It is – rightfully – front-page news that Israel was caught spying on the closed-door negotiations between the U.S. and Iran.

And the Obama administration is particularly outraged that Israel allegedly shared that information with Republican congressmen who want to stop any peaceful deal with Iran.

This is certainly outrageous … but small, in the grand scheme of things.

Why?

Because Israeli spying on America is so rampant that U.S. officials have labeled it “alarming, even terrifying”.

And because the U.S. has only half-heartedly asked Israel to stop … Israel has told the U.S. to pound sand.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the NSA voluntarily shares the raw data it collects on American citizens with Israel.

This includes raw data on U.S. government officials. This not only raises major privacy concerns for American citizens, but it might mean that Israel is spying on the American Congress and other high-level politicians.

Indeed, leaked NSA documents show that U.S. intelligence officials are concerned that the NSA may be putting Israel’s security needs ahead of America’s.

Moreover, top NSA officials have told Washington’s Blog that mass surveillance by the NSA is really aimed at blackmail. And see this.

Indeed, 5,000 years of history shows that spying on one’s own people is always aimed at crushing dissent. (Incidentally, opposing unnecessary, costly wars - such as war against Iran - is treated as terrorism and unacceptable dissent.)

But it's not just Americans ... America’s spy apparatus also helps foreign governments - like Israel - crush dissent in their countries.

Indeed, spying is really a power grab. As Snowden accurately said: