For all the periodic meltdowns about foreign interference in US elections and politics by countries like Russia, it’s actually Israel, a nominal ally, that has done far more meddling in American politics — with far more influence.
The fact is that Israeli political meddling in the United States has gone from an open secret in Washington to more-or-less public knowledge nationwide under Netanyahu’s leadership — something complained about by media commentators, US officials, intelligence officers, and prominent Jewish public figures. More and more, this political interference is not so much linked back to the Israeli government as a whole but to its most right-wing factions. And its scale, frequency, and power far outdo the meddling of any other foreign power, making Israel, in practice, closer to an adversarial state than a friendly one.
It’s not like Israel’s meddling in US politics is ancient history. Mere days after the Netanyahu government was done huffing and puffing about external interference in its sovereign decision-making, an Israeli watchdog group revealed the existence of a social media information campaign pushing Israeli government propaganda onto US lawmakers, including its dubious allegations about Hamas links to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). According to the report, 85 percent of the politicians targeted were Democrats, 90 percent of whom were black.
It’s not clear what the exact source behind this campaign is. But given the fact that the Israeli state has admitted to or been caughtcarrying out vast online disinformation campaigns before — and given that the influence campaign closely tracked official propaganda, with its attacks on UNRWA peaking at the exact time the Israeli government formally launched the accusations against the agency — it’s not a stretch to suspect this might be a government operation.
Speaking of intervening in US politics, Netanyahu has gone so far as to publicly take credit for the spate of laws taking aim at Americans’ right to boycott Israel over its apartheid system, laws that are now on the books in no less than thirty-eight states.
“In recent years, we have promoted laws in most US states, which determine that strong action is to be taken against whoever tries to boycott Israel,” Netanyahu said four years ago — a boast of which the Israeli government was so unashamed that the prime minister’s office reiterated it in an official tweet.
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