Thread by @SethAbramson

(THREAD) Be wary of Saudi election interference masquerading as Iranian interference. The Saudis blamed Iran for hacking *both* Netanyahu's phone *and* the phone of his less-threatening-to-Iran rival.

Iran confessed to the former, and *denied* the latter. jpost.com/arab-israeli-c…

1/ Even as Israelis tried to figure out why Iran would hack Netanyahu's rival, accusations flew that Netanyahu—Trump's friend, and currently under indictment—had not only orchestrated the revelation of the hack but was intent on *spreading its fruits*. haaretz.com/israel-news/.p…

2/ Moreover, instead of acting as you'd expect a prime minister to act if he thought a *sworn enemy* had hacked a top Israeli official, Netanyahu acted as though the hack—whoever had done it—was perfectly coordinated to aid his campaign. He called his rival weak on cybersecurity.

3/ This all happened in the context of Benjamin Netanyahu's Ministry of Defense having green-lit giving all sorts of *sensitive hacking technology* to the *Saudis*, whose leader (MBS) Netanyahu had entered into a pro-Trump election-tampering conspiracy with at the start of 2016.

4/ The Saudis have since used that sensitive Israeli tech to target not only Saudi dissidents but at least one high-profile Trump enemy—in Trump's mind at least—Jeff Bezos of Amazon. The Saudis also look to have worked with Trump pals in 2016 to bury damaging stories about Trump.

5/ After the Saudis accused the Iranians of hacking Netanyahu rival Benny Gantz, no less an august Israeli figure than former prime minister Ehud Barak said—per Haaretz—"he doubted that the Iranians were behind the hack." That left 2 options: Trump pal Netanyahu or Trump pal MBS.

6/ Israeli media hinted that there were other parties in the region—to be clear, this would, in context, always reference the other major power-players in the Middle East, i.e. the Saudis and their top allies, the Emiratis—who had the ability to disguise their hacking signatures.

7/ It's in this context that Trump stooge John Ratcliffe—a week removed from passing off pro-Trump Kremlin disinformation as legitimate intel—suddenly announces that "Iran" has hacked into the pro-Trump Proud Boys' email system to send threatening messages...to Democratic voters.

8/ Ratcliffe refuses to take questions. Ratcliffe refuses to provide any evidence. Ratcliffe calls the threatening emails that were (again) sent to *Democratic voters* an attempt to aid Biden—exactly the opposite of what on its face the hacking attempt was intended to accomplish.

9/ So in Israel we see MBS apparently aiding the reelection of a Team Trump entity by attacking someone via hack who's not-so-threatening to Iran, blaming it on Iran, and giving Team Trump campaign fodder. Is this—now—MBS aiding the reelection of a Team Trump entity the same way?

10/ The "Iranian hack" Ratcliffe announced aided a Team Trump entity—Trump—by attacking someone via hack who's not-to-threatening to Iran (Biden voters) and in doing so gave Team Trump campaign fodder. But why on Earth would Iran threaten Biden voters? Trump's the threat to Iran.

11/ To be clear, Team Trump wants to *wipe Iran off the face of the Earth*. But Team Trump now says Iran sent hundreds or thousands of *Biden* voters in *many* battleground states threatening messages that would tend to cause them to vote for *Trump*. Does Iran have a death-wish?

12/ The only explanation Trump stooge Ratcliffe *sort of* offers—he never says it outright, so we must read into his words—is that Iran knew it would be caught and believed the story would end up hurting Trump. But that line of reasoning falls apart *immediately* upon inspection.

13/ If a Trump win could lead to a war between the US and Iran—and it could—and if that war would end Iran permanently (it would), why in the *world* would Iran even *risk* a nationwide terrorism campaign that would push Biden voters toward Trump? It's an *insane* risk. *Insane*.

14/ Meanwhile, we've got the Saudis. Who interfered in the 2016 election. Who are in a 5-year-long conspiracy to aid Trump's political career. Who have the best—Israeli-made—hacking tech in the world. Who have hacked for Trump before. Who have hacked and blamed it on Iran before.

15/ The Saudis benefit from a Trump win. Saudi intelligence is famous for its violence. The Saudis' allies, the Emiratis, are *specifically* focused on using digital propaganda. Both MBS and MBZ secretly met with Trump prior to the 2016 election—breaching all diplomatic protocol.

16/ *Anyone* looking at these facts would suspect that the Saudis are interfering on Trump's behalf *again*. What does Ratcliffe tell us instead? Wait for it—he implies there is *no intelligence whatsoever* that Trump's top ally worldwide is doing *anything* to aid him in 2020.

17/ Meanwhile, the Iranians‚ who *didn't* interfere in 2016 on Clinton's behalf—when the future of their country was, as now, very much at stake—are supposedly *now* willing to do what they didn't do in 2016, and to do so in the most batsh*t-crazy, dangerous, self-defeating way.

18/ And in case that narrative makes *no* sense to you, given the Saudis' history, motives, current affiliations, and available technology—and so on and so on—here's a reminder once again: Trump stooge John Ratcliffe *also* wouldn't answer *any* questions or give *any* details.

19/ The weak link in this scheme is FBI Director Chris Wray, who at *any moment* could inform America that the intel Trump stooge Ratcliffe is touting is ambiguous (or points elsewhere). So how convenient that—breaking news—Trump may be about to fire Wray!

https://twitter.com/MikeMadden/status/1319071507709132800

20/ It'd be stupid as hell for any journalist, metajournalist or citizen journalist on Twitter or anywhere else to pretend they know what intel says that none of us have seen. But having published 2,500 pages on Trump's foreign policy, I can say this: this story is fishy as hell.

21/ Per CBS and others, "the message [to Democratic voters] originated from IP addresses linked to servers located in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Estonia."

So now we see why Ratcliffe desperately needs to get the "Iran" narrative out there. cbsnews.com/news/florida-e…

22/ CBS even wrote that the Saudi and Emirati origin of the emails "rais[es] questions about their origin"—in other words, Trump and Ratcliffe both saw that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were about to be (possibly *rightly*!) blamed for this election interference. So Ratcliffe acted.

23/ Why would Trump and Ratcliffe be terrified that America will suddenly blame the Saudis for interfering in our elections using Israeli tech? Because Trump's big "October surprise" is about to arrive, and it requires us to *love* the Saudis and Israelis:

https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1312482482420236290?s=20

24/ In order to open their wallets, Trump told donors in NJ—while he secretly had COVID-19—that the Saudis and Israelis were about to sign a peace deal. This is the foreign policy bombshell intended to *save Trump's campaign*.

What would a revelation of Saudi hacking do to that?

25/ So at the very moment Trump needs voters considering the Saudis and Israelis valiant blameless warriors facing down evil hacking Iranians, we get what sure looks like Saudi hacking *sold* to us by a Trump stooge as *Iranian* hacking. Be *very* wary of this narrative, America.

PS/ Two more points: Ratcliffe breached protocol by speaking of an ongoing federal investigation with election implications—remember, Trump was *protected* from this in 2016—and even the Proud Boys *admit* this attack *would* scare off Biden voters, not have the opposite effect.

NOTE/ To clarify, this email *was* sent to *thousands* of people in *multiple* battleground states, further suggesting it wasn't Iran—as if all they wanted was bad press for the Proud Boys, a limited operation would do it. Whoever did this wanted to *actually* scare Biden voters.