The Crocodile Moats and the F-22s

In mid-July, Israel's government did something no modern state had attempted: it legalized moats filled with Nile crocodiles around prisons holding Palestinian security prisoners. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who proposed the measure, was direct about its purpose.

Are you thinking of attempting to escape? Think again. — Itamar Ben-Gvir

The environmental regulations that had protected the species were reclassified. The model, officials noted, was Florida's "Alligator Alcatraz." ^[1] The crocodile moat is easy to dismiss as theater — one minister's eccentricity dressed up as policy. But it belongs to a pattern that has become the defining feature of Israel's security apparatus: an expansion along a single continuum, from the theatrical to the territorial to the digital, and finally to espionage against the United States itself. At each step, security logic overrode the diplomatic cost. The result is not a crisis point but a dangerous equilibrium in which an expanding security state feeds on the alliance it is straining. The domestic rungs of this ladder are vivid. In April, Israel honored Rabbi Avraham Zarbiv — a state rabbinical judge who filmed himself bulldozing civilian homes in Gaza and called for the territory to be flattened — by selecting him to light a torch at the national Independence Day ceremony.

The government's decision to laud Zarbiv as an 'exemplary citizen', after more than two years of genocide in Gaza and amid a reality of unprecedented state and settler violence in the West Bank, represents a state-level endorsement of the complete dehumanization of Palestinians and the systematic destruction of Palestinian life. — B'Tselem

In February, the Knesset advanced a bill granting the Chief Rabbinate criminal authority over the Western Wall, with violations carrying up to seven years in prison — directly overriding a Supreme Court ruling on egalitarian prayer. ^[2] And in mid-July, the government approved lifelong Shin Bet protection for Benjamin Netanyahu and his family regardless of election outcomes, a move a former Shin Bet official described as unserious and driven by political pressure rather than threat assessment. ^[3] A rabbi with a bulldozer becomes a national symbol. A religious court gets a prison sentence. A security service becomes a personal retinue. The logic is the same each time: security trumps every other consideration — law, norms, the opinion of allies. That logic did not stay domestic. It moved outward, into territory, and there it began to incur real diplomatic cost. By April, Israel had established a formal doctrine of permanent buffer zones across four countries: Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and — secretly — western Iraq. Netanyahu stated it plainly.

We have established security belts deep beyond our borders. — Benjamin Netanyahu

In southern Lebanon, Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the demolition of border villages using what he called the "Rafah and Khan Younis model in Gaza" — an exportable template of destruction. ^[4] When the United States brokered a ceasefire framework with Iran — the Islamabad MOU — Israel openly defied it, insisting on an indefinite military presence in southern Lebanon. Katz was explicit about the chain of command.

We did not ask permission from any party to enter Lebanon, and we do not need permission to remain in Lebanon. — Israel Katz

Netanyahu's office made the same point about the U.S.-Iran deal: Israel's security zones were non-negotiable. ^[5] In western Iraq, Israel established secret air bases for operations against Iran — bases the U.S. allegedly knew about and concealed from the Iraqi government, even while pressuring Baghdad to disable its radar systems. ^[6] The diplomatic pushback was sharp and public. Trump directly urged Netanyahu to withdraw from Syria and Lebanon. ^[7] Vice President JD Vance issued an extraordinary public warning.

If I were in the Cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world. — JD Vance

Israel did not withdraw. The buffer zones remained. The security logic had met diplomatic resistance and overridden it. The next rung was digital. An internal Microsoft investigation found that Israeli intelligence Unit 8200 had used Azure cloud services to store millions of intercepted Palestinian phone calls and identify bombing targets, in violation of the platform's terms of service. Microsoft Israel's chief was ousted. When Microsoft cut access, IDF units transferred the infrastructure to Amazon and Google datacenters within Israel's borders, where they face less international regulatory oversight. ^[8] The pattern held: a constraint appeared, and the security apparatus routed around it. Then came the climax. In June, the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency elevated Israel's counterintelligence threat level to "critical" — the highest designation — after reports that Israeli intelligence, including Shin Bet, had targeted senior U.S. officials involved in the Iran negotiations. The targets included Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, Pentagon policy officer Elbridge Colby, and official Michael DiMino. The methods allegedly included phone-monitoring software, attempted listening devices in Secret Service vehicles, and efforts to infiltrate DIA headquarters. The Pentagon reportedly ranked Israel as a larger counterintelligence threat than some traditional enemies. ^[9] Trump's reaction was volcanic.

What the Fuck are You Doing? — Donald Trump

Israel's cabinet issued a blanket denial: "Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials." ^[9] But the DIA designation stood. The security apparatus had turned on the ally itself. And yet — the alliance did not rupture. F-22 fighter jets and refueling aircraft remain stationed at Israeli bases through the end of 2026. ^[10] In Congress, Section 224 of the National Defense Authorization Act is pushing to institutionalize deeper U.S.-Israel military synchronization, over the objection of Representative Ro Khanna. ^[11]

Americans want less cooperation and blank checks to Israel, not more. — Ro Khanna

Meanwhile, Israel is itself under a massive Iranian espionage siege. At least 60 Israelis have been indicted for spying for Iran since October 2023, with a 400 percent surge in recruitment attempts in 2025. The targets have included F-15 technicians and an Iron Dome reservist. ^[12][13] Iran, for its part, has been tracking U.S. military personnel through SS7 protocol vulnerabilities and commercial data, coinciding with missile strikes on hotels housing American personnel in Iraq's Kurdistan region. ^[14] Espionage targeting U.S. officials is a two-way street. The Pentagon has designated Israel a critical counterintelligence threat. F-22s sit on Israeli tarmacs through the end of 2026. Congress is deepening military synchronization even as the DIA raises alarms. Netanyahu has begun publicly diversifying, telling interviewers he is building new alliances, particularly with India. ^[15] The expanding security state feeds on the alliance it is straining, and neither side can afford the rupture their own logic points toward.