Newsweek reporter Jeff Stein’s “double-tap” expos� of Israeli espionage in the United States has put Israel and its American lobby on red alert. Stein’s initial salvo “Israel Won’t Stop Spying on the U.S.” generated howls of outrage over veteran CIA analyst Paul Pillar’s accurate assessment that Zionists had been sending spies to appropriate U.S. resources and weapons even before the state was founded. Pressed for details, Stein’s second piece “Israel’s Aggressive Spying in the US Mostly Hushed Up” exposed a bumbling Israeli spy’s unsuccessful attempt to enter Al Gore’s hotel room through an air duct. According to Stein, the dwindling number of U.S. criminal prosecutions is because the FBI has been directed by the Justice Department to privately chastise, but not expose, Israel’s spy networks. The most recent criminal espionage prosecution, that of former NASA official Stewart Nozette, carefully sealed off his handlers at Israel Aerospace Industries from any consequences. Nozette had received $225,000 and admitted to passing secrets to Israel, but rather than go after his paymasters, the FBI set up an elaborate sting operation. According to Stein, other American counterintelligence officials felt instant push-back whenever they tried to warn U.S. elected officials about Israeli espionage.
The new spying allegations come at an inconvenient time since Israel and its U.S. lobby have been ramping up efforts to obtain visa-free Israeli entry to the United States. Israel’s poor record of visa overstays, thousands of young people entering under tourist visas to work in the U.S. and the growing espionage flap appear to make Israel unlikely to enter the visa waiver program any time soon. But three strategies have proven extremely successful in the past for dampening fallout. Flood American influencers with cash, send in Israeli government officials to quietly lobby key policymakers and charge opponents with anti-Semitism. More