In the United States, intelligence gathering is a multi-agency effort.  The NSA taps phones, the DIA analyzes satellite photos, and of course the CIA has its sneakers on the ground in hot spots like Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan. But when you're a country with a population the size of New York City surrounded by mortal enemies and with a skeleton crew of skilled officers, sometimes you have to improvise.

According to Haaretz, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has outsourced monitoring of Palestinian media, social media and right-wing groups allied with Netanyahu's Likud Party. Among the groups participating in the effort are the Israeli-based Palestinian Media Watch, the D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), and other Middle East watchdog organizations.

The decision is mostly economic.  Brutal budget cuts mean military officials are unable to monitor social media and Arab television stations like Al-Jazeera, the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Manar, as well as Palestinian media.  In some cases, Israel Defense Force officers get access to crucial Friday sermons in mosques days later - long after their intelligence value has faded.

The IDF denies the allegations.  But staffers and government officials speaking on condition of anonymity with the Tel-Aviv based newspaper confirm that complaints have been taken to Military Intelligence Chief Aviv Kochavi, the man tasked with monitoring email, telephone and web traffic for the IDF's military intelligence arm.

Incidentally, the IDF has its own social media intelligence arm, Hatzav.  Tasked with monitoring Twitter, Facebook and other social media websites, the division is part of Unit 8200, an elite unit of counter-intelligence professionals whose job is to intercept phone conversations and other suspicious chatter, as well as beefing up Israel's cybersecurity capabilities.

As resources become increasingly scarce, Prime Minister Netanyahu's government is taking matters into its own hands.  PMW director, Itmar Marcus, has already come to its aid.  Marcus previously served as a member of the Israeli delegation of the Tri-Lateral Committee to Monitor Incitement, set up after the signing of the Wye River Memorandum in 1998.

Palestinian Media Watch documents the "contradictions between the image the Palestinians present to the world in English and the messages to their own people in Arabic." It documents anti-Jewish and anti-Israel rhetoric on Palestinian media, distributing translations of Palestinian programs into English. Information in the PMW's newsletters frequently find their way into memos; government and diplomatic officials often cite PMW excerpts during briefings with foreign dignitaries.

For its part, the Netanyahu government makes an effort to verify every statement that it cites from PMW memos.  But as several high-profile incidents in the region emphasize the issue of anti-Israel incitement, Netanyahu and his ministers have no intentions of letting up the pressure on Palestinian officials, clerics and others it claims are inciting violence in the West Bank and abroad.

Correction: It has come to the attention of the editors that a number of statements which were included in the original version of this article were misleading or false. The PMW's YouTube channels was shut down for a few days only, not a month. And the shutdown was due to an error by YouTube, as reported above. Additionally, the PMW does not have a "checkered past," nor did the organization have to retract any op-eds it published previously. The information has since been updated with accurate information.