After several weeks of confusion regarding the identity of the assassins of Mahmoud al-Mabouh, the Hamas weapons buyer who was assassinated recently in Dubai, all signs are beginning to point in the Mossad’s direction. The BBC reports that all of the passports used were fraudulent. The most telling piece of evidence uncovered is that four five of the eleven killers used names of actual Israeli citizens (Update: Jerusalem Post claims seven of eleven were Israeli olim) who appear not to have been involved in the murder. One of them told the post “I went to sleep with pneumonia and woke up a murderer.” He is also quoted by the BBC:
Melvyn Adam Mildiner, a Briton living in Israel, told Reuters news agency: “I am obviously angry, upset and scared – any number of things. And I’m looking into what I can do to try to sort things out and clear my name.
Of two of the other Israelis, one is a handyman and the other an Orthodox yeshiva student. Though I’m not schooled in covert intelligence operations, it would seem to me that using the identities of citizens of your own country would be pretty stupid as it would point directly to the Mossad as the culprit. Not to mention the jeopardy in which it places these individuals. What is to prevent a Hamas loyalist from tracking the real Melvyn Mildiner and do him in as revenge for the al-Mabouh killing?
And alternatively, using fraudulent passports of foreign countries also risks creating diplomatic incidents with them. In fact, Israel has been mounting pressure on Britain to change a law that allows filing of arrest warrants against Israeli officials for war crimes. Given that Israel used multiple fraudulent British passports in this operation, why should that government go out of its way to do anything on Israel’s behalf? If Tzipi Livni wants to go to England to test the validity of her arrest warrant, why should Gordon Brown care a whit? Let her go to jail. Then Britain, Dubai and Israel can work out a prisoner swap involving her and the real killers, who belong in the dock for this assassination.
Dubai officials have previously said that if Israel is implicated they will issue an arrest warrant for Bibi himself.
The BBC story also points to other similarities with past Israeli assassinations–among them the use of foreign (Canadian) passports in Amman when the Mossad attempted unsuccessfully to kill Khaled Meshal. As I noted earlier, in that operation they also injected the victim with a poison meant to mimic a heart attack. The goal being to allow the killers time to exit the country before the real cause of death could be diagnosed. In that case, the Mossad agents were caught and arrested and Bibi Netanyahu, also prime minister then, was forced to provide the antidote. Meshal lived. In the al-Mabouh case, the killing method worked and they successfully escaped. But the aftermath of the crime will turn out much messier I reckon.
As the noose tightens around the Mossad as the culprit, this matter threatens to become an international incident both for the massive fraud involving use of foreign passports, the abuse of hospitality of an Arab country which doesn’t want to roll over and play dead, and a rising willingness to treat Israeli crimes as matters worthy of international tribunals:
“This is a highly sophisticated operation conducted by people who knew when Al Mabhouh would arrive in the country,” Dahi said.
The suspects used “highly sophisticated communication instruments” and during their conversations they used encrypted messages, Dahi said. “The communication tools they used are not available in the UAE.”
They came from several European countries and left to European destinations and one to Hong Kong. “We know where they are right now and even their residences,” Dahi said.
What I don’t understand about this is how political assassination serves any sort of long-term political purpose. So you kill someone. What damage ultimately do you do to your enemy? He replaces the victim with someone either as good or better than the one you eliminated. Does it get you anywhere? Does it achieve any sort of objective? I would argue that Israel is now beyond the point when it can use the conventional tools of war or assassination to harm its enemies. The world is beginning to indicate it will no longer allow Israel to get away with these crimes. I used to say that ultimately Israel will pay a price for these idiocies. Now, I don’t say ultimately, because the chickens are coming home to roost right now.
If you’d like to see a perfect example of the “old” thinking at work, read this garbage journalism which proposes that this entire episode is much ado about nothing:
…Many of the countries whose passports were allegedly used do not like Hamas; and the government of Dubai, despite its impressive investigation, does not really want to get to the bottom of this. Dubai would like to continue giving off the impression that it is a safe country, all of whose visitors are there for only business or tourism.
There are other Arab countries who do not consider Hamas a friend and who are in a secret war – no less bitter than Israel’s – against the Islamist organization. Jordan is one of them, as is Egypt.
As part of the investigation two Palestinians were arrested in Dubai, suspected of aiding the assassination team, and it is not impossible that the whole story is another example of the sort of psychological warfare against Hamas that would have the organization become even more suspicious of flawed security within its ranks.
Looking at the incident in perspective, a senior Hamas figure responsible for the deaths of two Israel Defense Forces soldiers and a key contact in the group’s arms smuggling is dead.
…Unless dramatic evidence is found to definitively prove an Israeli connection, it is likely that the State of Israel will emerge from this affair unblemished and the Mossad will continue enjoying a reputation of fearless determination and nearly unstoppable capabilities.
Where I come from there is supposed to be at least a semblance of distance between journalism and spookdom. Not apparently in Israel and not even in the pages of Haaretz.
I would like to see Dubai take out Interpol warrants for these Israeli murderers. Then I would like to see Dubai request that the ICC try them when they are caught. I would like Israeli progressives to watch out for these people and report them when they see them so they can be identified even if they choose to stay in Israel where they can’t be captured. No more impunity.
The BBC offers a history of Israeli political assassinations.
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Just a minor point, the ICC is a court of last resort, it can take over when national judiciaries are unwilling or incapable of doing their job. In this case Dubai seems more than willing to do so.
Justice in the Emirates is terribly arbitrary and often found wanting. Frankly, I’d rather them tried before the ICC in order to raise the level of significance of this crime.
I agree 100% that this murder must be prosecuted, I just don’t think it’s legally optional by whom. If I recall the ICC statutes correctly, they are barred from taking up cases that are being properly prosecuted by an appropriate national judiciary. I think there’s also a threshold for the scope or severity of a crime the ICC can prosecute, and this one may fall below it, though I could be wrong on this.
Besides, the UAE have signed, but not ratified the Rome Statute.
On another note, it’s rather disgusting how Yossi Melman can describe the Lillehammer affair as “an assassination attempt in Norway that ended in tragedy, as a result of the mistaken identity of a Moroccan waiter”. It doesn’t get more warped than that, does it?
You are correct. ICC would not be able to take this case unless the states concerned will not or cannot prosecute it. As for the scope and severity threshold, you might be right there as well.
Murder and assasination has been an integral part of Israel’s foreign policy since the state was founded in 1948. And now that ethos has been adopted in substantial part by the US following 9/11.
If this kind of thing is allowed to continue unchecked no telling where it might end.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but murder and assassination predate the state by a considerable period of time as they were used liberally by even the mainstream Zionists.
I wrote an essay on precisely this historical subject which the London Review of Books commissioned & then rejected! I’ll publish it here soon. I was hoping to find another place to publish it.
I would like to see that piece.
Richard says:
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What I don’t understand about this is how political assassination serves any sort of long-term political purpose. So you kill someone. What damage ultimately do you do to your enemy? He replaces the victim with someone either as good or better than the one you eliminated.
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Assassinations have proven to be quite effective. Israel went after German scientists who were helping Nasser build rockets in the 1960’s. I think that ended the program. Israel eliminated the Black September terrorist ring in the 1970’s which carried out the Munich Olympic (they missed Abu Mazen, though). Saddam Hussein wanted to build a “supergun” to bombard Israel, the designer (an American, as I recall) was eliminated, that ended that project. Israel has eliminated top HAMAS people like Yassin and Rantisi, add that to the last war, and HAMAS has become more cautious. The suicide bomber infrastructure that caused thousands of Israeli casualties was broken by elimination of HAMAS and Al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades terrorist leaders.
It is not true that “there is always someone ready to replace his assassinated predecessor”, and even if there is, it is not necessarily true that he will be more effective.
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Richard says:
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Does it get you anywhere? Does it achieve any sort of objective? I would argue that Israel is now beyond the point when it can use the conventional tools of war or assassination to harm its enemies. The world is beginning to indicate it will no longer allow Israel to get away with these crimes. I used to say that ultimately Israel will pay a price for these idiocies. Now, I don’t say ultimately, because the chickens are coming home to roost right now.
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Who says “the world won’t let Israel get away with these ‘crimes’ (as you call it)”? For heaven’s sake, your own country is doing the same thing against the Taliban and al-Qaida. Better a targeted assassination than a big war. Why is getting rid of some bloodthirsty terrorist ” a crime”? These people targeted Israeli civilians. Why should they be exempt from paying for their crimes?
We’ve already been over this here. Israeli assassinated Nasrallah’s predecessor, who was a much less effective opponent than Nasrallah turned out to be. It assassinated Yassine and countless other Hamas leaders. Has it enfeebled Hamas? No. You say Hamas has become more cautious. That is NOT the case. And besides, whether Hamas is cautious or not has no bearing on the role Hamas will play in the struggle against Israel. Unless Israel is prepared to eliminate all of Gaza & Hamas, it will have to deal w. Hamas eventually. Your argument is simply a losing one.
Eliminating the Munich terrorists had no impact whatsoever on either the strength of the Palestinian national movement & the use of terror against Israeli targets. For you success is measured by whether the perpetrators were eliminated. That’s not success. That’s merely a human liquidation project. It has no bearing on the level of terror against Israel.
There was no eliminiation of suicide bomber infrastructure. THere was a tactical decision made by Palestinians to turn away fr. the tactic. Were this not the case I have no doubt there would be organized suicide attacks against Israel to this day.
Another non sequitur fr. you. Richard Goldstone, Israeli NGOS, the BDS movement & progressives throughout the world say Israel’s impunity is over. I don’t support targeted assassinations whether performed by the U.S. or Israel. I don’t support the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq. The U.S. will eventually have to face the same justice Israel will.
Then I presume you’d have no problem w. a terrorist assassinating Dan Halutz or Bogie Yaalon? I frankly don’t see much difference bet. them & Mahmoud al Mabouh. The only one is that the former wear an Israeli uniform. But other than that the willful killing of civilians whether they be Israeli or Palestinian is a contravention of international law. I know you find that a laughable, silly convention. But we outside Israel tend to be quaint & old fashioned about these niceties.
Still no “evidence” that it was Israel. In fact, you give more counterarguments than arguments (ie that it would be dumb to use own citizens’ identities, plus lack of desire to antagonize Europeans whose passports were forged).
If, however, you’re correct, then kol hakovel laMossad!
jacob – a few caveats:
1. How would any other entity (say Nigerian scammers?) have access to passports and ID’s of so many israelis, especially some who have apparently not travelled for a few years? I can see getting access to one – just by the law of randomness in ID theft, but 5 or more? if anyone other than Israeli authorities has access to this kind of data and were able to steal this many passports of citizens – say, in a false flag operation meant to divert attention – then this is something Israel should be more than a little worried about….why are they not crying foul?
2. Assuming mossad was behind the operation, the ID theft points to a collusion with civilian passport issuing authorities, as none of the individuals reported their passports stolen. Now if this is not a scandal in Israel, then it should be. It means that “Big Brother’ can take and use your identity in any way they please and none of your private data is safe. It’s passports for a mossad operation today, would it be credit cards tomorrow?
3. assuming again it is mossad- by far the leading hypothesis (no other has credibility in light of the magnitude and organization of the operation) – input must have been provided by palestinian collaborators (that’s how they knew he was arriving). These collaborators who are now in custody will, eventually, talk. Why were they allowed to be captured? looks risky to me.
4. Based on the previous points, it would appear that the vaunted mossad professionalism is slipping. Assuming it was them, there are indications of sloppiness. The stolen ID’s pointing straight to israel for one, the callousness of involving britain and Ireland, the photos from the security cameras (and there are more than were released probably) for another.
So your congratulations, jacob may be premature. This may yet shape out to be a gigantic headache to israel, like the failed meshal assassination attempt. It would however be in line with debacles like Gaza – Mission goal accomplished, but the cost to israel’s larger goals turn out to be too large to justify the operation.
Boomerangs are like this, so don’t just count your chickens yet. Them eggs may hatch new vultures that’ll turn on the proverbial mother hen.
Purist that I am, a correction on point #2; the stolen passport data were british, though the individuals live in Israel. So it may not be the passport issuing authorites per se that are infiltrated but the israeli immigration authorities, as these are the ones that keep record of foreign passport holders. The suggestion that data were pilfered at random through say, hotels, can be easily checked. Obviously, there still has to be an israel connection, so it should be easy to eliminate – or support – this proposition. There are only limited number of places where passport data are required inside israel, and they are all traceable.
i still think this was sloppy execution.
But just imagine if you are in Israel and recognize one or more of the individuals shown as, say, a neighbour or a colleague, or a spouse. Interesting conundrum.
Of course, it’s always possible that these Israeli killers are serving at various Israeli embassies overseas and may not be in Israel. But someone will recongize them somewhere & as you say that will be interesting. Maybe the Israeli victims will want to report the killers to Israeli authorities if they ever find out who they are? Or sue them for invasion of privacy & other crimes?
The British authorities are investigating the passports. Since they all were UK passports, this points to some kind of collusion or cooperation of an individual or individuals working in the passport offices of the UK. If it were purely on the Israeli end, it would make sense that the passports used would have been more randomly selected, say, one or two from Germany, another from France, etc. It is almost as though the murder were planned and executed to be a spectacle – so many breadcrumbs leading through the forest. Of course the Mossad did it, who else would have the motive or the means? The sloppiness of the whole thing could be simply the fault of whoever planned it, or it could be a piece of theater letting the world know that wherever you are, the Mossad can come after you.
Mossad’s supposed professionalism, not to mention its competence, has come under question long before this. It became virtually a laughing stock back in the ’90’s as a result of a number of badly conceived and sloppily executed operations, including the attempted murder of Khalid Mesh`al. They were seen at least for awhile as the Keystone Kops of their genre.
It appears to me that Mossad are so full of themselves that they think they can do no wrong. This type of unjustified, grandiose “self-confidence” tends to lead people to grossly overrate their own “brilliant” thinking, “cunning” planning, and “flawless” execution.
What a noxious person you are. First, just because it would dumb to do something doesn’t mean Mossad wouldn’t do it. It just means they’re so full of hubris they think it doesn’t matter & they know they can get away w. it. BTW, in a true democracy as opposed to whatever system Israel has, the Mossad director’s job would be gone in a heartbeat for violatiing the civil rights & privacy of its own citizens. But Mossad & Bibi believe there is no such constraint upon them. THis is not democracy so don’t call it that.
As for kol hakavod, don’t be angry when Israel loses one of its own in the same fashion as happened in Dubai. IT will happen & your outrage will ring hollow.
“Though I’m not schooled in covert intelligence operations,…” then why stick your nose into this matter?
So I should leave commentary on these matters to Mossad shills like Yossi Melman? You have heard of citizen journalism I presume? That’s what I’m practicing. I think my readers (excluding you of course) find my commentary & speculation on these matters useful.
Especially when this murder is so thuggish and disgusting. Once again, Israel is judge, jury and executioner, and kills people not for what they have done but for what they stand for or what they might do. Doing it on foreign soil and by identity theft of innocent people makes it all the more repugnant.
You know I use to take the title of world class douche-bag and then I found out there was this man name Richard Silverstein who writes a blog and people were telling me I lost my title. Well I read what you say and Im pissed! I have lost the title I have worked so hard for. You make norman finklestein look like a f*cking tzaddik. I really hope you have great success wishing that Jews are killed for defending themselves against people who want to kill us.
I wouldn’t say the past tense is justified. Present tense is far more apt. For anyone to attempt to insult another person by calling themselves a “world class douche-bag” is pretty hilarious. I don’t need to skewer you, you’ve done it to yrself.
Of course, the obvious old hasbara canard is thrown in for good measure, how “people want to kill us.”
The way Israel behaves, is it a wonder?
Ah yes, the old intellectual interwebz debate that goes 70 comments long trying to convince the other of their error in understanding the topic at hand.
I think Ill pass and just go with you now hold the tittle of “world class douche-bag” because I toooooootally always skewered myself.
Far be it from us to convince you of your error in your understanding of the topic at hand. You’re too entertaining in your current enfeebled state. I must say I’ve never had anyone advertise themselves as “World Class Douche-Bag” on this blog. But if the shoe fits…
How about World Class Troll Douche-bag? Drop in out of nowhere, insult the writer of the blog in a rather unique way, and peddle a little hasbara all in one easy step. Interesting.
You mean as supposed to spending so much time on a blog that you feel compelled to stick up for your douche bag blogger? Yes I am a Troll, and this guy is a world class douche bag
It takes a douche bag to know one I guess. I’ve also never in my life seen someone actually admit they were a troll. Congrats you’re a self confessed douche bag AND troll. At any rate, since you’re such a creative reader you’re saying bye, bye to us all now.
Quite boring, actually. He didn’t have much to say. I guess he couldn’t come up with anything original and so he decided to get outa Dodge.