Mossad's Rogue Assassins
- From: PakistanPal <pakistanpal@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2010 22:06:47 -0800 (PST)
The Dubai Hit
By URI AVNERY
FROM TIME to time I ask myself: what would happen if the world's
governments decided to abolish all their spy agencies simultaneously?
True, it would be a great blow to the authors and movie producers who
make their living from secret service stories. Their products would
lose their appeal.
It would be a disaster for the huge army of fans which gobbles up spy
adventures, the enthusiastic consumers of books and movies about
superhuman heroes like James Bond and super-devious geniuses like John
La Carre's Smiley.
But what would be the real damage if Washington stopped spying on
Moscow and Moscow stopped spying on Washington, and both on Beijing?
The result would be a draw. Immense sums of money would be saved,
since a large part of the efforts of every spy agency is devoted to
obstructing the intrigues of the competition. How many diseases could
be overcome? How many hungry people fed, how many illiterates taught
to read and write?
The popular books and movies celebrate the imaginary successes of the
intelligence agencies. Reality is much more prosaic, and it is replete
with real failures.
* * *
THE TWO classic intelligence disasters occurred during World War II.
In both, the intelligence agencies either provided their political
bosses with faulty assessments, or the leaders ignored their accurate
assessments. As far as the results are concerned, both amount to the
same.
Comrade Stalin was totally surprised by the German invasion of the
Soviet Union, even though the Germans needed months to assemble their
huge invasion force. President Roosevelt was totally surprised by the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, even though the bulk of the Japanese
Navy took part in it. The failures were so fantastic, that spy
aficionados had to resort to conspiracy theories to explain them. One
such theory says that Stalin deliberately ignored the warnings because
he intended to surprise Hitler with an attack of his own. Another
theory asserts that Roosevelt practically "invited" the Japanese to
attack because he was in need of a pretext to push the US into an
unpopular war.
But since then, failures continued to follow each other. All Western
spy agencies were totally surprised by the Khomeini revolution in
Iran, the results of which are still hitting the headlines today. All
of them were totally surprised by the collapse of the Soviet Union,
one of the defining events of the 20th century. They were totally
surprised by the fall of the Berlin wall. And all of them provided
wrong information about Saddam Hussein's imaginary nuclear bomb, which
served as a pretext for the American invasion of Iraq.
* * *
AH, OUR people say, that's what's happening among the Goyim. Not here.
Our intelligence community is like no other. The Jewish brain has
invented the Mossad, which knows everything and is capable of
everything. (Mossad - "institute" - is short for the "Institute for
Intelligence and Special Operations".)
Really? At the outbreak of the 1948 war, all the chiefs of our
intelligence community unanimously advised David Ben-Gurion that the
armies of the Arab states would not intervene. (Fortunately, Ben-
Gurion rejected their assessment.) In May 1967, our entire
intelligence community was totally surprised by the concentration of
the Egyptian army in Sinai, the step that led to the Six-Day war. (Our
intelligence chiefs were convinced that the bulk of the Egyptian army
was busy in Yemen, where a civil war was raging.) The Egyptian-Syrian
attack on Yom Kippur, 1973, completely surprised our intelligence
services, even though heaps of advance warnings were available.
The intelligence agencies were totally surprised by the first
intifada, and then again by the second. They were totally surprised by
the Khomeini revolution, even though (or because) they were deeply
imbedded in the Shah's regime. They were totally surprised by the
Hamas victory in the Palestinian elections.
The list is long and inglorious. But in one field, so they say, our
Mossad performs like no other: assassinations. (Sorry,
"eliminations".)
* * *
STEVEN SPIELBERG'S movie "Munich" describes the assassination
("elimination") of PLO officials after the massacre of the athletes at
the Olympic Games. As a masterpiece of kitsch it can be compared only
to the movie "Exodus", based on Leon Uris' kitschy book.
After the massacre (the main responsibility for which falls on the
incompetent and irresponsible Bavarian police), the Mossad, on the
orders of Golda Meir, killed seven PLO officials, much to the joy of
the revenge-thirsty Israeli public. Almost all the victims were PLO
diplomats, the civilian representatives of the organization in
European capitals, who had no direct connection with violent
operations. Their activities were public, they worked in regular
offices and lived with their families in residential buildings. They
were static targets - like the ducks in a shooting gallery.
In one of the actions - which resembled the latest affair - a Moroccan
waiter was assassinated by mistake in the Norwegian town of
Lillehammer. The Mossad mistook him for Ali Hassan Salameh, a senior
Fatah officer who served as contact with the CIA. The Mossad agents,
including a glamorous blonde (there is always a glamorous blonde) were
identified, arrested and sentenced to long prison terms (but released
very soon). The real Salameh was "eliminated" later on.
In 1988, five years before the Oslo agreement, Abu Jihad (Khalil al-
Wazir), the No. 2 in Fatah, was assassinated in Tunis before the eyes
of his wife and children. Had he not been killed, he would probably be
serving today as the President of the Palestinian Authority instead of
Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas). He would have enjoyed the same kind of
standing among his people as did Yasser Arafat - who was, most likely,
killed by a poison that leaves no traces.
The fiasco that most resembles the latest action was the Mossad's
attempt on the life of Khalid Mishal, a senior Hamas leader, on orders
of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The Mossad agents ambushed him
on a main street of Amman and sprayed a nerve toxin in his ear - that
was about to kill him without leaving traces. They were caught on the
spot. King Hussein, the Israeli government's main ally in the Arab
world, was livid and delivered a furious ultimatum: either Israel
would immediately provide the antidote to the poison and save Mishal's
life, or the Mossad agents would be hanged. Netanyahu, as usual, caved
in, Mishal was saved and the Israeli government, as a bonus, released
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the main Hamas leader, from prison. He was
"eliminated" by a hellfire missile later on.
* * *
DURING THE last weeks, a deluge of words has been poured on the
assassination in Dubai of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, another senior Hamas
officer.
Israelis agreed from the first moment that this was a job of the
Mossad. What capabilities! What talent! How did they know, long in
advance, when the man would go to Dubai, what flight he would take, in
what hotel he would stay! What precise planning!
The "military correspondents" and "Arab affairs correspondents" on
screen were radiant. Their faces said: oh, oh, oh, if the material
were not embargoed…If I could only tell you what I know…I can tell you
only that the Mossad has proved again that its long arm can reach
anywhere! Live in fear, oh enemies of Israel!
When the problems started to become apparent, and the photos of the
assassins appeared on TV all over the world, the enthusiasm cooled,
but only slightly. An old and proven Israeli method was brought into
play: to take some marginal detail and discuss it passionately,
ignoring the main issue. Concentrate on one particular tree and divert
attention from the forest.
Really, why did the agents use the names of actual people who live in
Israel and have dual nationality? Why, of all possible passports, did
they use those of friendly countries? How could they be sure that the
owners of these passports would not travel abroad at the critical
time?
Moreover, were they not aware that Dubai was full of cameras that
record every movement? Did they not foresee that the local police
would produce films of the assassination in almost all its details?
But this did not arouse too much excitement in Israel. Everybody
understood that the British and the Irish were obliged, pro forma, to
protest, but that this was nothing but going through the motions.
Behind the scenes, there are intimate connections between the Mossad
and the other intelligence agencies. After some weeks, everything will
be forgotten. That's how it worked in Norway after Lillehammer, that's
how it worked in Jordan after the Mishal affair. They will protest,
rebuke, and that's that. So what is the problem?
* * *
THE PROBLEM is that the Mossad in Israel acts like an independent
fiefdom that ignores the vital long-term political and strategic
interests of Israel, enjoying the automatic backing of an
irresponsible prime minister. It is, as the English expression goes, a
"loose cannon" - the cannon of a ship of yore which has broken free of
its mountings and is rolling around the deck, crushing to death any
unfortunate sailor who happens to get in its way.
From the strategic point of view, the Dubai operation causes heavydamage to the government's policy, which defines Iran's putative
nuclear bomb as an existential threat to Israel. The campaign against
Iran helps it to divert the world's attention from the ongoing
occupation and settlement, and induces the US, Europe and other
countries to dance to its tune.
Barack Obama is in the process of trying to set up a world-wide
coalition for imposing "debilitating sanctions" on Iran. The Israeli
government serves him - willingly - as a growling dog. He tells the
Iranians: The Israelis are crazy. They may attack you at any moment. I
am restraining them with great difficulty. But if you don't do what I
tell you, I shall let go of the leash and may Allah have mercy on your
soul!
Dubai, a Gulf country facing Iran, is an important component of this
coalition. It is an ally of Israel, much like Egypt and Jordan. And
here comes the same Israeli government and embarrasses it, humiliates
it, arousing among the Arab masses the suspicion that Dubai is
collaborating with the Mossad.
In the past we have embarrassed Norway, then we infuriated Jordan, now
we humiliate Dubai. Is that wise? Ask Meir Dagan, who Netanyahu has
just granted an almost unprecedented eighth year in office as chief of
the Mossad.
* * *
PERHAPS THE impact of the operation on Israel standing in the world is
even more significant.
Once upon a time it was possible to belittle this aspect. Let the
Goyim say what they want. But since the Molten Lead operation, Israel
has become more conscious of its far-reaching implications. The
verdict of Judge Goldstone, the echoes of the antics of Avigdor
Lieberman, the growing world-wide campaign for boycotting Israel - all
these tend to suggest that Thomas Jefferson was not talking through
his hat when he said that no nation can afford to ignore the opinion
of mankind.
The Dubai affair is reinforcing the image of Israel as a bully state,
a rogue nation that treats world public opinion with contempt, a
country that conducts gang warfare, that sends mafia-like death squads
abroad, a pariah nation to be avoided by right-minded people.
Was this worthwhile?
Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom.
He is a contributor to CounterPunch's book The Politics of Anti-
Semitism.
Article Source : http://www.counterpunch.org/avnery02232010.html
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