"A Jeffrey Epstein In Every Pocket"
The GOP has to do better with Israeli compromat
Their leading theory was that the Israelis—impatient with the worm’s progress—introduced a new spreading mechanism that led to its escape. But to this day, that theory has never been confirmed.
David Sanger would later report that Biden latched onto the Blame Israel theory. “Sonofabitch,” the vice president is reported to have said. “It’s got to be the Israelis. They went too far.” — Nicole Perlroth, They Tell Me This Is How The World Will End: The Cyberweapons Arms Race
Effective immediately I am resigning my Republican membership over the Republican non-response to the Israeli hacking scandal. I am now an Independent. I haven’t voted in the last two presidential cycle but I have donated money predominately to Republicans. That’ll change now. I will only support candidates who take seriously American security. I do not care what their ideological views are. That is all that matters.
I will undoubtedly be called an anti-Semite or a Holocaust denier or worse. The Israelis might also reveal damaging things about me — I have good reason to believe I am one of the Americans hacked by NSO — but oh well.
Not a single Republican politician has weighed in on the Washington Post’s amazing story about NSO Group, an Israeli spyware company I have been tracking for the last few years. NSO Group is not the only misbehaving Israeli company. There are many more and they have some of the closest ties of any foreign government in the US.
Worse yet they’ve compromised a number of American venture firms, including some of the very top ones. This state of affairs isn’t healthy for either country or for peace.
Sycophancy is not security. Clearview struggled to raise any money from Silicon Valley firms notwithstanding a small check from Peter Thiel but Jim Breyer of Facebook fame had no problem investing in China’s SenseTime, banned in the United States. Why Breyer’s a “superstar” for betting on Chinese AI, according to Forbes.
The Israelis have targeted me for serving my country and its government. The Israeli-aligned ADL condemned me for meeting with Julian Assange, someone the US government asked me to talk to. Later that very same ADL — an ADL which settled its own spying scandal for millions of dollars — wanted me to give them access to Clearview through a pro-Israel billionaire we knew in common. I made clear that they could not and would not as the Israelis were not responsible actors and so the Israelis and their allies began a pressure campaign against my cofounders at Clearview to remove me from the company.
Clearview was also hacked using NSO technology by a firm in the United Arab Emirates. The facial recognition company’s customer database was leaked to BuzzFeed, which has a long running relationship with Israeli intelligence. The reporter who got that leak — Ryan Mac — is often leaking things from Israeli intelligence and I suspect not entirely wittingly. Mac and his colleagues have dutifully harassed American police departments for using facial recognition products. Far from being punished for eroding American facial recognition capabilities or participating in a hack and leak Mac’s now joining the New York Times. Mac has not written one word about Israeli facial recognition company AnyVision and its history of human rights abuses. Nor has he said anything about PimEyes connections to Russian intelligence or its use to build a database of the mentally disturbed at the Trump rallies.
No, it’s time for American and Israeli technology companies to have a polite, amicable divorce. It need not be bitter but it must be clear. An American politician once said to me that he wished the Israelis could be better friends. Another told me he was frightened his texts and emails were being read by the Israelis. Both have publicly declared their fealty to the Israeli cause.
The Republican Party is really the Israel party, as exhibited by recent events. Whether it’s the disgusting display by American politicians who visited Israel recently and offered “More For Israel” or the slow compromise of my friend Congressman Matt Gaetz for voting against the Iran resolution or the revelation that the Trump Administration knew of the NSO Group hacking it’s very clear that America First means its opposite.
Why are Trump’s biggest donors so against American interests anyway? Trump mega donor Sheldon Adelson flying convicted spy Jonathan Pollard aboard a plane back to the US is a great example that it really means “Israel First.” Just watch it for yourself. Note how Pollard betrays his country and then kisses the ground! Are we really not supposed to notice how SoftBank funded Banjo to spy on Americans across the country?
Republican politicians complain about the NSA hacking media figures or American facial recognition companies but when it comes to a wholesale hacking operation they are conspicuously silent. All of MAGA world sounds off on “muh privacy” but has nothing to say about Israel systematically breaking into people’s phones? Why is that? Are they too busy making documentaries about how bad Qatar is?
Here’s what we will learn in the next wave of coverage based upon conversations I have had.
Israel has hacked American companies as well, including Clearview.AI which competes with AnyVision, its SoftBank-backed competitor. SoftBank is a clear mob front whereby Chinese, Arab and Israeli interests conspire to distort the tech sector.
Israel has compromised the phones of American business executives, including entertainment and technology executives. It has also targeted US politicians and journalists. I know of several who reported the very same glitches other human rights activists reported, especially the one where the recording plays over again. (This has happened to me and to members of Congress and of the State Department that I know. It is one of the surest signs of NSO penetration.) The Guardian describes as much in a report on NSO Group’s use in Hungary against dissidents.
The Trump Administration knew about the use of NSO Group and other Israeli spyware and used the Israelis to build a parallel intelligence infrastructure, rival to our NSA, CIA, and FBI. What other parallel state services did the Israelis build for Trump?
That there are overly friendly Israeli-aligned public intellectuals like Bari Weiss, Eric and Bret Weinstein who have penetrated the social spheres of American billionaires and tech companies, particularly genetic and intelligence ones. I do not believe that Eric and Bret Weinstein are cranks; I think they belong to Jerusalem. Eric has lived in Israel, after all, and I think he doth protest too much when he talks. I think the IDW is really a cover for the IDF. Influence operations are real and some of your favorite public figures are owned by Israeli interests.
That the Hunter Biden laptop scandal wasn’t Russian interference but Israeli. Do you honestly believe that Netanyahu wouldn’t use NSO technology against the drug addled son of a presidential candidate for political advantage when they had Jared Kushner in the White House whose family ties to Israeli politicians and intelligence go back to his childhood?
All NSO technology has been signed off on by the Israeli government and that their operations include the U.S. This isn’t as far fetched as we might think. The FBI found Israeli listening devices all over the White House grounds. Trump brushed it off, of course.
Pro-Israel Jewish Republican billionaires are financing Israeli spyware like SentinelOne using capital from American institutions and even taxpayers. Sentinel One’s technology head — Pavel Ferencz — comes directly from NSO Group.
There’s a lot more but this is a good start. It’s time for Americans to break up with Israeli technology quickly.