חשיפה: תמונות לוחמי סיירת מטכ”ל שפורסמו בעזה, אך הצנזורה הצבאית אוסרת לפרסם אותן בישראל
🔴#BREAKING: #Hamas announced on November 11, 2018 that it has deciphered members of the #Israel|i Special Forces which involved in the assassinate of the commander of the Al-#Qassam Brigades
Hamas published photographs of #Israeli agents pic.twitter.com/PtfjuLI1Bn
— EHA News (@eha_news) November 22, 2018
UPDATE: Twitter, showing customary courage, deleted the tweet above, caving to Israeli pressure to censor this image of the IDF commandos whose failed raid nearly commenced a major war.
After the recent disastrous IDF raid in Gaza in which Sayeret Matkal Lt. Col. Mahmoud Kheirredine was killed along with an entire Hamas security unit (six men and a battalion commander) wiped out, a war nearly broke out between Israel and Hamas. The Palestinians launched hundreds of rockets in retaliation both for the Israeli raid and killing of the Hamas militants. A Palestinian laborer was killed in southern Israel by one of the missiles. Several Israelis, including one soldier, were severely wounded. Through intensive negotiation, Egypt persuaded both sides to stand down from a major conflict and calm was restored.
The Israeli military censor prohibited the media from publishing Kheireddine’s name or unit (though I did so here). Such suppression averted the prying eyes of journalists who might question the planning or execution of the aborted mission. Indeed, when the raid was covered at all, reporters commended the soldiers for retrieving Kheireddine’s body so it didn’t fall into Hamas’ hands and become fodder for a prisoner exchange. But no one, with the exception of Ronen Bergman, has questioned what went wrong, a fundamental and critical aspect of the role of media in a democratic society. In today’s Yediot, Bergman excoriates the censor and military-intelligence apparatus for believing it can conceal either the operation itself or its failure. He writes:
We must look into the eyes of this sad reailty [and admit] what happened in Gaza was a disaster, not just for Lt. Col. M. and his family, but also for the IDF. Any attempt to stop the distribution of the information Hamas is disseminating will not diminish the catastrophe. The horses fled the barn long ago and there’s no reason now to close the door.
Hamas has now upped the ante by releasing the images of every IDF commando who participated in the raid. Apparently, they all had forged Palestinian identity cards which were somehow retrieved amongst the spy equipment and other gear abandoned by the Israelis as they rushed to escape from Palestinian forces as they closed in. Among the angles Israeli journalist should have explored but didn’t was…the impact that the capture of Unit 8200 SIGINT equipment would have on IDF operational capability not just in Gaza, but Lebanon and Iran too. Also, for a covert commando operation to abandon its own ID cards, thus permitting their exposure, seems another major fashla.
In comparing the low resolution image of Kheireddine featured in my original blog post to the identity photos here, I believe his image is in the middle vertical row toward the right with a beard and black shirt or jacket. But I have not confirmed this. Several of the IDF soldiers were dressed (quite convincingly) as women. Though I do wonder whether women in Gaza would use makeup for their identity cards photos. Hamas hopes to circulate the images among Israelis so that it may name the attackers and further embarrass the army.
A similar tactic was used by Dubai against the Mossad assassins who murdered Hamas weapons dealer, Mahmoud al Mabouh in 2010. Using various layers of surveillance and other intelligence data, the police published passport images of every member of the murder squad. They were also able to trace their path as they left the country and where they went. The passports also exposed an unsavory Mossad practice of cloning passports of actual dual citizens of Israel and various western countries. This resulted in the expulsion of the station chiefs in several important western European capitals. Though the spy agency succeeded in killing their target, they did so at very heavy cost in prestige. Not to mention that the élite assassination squad had 27 of its operatives exposed and rendered permanently out of action.
The IDF has responded with the military censor prohibiting Israeli media from publishing the images of the eight attackers and the vehicle they used to infiltrate Gaza. The censor holds an antiquated view of the world in which Israel may be walled off from the rest of humanity and insulated from any possible harm. In protest of this notion, I republish the tweet from Arab media which features these images. This enables Israeli readers to see what should be freely available to them in their own media, but isn’t.
I do this because I believe there must be limits placed on Israeli behavior. It may not act as if it has carte blanche anywhere in the region it wishes. It must come to understand that if it violates international norms through assassination or invasion, it will pay a price. That price may be exposure of its operatives or it may be a summons to the ICC in The Hague.
Anything goes for Israel to avoid an end of conflict, conceding, compromising, giving up sovereignty of some of the land between the Jordan and the Sea . It has been and is war. Israel’s intransigence is the basis for Hamas popularity/rule. Israel has succeeded in splitting or pushing the split of Palestinians seemingly irreparably. Hamas has a right to defend itself which it does more and more smartly somehow getting materials for rockets when needed. to retaliate and make a point..This all is part of the game that Israel is willing to play for ultimate gains.
Hamas survived the assassination of Mahmoud al Mabouh, and Israel will survive this botched mission.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Macbeth Act 5, scene 5, 19–28
@ Fast Lane: In all my years of writing this blog and reading pimpery promoting Brand Israel, no one has ever thought to enlist Macbeth. Do not shame Shakespeare in this way. He and the play are too wonderful to be dragooned into hasbara.
He’s at least trolling outside the box. Give him point for creativity.
Good. The Israelis blew it, they get egg on their face.
[comment deleted: this should merit moderation as not just off-topic, but sexist and stupid. But I’m giving you one more chance. If you violate comment rules again you will be moderated.]
Do you pimp the Israeli male as a sex brand as well?
Two points
1 – According to several Israeli journalists including Amira Hass, it sem the Israeli forces acted for a while as aid workers/ Not only that it is dangering all aid workers in Gaza, it is also a violation of the international law. This is also one of the main reason is censoring this news.
2 – I am not sure why say;”Though I do wonder whether women in Gaza would use makeup for their identity cards photos.”. Following few Gaza people on social media, It is pretty often to see women with makeup.
@ FreedoMonkey: My comments about use of makeup isn’t based on thorough knowledge of the subject. I just suspected it would be unlikely give Islamist control.
You can laugh at Israeli censorship but the fact is it works when really important.
Can you provide the face of Emanuel Moreno?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Moreno
@ Jen: Israeli censorship doesn’t work. That’s the whole point. Look at how many Facebook Likes there are on this post. And where do you think the overwhelming majority of those Likes come from? Israeli censorship is in the age of the telegraph and the horse & buggy, not the 21st century!
I don’t know what Emmanuel Moreno has to do with this nor why anyone would care about finding the image of someone who died in 1982. Is there a point to this?
He didn’t die in 1982 but in 2006.
And while there is no question some of the censor actions try to close the barn after the horses are long gone, in other cases it is affective.
@Jen: i still don’t understand your point. That there’s no pic of him means the censor is effective? At any rate, the censor is hopelessly ineffective as I’ve proven here repeatedly over the years.
Do not commdent further in this thread.
Shame on you for publishing these photos.
If anything happens to any of them. the blood is on your hand too!
Not a word of concern for the 7 Hamas fighters they killed inside Gaza? Nor a word for the other 7 Palestinians the IDF murdered in Gaza during the air attacks which followed? Nor any thought to the fact that Gaza, which you claim Israel evacuated and doesn’t occupy, is invaded by your boys routinely in contravention of international law? Is Jewish blood redder than Palestinian??? Smells of hypocrisy much.