Everybody spies on everybody. The US spies on Israel and vice versa, and the same with England, Russia, Australia and South Korea. Legitimate? Spying is inherently illegitimate, like cheating at cards or on one’s spouse. But it’s a fact of life. Most of the bastardly things that the British Empire did to which I alluded were done on Churchill’s watch. Churchill was a Judaeophile and a man of great stature whom I admire. But he was also cold-bloodedly Macheavellian when he believed he had to be. And the climate for altruism and idealism has not much improved since Churchill’s day. So heads of state are still bastards one and all, when the expedients of the moment call for it. The truly finest hours belong to the ordinary people who refuse to be victimized and refuse to use their pain as justification for heinous behavior. The Irgun was full of such people, and the more I study its history, the better those individuals look.
Are you an American or an Israeli?