but not before it accessed Israel's undersea fiber optic cables to the US and placed listening devices on the sea floor to monitor Israel's sub traffic..

Kind of interesting that Israel waited 3 months to tell us- as if they needed the time to verify the Russians DIDN'T do any of those things- or needed the time to make repairs to the cables and remove any listening devices.

I wonder why Israel didn't just immediately scream "There's a Russian sub in our water!"
A Russian sub monitoring Israeli subs' comings and goings from Haifa is highly important. Knowing the exact sonar signatures of the subs will be a great advantage to Russia. And if Israel ever felt the need to attack some other country, might Russia, hiding in the depths at an opportune location close down the Haifa sub base with a few well-placed torpedoes?

Or is Bibi just going to tell us they were 'visiting the area' and there's no reason to worry?

I think a Russian sub sitting 8 miles offshore from the US would have gotten a grand welcome of destroyers and sub-killing helicopters demanding it surface or be destroyed.

And Israel just waves goodbye? Something fishy here. What's the real story?

Because...

1. The Russian "Bear" is a paper tiger.
2. Putin needs a wake up call.

sonic waves causing low grade earthquakes to destabilize the coastal shelf. Hope the Russian subs were not doing that to Israel.

the US? where's the 6th Fleet that is supposed to shadow Russian and other foreign subs?

Under Trump, US deterrence has plummeted as low as it ever was under the Obama Admin. Trump has done ZERO regarding Iran in the wake of downing of costly US drone, attacks Saudi oil infrastructure, and affixing mines on Western oil tankers.

Both Administrations appear to be writing-off the Mid East.

Suppose the next sub is an Iranian one... only 8 miles from the Israeli coast?

The cold war is long over & Russia has had a stabilizing influence in the Mideast. Putin effectively ended the civil war in Syria & has allowed Israel to carry out attacks on Iranian & Hezbollah targets there. Russia also has an interest in protecting the large Russian population in Israel. I'm sure the subs were gathering intel, but I doubt their intentions were hostile.

The difference between Russia of today and Soviet Russia, is that Soviet Russia was overtly hostile to Jews and Israel while Putin's Russia - today's Russia, wears meakeup, speaks beautiful words before the press and shakes hands with Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu, and even trades with Israel, but at the same time, votes against Israel at the UN, fails to recognize Jerusalem, recognizes "Palestine" and openly cooperates with Syria, Iran and Turkey - all hostile countries to Israel.