Why has the Pentagon raised the risk of Israeli spying to the highest level?

The US defence department has reportedly raised its assessment of the espionage threat posed by Israel to the highest category of “critical”, according to media reports citing American intelligence and defence officials.

The assessment, first published by NBC News on Friday and followed by The New York Times, comes at a time when Washington is pursuing diplomatic engagement with Iran, while its ally Israel is opposed to the talks aimed at ending the conflict now 100 days long on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have publicly diverged in their approach to the war – Washington wants to extricate itself amid political pressure, while Israel is still pushing to topple the Iranian government.

This is not the first time Israel has been accused of espionage against the US – its closest ally and benefactor – with which it maintains extensive security and intelligence cooperation.

Analyst Rob Geist Pinfold said Iran will likely read the latest development as “enemies basically bickering and misjudging each other”.

This could be seen as advantageous by Tehran, Geist Pinfold, professor at Kings College London, said.

However, he stressed that the same dynamic also carries a serious risk for Iran.

“It also demonstrates that Israel is more likely or more susceptible to going rogue…and basically acting unilaterally outside of coordination with the US,” he said.

Here is what you need to know:

What did the Pentagon say?
According to NBC News and The New York Times (NYT), citing anonymous current and former US officials, the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) arm recently upgraded Israel’s counterintelligence threat level from “high” to “critical”, the most serious designation in its internal assessment system.