The rapidly unraveling story of popular vote loser Donald Trump leaking classified intelligence to Russian diplomats, as the result of an order from Vladimir Putin, just gets worse. Directly on the heels of the admission from National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster that Trump didn't even know where the intelligence came from, we found out where the intelligence came from: Israel, according to The New York Times.
Israel is one of the United States’ most important allies and a major intelligence collector in the Middle East. The revelation that Mr. Trump boasted about some of Israel’s most sensitive information to the Russians could damage the relationship between the two countries. It also raises the possibility that the information could be passed to Iran, Russia’s close ally and Israel’s main threat in the Middle East. […]
In the meeting with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister, Mr. Trump disclosed intelligence about an Islamic State terrorist plot. At least some of the details that the United States has about the plot came from the Israelis, the officials said. […]
Israel’s concerns about the Trump White House’s handling of classified information were foreshadowed in the Israeli news media this year. Newspapers there reported in January that American officials warned their Israeli counterparts to be careful about what they told the Trump administration because it could be leaked to the Russians, given Mr. Trump’s openness toward President Vladimir V. Putin.
Russia's closest allies in the region (or, anywhere) are Iran and Syria, so yeah, this is a hornet’s nest for Israel. It will also make Trump's first foreign trip really interesting. Trump leaves for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Friday, then will travel to Israel where his trip is already causing controversy even without his spilling Israel's secrets to Putin. The announcement that he will say a prayer at the Western Wall created a problem when "during a planning meeting between U.S. and Israeli officials, the Israelis were told that Trump's visit to the wall was private, Israel did not have jurisdiction in the area and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not welcome to accompany Trump there." The Netanyahu and Trump regimes have been fighting over it for the past two days, apparently.
This revelation might just be enough for Netanyahu to disinvite Trump from the whole visit. If not, they'd best be careful what they say out loud in front of him.