Officials from both the White House and Israeli Embassy in Washington are firmly denying claims published in a New York Times article that suggests the Pentagon has raised counterintelligence warnings regarding Israel.
A representative from the Israeli Embassy called the accusations that Israel conducts surveillance on the United States “completely false.”
“Israel does not gather intelligence on American entities, let alone US government officials,” the spokesperson said. “Israel intelligence collection efforts are aimed at its enemies, not its allies. Any claims to the contrary are either misinformed or politically motivated.”
A White House representative also challenged the newspaper’s account, declaring: “This entire story is false and sourced to someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of what’s going on.”
These denials came after the New York Times published an article referencing an earlier NBC news story claiming the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency had recently upgraded its counterintelligence evaluation of Israel to the most serious level, designated as “critical.”
The news report indicated this evaluation was shared within government circles in recent weeks and showed worries that Israeli intelligence operations might be attempting to gain access to private US discussions concerning Middle Eastern conflicts.
The individuals who were reportedly under surveillance included Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s top negotiator, Elbridge A. Colby, the Pentagon’s top policy official, and one of his main deputies, Michael P. DiMino IV, and others.
The article stated that Pentagon leadership was worried that classified information not meant for distribution could be accessed by Israeli intelligence, even given the strong partnership between both nations.
One government source quoted by The New York Times indicated the internal evaluation classified Israel’s abilities in both traditional espionage and technical intelligence gathering at a “critical level.”
The article also mentioned that the document referenced multiple incidents that led to the increased threat assessment, although specific details about these events were not revealed.
The Pentagon chose not to provide comment regarding the report.
