Yesterday’s report here based on an authoritative Israeli source, that the explosion which rocked an Iranian Revolutionary Guard missile base and killed one of the IRG’s top commanders, was the work of the Mossad and MEK, received a flurry of attention in the Israeli media. I was cited by one of Israel’s pre-eminent intelligence correspondents, Ronen Bergman, in the Telegraph, and interviewed for two shows on Channel 10 (5PM news–7 minutes into the video, and Tzinor Layla) and the 6PM news on Channel 2. While it’s exhilarating to get ones voice into the Israeli mainstream media, it takes a lot out of you when you have to do your interviewing between 3-4AM (due to the 10 hour time difference)!
One result has been a cascade of angry, sometimes menacing comments here from the Israeli audience claiming that my report was bogus, or that I hate Israel, or that I’m fomenting war against the Jewish people. As to the first, it’s important to note that other independent sources are now coming forward confirming the substance of my source’s claim. Time Magazine’s Israel correspondent features a boastful “western intelligence source” (cf., American):
For Israeli readers, the coy implication is that their own government was behind Saturday’s massive blast just outside Tehran. It is an assumption a Western intelligence source insists is correct: Mossad — the Israeli agency charged with covert operations — did it. “Don’t believe the Iranians that it was an accident,” the official tells TIME, adding that other sabotage is being planned to impede the Iranian ability to develop and deliver a nuclear weapon. “There are more bullets in the magazine,” the official says.
Former senior Mossad officer, Gad Shimron all but confirms the agency’s involvement in this Channel 10 TV interview (at 11:20 on the video–in Hebrew).
I especially like another objection by the pro-Israel crowd: that this wasn’t an act of terror because you don’t commit terror against a military target. To which I reply: fine it’s not terror. Then let’s just call it a naked act of military aggression why don’t we, a casus belli? That’ll send us to war right now. So which do you prefer? Terror or naked act of aggression? Either one is fine by me.
In Israel, leading politicians are embracing the explosion as something like Divine Providence. When Ehud Barak was asked for comment he said obliquely, and almost obscenely (my translation is more colloquial than the one offered in the linked article):
May there be many more.
Ronen Bergman further reports today on Hassan Moqaddam, the Iranian general who died in the explosion. Aside from his key role in the development of the Iranian missile program (which included all those capable of hitting Israel, notably the Shihab III), he had played a key role in the transfer of Iranian weapons to its proxy allies. He was supposedly a special favorite of Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei. Bergman also calls him one of Mahmoud al-Mabouh’s key contacts in arms transfers to Hamas, providing it many of the rockets in its arsenal. You’d have to have been hibernating for the past half decade not to know that the Palestinian arms dealer met his untimely end at the tip of a Mossad needle in Dubai several years ago.
Further, the Syrian general Muhammad Suleiman, who served the same role of intermediary between Syria and Iran on behalf of Bashar al-Assad, was also mysteriously assassinated several years ago while relaxing at his oceanfront home. Another major part of his role was to arrange for transfer of Iranian weapons to Hezbollah through Syrian territory. In other words, the Mossad is systematically eliminating key figures among Iran’s proxy allies who would serve to amplify any Iranian reply to an Israeli attack.
Bergman pointedly notes the only remaining figure alive who served a similar role on behalf of Hezbollah is Hassan Lekis. This is a pointed indirect warning from Israel’s Mossad to watch his back. They have his eyes on him.
Nowhere does Bergman explicitly say Mossad killed Moqqadam or inspired the missile base explosion. Perhaps he doesn’t feel able to say so if he does know due to Israeli military censorship. But there is a strong subtext here that is: we did it and here’s why we did.
Israeli media reports like Bergman’s tend to recite a litany of achievements of the murdered individual, turning him into a veritable fiend of an enemy. The implication is that in killing him they have rid the world of yet another Jew killer–and thank God for that. Bergman cites Iranian eulogies which boast that the Iranian general single-handedly enabled Hezbollah to beat Israel in Lebanon and Hamas to beat Israel during Operation Cast Lead. Any Israeli reading this will breathe a sigh of relief and harbor the lingering thought: next time they’ll lose to us because they won’t have this monster fighting for them.
No matter how evil the enemy may be (and in my opinion there is little that Iran or any of these dead men did that isn’t done by Israeli generals and Mossad killers), there is absolutely no chance of destroying him or even weakening him through such methods. For every Moqaddam, there are ten who will take his place. Yes, some may do their jobs worse than he did his. But a good number may do it better (eg. Hassan Nasrallah). And their zeal will be fortified by the memory of their martyred predecessors, just as Jewish zeal is fortified by remembrance of our martyrs. In other words, this is a zero sum game. An epic fail.
Just as an aside, I note the outrage that pro-Israel figures express against Hezbollah, blaming it for the bombings of the Israeli embassy and Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires. While I will on no account countenance the murder of innocent Jews by such means, it’s important to note that these tragic events occurred shortly after Israel had assassinated Abbas al-Musawi, the Hezbollah leader who preceded Hassan Nasrallah. IF (and I note that the charges against them are only charges and not yet proven facts) Hezbollah or its Iranian ally were involved, from their point of view (though not mine) they had eminent reason to seek such revenge.
Which brings me to one of my main messages tonight: do not think that Israeli assassinations, bombings, cyberwarfare, etc. are risk-free and bear no price. There is always a price. You may have to pay it tomorrow or you may pay it next year. But you will pay it. And you don’t know what form that payment may take. It may be a tiny innocent baby in a stroller. It may be a cabinet minister. It may be a lost UN vote. But pay Israel will.
There are many foolish people in the world like Ehud Barak and Israeli commenters here who cheer these assassinations. As if the more of them that happen the less dangerous Iran will be. The less capable of destroying Israel and the Jewish people. Those who feel this way can only see an unending war to the death between Gog and Magog, in which Israel is the Force of Good and Iran the force of Evil. This may play well for the Book of Revelations and similar apocalyptic world views. But it fails in the real world.
UPDATE: I’m proud to say I ate Haaretz’s lunch on this story. They made the missile base blast their top story today referring to Time’s report (linked above) quoting a “western intelligence source” that Mossad was behind the attack. When yesterday, they could’ve had an Israeli source telling them the same thing. But it would’ve meant acknowledging my reporting, which apparently is verboten in the pages of Israel’s so-called quality liberal paper. This is typically tepid, follow-the-leader stuff, not bold, challenging reporting. It only hurts them that they shut themselves off from my contributions. Others lead, they follow.
UPDATE I: My comments in the Update above were based on the English translation of the Haaretz article which I read first. Israeli friends have sent me the original Hebrew version and it does indeed credit my work in that article (though it calls this blog, Brit Olam!). So I apologize for my overhasty condemnation. Instead I guess I blame the editor of the English edition and translator of the article, who thought my contribution wasn’t important enough to include in the English version.
The Guardian’s Julian Borger wrote two stories about the missile blast today and credited Time Magazine’s story (the second one to publish a claim of Mossad involvement) but left my original scoop out of the mix. The MSM seems to have a congenital disposition to ignore us political bloggers for some strange reason.
You award too many powers to both sides, you believe religiously that the Mossad’s are supermen and the Iranians cannot have accidents, never.
Killing military personnel isn’t considered Terror anywhere in the world, definatily not in the US, the UN and the international law.
Well then, it’s an act of war. Are you satisfied?
It’s an act of war, but it’s no casus belli, since Israel and Iran have been engaged in a not so cold war for years now, through various allies and proxies.
If a bombing conducted by internal opposition elements within Iran with the support of the Mossad (if indeed that’s what happened) is “casus belli” for open and total war, as you seem to suggest, then every single missile ever fired by Hezbollah and Hamas is casus belli as well.
Two Israeli bombings of Iranian missile bases have killed more people than Hamas has killed with its rockets in the past 10 yrs. I’d say it’s cause for Iran to be hopping mad & take it out on Israel in some form in the future.
Sure, calling a country “a terrorsit” is a whole different story then calling a single act (or a series of acts) “act of war”.
I guess whoever said you dislike Israel has a point …
Great piece, Richard. No wonder the Israelis don’t like you. You expose the dirty laundry and show it for what it is.
Yes, this was an act of war. I’m no fan of Iran, but neither do I agree with unilateral attacks on any country based on what they might be doing, or what they might be planning. Just imagine if every country in the world operated under such a rationale – the planet would be nothing more than a smoking ruin.
As I’ve said before, Israel is a greater threat to world peace than Iran, and its behavior proves it.
You must be joking.
I sadly can’t deny that Israel isn’t exactly doing a lot for peace in the region, but claiming Israel is the greater threat to world peace? Last I checked it was the Iranian president who threatened to destroy Israel and not the other way round.
Many Israeli generals and ministers have threatened to attack Iran. Take 2 to play the game & both Iran & Israel do.
Lets remember that Shimon Peres warned that Iran will have a nuclear bomb in a few years. That claim was not made “yesterday”. Peres made his claim in 1992, he predicted that Iran will have the bomb in 1999. Since 1992 Israel has manufactured hundreds of nukes and got a delivery system to nuke most of the world. What has Iran achieved since 1992?
Also worth while considering is that Iran uses to its military in the year 2008 2.7 % of its GDP (9.2 billion USD). Israel used 6.9 % of the GDP to its military (2009) (16 billion USD in the 2011 budget + the billion “donations” from USA). Iran is by its population 10 times bigger than Israel (about 14 times if we count only the ruling master “race” in Israel). Israel has more nukes than India and China have. The question is why and against whom are they needed. Surely a 5.5 million people nation (the Jewish part) do not need a bigger nuclear deterrence than nations with a population of over one billion.
Surely Israel with its openly aggressive policy and behaviour is the greatest danger to the world. The old EU poll made it clear that people realize that danger. Since that poll (2003) Israel’s behaviour has become only worse and more extreme. Which other country than Israel has a foreign minister a person who has suggested slaughtering tens of millions in the neighbour country (bombing the Aswan damn) and suggested the executing the religious minority’s members of parliament. He also has more or less clearly suggested using nukes against the occupied area (Gaza). And Lieberman is not among the most extreme in Israel. An enormous arsenal of nuclear weapons and other WMD’s is in hands of these kind of unstable, aggressive religious/nationalistic politicians and military leaders. What is Iran (and its politicians and religious leaders) compared to Israel?
Unfortunately, when a country’s intelligence agencies bombs and assassinates citizens of other countries with impunity, the nation on whose behalf said intelligence agency acts tends to give its nation a reputation as favoring acts of terror over more normal behavior of nation states.
Hmm … Can you give me one single case of israel targeting and executing citizens anywhere in the world ?
Only one, please. One citizen.
Who are you talking about?
The US, Israel, Iran, Syria?
did it ever occur to you what would have happened to this world if Hitler had been removed by an act of terror? Fortunately for you , you did not live in Germany in the 30s or in Iran today.
Iran is not Nazi Germany. If it is then Israel is Stalin’s Russia. Which is worse?
Terminology is far from trivial here, Richard. As you well know, unfortunately there’s no shortage of issues which call for criticism of Israel these days, yet this particular action is easier to justify as an attempt to prevent a much greater act of violence, either on the side of Iran or Israel. As an Israeli, these issues are those who decide whether I and my family will continue to live or die – given an Iranian imminent and violent attack after an Israeli military action.
But you don’t have to die if Israel doesn’t attack Iran. Don’t you see a small bit of logic missing in yr analysis?
It is strange, because when Palestinians attack Israeli soldiers and Israeli check points, they only thing we hear from the Israeli media is that it was an act of terrorism, how come when Israel is on the receiving end of an attack against it’s military it is ALWAYS called terrorism, but not anyone else?
Remember, the US classified attack against USS Cole an act of terrorism, so be careful what you say here.
Excellent point about the Cole. What about the Ft. Hood shootings? Terror? What about the attack on the marine garrison in Lebanon? Terror?
The US military called the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi back in ’96 just that- a terrorist act. It just never calls its own acts terrorist. As Obi-Wan said, “From a certain point of view..”
Thanks for helping me make my point.
RE: “Killing military personnel isn’t considered Terror…” ~ Nir
NOTE: “There are more bullets in the magazine,” the [Israeli] official says.
AND SEE: West Bank rabbi: Jews can kill Gentiles who threaten Israel ~ By Haaretz Service*, 11/09/09
Book by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro of Yitzhar permits even the murder of babies and children who pose threat.
LINK – http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/news/west-bank-rabbi-jews-can-kill-gentiles-who-threaten-israel-1.4496
* P.S. I certainly don’t blame Haaretz for attributing the article to “Haaretz Service” rather than an individual. Attributing the article to an individual might well be tantamount to signing the reporter’s death warrant! After all, remember what happened to Yitzhak Rabin, not to mention the 2009 Tel Aviv gay centre shooting.
P.P.S. ALSO SEE: Israel’s Defense Chief OK’s Hundreds of Israeli Deaths, By Ira Chernus, CommonDreams.org, 11/11/11
ENTIRE COMMENTARY – http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/11-2
P.P.P.S. RE: “So there has to be a myth of Israel’s insecurity, fueled by an image of vicious anti-semites lurking somewhere out there, for Zionism to work.” ~ Ira Chernus
FROM A FILM REVIEW BY GILAD ATZMAN OF THE DOCUMENTARY “DEFAMATION” (2008):
“Defamation” can be streamed from Netflix – http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Defamation/70117001
“Defamation” is also on YouTube (in 9 parts) – http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Defamation+qsdfgh84
When then is any country justified in carrying out a preemptive strike?
You can discuss military straegy & hypotheticals. All I’m interested in is an Israeli attack on Iran which on no account & under no circumstances is justified & just about every Israeli senior IDF commander & intelligence chief agrees with this assessment.
“You can discuss military straegy & hypotheticals. All I’m interested in is an Israeli attack on Iran which on no account & under no circumstances is justified & just about every Israeli senior IDF commander & intelligence chief agrees with this assessment.”
you mean A hypothetical attack, which the Iranian autorities relate to as an accident?
I wouldn’t let the media attacks by rightists (who rarely get their own facts right) put you down, Richard. It’s not like the report you wrote claimed it was a 100% certaintly. A source was quoted who claimed as such. End of matter.
Yaniv,
The article made clear that it was a possiblity, and not for definate, and that a source had claimed Israeli intelligence was behind it. What is so hard to understand about this? You’re shooting the messenger for bringing the message.
It’s up to an individual whether they believe the source was bona fide, or if they believe the official Iranian version.
If this was an Israeli operation at least it was an attack on a military target and preferable to either all-out war which Netanyahu and some in the United States seem to want, or indiscriminate terror, from which both Israeli and Iranian civilians have suffered.
But obviously it would be better still if Israel was pressured into a diplomatic solution, including Palestinian statehood and surrender of Israel’s own vast nuclear stockpile as part of creating a nuke-free Middle East.
What I find questionable is your remark about outrage expressed by “pro-Israel figures” blaming Hezbollah for the bombings of the Israeli embassy and Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires.
I have never been convinced that Hezbollah or Iran were responsible for both these bombings, but if they were then it should certainly not be the preserve of “pro-Israel figures” to condemn the bombing of the Jewish centre, which was not an Israeli government let alone military target, and where the victims were office workers and poor and unemployed Argentine Jews queuing for welfare.
Indeed the latter bombing provoked a massive demonstration of sympathy and solidarity with the victims in Buenos Aires which was certainly not confined to “pro-Israel” elements.
There seems no logical reason for Iran to send its agents all the way to Argentina to kill some Jews as a supposed reprisal for Israel killing a Hezbollah leader. There were suggestions about a problem between Argentina and Iran over trade agreements, but this explanation too was flimsy.
On the other hand Argentina has its own tradition of right-wing antisemitism as well as having sheltered old Nazis and welcomed their capital and expertise. During the military junta reign Jews were disproportionately victims of torture and disappearances, though of course these were generally left-wing Jews, so Israel continued doing business (some of it dirty business) with the junta, and American Jewish leaders kept their silence.
The bombing of the Jewish centre came at a time when a new democratic Argentine government had authorised an investigation of Nazi funds in the country and there were even rumours that dossiers were being collected and stored in the Jewish centre building. We know the bombing was carried out with connivance of some police officers, and we are bound to wonder whether, if Iran or Hezbollah were involved, was it as sub-contractors providing a false flag for somebody else’s operation?
Mr. Silverstein, I must say that I’m puzzled and thrilled after my reading of your two previous blogs here about the explosion which rocked an Iranian Revolutionary Guard missile base. I’m puzzled because it seems as if you and the rest of the world already know that it was a “Mossad” job and the only ones who say it was an accident are the Iranians themselves assuring it through the IRG’s press.
Now I have a simple and naive question for you; if you and the rest of the world know that it was a “Mossad” job how come the Iranians who happen to be the ONLY reliable source (being the victims) and the official interrogators of the blast don’t know it?
The Iranians say one thing publicly & know another privately. But by now a number of official & unofficial Iranian sources are conceding it was sabotage.
Good question but the answer is very simple.
Iranians deny the fact to save face.
Of course they’re denying it to save face. Isn’t that obvious to all but Adam? Just as Hezbollah is denying the arms depot explosion which I reported. How can you concede that Israel might’ve penetrated yr security?
What astonishes me is that readers here can say with a straight face that the victims are the only ones who can tell us what happened & if they deny it it must not have happened. If Iran caused an explosion in an Israeli missile base would the IDF say so publicly? Of course they wouldn’t. And if they wouldn’t does that mean since they’re the only victims who’d know that we should believe their denials??
This is an argument that’s being going on since the bombing of the King David Hotel, if not Heydrich’s assassination.
Does “eating Haaretz’s lunch” mean that you have shot their Fox?
Of course this is war of aggression and a clear casus belli for Iran that it could if it had the power, pick up on. Not to mention the other terror acts Israel have commited against Iran lately.
That barak “hails” death just proves what a sickening regime israel have come to be.
Kidnappings, assassinations, sabotage/virus against civilian compounds et.c.
Richard has aligned himself with Iran. That his certainly his right. I certainly shed no tears over the death of a person who was involved I supplying my enemies with anti-civilian rockets.
I’ve aligned myself against terror, not with Iran. I don’t support the current Iranian gov’t & only someone lacking certain cognitive skills & abillity to grasp nuance would lie as you have.
Is your source willing to go on the record?
On the record sources tend to be taken a lot more seriously than anonymous one.
Although, to be sure, this particular anonymous source is being taken very seriously by the news outlets you mentioned (less so by others).
Any chance of this person going on the record then?
Richard, this sounds like more disinformation. I happen to believe that Mossad had no part in the explosion, and now, like they always cheaply do, Israel is claiming credit for an act of terror to appear omnipotent in their beloved, controlled press (by extension, America media via a vis Rupert Murdoch et al) for Western audience c
When will people stop believing that Israel controls the press ?
Israel gets perhaps the worst press in the world but still is portrayed as an omnipotent force that controls the media. Ridiculous
There are 6 media owners, they are all hardcore Zionists. It’s not that difficult to digest. The media is highly influenced by the Zionist agenda. We see it daily in America. You can’t pee on our backs and tell us it’s rain.
Rick Sanchez and Helen Thomas are scoffing at you.
This type of thing is Mossad SOP, going back to 1954:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair
I’ve found over 50 years of watching this sort of thing that organizations repeat themselves and assassinations of this type are a Mossad specialty. Trust the pattern, I say.
Richard, this sounds like more disinformation. I happen to believe that Mossad had no part in the explosion, and now, like they always cheaply do, Israel is claiming credit for an act of terror to appear omnipotent in their beloved, controlled press (by extension, America media vis a vis Rupert Murdoch et al) for Western audience consumption.
Israel really has no way to stop Iran’s nuclear program. There’s an Iranian proverb: “The emptiest vessels rattle the most.” If Israel had a real plan, you would have found out about it in the aftermath. This is why they resort to desperate acts like Saudi plots and Stuxnet viruses that can easily backfire.
On the other hand, I believe Russia and Iran have infiltrated Israel thoroughly and Israel is too proud to notice or even begin noticing.
Changes in the official line from the Iranian authorities may place our friend here in the same position as Winston Smith.
@SimoHurtta
“Israel has more nukes than India and China have”
What is your source of your information?
“Surely Israel with its openly aggressive policy and behaviour is the greatest danger to the world. The old EU poll made it clear that people realize that danger.”
Or perhaps the old EU poll made it clear how the seeds of Israel bashing, spread over the fertile ground of European antisemitism have taken root and grown.
“He also has more or less clearly suggested using nukes against the occupied area (Gaza).”
I must have missed that one!
I think SimoHurtta probably refers to this (Jerusalem Post, Jan 13, 2009):
Lieberman: Do to Hamas what the US did to Japan…
Operation Cast Lead must continue until Hamas “loses the will to fight,” Israel Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Lieberman said on Tuesday. “We must continue to fight Hamas just like the United States did with the Japanese in World War II,” Lieberman added. “Then, too, the occupation of the country was unnecessary.”
To quote Mr.Sol Salbe in a comment on Mondoweiss ( March, 2009)
“I think you are drawing a long bow with the quote you have provided”.
“….Lieberman speaks his mind; if he wanted to say nuke Gaza he would have been explicit. When he said “Do to Hamas what the US did to Japan …” he meant keep on bombing them with everything that works, till they stop fighting. The Americans used more than just nuclear weapons. The firebombing of Tokyo killed more people than Hiroshima and Lieberman would no doubt be aware of it.”
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/03/lieberman-isnt-stupid-enough-to-have-suggested-nuking-gaza.html
This need to depict Israel and Israeli leaders in the darkest hues possible is, to say the least, not constructive and I ask myself what motivates it.
Yes, I saw that comment too, and I agree with it, but what Lieberman IS suggesting is shocking enough!
I think that very often irritation is behind over the top criticism of Israel.
This conflict has dragged on for so long, the compromises that should be made are clear enough, and although the settlement policy and ongoing expropriation of Palestinian lands are clearly the biggest obstacles to a solution right now, all of our western governments fail to make this clear to Israel. So there is irritation at the failure of world leaders, and a feeling of helplesness, that there is nothing we ordinary people can achieve. This is enough to make people really angry!
I love Sol Salbe, but if he doesn’t find that Lieberman’s comment was a direct reference to the bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki then he’s misreading Lieberman’s intent. The latter is a flamboyant asshole. References to nuclear holocaust against Arabs are right up his alley.
Israel has earned its “bashing” in every way quite apart from its wrongful claim to represent Jews and Judaism. Israel is absolutely the greatest threat to world peace at this point in history. No other state has such an impressive record of ignoring international law and internationally-recognized boundaries. No other state is so racist and proud of it. Zionists the world over could help Israel deal with its “demographic problem” by immigrating to Israel, but they don’t do so. In a story full of hypocrisy, this is the ultimate hypocrisy of Zionism. Although the false cry of “antisemitism” runs a close second.
The Israeli acts of terror (Piguim in Hebrew) against Iran are militarily insignificant. They are carried on in order to feed Iranian hostility to Israel and maybe make the Persians say something stupid to be taken advantage of. We Jews just thrive when other people hate us but we had often payed the price for this strange hobby.
Richard works for IRG, tell for everyone how much they pay you Richard, otherwise I disclose this!
Last year, I was raking in the Saudi reals according to one of my detractors, today it must be whatever coinage Iran uses. But I have a complaint for my paymasters. Iranian currency doesn’t go very far outside Iran (even inside). They’ll have to start denominating their lucre in nice crisp dollars. Shekels will do in a pinch. My detractors like to ‘speculate’ ( a nice way of putting the nasty shit they do) publicly so much on my family & other private matters I’m surprised they haven’t been able to track down those secret payments.
For trolls and troublemakers amongst us, the above is meant as satire. Not even progressive sources support my work, let alone foreign governments. I do hear there’s money to be made monitoring social networking sites for the MFA. I’ve got to look into that.