However, the source said, in light of the significant right-wing victory in the Nov. 1 elections, the administration decided to go along with it to reinforce its signals to returning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that appointing ultranationalist Knesset member Bezalel Smotrich as his minister of defense would be unacceptable.The administration has also been under heavy pressure from Congress to investigate the killing of a US citizen by a foreign military force, with Democratic senators and House members sending letters and sponsoring amendments to advance their demands.The question is what happens when this external element is our most important ally.”The Defense Ministry has dismissed various emerging conspiracy theories that maintain the FBI probe is part of US's hostility to Israel over its use of offensive cyber systems, including the blacklisting of Israeli spyware firms.“We obviously compete with the Americans in the cyber realm and there are security and economic interests involved, but the FBI investigation is something else.”Either way, in a rare consensus, senior Israeli officials including political rivals Lapid and Netanyahu as well as Gantz and whoever succeeds him are in agreement that the FBI decision to probe the journalist’s killing is absurd and that there are no prospects of Israeli cooperation.Netanyahu will now have to decide how to maintain Israel's strong ties with Washington and keep the FBI at bay, one of several hot potatoes sizzling on the desk he will soon occupy."