Was Israel spying? Or was the StingRay story an anti-Bibi sting?

Israeli voters in the “very exciting” Sept. 17 Israeli elections should be skeptical of the weird story in recent days accusing the Israeli government of spying on the White House.

American experience shows that if a news story toward the end of a close campaign seems outlandish, odds are that’s because it’s not true. Think of Dan Rather’s false story in 2004 about George W. Bush’s supposed draft dodging. Less famously, allies of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana planted fake news in a Mexican paper in the closing days of her very close 2002 reelection campaign, to the effect that the Republican Bush administration had made a secret deal with Mexico adverse to Louisiana sugar interests. By speaking as the supposed defender of her state’s cane farmers, Landrieu narrowly won her race.

So now we come to the Politico story that cites unnamed former officials claiming that cellphone surveillance devices found near the White House last year were “most likely” the work of Israel. My well-informed colleague Tom Rogan thinks the allegation is true. I don’t.

First, as noted, consider the timing.

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