Part One

There is no separation between Israeli's political system, military, intelligence agencies, and technology corporations. There is virtually no separation between those elements and their counterparts in the U.S., and Israel's influence is almost as pervasive in other Western governments and bureaucracies.

The Palestinians, both before and after October 7, 2023, have been the beta test for Israeli surveillance, control, and military technologies. Israel's recent attack on Iran, particular its assassinations of key Iranian figures, signaled that those technologies have moved beyond beta and confirmed their effectiveness.

Unit 8200 is an elite Israeli military intelligence division of the IDF responsible for, according to Wikipedia, "clandestine operation, collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption, counterintelligence, cyberwarfare, military intelligence, and surveillance." Many of its soldiers are 18- to 21-years old, who were identified in high school as exceptionally bright and put in after-school programs teaching computer coding and hacking skills. Unit 8200 has served as a feeder for Israeli, Silicon Valley, and other international IT companies as founders, financiers, and top management.

"The Vast Network of Israeli Spy Tech Behind The Modern Surveillance State," by Nate Bear, at ¡Do Not Panic!, 7/29/25, is a not-exhaustive compendium of Israeli surveillance companies, their capabilities, and their customers. Several strands emerge. Every company detailed is stacked with Unit 8200 alumni. They have signed contracts not just with national security and intelligence services but with local units, notably police departments, in the U.S., the UK, the rest of Europe, Australia, and South America. Occasionally these companies have run afoul of the law. The Biden administration blacklisted four Israeli companies, preventing them from doing business in the U.S. (but took no action against Israel's government).

The blacklisting is unsettling, but what's most disturbing, not just concerning the blacklisted companies but the many Israeli companies that have not faced legal censure, is the capabilities of their products and who is using them. Pegasus spyware from blacklisted NSO Group hacked WhatsApp accounts. (Meta, owner of WhatsApp, won $167 million in damages from NSO Group.) Two blacklisted companies, Cytrox and Itellexa, were founded by an ex-chief commander of Unit 8200, Ted Dilian, who demonstrated to a Forbes journalist "how his software could remotely hack a phone within seconds."