Israeli media: Mossad assassinated Al-Mabhouh

[barracuda]

- all of the assassins, filmed copiously and repeatedly going about their work, and then unprecedented amounts of that film released to the worlds media along with full operational details, passport details and the presumed photos of the agents - bizarre and absurd

I have long understood that this was the modus operandi of Mossad killings for the last forty years. In reference to Operation Wrath of God, for example:

According to David Kimche, former deputy head of Mossad, "The aim was not so much revenge but mainly to make them [the militant Palestinians] frightened. We wanted to make them look over their shoulders and feel that we are upon them. And therefore we tried not to do things by just shooting a guy in the street – that’s easy … fairly."

The psychological component of these hits is part of the deal with these guys. They want to be as brazen as possible.

[smiths]

brazen is one thing, this hit is a farce though

[AlicetheKurious]

anthony lowenstein a left wing blogger in australia who writes a lot on Israeli/Middle Eastern issues opens today

Unless this is all very elaborate theatre designed to convince the Australian people that the government is furious about the Israeli passport scandal, when in fact, they’re not, I can’t recall another time when Israel is being challenged as strongly in the public arena (and certainly not when Israel is killing civilians in Palestine)

http://antonyloewenstein.com/2010/02/26 ... ike-fools/

"Theatre" is exactly what it is. The first clue: among those who are most loudly expressing their "outrage" are Israel's most active apologists, themselves suspected of being zionist agents, including "hasbara author" and UK Foreign Minister David Miliband, for example.

One would think that nobody here has ever heard the term "limited hangout". According to Wikipedia's wordy definition:

A limited hangout is a form of deception, misdirection, or coverup often associated with intelligence agencies involving a release or "mea culpa" type of confession of only part of a set of previously hidden sensitive information, that establishes credibility for the one releasing the information who by the very act of confession appears to be "coming clean" and acting with integrity; but in actuality by withholding key facts is protecting a deeper crime and those who could be exposed if the whole truth came out. In effect, if an array of offenses or misdeeds is suspected, this confession admits to a lesser offense while covering up the greater ones.

A limited hangout typically is a response to lower the pressure felt from inquisitive investigators pursuing clues that threaten to expose everything, and the disclosure is often combined with red herrings or propaganda elements that lead to false trails, distractions, or ideological disinformation; thus allowing covert or criminal elements to continue in their improper activities.

Victor Marchetti wrote: "A 'limited hangout' is spy jargon for a favorite and frequently used gimmick of the clandestine professionals. When their veil of secrecy is shredded and they can no longer rely on a phony cover story to misinform the public, they resort to admitting - sometimes even volunteering - some of the truth while still managing to withhold the key and damaging facts in the case. The public, however, is usually so intrigued by the new information that it never thinks to pursue the matter further."[1]

Smiths: all those "overkill" and "bumbling" elements of the Mossad operation are actually typical. As one CIA operative was once quoted as saying (can't remember who and can't be bothered to look it up), "The Mossad are really good at p.r., but not much else." As both ex-Mossad officers Victor Ostrovsky and Ari ben-Menashe have written, they haven't needed to be any better, simply because the Mossad itself is only the tip of the iceberg, the iceberg itself being a transnational network of zionist agents embedded strategically in other countries, which provides them with intelligence, money and logistics, and covers for them when they screw up. So what happened in this case?

First, contrary to the Mossad's typically arrogant expectations, the Dubai police did not turn a blind eye. They gathered information, quietly informed the Western governments whose passports were used, and asked for a response and assistance in catching the perps. The Western governments did not respond. The Dubai police asked again. After 10 days, when there was still no response, the Dubai police said, "To hell with it," and once again did the unexpected: they published everything. Photos, surveillance film, passport numbers, identities, everything. As a result, not only were the killers' faces exposed, but we the public learned the following:

1) The Mossad steals the identities of Israeli dual citizens without their knowledge or permission, and uses the Western passports of unsuspecting Jewish 'olim' or immigrants, to carry out crimes in other countries;

2) The passports were not forged, raising the strong possibility that there are Israeli spies embedded within the foreign ministries or passport offices of various Western governments;

3) The lack of response by Western governments to the Dubai police's repeated request for assistance suggests that at least certain officials of these governments place a higher value on their relations with Israel than on the safety of their own citizens, and on the integrity of their own passport system.

These governments could have reacted in either of two ways:

1) Immediately calling for an investigation into exactly how and where those passports were produced, and by whom, to examine whether proper legal procedures were followed. Such an investigation would expose any embedded agents criminally abusing the system on behalf of Israel, and would likely result in arrests and very possibly raise some very uncomfortable questions about Mossad infiltration and subversion elsewhere, even at higher levels.

2) Expressing their shock, shock! that Israel would "betray friendly countries" in this way, while avoiding any hint that Israel could have had inside help. It's all a charade, with no downside: like similar scandals in the past, it will blow over and most importantly, the Mossad's assets within those governments will be protected.

Limited hangout.

[AlicetheKurious]

Dubai money trail leads back to Israel

by Paul Woodward on February 24, 2010

Although the Israeli government has yet to confirm its role in the murder of Mahmoud al Mahbouh, the Dubai police have provided further evidence through financial records that connect the crime to Israel.

The company Payoneer Inc., based in New York, has been named in the case – a company that helps facilitate Taglit-Birthright Israel trips. Payoneer provides financial services for trip participants and as the Wall Street Journal reports, the company’s chief executive, Yuval Tal, is a former Israeli special-forces soldier.

Dubai police said Wednesday they had identified credit cards used by 14 of the suspects to book hotel rooms and pay for air travel. Police named the issuing bank as MetaBank, a unit of Meta Financial Group Inc., a financial company based in Storm Lake, Iowa.

The bank said it had no comment “because we are trying to confirm the accuracy of statements by the press.”

Dubai police identified cards issued by Britain’s Nationwide Building Society, IDT Finance of Gilbraltar, and Germany’s DZ Bank AG. A Nationwide spokesman told the Associated Press that bank officials were “investigating the reports and have no further comments.” The other European companies weren’t reachable late Wednesday.

Dubai also identified a company called Payoneer Inc., based in New York, though it wasn’t clear what precise role authorities believe that company played. In a chart released to reporters, authorities suggested the company distributed the cards on behalf of MetaBank.

According to its Web site, Payoneer offers online payment solutions, including arranging for employers to pay overseas workers through money transfers into prepaid MasterCard debit-card accounts. Payoneer is based in New York, but has offices in Tel Aviv.

The company’s chief executive, Yuval Tal, appeared as a commentator on the Lebanon war in 2006 on Fox News, identifying himself as a former Israeli special-forces soldier. Mr. Tal wasn’t available to comment.

[hava1]

very interesting connection, the taglit project. when i was kidnapped from canada, i was placed on a taglit flight, where i was harrassed and tortured by one so called "taglit yough leader". Since then, i had an "eye" for that project as a front. of course, my angle being the abuse of trust by children (who flew) in the course of fishy to dangerous ops.
the brave mossad hiding behind children and aprons of women.

[AlicetheKurious]

Ha! So far, the Irish are the first (and only) ones to bring up the possibility of Mossad agents based in their own country:

Israeli spy 'sourced details for passports in Dublin'
Envoy to hear allegation of more fake documents

By Sam Smyth and Shane Phelan

Wednesday February 24 2010

AN Israeli spy based in Dublin is suspected of supplying information for the forged Irish passports used by the team of assassins who murdered a Hamas commander in Dubai.

And details of more fake Irish passports used in the assassination of a Hamas official are expected to be given to the Irish Ambassador in Dubai today.

Ambassador Ciaran Madden will meet with officials from the United Arab Emirates, who have confirmed that more fake Irish passport numbers had been identified.

Another "three or four fake passports" are expected to be added to the five allegedly used in the assassination of a Hamas commander last month.

Diplomatic sources said that the passport owners whose numbers were used for fake passports had travelled in Europe and the US but not in the Middle East.

The spy is suspected of providing a false address at 6 Elgin Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin -- owned by Jim Reynolds, the brother of former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds -- for one of the passport holders.

As anger about fake passports and the assassination mounts, Fine Gael has called on Foreign Affairs Minister Micheal Martin to brief the Dail.

Billy Timmons, the party's Foreign Affairs spokesman, said: "We must get explanations as to how suspects in an assassination overseas were able to use valid Irish passport numbers on fake passports and provide a bone fide Dublin address when checking out of the hotel." ... Link

It will be interesting to see how far they go. Meanwhile, slainte, baby!

[17breezes]

But still no proof. Wow.

[AlicetheKurious]

But still no proof. Wow.

But there is proof, unless you can come up with even one other explanation for the fact that most, if not all, the killers used the identities of Israeli dual-citizens to apply for REAL passports from European countries. Who had access to all the supporting documents necessary to apply for those passports, other than the Mossad?

BTW, the reason I always try to post entire articles and documents, rather than excerpts, is that in these Orwellian times, crucial facts have a way of being disappeared down the memory hole. Case in point:

Excerpt from a Times Online article posted in this thread by seemslikeadream:

It also emerged that the German passport used by the killers had not been forged but was a real document that had been obtained fraudulently from a German passport office in Cologne in 2008.

Der Spiegel magazine said it had been issued in the name of Michael Bodenheimer, an Israeli-American whose Jewish parents had fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The passport was issued upon receipt of documents including Mr Bodenheimer’s grandparents’ passports. The real Michael Bodenheimer, who was born in the United States and now heads a religious school in Tel Aviv, told the magazine he had never applied for a German passport. The prosecutor’s office in Cologne has opened an investigation into the case.

The article has since been redacted without explanation or acknowledgment, to remove the incriminating evidence:

It also emerged that the German passport used by the killers was a real document that had been obtained fraudulently.

Der Spiegel magazine said that it had been issued in the name of Michael Bodenheimer, an Israeli-American whose Jewish parents fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The real Michael Bodenheimer, who was born in the United States and now heads a religious school in Tel Aviv, told the magazine that he had never applied for a German passport. The prosecutor’s office in Cologne has opened an investigation into the case.

Do those blinders itch, 17breezes?

[smiths]

i could be wrong but i think 17breezes was actually having a go at me and the comments i made regarding whether information was believable from any sources with regard to this whole incident

[DoYouEverWonder]

Two Dubai Suspects Traveled to U.S.

March 1, 2010

DUBAI—At least two of the 26 suspects sought by Dubai police for the alleged killing of a top Hamas leader appear to have entered the U.S. shortly after his death, according to people familiar with the situation.

Records shared between international investigators show that one of the suspects entered the U.S. on Feb. 14, carrying a British passport, according to a person familiar with the situation. The other suspect, carrying an Irish passport, entered the U.S. on Jan. 21, according to this person. Senior Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's body was found in a Dubai hotel room on Jan. 20.

There aren't records of either man leaving the U.S., though investigators can't be sure the two are still in the country, according to this person. Since the two were traveling with what investigators believe to be fraudulently issued passports, they may have traveled back out of the U.S. with different, bogus travel documents.

The suspected U.S. travel broadens to American shores the international manhunt triggered by Dubai's investigation into the death of Mr. Mabhouh. Dubai police have already identified two U.S. financial companies they believe issued and distributed several credit cards used by 14 of the suspects in the alleged killing.

A U.S. State Department spokesman declined to comment.

A spokesman for Interpol, which is also investigating the murder, declined to comment.

Separately, Dubai police said Sunday that forensic results showed the drug succinylcholine in Mr. Mabhouh's bloodstream at the time of his death, suggesting he had been incapacitated by the muscle relaxant before being suffocated.

United Arab Emirates authorities have sought international arrest warrants for the 26 suspects, whom they caught on closed-circuit TV arriving at Dubai's airport and checking into their hotels. Some used disguises, and two of them shared an elevator ride with their alleged victim, according to footage released by police.

Dubai released photos, passports and travel details of the 26, all of whom had landed in Dubai with European or Australian passports. Many of the individuals identified by Dubai police surfaced within days. However, they looked nothing like the photos on the passports used in Dubai; the passport holders appeared instead to be victims of identity fraud. Britain, France, Ireland, Germany and Australia have all said they believe their passports were issued and used fraudulently in the case.

Dubai's police chief has said he is 99% certain that Israel's Mossad intelligence agency is behind the killing. But he hasn't provided any evidence. Other officials here appear more circumspect, and say Dubai and U.A.E. officials are concentrating on identifying and apprehending the suspects before blaming anyone.

Israeli officials have neither confirmed nor denied any involvement, a longstanding practice. Last week, Israel's foreign minister said there was no proof implicating Israel.

The investigation could prove an irritant to U.S.-Israeli ties if Mossad is implicated. European and Australian governments have called in their Israeli ambassadors demanding answers to how their passports were misused, though officials have stopped short of accusing Israel of involvement.

The U.A.E. government would seek the extradition of any suspects found in the U.S., said an Emirati official. If Israel was implicated, the Obama administration's relationship with that of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could come under further strain. Washington and Israel have publicly sparred in recent months on issues related to the resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The Obama administration says it is continuing to work with Israel on the possible resumption of peace talks, and U.S. officials say they are "hopeful" that negotiations can resume shortly.

According to the person familiar with the matter, one of the suspects, traveling with a British passport identifying him as Roy Allan Cannon, entered the U.S. on Feb. 14. Another suspect, traveling as Irishman Evan Dennings, entered the country on Jan. 21, a day after Mr. Mabhouh's body was discovered.

It wasn't clear from where either man was traveling. Dubai authorities have previously said the suspect traveling as Mr. Dennings left Dubai on Jan. 20 on his way to Zurich.

Last week, the Associated Press identified a British citizen named Roy Allan Cannon as having emigrated to Israel from Britain in 1979. His son told the AP his father was a victim of identity theft, and that "it's clear that illegal use was made of personal information." The Irish government said last week it believed Mr. Dennings was also the victim of identity fraud; he couldn't be reached for comment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... st_Popular

[AlicetheKurious]

Two Dubai Killers Entered U.S.; Mossad Used Australian Passports for Spying in Syria, Iran, Lebanon

I tell ‘ya, this story just gets weirder and weirder. Apparently, trying to implicate as many western nations in the Dubai assassination as possible (thinking that if they all were embarrassed they’d leave Israel alone??) the Wall Street Journal reports that two of the assassins traveled to the U.S. immediately after the killing. There is no record of their exit, though that may mean they left using other identification especially given that the assassination was discovered presumably while they were still in the country.

Now, the FBI has even less reason to shrink from pursuing this case in a muscular fashion. Until now, the many threads of the case that reached the U.S. were curiously avoided by government officials who made no public comments whatsoever. They still have not done so (“A U.S. State Department spokesman declined to comment”). Though I hope that will change soon given that the new twist is that fraudulent passports were used to enter and exit this country by assassins who violated international law and are now wanted by Interpol.

The Australian government is alleging that the Mossad used Australian passports to enter Syria, Iran and Lebanon in the recent past. Three Australians who made aliyah to Israel within the past ten years applied to change their names from Jewish-sounding, to Anglo-Saxon sounding names. One suspect applied to change his name twice and another did so three times. One of the suspects also has British citizenship and did the same with his British passport:

ASIO is investigating at least three dual Australian-Israeli citizens who they suspect of using Australian cover to spy for Israel. The investigation began at least six months before last month’s assassination of the Hamas operative Mahmoud al-Mabhouh…

The new passports have been used to gain entry to a number of countries that are hostile to Israel including Iran, Syria and Lebanon. All three do not recognise Israel and forbid Israelis from entering. Israel also forbids its citizens from travelling to those countries for security reasons.

The Herald understands that the three Australians share an involvement with a European communications company that has a subsidiary in the Middle East. A person travelling under one of these names sought Australian consular assistance in Tehran in 2004.

The Herald has contacted two of the men, both of whom emphatically denied they were involved in any kind of espionage activity. Both men confirmed they had changed their surnames, but said that the proposition they had done so in order to obtain new documents to travel throughout the Middle East were, in the words of one, “totally absurd”.

“This is a complete fantasy,” said the man when contacted in Israel. “I have changed my name for personal reasons.”

The other man, who was not in Israel when contacted, expressed shock at the suggestion he was under any kind of surveillance and said that he had also changed his name for personal reasons. “I have never been to any of those countries that you say I have been to,” he said. ”I am not involved in any kind of spying. That is ridiculous.”

That’s just what I’d expect a Mossad agent or someone assisting the Mossad to say. But this passage really made my antennae shoot up:

In January the Herald visited the offices of the European company that connects the three men. The company’s office manager confirmed to the Herald that one of the men being monitored by ASIO – the same man believed to hold a British passport – was employed by the company but was “unavailable”.

The company’s chief executive later emphatically denied that this man was ever employed by his company, and totally rejected that his company was being used to gather intelligence on behalf of Israel.

I’d like to know how the CEO reconciled his claim with that of the office manager. Was his manager daydreaming, making it up? In this case, the first response seems far more credible than the second.

And given the fact that the Mossad has been quite active in all three countries in covert operations involving assassinations and military assault, especially in Syria, makes the story all the more intriguing.

If anyone hears any reports including the names of the suspects or the telecommunications company please let me know. ...
Link

[tazmic]

From http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/19/ian-black-mossad-dubai:

Yossi Melman, the expert on intelligence for Israel's Haaretz newspaper, worries that, as before the 1973 war, the Israeli government may be getting it wrong by focusing on the wrong enemy – the Palestinians – instead of prioritising Iran and Hizbullah.

"The Mossad is not Murder Inc, like the Mafia; its goal is not to take vengeance on its enemies," he wrote this week. "'Special operations' like the assassination in Dubai – if this indeed was a Mossad operation – have always accounted for a relatively small proportion of its overall activity.

Nevertheless, these are the operations that give the organisation its halo, its shining image.

Christ, it's like being spoon fed perception management. But regarding the halo bit...do they think '007' was really that effective? Crap, obviously it was. What a perversion of the language...

[17breezes]

But still no proof. Wow.

But there is proof, unless you can come up with even one other explanation for the fact that most, if not all, the killers used the identities of Israeli dual-citizens to apply for REAL passports from European countries. Who had access to all the supporting documents necessary to apply for those passports, other than the Mossad?

BTW, the reason I always try to post entire articles and documents, rather than excerpts, is that in these Orwellian times, crucial facts have a way of being disappeared down the memory hole. Case in point:

Excerpt from a Times Online article posted in this thread by seemslikeadream:

It also emerged that the German passport used by the killers had not been forged but was a real document that had been obtained fraudulently from a German passport office in Cologne in 2008.

Der Spiegel magazine said it had been issued in the name of Michael Bodenheimer, an Israeli-American whose Jewish parents had fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s.

The passport was issued upon receipt of documents including Mr Bodenheimer’s grandparents’ passports. The real Michael Bodenheimer, who was born in the United States and now heads a religious school in Tel Aviv, told the magazine he had never applied for a German passport. The prosecutor’s office in Cologne has opened an investigation into the case.

The article has since been redacted without explanation or acknowledgment, to remove the incriminating evidence:

It also emerged that the German passport used by the killers was a real document that had been obtained fraudulently.

Der Spiegel magazine said that it had been issued in the name of Michael Bodenheimer, an Israeli-American whose Jewish parents fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The real Michael Bodenheimer, who was born in the United States and now heads a religious school in Tel Aviv, told the magazine that he had never applied for a German passport. The prosecutor’s office in Cologne has opened an investigation into the case.

Do those blinders itch, 17breezes?

As I said, STILL no real proof. Conjecture by you or anyone or any organization is fine but just saying something is so doesn't make it so. So I await some real proof. Since Dubai ups the suspect count almost daily, I'm sure real proof is only a matter of days away.

[AlicetheKurious]

Just because you insist on sticking your fingers in your ears, squeezing your eyes tight and singing "la-la-la", doesn't mean the proof isn't there, nor that it isn't rather glaring -- far, far more compelling than much of what passes for "proof" when it comes, say, to "al Qaeda's" implication in 9/11.

But let's put that aside for now: to show that even you take your silly position seriously, rather than simply trolling, how about trying to come up with a rational answer to the question I asked you earlier?

But there is proof, unless you can come up with even one other explanation for the fact that most, if not all, the killers used the identities of Israeli dual-citizens to apply for REAL passports from European countries (and Australia). Who had access to all the supporting documents necessary to apply for those passports, other than the Mossad?

[17breezes]

Just because you insist on sticking your fingers in your ears, squeezing your eyes tight and singing "la-la-la", doesn't mean the proof isn't there, nor that it isn't rather glaring -- far, far more compelling than much of what passes for "proof" when it comes, say, to "al Qaeda's" implication in 9/11.

But let's put that aside for now: to show that even you take your silly position seriously, rather than simply trolling, how about trying to come up with a rational answer to the question I asked you earlier?

But there is proof, unless you can come up with even one other explanation for the fact that most, if not all, the killers used the identities of Israeli dual-citizens to apply for REAL passports from European countries (and Australia). Who had access to all the supporting documents necessary to apply for those passports, other than the Mossad?

Alice I have no idea who dun it. The guy was an arms dealer, he appears to have been set up by his Hamas brothers (tv interview, no guards) and so far only two Palestinians (or 3 maybe) have been actually arrested. So, one could reasonably claim that his bros did it given the only arrests made. But I wouldn't make that claim for the same reason I wouldn't make your claim. It's totally possible Israel did do it and if they did, they should suffer whatever comes their way.