49 thoughts on “Melman on Iran Assassinations: ‘Mossad Did It’ – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Obama has been right, but the unilateralists don’t listen: peace at home will allow everyone to deal with Iran. Iran’s pulse on the Arab street beats because Israel continues to spill Palestinian blood.

    Get a clue soon, k?

    1. -Israeli Foreign Policy Analysis-

      Problem: Iran’s Currently Benign Nuclear Program

      Solution: Destroy Entire Reputation Globally; kill academics and go tit-for-tat in the terror game with Iran while proclaiming your illegal achievement from the rooftops; commit the same exact crime 300+ times over that you are accusing Iran of having the potential to commit in ever-changing estimates of time (they have a bomb/within 1 year/within 2../”they haven’t even achieved enrichment and they’re paying for sanctions”; huh??); and,

      Continue to think the world has drunk your Kool Aid.

      The paradoxical thinking of “the world hates us & the world backs us on our illegal acts” is analogously and respectively represented as Truth & Fiction.

      Just because the guy who wants to put RFIDs in Gitmo detainees like in 1984, the House of Saud King, says the US should attack Iran doesn’t mean the rest of the world agrees with him. You see, back when these Sauds first found oil, an older Greek shipping tycoon once told me who would transport oil for them, they bought big nice Cadillacs to put outside of their tents. Yet, they still sh*t in a hole they dug in the back. And they need to be told people aren’t horses by a country that has treated detainees like virulent swamp rats. These same people FEAR their citizenry seeing the condition of the Iranian people and wanting THAT! THAT! Do you know how bad the Saudi people have it under these noveau riche bastards??

  2. One day, I’m convinced that we’ll learn that assassinating these people, injuring their wives and causing pain to their families was a futile endeavor and a cold-blooded act that failed to put a dent in Iran’s nuclear program but convinced more Iranians of just how hateful, evil and hypocritical our government’s policies are.

    If Iran developed a nuclear program exclusively to produce alternative energy and medical isotopes (both of which they in fact need), then these barbaric acts of murder and sabotage and the war-mongering hysteria that seems to have succeeded in infecting Iran’s Sunni neighbors, according to leaked documents, should be making Iranians think twice right now about expanding their nuclear objectives to deter a clear and present existential threat.

    If a nuclear weapon were even an after-thought that they dismissed as too risky and provocative, but would reconsider should a grave threat emerge; then Israel just hastened the moment of urgent re-evaluation.

  3. Interesting that the “sober cautious” Melman refers to Iran’s “goal of having its first nuclear bomb” as if it is an established fact when it is nothing of the sort. So far, in fact, Iran’s nuclear program does appear to be benign, though given the increasing bellicosity of both Israel and the United States one could hardly blame Iran for wanting to have the ability to quickly convert a peaceful domestic nuclear program into a weapons program. Ironic how these things work. Iran, under serious threat from two major nuclear powers considers becoming a nuclear power itself, and in so doing becomes the greatest threat to world peace and security since Hitler.

  4. When an extremist Muslim irrational militant regime – which even its Muslim neighbors are in terror of – is bent on a malign nuclear program together with its Axis of Evil partners, delaying the “inevitable” is a very good thing.

    And Melman writing something doesn’t make it true.

    1. When an extremist Muslim irrational militant regime – which even its Muslim neighbors are in terror of – is bent on a malign nuclear program together with its Axis of Evil partners, delaying the “inevitable” is a very good thing.

      When an extremist Jewish irrational militant regime, which its Muslims neighbors are in terror of, is bent on a malign nuclear program together with its Axis of Evil U.S. partner, delaying the inevitable is a very good thing. So therefore, you must be in favor of assassination of Israeli nuclear scientists and sabotaging of the Dimona reactor. YOu see, there is almost no difference bet. the way Israel’s neighbors see it and the way Iran’s neighbors see it. None. And what’s good for the Iranian goose is good for the Israeli gander.

      As for Melman writing the truth, the guy’s job is to know what the Mossad is doing. No doubt the Mossad is delighted at the Teheran killings and is high-fiving anyone it can find including reporters like Melman. Disgusting, but apparently how the game is played there.

      1. “When an extremist Jewish irrational militant regime, which its Muslims neighbors are in terror of, is bent on a malign nuclear program together with its Axis of Evil U.S. partner, delaying the inevitable is a very good thing,..”

        Thank you for your interesting thought provoking answer. Really. I stood there looking at my words directed at me, and appreciated your insight – it was a good moment.

        I’d like to take your response to three directions (I KNOW this is not correct English, sorry).

        First, Israel must remain different. I think it was Golda Meir who said we’ll never forgive our enemies for forcing us to act in certain ways. We must strive to remain different and human. The road to hell is slippery. It’s easy to justify killing nuclear scientists developing the Bomb, toppling buildings where terrorist leaders live even if they contain civilians, putting viruses in nuclear plants (and I’m not saying we did). But we must guard against looking someday at the mirror and seeing the enemy.

        Second, we both know that this post-modern notion of symmetry and saying there’s no right side and wrong side is mistaken. During the cold war both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. had the Bomb. Each viewed the other with suspicion and hate. However, there was the right side (free speech, free press, democracy, constitution, etc. etc.) and the “other” side (prison camps where millions died, children ratting on their parents, fear). This is not western propaganda – it’s the reality.

        Of course, I’m not saying that Russians are bad and I’m not saying that the Iranians are bad. I’m saying the Russian Communist Empire was evil and a threat to world peace, and so is the Iranian Muslim Halifut. Israel is not. Again, this is not western propaganda – it’s the reality.

        Third, the view of Israel you described – I grant you I love the symmetry you found, and I’m sure Israel’s neighbors and lot of the world think this way but they’re wrong. And good people – those on the right side – should work (in addition to keeping us human, as already mentioned) on correcting this image.

        1. Wrong, Avi. The biggest threat to world peace today is US foreign policy and its collusion with Zionism. It is Israel that threatens its neighbors. It is the US that supports Israeli oppression of its neighbors: Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, and soon, Iranians.

          1. Sorry Gene
            The entire US Foreign policy in all its encompassing facets, yet it is the “collussion” with zionism that is the biggest threat to world peace.
            The 4 million or so zionists, a tiny spec on a spec that is the worlds problems and yet it is the “biggest threat”?

            Your statement smacks of anti-zionist, anti-jewish propoganda that is leading the way in the deligitimization campaign of the State of Israel.

            Think again.

          2. How is what Gene wrote anti Semitic? Is isn’t. One of my comment rules calls for being precise in yr objections to arguments & being accurate in yr use of terms. Gene may be anti Zionist & I too disagree w. many of his views. But anti-Semitic? No. Pls. be careful of the terms you use.

          3. Duhay,

            It IS a huge problem that our foreign policy is not only decided, but WRITTEN (they write the text that goes into the bills that pass!!!) by Zionists, which you admit is a very small minority. There is an undue influence. If you don’t want to admit it, AIPAC will and has already, in court documents.

            The rest of America is waking up, albeit slowly. The media manipulation, of course, lulls change. The message boards and social forums used by college kids all scream against AIPAC and J Street, ask that our aid to Israel be ceased immediately, and instead support organizations like Jewish Voices for Peace, who are not twisting what Peace means — it means, ending the occupation and settlement. http://www.ifamericansknew.org Nearly all of the comments on HuffingtonPost reflect this opinion as well — that we must sideline the “stalwart ally”.

          4. Duhay, why are you expecting everyone to be pro-zionist when it is so obvious that many of us aren’t? Are you equating anti-zionism with anti-semitism, which are two completely different things?

            There is so much to substantiate what Gene Schulman said that I’m astonished at your level of denial. The middle east has suffered for many, many years from colonialist invasion, and the theft of Palestine from its Arab owners is right at the top of the list of grievances held by the Arab and Muslim world, and rightly so. The blatant land theft, the target killings, the home demolitions, the illegal settlements, the blockade of Gaza, the anti-Arab bigotry in Israel are things you think can be ignored? Really?

        2. it was Golda Meir who said we’ll never forgive our enemies for forcing us to act in certain ways.

          Yes, it is the exact equivalent of the batterer who blames the battered party for “making him do it”, the rapist who blames the raped for his crimes against her, and the murderer who insists that the murdered is responsible for his own death. Criminal, narcissistic, sickening, and transparent as hell.

          And Israelis and Israel-apologists are blind and idiotic enough to brag about that statement as if it were something to be proud of.

      1. See NBC News “Mystical populist: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad”

        http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/mystical-populist-mahmoud-ahmadinejad/66tppg1

        I don’t mean “irrational” as drooling, crazy meshugine. I mean someone who is acting – probably rationally – guided by a distorted “map” (Israel is the small devil, the U.S. is the big devil), through a totalitarian regime. E.g. someone who kill someone who draws a caricature of his prophet.

        Irratonal like Stalin and Hitler. This type of irrational.

        1. the 12th Imam is believed by all Shiites to return in rapture…along with Jesus… and probably some bad ass Hollywood effects. Moses’ staff turned into an asp and he talked to a Burning Bush. Jesus turned water into wine. Mohamed made it seem the moon split apart. L. Ron Hubbard will return from Venus with Tom Cruise and save us all.

          I’m not going to discuss with you how strange one religion is over another other than to say God knows you’re all nuts. 🙂 If that is your ONE example of their irrationality, you picked one where the media made fun of a religion and where Ahmadinejad showed himself to be no less irrational than Bibi Netanyahoo and his “Amalek” stories.

  5. Mr Melman is underestimating the Iranians. There is a possibility that these scientists were not murdered at all. There is also a possibility that they were assassinated by the regime because they are very cautious now and all the nuclear scientists there are always in permanent close observation.Who knows. ?

    1. Well, you know what, this could be true. How better to remove a bullseye on his back then to make them think the plot worked.

      I doubt it, however.

    2. The Iranian media is not a free media. everything that’s published is controlled and aimed at something. Remember Shahram Amiri?

  6. You know, I don’t think that Israel is telling the truth with regard to why it sees the Iranian nuclear program as such a threat. Israeli arguments just don’t add up, sorry.

    1. “You cannot allow a non-democratic, radical Muslim country with anti-Semitic rhetoric to get hold of nuclear technology or else it would spell the end of Israel” – Ahem, Pakistan anyone? Israel not threatened? Point made.
    2. “As soon as Iranians get the bomb, they would use it on Israel” – Yes, right. Solve the Palestinian problem by killing everyone, including Palestinians and by destroying the holy sites or contaminating them for the foreseeable future. With a side effect of being hated globally as the only nation who used nukes after WWII on civilians.
    3. “But they would, they really would, they’re crazy you see” – Yes, that one is pure hysteria and impossible to prove or disprove. No other “crazy” country used Nukes in the past, that’s why Ahmedinejad is compared to Hitler, not because the situation is in any way similar but to raise the notion that he is REALLY REALLY crazy and could therefore do it.

    So why all the hysteria about an Iranian bomb? Three reasons IMHO. First, there is no precedent for a nuclear capable country to be occupied – They might go doomsday before they surrender and that’s bad news for any foreign power who wishes to one day control to Iranian oil fields. Secondly, deflection – i.e. How dare you talk about the occupation when Iran is building a bomb? Third and this is the important one, pure racism. For years Israel has prided itself for being so clever to have developed Nukes, and even more clever to be ambiguous about it without confirming what everyone knows. I think that Israel considers the whole idea of the “dirty” Muslims developing nuclear capability as an affront. Not just because they should be kept inferior (and since we did it forty years ago we are superior) but because by having nukes, it would force us to treat them as equals.

  7. So much for accuracy and not racing to conclusions. Not so fast fellas.

    Let’s stop the march to war in its footsteps with a bit of caution and due diligence.

    Sloppy journalism.

    Oh Sorry.

    That was yesterday’s Yossi Mellman and not today’s new and improved Yossi Mellman who is a very sober, cautious reporter and he would not publish such statements without knowing beforehand that they are true.

    1. Wow, you mean when a reporter writes a news story every day I have to react to each one in the exact same way? And that the reporter can’t be accurate and astute in one story and full of baloney in another? You mean I’m not supposed to use my critical faculties to evaluate the relative quality of each report? I’ve got news for you: sometimes Melman is right and sometimes wrong. But he’s professional enough that when he says Mossad did it, he knows whereof he speaks. When he makes a value judgement saying everyone wants to bomb Iran, he’s wrong. I don’t know why you can’t comprehend such nuance. I guess your rather limited brain requires absolute uniformity in everything.

  8. Sloppy work. The calling card of the Mossad. Guys on motorcycles, it’s right up their alley indeed. If Iran wanted to kill its own scientists, I doubt they’d be so careless, and even if it were the US, the CIA would use a bit more stealth. The Mossad likes to show itself as the terrorist organization it is.

  9. Why would “Engagement and negotiation” help against “a nation hellbent on securing nuclear weapons” ? If the Iranian leadership makes it a priority, no alternative (read: bribe) will convince them.

    I agree, no sabotage or strike will destroy Iran’s nuclear program. But perhaps sabotage will delay it until a more sensible leadership will emerge.

    1. sabotage will delay it until a more sensible leadership will emerge.

      Sabotage, as it has with Hezbollah & Hamas, will only entrench the most radical leadership possible.

      I don’t know whether engagement and negoations will work. But what I DO know is that it’s the only thing that CAN work. Violence of any sort will only blow up in Israel’s face, literally.

      1. And what do you give up in a negotiation to MAKE it work?
        WHat you are talking about is appeasment…and you know that that does not work.

        1. “Appeasement?” YOu mean as in Munich, 1938? How nice for you to dredge up Bibi’s talking points.

          What evidence do you have, I mean real evidence aside fr. Israel apologists’ slogans & grandstanding, that Iran would, if it had one, use a nuclear weapon? And what greater evidence do you have that Iran would use it any more than Israel would?

          I remind you we’re not interested here in grandstanding or slogans like “appeasement,” but rather facts and hard evidence. Do you have any? And pls. don’t dredge up the lies about what Ahmadinejad said in this or that speech. That’s beyond tiresome at this pt. & besides can be matched up w. annihilationist rhetoric fr. the Israeli side.

          1. Let me rephrase my origional post if you will…..

            Lets say we are negotiating with Iran.
            What are they asking for? What will THEY concede?
            Where is our line in the sand drawn? Where is the line we will not cross?

            Negotiation is not a new concept. Many world leaders have tried their best. Some of the best statesmen in history, including those in Munich in 1938 tried to negotiate. This is not a “Bibi” regurgitation, but to deny what Ahmadinejiad has stateted and to ignore it is foolish. His statements definately set the starting line for Iran’s negotiating platform. What will Iran be ready to concede in a negotiation? After all, Doesn’t Israel have the right to exist as a Jewish state in as much the capacity as Iran has the right to exist as an Islamic state?

          2. It’s not my job to determine the outline of the negotiation of what Iran concedes or doesn’t concede. It IS my job to point out what general strategy will work & what won’t. And sabotage, terror & military assault won’t work. So that leaves you only one other option. That option of negotiation may work or it may not. But it seems to me there are examples of many other nations in the world which have gone nuclear w/o markedly increasing the likelihood of imminent use of nuclear weapons: Pakistan, Japan among others. So while Iran having a nuclear weapon (& we have no proof they are even purusing one) would not be the end of the world for Israel or anyone else. Most nations that pursue the nuclear option don’t want to use the weapon, they want to have it for purposes of defense.

            The Munich/Hitler analogy is bogus & don’t bring it up again. I don’t allow people to amplify the bogus historical analogies of Likud prime ministers here.

            This is not a “Bibi” regurgitation,

            Sure it is. If you can say this you don’t follow Bibi & what he says. I don’t need a Bibi cheering section or megaphone here. Really I don’t.

            Doesn’t Israel have the right to exist as a Jewish state

            Israel has the right to exist as a state (though not necessarily a supremacist Jewish state, a fact that is in dispute). Israel does not have a right to Occupy Arab land for decades nor pulverize territory & civilians of neighboring states at will. When Israel can live within 1967 borders, then Iran will no longer pose a threat to it.

            BTW, Israel does not recognize Iran’s right to exist as an Islamic state. In fact, Israel’s goal (though rarely stated explicitly) is regime change by peaceful or violent means.

      2. You mean that Hizballa and Hamas were once moderate organizations with sane leadership and only the Israeli sabotage had turned them into what they are today?

        1. Here’s what I mean: Hezbollah once had a leader who was anti-Israel and effective. But he was murdered by Israel and replaced by a leader who is even more extreme in his anti Israel views and even more effective than the previous leader. As for Hamas, it’s true for them as well. The leaders Israel assassinated were certainly unpalatable to it. But the ones who replaced them & currently direct the organization in Damascus are far more extreme than the ones assassinated.

          So assassination as a tactic or strategy simply doesn’t work.

        2. You mean that Hizballa and Hamas were once moderate organizations with sane leadership

          Educate yourself, please. If you knew anything at all about the history of either organization, you would not ask such a question.

  10. You know it’s interesting….
    THe one country in the region that could really assist Iran achieve its Nuclear goals is the ‘zionist entity’ that should be ‘wiped off the map.’
    Given that Israel and Iran once enjoyed diplomatic and commercial ties, it is a shame that they can not work together for the greater good of their people and are hell bent on eachothers mutual destruction.

  11. Actually, if the regime wanted to kill its own scientists, it would exactly do what it did — mimic Mossad assassination style. And until I read Melman’s reporting, I thought there was a real chance the Iranians themselves did it — two of the four scientists were actually working with Arabs and Israelis on UN-sponsored research (mainly in Jordan), making them suspect among Iranians.

    All this stuff delays Iran’s first-bomb day. That’s considered a good thing in many quarters. But it doesn’t stop the inevitable — there will be a first-bomb day.

    I think the evidence that Iran is bomb-building is strong, but the stated reason for UN angst on the matter is that Iran is clearly violating the NPT, in numerous small ways and a few big ways. You can’t gloss that over. Murder is also something that should not be glossed over.

    Two wrongs don’t make a right.

  12. “Engagement and negotiation, no matter how imperfect and frustrating they may be, are the only way forward.”

    So is that why we had such a hard time coping with Hitler?

    It’s hard to imagine how you can write such ridiculous nonsense with a straight face.

    The only long-term policy for coping with Iran ( and North Korea ) is regime change.

    1. So is that why we had such a hard time coping with Hitler?

      It’s hard to imagine how you can write such ridiculous nonsense with a straight face. You forget, here we’re actually reasonable, rational people who aren’t prepared to begin a major military exchange over imponderables and unknowns as Israel seems hellbent on doing. We don’t go for sloganeering like the invocation of Hitler when it’s stupid & irrelevant to do so.

      Regime change, ah yes that wonderful policy brought to you by those bright boys at PNAC and the Bush administration. Gee, I wonder why Cheney didn’t do it when he had a chance? I’m afraid my boy that you lost yr chance when Bush left power. Now you’ll have to wait another 6 yrs in hopes of getting some Republican lunatic who’ll be willing to push the button & nuke Iran or send the 101st Airborne into Teheran.

      BTW, will you be enlisting to lead the charge? And can you send us a picture of you when you step foot in downtown Teheran? I promise I’ll display it here.

  13. So according to your theory, it is entirely possible that Israel and Hezbollah cooperated in the assasination of Rafiq Hariri who was bombed as his motorcade made its way through Beirut. After all is this not the calling card of the mossad?

    1. I don’t appreciate grandstanding & snark. If you have a pt to make, make it w/o trying to prove yr superior wit or whatever it is you’re trying to prove.

      Because Hezbollah may’ve assassinated Rafik Hariri is supposed to prove what in regards to the Mossad’s killing campaigns? Where do you think the Arabs learn their lessons? The history of political assassinations Israel goes back to the late 19th century in what was then Ottoman Palestine. In fact, I have an essay that the London Review of Books spiked which I’ll publish here on precisely this subject.

      1. Sorry Richard….no grandstanding, no snark. My point is you are drawing conlcusions that the mossad carried out this hit deep inside Iran and basing your conclusion on another alleged Mossad hit that has not been proven by you or anyone else. In fact, if you think about the hits that have actually been proven Mossad hits they do not bear these trademarks or similarities. Think, Dubai, think Khaled Mashaal in Jordan, think Lilihammer. These are all surgical strikes, up close and personal with little to no effect or collateral damage to others. Even the famed Operation Spring of Youth entialed covert teams in disguise sneaking in close

        Then think about the attack on Rafiq Hariri which the UN is pinning on Hezbollah. This bears more resembelance to the hit on these professors and I think you should compare all of these events before pinning this on Israel. Thats all.

        Relative to your comment on the history of political assasinations and the Arabs “learning from Israel” I am interested to see your essay. Before you post however keep in mind that the very word assasin is derived from the the arabic term “hashashin”, and has roots int the middle ages. These were arab “trained killers responsible for the systematic elimination of opossing figures”
        Google is a wonderful thing.

        1. you are drawing conlcusions that the mossad carried out this hit deep inside Iran and basing your conclusion on another alleged Mossad hit that has not been proven by you or anyone else

          Look, I write about the Mossad and Shabak. While I’m not always right, I’m right about my claims far more often than not. The proof is in the pudding. I claimed Stuxnet was a Unit 8200 operation. Israeli apologists swore up & down I had no proof, blah, blah, blah. Turns out everyone & their brother who knows anything about the subject is convinced Israel did it. So stop complaining I have no proof & start trying to find facts & evidence to disprove what I say. And when you have something of substance to say, come back & we can talk.

          These are all surgical strikes, up close and personal

          This is lame. Mossad uses whatever methods it thinks will work. It doesn’t do one kind of hit & one alone. And besides, it is likely using MK as the actual hit men so that complicates things for Israel. It has to adapt to a situation in which it isn’t in total control & using only its own personnel.

          the very word assasin is derived from the the arabic term “hashashin”, and has roots int the middle ages. These were arab “trained killers responsible for the systematic elimination of opossing figures”
          Google is a wonderful thing.

          Google is only a wonderful thing if you’re smart enough to understand the information it offers & not make a fool of yrself by overstating yr case & overdramatizing it as you do. Political murders far predate the Middle Ages and didn’t originate in Arab society no matter what the root of the word is. In fact, Jewish political murders go back to Roman era (quite a bit earlier than the Middle Ages). These killers were called Sicarii. And you know what, I didn’t even need Google to tell you that. A little reading & knowledge of Jewish history is a wonderful thing.

          The fact is that Israel has taught the Middle East the finer things about political assassinations in this century & the last.

          1. Turns out everyone & their brother who knows anything about the subject is convinced Israel did it.

            I am convinced myself that Israel did it, but do you know what else everyone & their brother is convinced of? That Iran is a threat & trying to go nuclear.

          2. do you know what else everyone & their brother is convinced of? That Iran is a threat & trying to go nuclear.

            Iran IS trying to “go nuclear.” It’s trying to develop nuclear power and medical isotopes. As far as anything beyond that–it’s pure speculation. And even if they are, they’re doing nothing different than almost a score of other countries before them have done. There is no precedent for attacking one country for doing what 19 others have done before it.

          3. Richard, with regard to Iran “going nuclear,” I’m surprised at you. If countries are to live peaceably on this planet, they have to live up to their obligations under international law. Iran is probably developing nuclear weapons, but it is not relevant. Iran is ABSOLUTELY violating the NPT, which it signed.

            Other countries that have violated the NPT or never signed it in the first place have ABSOLUTELY paid the price — cut off from import of civilian nuclear power permanently (Israel for one) or for a very long time (India, for one).

            How, then, is Iran being singled out? You can argue (as I have argued) that the negotiation string has not fully played out, but Iran has not negotiated seriously, in fact has negotiated barely at all.

            This sort of attitude on Israel’s part is justly condemned. Why not for Iran?

        2. These are all surgical strikes, up close and personal with little to no effect or collateral damage to others.

          They are all murders or attempted murders, which is the most serious of crimes whether committed by a criminal state or an individual criminal.

  14. *israel created the stuxnet virus
    *they bomb IRGCC
    *they assassinate
    *they have apartheid
    *they have occupation
    *they are warmongers
    *they have nukes

    yet they portray themselves as the victim?
    SANCTION THIS NUTTY ISRAHELLI EGIME!

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