I think we need a reality check here.

Israel is not really our friend, as any survivor of the USS Liberty can tell you. Our interests often coincide – that’s as far as I would go. Israel falls somewhere between France and Britain in the extent to which our interests coincide. Assuming Israel really was spying, if they were doing something in our interest, they wouldn’t have had to do so covertly.

Palmerston was spot on. No permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests – that should be our policy.