SATISH SHARMA - not just Rotigraphy.: American officials are increasingly describing Israel not as a partner in the regional endgame but as an obstacle to it. T

https://x.com/academic_la/status/2068020656529379505

Shaiel Ben-Ephraim

American officials are increasingly describing Israel not as a partner in the regional endgame but as an obstacle to it. That is especially notable in its intelligence assessments: 

1) The Washington Post reported today that US intelligence agencies warned the Trump administration that Netanyahu is likely to take steps to undermine Trump's effort to reach a lasting peace with Iran. 

2) The stated cause is Lebanon. The warning ties Netanyahu's expected sabotage to domestic pressure to keep waging the war in Lebanon. He needs constant war for electoral purposes. 

3) Reality bares this out.  Israeli escalation has already imperilled the deal, and US and Iranian officials postponed the planned Switzerland talks. An Israeli operation, against Israel's enemy, stalled an American negotiation. 

4) Two weeks ago the Pentagon's DIA raised Israel's counterintelligence threat level to "critical," its top tier, after concluding Israel was surveilling Witkoff, Colby, and DiMino to extract Trump's Iran deliberations. 

5) The US is taking precautions. US officials traveling to Israel already use burner phones and watch what they say in hotel rooms, habits NBC notes predate this assessment. 

This has damaged but not ended intelligence sharing. But something fundamental has changed. Israel is increasingly seen by US intelligence as working against the US national interest.