Our Worst Ally A documented record of a close ally's conduct against American interests.

Category 01 of 05

Espionage & Intelligence Operations

Documented Israeli espionage against the United States: agents run inside the government, stolen defense and nuclear technology, and where that technology ended up.

  1. Unit 8200 1952–Present Israel's NSA-equivalent receives raw American intelligence, including data on U.S. citizens, under a 2009 agreement with no legally binding limits on its use. In 2014, 43 of its own veterans publicly refused further service and described how the unit actually collects. →
  2. Ben-Ami Kadish 1979–1985 An Army weapons-research engineer passed 50 to 100 classified documents to the same Israeli handler running Pollard. Arrested 23 years later, he served no prison time and paid a $50,000 fine. →
  3. Arnon Milchan and the Krytron Smuggling Operation 1979–2013 Between 1979 and 1983, roughly 800 krytrons, switches usable as nuclear-weapon triggers, were illegally exported from California to Israel through companies tied to producer Arnon Milchan. His associate was convicted. Milchan was never charged. In 2013 he confessed on Israeli television: 'I did it for my country and I'm proud of it.' →
  4. Israeli Arms Sales to U.S. Adversaries 1980–2005 For two decades Israel sold U.S.-funded military technology to China and armed apartheid South Africa through a UN embargo, including secret nuclear cooperation. Washington sanctioned Israel over drones, then restored everything. →
  5. Jonathan Pollard 1984–1985 A civilian Naval Intelligence analyst conducted an 18-month espionage operation for Israel, pleaded guilty in 1986, and received a life sentence. U.S. damage assessments described his disclosures as among the most harmful of the Cold War. →
  6. Recon/Optical Industrial Theft 1985–1986 Three Israeli Air Force officers were caught stealing 50,000 pages of proprietary documents from a Pentagon surveillance contractor. An arbitration panel called the conduct 'perfidious' and ordered Israel to pay $3 million. →
  7. The AIPAC/Franklin Affair 2002–2009 A Pentagon analyst passed classified Iran-policy material to two senior AIPAC officials. Franklin was convicted. The two officials were indicted under the Espionage Act, had every charge dropped before trial, and were never convicted of anything. →
  8. NSA Threat Assessments on Israel 2007–2014 American intelligence documents rank Israel among the most aggressive foreign intelligence threats operating against the United States, grouping it with Russia, China, Iran and Cuba as a counterintelligence target. →
  9. Stewart Nozette 2009–2012 A NASA and Defense Department scientist with decades of top-secret clearances was caught in an FBI sting selling classified defense secrets to a man he believed was an Israeli intelligence officer. He got 13 years. The man was an FBI agent, and the Justice Department was explicit that Israel was not accused of anything. →
  10. NSO Group and Pegasus 2019–2026 Israeli spyware built by Unit 8200 alumni was found on the iPhones of U.S. State Department staff. Washington blacklisted the company, the FBI bought it anyway, and Israel licensed a version engineered specifically to hack American numbers. →