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

reuters.com

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

#511

Post by MichaelMoser123 »

baybal2 wrote: post #410
MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

They just have to buy stuff from the US then, and not from China.

Interesting. I thought that Europe is depending on the Gulf for its energy, but it turns out that it is Russia. But I guess they don't want to exclusively depend on Russia, so there must be some diversification via the Suez canal.

Interesting what will happen to geopolitics, in the event that Europe turns carbon neutral (if that ever happens)...

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/cache/infographs/energy/bloc-2...

"The stability of the EU’s energy supply may be threatened if a high proportion of imports are concentrated among relatively few external partners. In 2019, almost two thirds of the extra-EU's crude oil imports came from Russia (27 %), Iraq (9 %), Nigeria and Saudi Arabia (both 8 %) and Kazakhstan and Norway (both 7 %). A similar analysis shows that almost three quarters of the EU's imports of natural gas came from Russia (41 %), Norway (16 %), Algeria (8 %) and Qatar (5 %), while over three quarters of solid fuel (mostly coal) imports originated from Russia (47 %), the United States (18 %) and Australia (14 %)."

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

#512

Post by webmaven »

jacobolus wrote: post #345
sizzle wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain why that is for us who aren’t well versed in geopolitical issues.

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…

> 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”.

Prior to that, during the Cold War Israel was the US ally surrounded by Soviet client states, so opposing the Godless Commies (whether the important part was "Godless" or "Commies" depended on the audience) was also quite popular.

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

#514

Post by SavantIdiot »

dang wrote: post #142
SavantIdiot wrote: post #52

The Israel government gets a pass for anything they do. Whether it is lying about nukes or what they've done to Palestine. NSO is a feather in their cap.

Please do not take HN threads further into generic flamewar hell. It's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29432721 .

Why not flag the article itself? There's nothing technical to be discussed here. If the article was talking about the technology, that's one thing, but its talking about state-sponsored espionage. Flagging my post is a bit like closing the barn door after the horses have left the building.

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

#515

Post by SavantIdiot »

shmatt wrote: post #220
SavantIdiot wrote: post #53

Slapping down the NSO doesn't fix the problem. We should be glad we even know that their software exists, imagine if it was completely hidden from the public? The problem is that Apple needs to fix this. Security is an arms race, and the more visibility we have into where it is weak, the better for everyone. To paraphrase the motorcycle repair episode of Winter Steele, "You are stronger now for having been fixed." IM…

Great commentary. The US is hopefully looking into why these employees are using iPhones + local SIM. And if that has been approved in the past, maybe re-think that

Are you implying there is a way to use an iPhone with a prophylactic defense against Pegasus? I was unaware one existed...

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

#516

Post by refurb »

smoldesu wrote: post #254
Thorncorona wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems if Israel is receiving money from the US government and Israel controls the usage of NSO group weapons that are being targeted at the American government then there are problems yea?

It's a catch-22. Telling other countries not to spy on us while we happily spy on others is a double standard.

You’re taking this all too literally. It’s politics, it’s all a performance.

When France was “angry” about Australia buying US nuclear subs and canceling their French contract do you really think that was real?

It’s all for show, just like being “angry” at another country spying on you. You do something like “kick out their embassy employees”, then turn around and let new ones come in.

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

#517

Post by refurb »

monocasa wrote: post #427
darwingr wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Liberty was also very far from where the Americans had told the Israelis where it would be. Finding the ship there was unexpected and calls to confirm its identity were not being answered.

> Israeli pilot to IDF war room: This is an American ship. Do you still want us to attack? > IDF war room to Israeli pilot: Yes, follow orders. > Israeli pilot to IDF war room: But sir, it’s an American ship - I can see the flag! > IDF war room to Israeli pilot: Never mind; hit it. https://archive.md/KNYBR/again?url=https://www.haaretz.com/u...

That’s apparently a “story” recounted by a former ambassador?

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

#518

Post by hellbannedguy »

turminal wrote: post #191
gameswithgo wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that this group's tools have been used to murder journalists, which they are unapologetic about.

Dead journalists can't close them down, but the US government can.

We should have cut down our tax payer aid we give Israel if they (NSA) don't inform our FBI/CIA of every aspect of their business in excruciating detail.

Hell--we should have cut of Israel's charity years ago.

I'm beginning to wonder if we should have buddied up with Palestine.

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

#519

Post by puchatek »

fmajid wrote: post #256
BrianOnHN wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the consequence for destabilizing governments worldwide? Logistics headaches? Got it.

The NSO guys are in it purely for the money. IIRC there was a deal on the cards for some investors to buy the company that fell apart because of the sanctions, so the NSO founders can no longer cash out. As for destabilizing governments, they are doing the opposite, they are helping authoritarian governments worldwide crack down on journalists and dissidents, or murder them in the case of Saudi Arabia and Jamal Khash…

Good point. Although i think the preceding comment was using "destabilizing governments" as a catch-all for non-democratic and morally dubious activity.

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

#520

Post by colordrops »

tablespoon wrote: post #499
sennight wrote: post #482

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> e.g. know if the Israeli pilots thought they were attacking an Egyptian ship or an American one The sailors would know because they have access to the same information that you do, but a greater incentive to actually do the reading. The Israeli pilots knew it as a US ship, their radio traffic questioning their attack orders - after visually identifying the USS Liberty as a US ship, was recorded and the transcripts…

> This happened several times, so unless the Israeli command center had the memory of a goldfish - they intentionally kept sending attack aircraft until they eventually got a pilot to pull the trigger. Why would they do such a thing? To that point, it's worth noting here friendly fire incidents happen all the time in war, as well as attacks against neutral parties. For instance: the US has bombed its own troops proba…

The Israeli government had strong incentive to do this, and accounts on the ship were that this was clearly intentional. Why is this so hard for you to believe?
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