The threat level in terms of espionage has been raised by United States regarding Israel. The Defense Ministry’s military intelligence agency called it “critical level”, after attempts to carry out surveillance on senior US officials.
Israel has a reputation for heavily spying on its enemies, as well as its allies. Including its closest, United States. Washington is aware of this, to the point of raising the threat of Israeli espionage to the highest level, according to the American media NBC News which is based on an assessment released by the military intelligence agency of the Ministry of Defense, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).Â
She declared that “Israel’s capacity to conduct human espionage and technical collection operations was at a ‘critical level,’ a indicated the television channel citing U.S. officials. Israel is reportedly making special efforts to monitor senior U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump’s top negotiator, Steve Witkoff, and top Pentagon policy official Elbridge Colby.
Donald Trump’s decisions on Iran in the viewfinder
Objective: Obtain information on the Trump administration’s internal deliberations and decision-making regarding conflicts in the Middle East. Particular attention is paid to the action of Donald Trump, namely whether he intends to resume military operations against Iran or end the conflict.Â
Israeli intelligence activities against these senior American officials have been aggressively “without limit”during the second term of American President Donald Trump, a senior official reported to the American newspaper The New York Times.
A spokesperson for the Israeli Embassy in Washington responded that it is “totally false” that Israel spies on them United States. “Israel does not collect any intelligence on American entities, much less on American government officials,” a-t-il affirmé. “Israel’s intelligence activities target its enemies, not its allies. Any claims to the contrary are either erroneous or politically motivated.”
This alert from the DIA comes at a time when the interests of the two allies, who maintain very close military coordination, are increasingly out of sync for several weeks. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu clash over the war with Iran and Israeli military operations in Lebanon.Â
The content of a tense telephone exchange between the two men was leaked to the press. Donald Trump would have said that his interlocutor was “complétement cinglé”, according to the media Axios. The American president later admitted having described the Israeli Prime Minister as “fou”. The two men spoke about Israel’s threats to bomb the Lebanese capital, Beirut, with Donald Trump fearing it could undermine US talks with Tehran.
Listening software installed on American military devices
“The Israeli intelligence services are extremely active,” Emily Harding, vice president of the Department of Defense and Security and director of the intelligence, national security and technology program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, told NBC News. “Ils s’intéressent de très près à nos activités”, she added.
The DIA assessment includes a seven-page document and a chart, according to a US official. This report was notably written following incidents during which American soldiers in Israel detected the clandestine installation of listening software on their phones. The discovery would have increased the concerns of the United States. Information denied by a White House official who wished to remain anonymous.
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Israel and the United States know that they are spying on each other, and tolerate it. But, according to some American officials, the intensification of Israeli efforts to know the American positions in negotiations with Iran has crossed a line, reports the New York Times.Â
According to NBC News, for the Pentagon, this new information will not have an impact on the daily sharing of high-level intelligence between the two countries. On the other hand, American officials will exercise greater caution when traveling to Israel or meeting with Israeli leaders.
Measures which had already been taken before by some of them, well aware of the situation. “The United States is already taking extra precautions when visiting Israel,” I declared myself a responsible Americain. “They are known for their aggressive collection practices.”Â
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The report indicates that counterintelligence incidents began to increase in late 2024, explains the New York Timesas the Biden administration pressured Israel to curb its attacks on Gaza. They continued into 2025, as the Trump administration considered options for attacking Iran.Â
In the United States, the Israeli counterintelligence threat level is today higher than that of any other ally and higher than that of some adversary countries. Among U.S. allies, only South Korea, rated “high” in some situations, comes close to the level of concern over Israel’s spying activities, officials said.
