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

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

#431

Post by runarberg » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:28 AM UTC

yyyk wrote: post #382

runarberg wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know this is what the up-vote button is for. But I do want to add a redundant comment appreciating this explanation. It explains this adequately in three short paragraphs. The second paragraph is worth expanding from a little. As it can be argued that fear of anti-antisemitism among the left is well warranted. A good example of that is Jeremy Corbin constantly being accused of anti-antisemitism for criticizing the…

>Jeremy Corbin constantly being accused of anti-antisemitism for criticizing the state of Israel A 2 minute web search: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/may/01/jeremy-corbyn-r... "Before becoming Labour leader he called 1902 book containing antisemitic tropes ‘brilliant’. Jewish leaders have written to Jeremy Corbyn to express “grave concern” and demand an explanation after it emerged he wrote a glowing foreword…

This 2 minute web search is flawed. You don’t disprove a smear by a short web search. If there truly is a smear this smear will be included in the results, so your data is biased and proves nothing.

My short web search found a secondary source[1] which debunks some of the claims you have mentioned here by offering a little more context around them. The Wikipedia page about Jeremy Corbyn has a whole section devoted to this[2] and all the claims are either vague or unsubstantiated.

Now I don’t personally know whether Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite (he might very well be), but there is nothing which he has done which indicates for any amount of certainty that he is. The campaign to smear him as one has most certainly succeeded, and his support for Palestine probably in no small is to blame for this.

1: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/is-jeremy-corbyn-really-...

2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Corbyn#Allegations_of_a...

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

#432

Post by monocasa » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:29 AM UTC

galimaufry wrote: post #245

lostlogin wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm waiting for the day that the US declares a foreign corporation as an "enemy combatant" It’s particularly interesting to watch as the company is based in a country that is a very close ally.

Ignorant question: is Israel literally an ally of the US? I know they are not in NATO or 5 Eyes, and I don't think they have some other close agreement, like US and Japan.

They have had consecutive Memorandi of Understanding that promise security collaboration and funding. The current one is a 20 year treaty that promises $38B in spending and expires in 2036.

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

#433

Post by azifali » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:34 AM UTC

NSO should be declared a terrorist organization and enemy combatant.

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

#434

Post by smabie » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:35 AM UTC

ginja wrote: post #264

KennyBlanken wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Implying that Israeli spying on the US is some fringe "shadow government" sub-group of the Israeli government is strange given a long, long history of high profile Israeli spying incidents against the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Franklin_espionage_sc... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Ami_Kadish https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons_(rocket_engineer…

The US spies on its European allies all the time, and I'm sure they spy on Israel too, so that's not super surprising. As for the USS Liberty, some do argue that it was intentional, but both the Israelis and Americans ended up agreeing that it was a mistake. The US is no stranger to such mistakes either, even more egregious ones like when they killed close to 300 civilians aboard a regular passenger flight following…

All states act according to their economic and strategic interests right?

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

#435

Post by ipaddr » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:38 AM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #412

ipaddr wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried to look and had no luck?

Its the obligation of the person making the claim to provide a source (or other evidence), not the other way around.

Do you have a source for that?

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

#436

Post by smabie » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:40 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #334

WFHRenaissance wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Government employees are only human after all This weekend I was traveling and I put the stray $20 from my pocket in the bin at the TSA checkpoint. An agent quickly pulled it out and handed it back to me. He then said "a lot of good people work here, but they're still human". It's kind of wild that we endure that level of complacency here in the States.

That's a pretty weird statement, if one of his colleagues would swipe cash that travelers put in the bins then they should fire their ass and move them to the 'not good people' column. Stealing isn't something that defines you as human.

I think pretty much everyone has stolen something before, right?

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

#437

Post by rudimental » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:43 AM UTC

napmo wrote: post #375

foolfoolz wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

The whole point of your comment is wrong. Israel may be considered a democracy, but only for the so-called "chosen people"; This so-called democracy which is based on racial purity and militarism is in fact a form of fascism, and not a democracy in any way. And the main reason for some of the countries in the middle east to become enemies of the US is the blind support of US for the Israel to occupy the land of Pales…

Is America not a democracy because Canadian citizens and Mexican citizens that aren't also American citizens can't vote in elections?

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

#438

Post by rudimental » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:49 AM UTC

tthun wrote: post #421

drc500free wrote: post #364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you provide a source for AIPAC being the most powerful political organization in the US? That seems surprising given that they spend a fraction of what other lobbying groups do. How is that measured?

> That seems surprising given that they spend a fraction Probably by design to “seem to” spend only small amount of money, so that even people who know how to search on google for key facts won’t immediately see their outsized influence. From an nytimes article [0] on this topic and lot of anecdotes on fall outs from taking policy positions against israel (not anti-Semitic) “ Unlike the National Rifle Association, th…

Does this convincingly show AIPAC is "the most powerful political organization in the US"?

More than the Democratic party? More than the Republican party?

More than these groups? https://largest.org/people/lobbying-groups/

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

#439

Post by kortilla » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:56 AM UTC

mcbutterbunz wrote: post #253

cwkoss wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine how much society would improve if all the dirt got aired. Hiding this information is trading the wellbeing of the country for the NSA's own internal goals and power.

> Imagine how much society would improve if all the dirt got aired. Depends on the dirt. Some of it might be private and personal stuff, such as infidelity. That type of stuff, while blackmailable, doesn't really benefit the public much.

The problem is that the existence of the secret and its power over the subject, not the actual content of it.

Making it public benefits the public just because it’s no longer a secret.

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

#440

Post by kortilla » Sat, Dec 04, 2021, 2:58 AM UTC

OminousWeapons wrote: post #295

Eelongate wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The public's elected representatives being easily blackmailable is obviously of great concern to the public, I don't know why you're downplaying this.

Everyone has dirty laundry they would prefer not be aired, and if they don't then their friends, family, or partners do. I don't think we want to live in a world where absolute moral purity (as determined by the most vocal, biased critics of a given person) is required to hold public office.

Moral purity isn’t required, just some honesty. I don’t care if politicians cheat on their spouses or even if they rail coke out of hookers’ asses on the weekend. Just don’t pretend you don’t do someone has power over you if they find out you do.