NOTE: Israelis, I’m seeking the uncensored version of this Channel 10 newscast, which contains Ronen Bergman’s report on this killing. The military censor has removed the portion of the newscast containing Ronen’s story.
Earlier today, a drone engineer named Mohammed al-Zoari was assassinated in Tunisia by a Mossad Kidon hit squad. Al-Zoari reputedly led drone operations for Hamas. Though news reports said that he’d arrived from Lebanon to visit family in Tunisia, where he was born. A local journalist reported on his Facebook page that the Mossad is widely blamed for the killing. At least three killers were directly involved, who used false passports to enter the country. It’s also been reported that the Tunisian director of national intelligence has been sacked from his position.
המוסד התנקש בחייו של מוחמד זווארי בטוניס. היה מעורב בפיתוח מל"טים מתקדמים לחמאס. העצורים לא קשורים לפרשה
— Ronen Bergman (@ronenbergman) December 16, 2016
Ronen Bergman, reporting for Yediot Achronot and Channel 10 TV, credits Mossad with the killing. He says that Prime Minister Netanyahu was briefed about the assassination while he was still visiting Kazakhstan up to the point that the killers made their escape from Tunisia.
I queried an Israeli journalist who reports on intelligence matters and he told me that he has reported on the story but that’s he’s been severely restricted by the military censor regarding what he can say. This is further indication of Israeli involvement. An inquiry to an Israeli security source brought the half-joking response that I should “ask Assaf Yariv” about the case. That’s an in-joke among spooks, who would know that Yariv was lent by the Shabak to the Mossad to coördinate operations between the two agencies. Since Shabak is responsible for operations against Palestinian militants in the West Bank and Gaza, it would’ve been instrumental in tracking al-Zoari’s activity there. But since he was murdered abroad, the Mossad would be responsible for the hit. Hence the cross-agency coördination required and the role of someone like Yariv.
The Mossad ought to be careful because Tunisia is liable to have the same CCTV systems that Dubai did, which permitted it to track the 27 Mossad Kidon agents implicated in the killing of Mahmoud al-Mabouh. That operation didn’t end well for Israel, as its exposure cost several Mossad station chiefs their jobs once it was known which countries the Mossad stole passports from as part of the killing.
I’ve reported here on drone operations by both Hamas and Hezbollah. A Hamas drone infiltrated Israel and reached within a few miles of the Dimona nuclear site. It’s also thought that Hezbollah hacked the navigation systems of Israeli drones leading them either to crash or to be deliberately aborted in flight by their Israeli military operators.
But murdering a drone engineer? Why? No drone has threatened Israel in any serious way. What could this man possibly have been doing that warranted his elimination? Something smells awfully fishy about this one.
Another possibility is that he was also involved in Hezbollah drone operations, or that he’d traveled to Lebanon to offer his services to the Islamist group. That might put him on Mossad’s radar. Hezbollah’s technical expertise would be more advanced than Hamas’ due to collaboration with Iranian flight engineers.
My guess, which is only speculation at this point, was that Bibi needed a diversion from the constant drumbeat of scandal and bad news that’s come his way lately. The police and state prosecutor are in the midst of several investigations of corruption charges related to him and his wife, Sara. Dead Arabs always give Israeli pols a popularity boost. In the past, Bibi has used invasions of Gaza to this effect. For some reason, he’s not prepared to go that route this time. But killing a Hamasnik in a nice clean kill? That’s worth a few days of good publicity in the media.
But one should also recall the disastrous assassination attempt on Khaled Meshal which was conducted during his first term as PM. That ended badly when Jordanians captured the two murderers and they were transferred to Jordanian custody. That forced Israel to offer an antidote to the poison injected in Meshal, which saved his life. Israel has learned from that episode not to let their victims die a slow death, but to finish them off quickly (as they did with al-Mabouh).
This would be Yossi Cohen’s second known assassination since he assumed the reins of the Mossad. Certainly a feather in his cap as well. But as with the murder of Omer Nayef Zaed in Bulgaria, an operative who’d long since ceased any connection to militant operations, one wonders what was gained in the current attack.
Reminds me of the case of Gerald Bull. He too was told to ‘step off’, but he refused, and paid with his life.
I don’t have much sympathy for mercenaries who choose to put themselves in Harm’s Way.
I don’t have much sympathy for anyone rooting for state killers to kill more people than they already have.
Than you have very little sympathy to your own government
Indeed, I abhor state sponsored murder by my own or any other government. I’ve said so explicitly here many times.
I’ve read about the assassination in the Tunisian press and on blogs, most don’t think Mossad has anything to do with it, and I’m very astonished that you simply affirm a Mossad squadron was behind.
This article is based on pure speculation, as some of the articles in the Tunisian press: some said he worked for Daesh, others that he was working for the Syrian regime (he lived in Syria for many years and his wife is Syrian), others that he was smuggling arms to Turkey, some says he was a university professor, others just a plain ingenieur etc etc. What seems confirmed: he left Tunisia in the beginning of the 1990 (he was member of an Islamist student union) and was allowed back after the amnesty in 2011. Some say he actually lived in Turkey etc.
According to one Tunisian commenter I read; it might be that Mossad would like people to doubt about their implication, it kind of nourids the myth of their power.
@ Deir Yassin: In fact, the reason this story is as big as it is as quickly as it’s happened is because a Tunisian journalist announced his certainty that the Mossad was involved & revealed other important facts about the killing most people hadn’t known. Add to that, Ronen Bergman, who’s never been wrong on any story he’s reported as far as I’m aware, says the Mossad did it. I believe him.
It may be that al-Zoari was involved with more activities than we know about. Otherwise, I have no idea why Mossad would go after him. Unless of course Yossi Cohen made it a priority to show Mossad still had the balls to kill people as successfully it did in the old days. There’s this notion among people like him that Arabs need to be reminded every so often of who’s the boss & the price they will pay for their stubbornness. A vain occupation I’m afraid. But that’s the way these people think.
I posted a comment that’s lost somewhere, so just again: although some Tunisian media and conspiracy blogs have stated that this is or might be a Mossad-job, none of the major media say so, and according to the latest updating (2 hours ago) the state prosecutor Turki has declared nothing hints at a foreign agency being involved.
Deir Yassin I dont think Tunisian authorities and sources would want to allow the possibility that Mossad was behind this
@@John F: On the contrary, it was a Tunisian journalist who first made the claim.
That isn’t what John F said. He spoke about the authorities!
@ Jim: NO he didn’t. He wrote “Tunisian authorities and sources.” Get your reading glasses checked.
This cowardly assassination of an unarmed civilian serves nothing. I sure hope that Arabs start paying in kind by assassinating Israelis involved in Israel’s arms industry, who are now a legitimate target. As long as Arabs are coy and seem to take the beating without retaliation, Israel is emboldened and will continue its reign of terror.
Do you read the Tunisian press ? I do. It’s probably the freest in the Arab world, and it’s full of all theories about this killing. It seems Zouari was implicated in arms smuggling to Syria through Turkey, and this might be another eventual reason.
And why wouldn’t the Tunisian authorities allow the thesis that Mossad was implicated ? On the contrary, it would whitewash internal Tunisian responsabilities (two major left-wing Tunisian politicians have been killed since the Revolution, and there have been other targeted killings by Islamist factions close to Daesh). And last but not least, blaming Mossad is rather usual (one well-known Tunisian politician immediately claimed he’s convinced Mossad did it), and after all Mossad has already killed Palestinians (and a Dutch diplomat) in Tunisia, not to forget the raid on the PLO headquarter in 1985.
This was a comment to John F
According to Ynet, al-Zoari was involved in developing an unmanned submarine. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4894550,00.html. In the Hebrew paper http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4894911,00.html they expand more and explain why a sub would be more beneficial to Hamas strategy as it is much harder to track than aircraft.
There is also a story in there about 4 Gazans who were kidnapped in Sinai over a year ago and thought to belong to the sea commando of Hamas. Do you have any further information about that story? It is the first time I read about it.
# Urgent | Qassam Brigades revealisland: Zouari and his team produced 30 aircraft before 2008 war on Gaza.
https://twitter.com/mody_mm2/status/858422151866613760
@ Pissoff [part of this jackass’ fake e mail address] Nimer: What’s his source, jackass? There is none. A tweet without a source is worth a bucket of warm piss. Which is also what you’re worth.