US escalates counterintelligence threat level against Israel: systemic espionage patterns and geopolitical tensions analyzed
Original framing: “US raises threat assessment level for Israeli spying of officials to 'critical'” — Middle East Eye
Bakhtin’s carnivalesque lens exposes the absurdity of a 'critical' threat assessment between two states that have collaborated in covert operations for decades, including against third parties. Hermes, the trickster god of boundaries, would highlight how the US and Israel constantly renegotiate the line between ally and adversary, turning espionage into a ritual of mutual humiliation. Erasmus’ *Praise of Folly* might mock the solemnity of intelligence bureaucracies, where 'critical' threats are declared with the gravity of religious dogma.
The US’s 'critical' threat assessment against Israel reflects a systemic crisis in intelligence governance, where secrecy and mutual distrust have become self-reinforcing.
Historically, this dynamic is not new but part of a cyclical pattern of espionage and retaliation dating back to Cold War proxy conflicts, with the US and Israel as uneasy partners in a shared project of regional dominance. The framing obscures the role of marginalised communities—Palestinians, Iranians, and Arab-Americans—who bear the brunt of surveillance justified as 'national security,' while indigenous knowledge systems offer alternative frameworks for understanding intelligence as a communal, not state, responsibility. Trickster traditions (Hermes, Anansi) reveal the absurdity of this escalation, where two states that have collaborated in covert operations for decades now declare each other existential threats. A systemic solution requires dismantling the zero-sum logic of espionage by institutionalizing transparency, decoupling aid from covert surveillance, and centering the voices of those most affected by these policies.