Netanyahu Fabricates Purported Hamas Intelligence Documents

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Bibi Netanyahu leaked fabricated Hamas documents obtained by IDF intelligence unit, AMAN.  The documents purported that Yahya Sinwar rejected any ceasefire deal and that he was attempting to escape Gaza.  They also claimed that Hamas planned to smuggle Israeli hostages out of Gaza via the Philadelphi Corridor and transfer them to Iran.

The fakes were leaked to the German pro-Israel newspaper, Bild (which appears to have removed the article from its website) and the UK Jewish Chronicle.  The report in Yediot Achronot says Netanyahu’s goal was to buttress his claim (false) that Israel needs to maintain troops in the Philadephi Corridor in order to prevent smuggling of weapons via Egypt.  The IDF and intelligence services have universally reject this claim and support signing a ceasefire.  They have made their opposition public:

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Israel’s top military and intelligence officials, its defense establishment, as well as U.S. negotiators, all challenge Netanyahu’s inflated claims about Philadelphi…So do U.S., Egyptian, and Qatari negotiators, and even members of Israel’s own team of negotiators…

“To make sure that there will be no hostage deal that will collapse your coalition, you turned Philadelphi into the rock of our existence,” charged Nadav Argaman, who headed the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency…“No, it is not!” he said.

Argaman also said: “The Philadelphi corridor is only required for the Netanyahu-Smotrich axis to preserve this messianic and dangerous government.”

The prime minister refuses a deal in order to prolong the war and avert a reckoning from the courts or the Israeli electorate.

Bibi leaks like a sieve

Netanyahu has a history of exposing Israeli and US secrets for his own political benefit. Often to the consternation of the the intelligence services.  In many of these cases, suspicions arise about the authenticity of his claims and the material on which they are based.

In another case, Netanyahu dramatically displayed scores of CDs behind him on stage, overshadowed by a massive: “Iran Lied!”  The CDs purported to be secret documents exposing Iran’s ongoing nuclear program.  They did nothing of the sort:

The stolen documents contain no revelations about recent nuclear activity and no proof that Iran has violated the 2015 nuclear accord it reached with the United States and five other global powers. U.S. officials had long known of Iran’s pre-2004 nuclear weapons research, which the Obama administration cited explicitly in prodding Iran to accept the historic deal limiting its ability to make enriched uranium and placing its nuclear facilities under intensive international oversight.

Most of the documents dated back to 2003, when Iran ended its active pursuit of a nuclear weapon. They were a window into its nuclear program as of that date and nothing thereafter

Yet another Jewish Chronicle hoax

The Jewish Chronicle published a separate story regarding the hostage smuggling plan and Sinwar’s escape efforts. It said:

During a…press conference for the foreign media…Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu astounded the audience by claiming that Hamas was planning to smuggle hostages out of Gaza using the much-disputed Philadelphi corridor.

“If we leave the Philadelphi corridor, it will be impossible to prevent Hamas…from smuggling hostages,” he said.

What was the background to this claim? Intelligence sources have told the JC that Sinwar’s plan was to smuggle himself and the remaining Hamas leaders along with Israeli hostages through the Philadelphi corridor to Sinai and from there to Iran.

This was reportedly revealed during the interrogation of a captured senior Hamas official, as well as by information obtained from documents seized on Thursday, August 29, the day the six bodies of the murdered hostages were retrieved.

Nothing in the last two paragraphs is true.  According to Israeli intelligence sources referred to by Yediot, it is a “wild invention.”  Something Netanyahu or a source close to him fed to a credulous Jewish Chronicle. The latter’s credibility as serious journalism has been shredded by this and similar fraudulent reports. It has previously been sued, admitted libel and paid victims substantial damages. In another case, it paid $45,000 in libel damages. In yet a third case, it paid $60,000 to a UK Palestinian charity. The UK media regulator found that it had violated the ethics code 33 times in the four years prior to its findings.

The Chronicle is owned by a opaque far-right consortium of well-connected Tories. The Prospect delved into the opaque financing of the publication:

The consortium was led by Sir Robbie Gibb, Theresa May’s former spin doctor, now a government-appointed BBC director…But Gibb himself doesn’t appear to have the kind of money that was needed to rescue the JC…

Three sources told me they believed that a large slice of the money for the JC came from a right-wing American billionaire, Paul E Singer…

Singer is the billionaire vulture capitalist who provided startup funding for the Times of Israel, a slightly more reputable media outlet. But which also is prone to publish genocidal views and hoax stories. Singer’s company, Eliot Management denied he has any involvement. Whoever is the backer, his role is carefully concealed to hide his identity.

It’s also no accident that the Chronicle Hamas hoax report was published shortly after Netanyahu delivered his remarks to Israelis.  The timing was most auspicious to disseminate the lies in European media.  Though it’s curious that Netanyahu fed this story to this particular publication since it has less than 20,000 paid subscribers and makes barely a ripple in UK media circles.  The Chronicle is nothing more than a slavish advocate for the Israeli leader and his Jude-fascist political allies.

Elon Perry, the reporter who wrote the JC article, fabricated much of his resume. This calls into question both the claims in his article and the integrity of the publication which published it.  Perry claims to have been a professor at Tel Aviv University. He wasn’t.  He claims he served in an IDF for 28 years.  Even if true, much of that would have been as a reservist, not on active duty. He also said he was a member of an undercover unit and participated in the Entebbe raid. He didn’t. When an Israeli journalist challenged his claims, he claimed they were mistakes rather than outright fraud.

This is a remarkable trifecta of fakery: from Netanyahu to Perry to the Jewish Chronicle.  This is what contemporary Zionism has come down to: a tissue of lies and hoaxes promoting a nationalist vision based on theft, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

The fabricated Hamas document was hand-written. Bergman notes that Israeli intelligence is quite familiar with the handwriting of Sinwar and the entire Hamas senior leadership. They were unfamiliar with the handwriting in this document.  Meaning it was likely a forgery.  Also, Bergman’s AMAN source says it is familiar with Hamas formal operational orders and this document displayed none of those characteristics.

It was also convenient to raise the scenario now that Netanyahu needed to fend off the rage of the hostage families and the rest of Israel, at the deaths caused by the IDF raid. What better way to rebut claims that he murdered their loved ones than to produce “evidence” that the “rescue mission” prevented the hostages from being spirited away to Iran and presumably never seen again.

In a separate cabinet speech, Netanyahu insinuated that the 700,000 Israelis who protested against the hostage killings and demanded a ceasefire were, in effect, doing Hamas’ bidding by dividing the country.  He added that they had “fallen into a trap” set by the enemy, and that the hostage families had fallen prey to the enemy’s “psychological warfare.”  He based his false claim on a second “secret document” he leaked to Bild.

In actuality, it is Netanyahu‘s leak that exacerbates the division in Israel.  He is the devil that sets Israeli against Israeli, Palestinian against Israeli, and Israel against the world.  Nor do his lies persuade any Israeli to stop protesting.

Bild falls for a hoax

Bild published another forged Hamas document alongside a blaring bold-faced headline: “Shocking.” The story claimed it was sourced from a computer known to be used by Yahya Sinwar.  The latter purportedly confirmed that Hamas never intended to release the hostages. That contradicts the group’s agreement to a ceasefire under terms outlined by Pres. Biden last May. Sinwar is also alleged to have affirmed his goal was to manipulate global public opinion and deliberately torture the hostage families with the prospect of their release, when he had no intention of doing so.

In fact, the document was part of a trove of millions of documents captured by the IDF months ago. It was not a product of Sinwar’s computer nor written by him. Instead, it was prepared by a mid-level Hamas official and merely repeated the group’s tactics, that were already well-known to Israeli intelligence. It was considered of low-level value and never even shared with the Israeli negotiators or the political echelon.

Further, Bergman’s intelligence source says the original document does not say Sinwar rejects a ceasefire. This is entirely fabricated.  It actually says Hamas wants to exert global pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire. In other words, it wants a ceasefire and wants to world to pressure Israel to agree to one:

Bild used an alleged quote from it that purports to show Hamas’ lack of interest in a deal with Israel – remarks that do not exist.

Bild’s pro-Israel editorial policy and Nazi past

Bild is Germany’s largest media outlet and part of the Axel Springer media empire.  It is one of Europe’s most notorious scandal sheets and well-known for its strident right-wing views. It offers full-throated support to Netanyahu and his allies.

One of its former editors said: “We back Israel to the hilt.” A recent editorial trumpeted: ““God bless the IDF.” Israel’s leader is known to shower it with scoops and similar “secret intelligence” material.  Whenever its managing editor visits Israel, the PM rolls out the red carpet for him, according to Bergman.

When Springer bought Politico, its CEO publicly avowed that the editorial policy of the media outlet would be pro-Israel and that he would not employ anyone who disagreed with it.  Despite US media’s almost uniform support of Israel, no outlet has ever issued such a sweeping policy which would violate journalistic practices demanding fairness, balance and objectivity.

Axel Springer, the company’s namesake, was himself a Nazi who served in a paramilitary unit during WWII.  Its current CEO even had the chutzpah to compare COVID 19 restrictions to Nazi Germany.  Imagine a corporate executive of a company whose founder was a Nazi daring to compare the fight against this deadly disease to the horrors of the Holocaust.  It’s despicable.  But Bild gets away with it.

Netanyahu gave the story to European publications intending for it arouse support for his intransigent stance among German and UK audiences.  Presumably, he expected Israeli media outlets would pick up the story and amplify it before a domestic audience.  Somehow he felt he could get away with his fraud.  But the IDF put an end to this ruse with the leak to Yediot.

The IDF expressed shock at the leak and called it “extremely serious” and a “severe [criminal] offense.” It announced an investigation into its origin and aimed to identify the leaker or government agency which was responsible.  Such threats rarely lead to exposure of the leaker. Rather they are meant as a shot across the bow, to warn the culprit against further misdeeds.  Netanyahu however, behaves with impunity and never fears paying a price for his machinations.

The army also warned that these were secret intelligence documents and never intended to be made public.  It refused to be drawn into Netanyahu’s political gamesmanship. In fact, it opposes virtually every aspect of his Gaza policy. But nonetheless, it serves as the vehicle for his genocide. If the IDF truly opposed the horror it perpetrated in Gaza its generals would resign. Its defense minister, Shin Bet and Mossad chiefs would quit.

In a final irony, Yediot’s report too is based on a leak from an official source (in this case from the army).  Presumably its source is more reliable than the one used by Bild and the Jewish Chronicle.

I approached an Israeli security source who had never heard of Elon Perry. Beyond that, he refused to comment.