Washington Post: US Intelligence Agencies Outraged by Israeli Ops Here

Bravo to reporter Jeff Stein for even getting this story in the Washington Post which is the most pro-Likud major newspaper in America. (I am trying to avoid using the term "pro-Israel" in this context because I consider support for the Likud approach to be anything but pro-Israel).

Read the opening paragraph. You will want to read the rest.

The CIA took an internal poll not long ago about friendly foreign intelligence agencies.

The question, mostly directed to employees of the clandestine service branch, was: Which are the best allies among friendly spy services, in terms of liaison with the CIA, and which are the worst? In other words, who acts like, well, friends?

"Israel came in dead last," a recently retired CIA official told me the other day.

Not only that, he added, throwing up his hands and rising from his chair, "the Israelis are number three, with China number one and Russia number two," in terms of how aggressive they are in their operations on U.S. soil.

Israel's undercover operations here, including missions to steal U.S. secrets, are hardly a secret at the FBI, CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. From time to time, in fact, the FBI has called Israeli officials on the carpet to complain about a particularly brazen effort to collect classified or other sensitive information, in particular U.S. technical and industrial secrets.

The Israeli right, and its enablers here, are out of control which only adds to the awe I feel for the brave Israelis of the left -- B'tselem, Machsom Watch, Rabbis For Human Rights, Peace Now, Gush Shalom, etc. -- who are fighting the paranoid right which is endangering Israel's existence by criminal actions like this.