, officials say Israel’s counterintelligence threat level is now higher than that of any other ally and even exceeds that of some adversarial countries, raising concerns about Israel’s espionage efforts.
One senior official called Israel's intelligence collection aggressiveness on senior American officials during Trump 2.0 "unhinged," the report noted.
Two top US military officials asserted that US personnel, especially those serving in Israel or with Israeli counterparts, were aware of the counterintelligence risks before the new report.
Has Israel previously spied on the US?
Israel has been involved in espionage cases targeting its ally America; however, such cases have been less discussed, given their close partnership, according to an
A famous case is that of Jonathan Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy, who spied for Israel. He was arrested in 1985 after sharing large quantities of classified information with Israel.
He later pleaded guilty to charges of espionage, served 30 years in prison, and was released on parole in 2015. In the history of US-Israeli relations, the Pollard case remains one of the most significant espionage scandals.
Andreas Kreig, professor at the Department of Security at King’s College London, told Al Jazeera, "Israel has a particularly long track record of conducting intelligence operations inside the United States."
“Over decades, Israel has sought to penetrate US policymaking circles through both formal and informal networks, including intelligence and lobbying channels, in order to gain insight into American strategic thinking and decision-making,” he said.
This report may add fuel to the fire as tensions between Trump and Netanyahu have come to the surface in the past week. POTUS reportedly called the Israeli prime minister “f****ing crazy” following Israel’s escalation in Lebanon.
However, neither Trump nor Netanyahu has responded to the espionage claim.
