Israel’s Netanyahu publicly declares his intention of annexing Palestinian land for illegal Israeli settlers. He says it loudly and he does not fear retribution. Why? Because he is confident America will not object.

To understand why US foreign policy toward the Middle East is held hostage by the whims of Israel, you have to be aware of the covert actions that dictate such policies through spying, lobbying and the distribution of money to fund policymakers.

These spies are not your covert foreign agents. No indeed! These operatives are Americans who publicly proclaim their allegiance to the flag. They could be your next-door neighbors, mowing the lawn on a Saturday morning or throwing a couple of steaks on the barbecue. But deep down, they foster an unbending loyalty to Zionism and Zionism alone.

And they can be found at all levels of the US government. Investigative writer James Bamford, a bestselling author probing America’s most secretive intelligence agencies, contends that Israeli intelligence has infiltrated the US communications network and gained access to sensitive and classified communications information.

In his book, “The Shadow Factory, the Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America,” Bamford contends that two companies with suspected ties to Israeli agents routinely gathered classified communications data. He charges that US telecommunication giants in conjunction with secret NSA writs routinely carried out eavesdropping programs against the American public, and in the process used the services of two Israeli hi-tech firms Narus and Verint, founded in Israel and long suspected of having close ties to its intelligence services. “What is especially troubling, but little known, is that both companies have extensive ties to a foreign country, Israel, as well as links to that country’s intelligence service - a service with a long history of aggressive spying against the US,” he states.

The recent history of the American incursion into Middle East politics has been fraught with aggression against countries perceived as a threat to Israel. Remember the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz in George W. Bush’s era? He was the loudest proponent on why the US should attack Iraq and take out those elusive “weapons of mass destruction”.

Subsequent disclosures of the false data on Iraq provided to the US President suggested that a preponderance of such misinformation had helped in shaping US foreign policy in the region. And this pattern had not been restricted to an isolated incident. Drums are now beating about other countries that could be perceived as a threat in the near future.

Israeli spying and twisting of US policies have had a long and uninterrupted history. From the bombing and killing of 34 US Navy personnel in 1967 on the USS Liberty, followed by a quashed investigation into the tragic incident and continuing to the arrest and subsequent denials by the Israeli government of a mole, an “American” named Jonathan Pollard, deep within the US Naval Intelligence, the Israelis have been very successful at keeping a tight rein on US affairs and foreign policy.

The Israelis cannot do it all alone, however. They need Americans for that, Americans whose sworn loyalty is first and foremost to Israel. Americans who were more than eager to appear on US television and convince their people that Iraq or Afghanistan had to be attacked. Americans who shed no sorrow for the lives of thousands of their countrymen killed in an immoral war. As long as the security of their beloved Israel was guaranteed, everything else became inconsequential.

Following the September 11 attacks, over 200 Israelis were arrested for spying. There were reports of an Israeli film crew setting up gear prior to the attacks. But none of these disclosures went very far. Powerful “American” figures within the US government suppressed further investigation.

When Mordecai Vanunu squealed on Israel’s development of nuclear weapons, it was “Americans” who tempered the shock of disclosure in their media. When Israel violated countless UN resolutions and continued with their ethnic cleansing, it was “Americans” who turned the US Department of State into an impotent organ of justice with its countless vetoes.

US Middle Eastern policy is being dictated by the Israelis. The evidence is there. What should begin to worry Americans is the presence of the enemy within. An enemy who walks and talks their language, but one that feels no remorse for the shedding of American blood, all for the sake of Israel.

The author can be reached at talmaeena@aol.com. Follow him on Twitter @talmaeena