U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#391

Post by zionic » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:33 AM UTC

neximo64 wrote: post #384

freeflight wrote: post #331

If this was a Russian/Iranian/Chinese company, we'd already have a news conference by the US DoS, declaring sanctions, freezing assets, and calling for an international coalition to contain the rogue state that's threatening world peace. But this is a Israeli company, so it's just another "scandal" that scrolls trough the news feed, it will be forgotten by next week, to be completely memory holed by next year.

Well Israel is a US ally that serves US interests, namely it is by the Suez canal one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth. One could argue that there is a lot of political support for Israel in the US but it really comes down to geopolitical interest. The others, Russia is a US adversary as it seeks to challenge the US order without Russia in it. Iran is a geopolitical adversary, simply because Saudi Arabia is a U…

> Well Israel is a US ally that serves US interests

The US is an Israeli ally that serves Israel’s interests. Our federal intelligence (CIA) and law enforcement agencies (FBI) are subservient to Mossad.

The FBI scooped a foreign intelligence operation setup ahead of time to film and celebrate 9/11 and they all walked. The CIA was completely unable to stop foreign assets from fabricating evidence for the Iraq war, serving none of our geopolitical goals (but all of mossads).

Our leadership, democrat and republican, must kiss the ring of AIPAC to get elected and does so. Trump and Hillary got on the same stage and swore allegiance.

A huge chunk of our congressional leadership are dual citizens, able to leave the country at the drop of a hat and live comfortably in another sovereign state.

But ignore all of this, Russia is the real threat. The pathetic gas station of a country that recently had it’s only aircraft carrier killed in dry dock by a crane that fell over.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#392

Post by zionic » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:38 AM UTC

TimTheTinker wrote: post #387

jacobolus wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is a third rail in US politics. One significant faction of the GOP is millenarian evangelical Christians who (a) believe the Israeli state is a necessary precursor to armageddon and (b) have spent the past 2 decades trying to conflate “Muslim” with “terrorist”. The Democratic party includes as part of its coalition many American Jews who, despite frustration with the human rights abuses of the Israeli governme…

I'm an evangelical Christian myself, and I think I understand why you characterize us this way, but it's not accurate based on what I know. Along with those I associate with, I support Jews (and to a lesser extent the modern nation of Israel) only because I serve the God who made the sons of Jacob into a nation in the first place. The modern nation of Israel isn't perfect and my support for being their ally isn't unc…

I grew up evangelical. I have heard multiple pastors in multiple congregations explain that the existence of Israel is divine, that god himself was responsible for it existing after X thousands of years and that everything they did was god’s will.

This was all of course necessary for the rapture. For more look up Hal Lindsey’s “Hinge of history”

Israel/AIPAC on the other hand is mostly composed of atheists, who are more than happy to participate in evangelical delusions to keep the money flowing.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#393

Post by baybal2 » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:39 AM UTC

neximo64 wrote: post #384

freeflight wrote: post #331

If this was a Russian/Iranian/Chinese company, we'd already have a news conference by the US DoS, declaring sanctions, freezing assets, and calling for an international coalition to contain the rogue state that's threatening world peace. But this is a Israeli company, so it's just another "scandal" that scrolls trough the news feed, it will be forgotten by next week, to be completely memory holed by next year.

Well Israel is a US ally that serves US interests, namely it is by the Suez canal one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth. One could argue that there is a lot of political support for Israel in the US but it really comes down to geopolitical interest. The others, Russia is a US adversary as it seeks to challenge the US order without Russia in it. Iran is a geopolitical adversary, simply because Saudi Arabia is a U…

> Well Israel is a US ally that serves US interests, namely it is by the Suez canal one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth. One could argue that there is a lot of political support for Israel in the US but it really comes down to geopolitical interest.

If Sisi blows up Suez, USA is much more better off! =D And if he blows up Tiran, even better — they will have to buy US oil too.

That's more "geopolitical" for ya

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#394

Post by DFHippie » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:40 AM UTC

Digory wrote: post #370

DFHippie wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the us alliance with israel is not about religious reasons This is simply not true. The base of the US Republican Party is evangelical Christians. This being so, religious reasons are close to the surface. There are surely other interested parties, but Republicans can't get crosswise with any of their conservative Christian constituencies -- evangelicals, Catholics, and Mormons. These constituencies have particular…

This is terribly jumbled. Yes, if you’re in a non-Islamic religion that reveres the Old Testament, you probably support Israel’s land claims. But Catholics, Mormons, and Evangelicals have wildly different views of the end times, and the “Bring in the Armageddon” crowd in particular is an outlier among evangelicals.

Yes, I shouldn't have mentioned Catholics and Mormons. The official bit of dogma the conservative Catholics care about is abortion. I'm not sure what the Mormons care about. But I don't think dogma is more than rationalization for most of these foot soldiers. They have this in common with conservative Muslims, Hindus, Jews, animists, and atheists. They want the people they approve of to dominate people they disapprove of. The rationale comes after and cleans up the mess. They learn about the approved hierarchy of power from their leaders and community. And in the US the word has come down from the elect that Israel, or right wing Israel, is their ally. Millenarian theology is just window dressing. Netanyahu mocks Obama before the US Congress so he's their man. It didn't begin with Netanyahu, but he knew how to ride the wave. This is why the Right in the US could turn on a dime and start loving Putin: he hated the same people they did. Dogma is just window dressing, a pretty screen over an ugly truth.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#395

Post by zionic » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:40 AM UTC

foolfoolz wrote: post #350

jacobolus wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is a third rail in US politics. One significant faction of the GOP is millenarian evangelical Christians who (a) believe the Israeli state is a necessary precursor to armageddon and (b) have spent the past 2 decades trying to conflate “Muslim” with “terrorist”. The Democratic party includes as part of its coalition many American Jews who, despite frustration with the human rights abuses of the Israeli governme…

this angle seems really out dated. the us alliance with israel is not about religious reasons. israel is the one democratic state in a region that mostly has our enemies. israel is a military power. we have strategic interests in maintaining the middle east political bloc imagine if this headline read france instead. we would react similarly

> this angle seems really out dated. the us alliance with israel is not about religious reasons.

It absolutely is. Israel, without the protection of the evangelical voting block, is essentially apartheid South Africa.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#396

Post by zionic » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:42 AM UTC

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #383

freeflight wrote: post #331

If this was a Russian/Iranian/Chinese company, we'd already have a news conference by the US DoS, declaring sanctions, freezing assets, and calling for an international coalition to contain the rogue state that's threatening world peace. But this is a Israeli company, so it's just another "scandal" that scrolls trough the news feed, it will be forgotten by next week, to be completely memory holed by next year.

> In a remarkable breach with Israel over one of its most successful technology companies, the Biden administration on Wednesday blacklisted the NSO Group, saying the company knowingly supplied spyware that has been used by foreign governments to “maliciously target” the phones of dissidents, human rights activists, journalists and others.

This is surprising, considering his entire cabinet has Israeli citizenship.

He’s opening the door to reprisal against his inner circle, so he must feel like he has no choice.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#397

Post by zionic » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:43 AM UTC

pstuart wrote: post #311

markus_zhang wrote: post #150

This is a typical "shadow government" symptom. You have forces working within the government that 1) have their own agendas; 2) have connection to international communities, usually military-intelligence ones; 3) have almost zero regulation; 4) even many high ranking government officials don't know about them because they are brotherhood-like closed circles. This reminds me of Operation Gladio or Propaganda Due but d…

5) many high ranking government officials do nothing about this because they're being blackmailed by the spooks. Tinfoil hat territory? Sure. Plausible and possible? Sure.

What happened to the “spooks” that hacked the intelligence oversight committee computers? You know, the people who are supposed to watch them?

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#398

Post by MichaelMoser123 » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:44 AM UTC

baybal2 wrote: post #393

neximo64 wrote: post #384

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well Israel is a US ally that serves US interests, namely it is by the Suez canal one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth. One could argue that there is a lot of political support for Israel in the US but it really comes down to geopolitical interest. The others, Russia is a US adversary as it seeks to challenge the US order without Russia in it. Iran is a geopolitical adversary, simply because Saudi Arabia is a U…

> Well Israel is a US ally that serves US interests, namely it is by the Suez canal one of the busiest shipping lanes on earth. One could argue that there is a lot of political support for Israel in the US but it really comes down to geopolitical interest. If Sisi blows up Suez, USA is much more better off! =D And if he blows up Tiran, even better — they will have to buy US oil too. That's more "geopolitical" for ya

>Is Sisi blows up Suez, USA is much more better off!

Don't think so. Europe (and Nato/USA by extension) would have a very big problem.

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#399

Post by zionic » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:44 AM UTC

linschn wrote: post #193

dqpb wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 3) have almost zero regulation; What would shadow government regulation look like?

Maybe stop funding them, for a start? Congressional oversight used to be a thing. Snowden showed the NSA lied to congress. No heads rolled.

> Maybe stop funding them, for a start?

I tried, they sent men with guns to my house when I stopped paying taxes

Re: U.S. State Department phones hacked with Israeli company spyware

#400

Post by LAC-Tech » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 1:46 AM UTC

technobabbler wrote: post #356

spiznnx wrote: post #342

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Israel is an ally of the United States.

"Ally" is probably too weak a word for the relationship we have with Israel. Probably no other country has this much influence on our politics. Not even the UK or Canada, who we share close cultural and linguistic bonds with. Israel is like the Taiwan of the Middle East, meaning it's a useful partner to us in terms of maintaining a separation between the West and some perceived enemy (Muslims in this case, the Chines…

The Taiwan analogy is pretty flawed here.

> Israel is like the Taiwan of the Middle East, meaning it's a useful partner to us in terms of maintaining a separation between the West and some perceived enemy (Muslims in this case, the Chinese in the case of Taiwan).

Is 'separation' a euphemism for 'preventing invasion'? Because threat of that is #1 thing keeping cross-strait relations tense. Mainland China could easily offer Taiwan a better deal than they get by being closely aligned with the US. Their reluctance to do so keeps US influence in the region, and after a while one can't help if it's deliberate.

Also Israel gets a much better deal than Taiwan. The US gives military aid to Israel, where as Taiwan has to petition the US government - their only significant supplier - for the right to even buy weapons. Better hardware too, despite Israels poor track record in passing US military tech to China.