Israeli Hit Squads in the US?

joanna bujes joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com
Tue Jan 21 15:10:32 PST 2003


...say what?

Joanna


> >
>http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030115-035849-6156r
> >
> > UPI: Israel to kill on U.S., allies' soil
> > By Richard Sale
> > UPI Intelligence Correspondent
> > From the Washington Politics & Policy Desk
> > Published 1/15/2003 4:17 PM
> > View printer-friendly version
> >
> > Israel is embarking upon a more aggressive approach
> > to the war on terror that will include staging
> > targeted killings in the United States and other
> > friendly countries, former Israeli intelligence
> > officials told United Press International.
> >
> > Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has forbidden
> > the practice until now, these sources said, speaking
> > on condition of anonymity.
> >
> > The Israeli statements were confirmed by more than a
> > half dozen U.S. foreign policy and intelligence
> > officials in interviews with UPI.
> >
> > With the appointment of Meir Dagan, the new director
> > Israel's Mossad secret intelligence service, Sharon
> > is also preparing "a huge budget" increase for the
> > spy agency as part of "a tougher stance in fighting
> > global jihad (or holy war)," one Israeli official
> > said.
> >
> > Since Sharon became Israeli prime minister, Tel Aviv
> > has mainly limited its practice of targeted killings
> > to the West Bank and Gaza because "no one wanted
> > such operations on their territory," a former
> > Israeli intelligence official said.
> >
> > Another former Israeli government official said that
> > under Sharon, "diplomatic constraints have prevented
> > the Mossad from carrying out 'preventive operations'
> > (targeted killings) on the soil of friendly
> > countries until now."
> >
> > He said Sharon is "reversing that policy, even if it
> > risks complications to Israel's bilateral
> > relations."
> >
> > A former Israeli military intelligence source
> > agreed: "What Sharon wants is a much more extensive
> > and tough approach to global terrorism, and this
> > includes greater operational maneuverability."
> >
> > Does this mean assassinations on the soil of allies?
> > "It does," he said.
> >
> > "Mossad is definitely being beefed up," a U.S.
> > government official said of the Israeli agency's
> > budget increase. He declined to comment on the Tel
> > Aviv's geographic expansion of targeted killings.
> >
> > An FBI spokesman also declined to comment, saying:
> > "This is a policy matter. We only enforce federal
> > laws."
> >
> > A congressional staff member with deep knowledge of
> > intelligence matters said, "I don't know on what
> > basis we would be able to protest Israel's actions."
> > He referred to the recent killing of Qaed Salim
> > Sinan al Harethi, a top al Qaida leader, in Yemen by
> > a remotely controlled CIA drone.
> >
> > "That was done on the soil of a friendly ally," the
> > staffer said.
> >
> > But the complications posed by Israel's new policy
> > are real. "Israel does not have a good record at
> > doing this sort of thing," said former CIA
> > counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson.
> >
> > He cited the 1997 fiasco where two Mossad agents
> > were captured after they tried to assassinate Khaled
> > Mashaal, a Hamas political leader, by injecting him
> > with poison.
> >
> > According to Johnson, the attempt, made in Amman,
> > Jordan, caused a political crisis in Israeli-Jordan
> > relations. In addition, because the Israeli agents
> > carried Canadian passports, Canada withdrew its
> > ambassador in protest, he said. Jordan is one of two
> > Arab nations to recognize Israel. The other is
> > Egypt.
> >
> > At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin
> > Netanyahu said, "I have no intention of stopping the
> > activities of this government against terror,"
> > according to a CNN report.
> >
> > Former CIA officials say Israel was forced to free
> > jailed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and 70
> > other Jordanian and Palestinian prisoner being held
> > in Israeli jails to secure the release of the two
> > would-be Mossad assassins.
> >
> > Phil Stoddard, former director of the Middle East
> > Institute, cited a botched plot to kill Ali Hassan
> > Salemeh, the mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics
> > massacre. The 1974 attempt severely embarrassed
> > Mossad when the Israeli hit team mistakenly
> > assassinated a Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer,
> > Norway.
> >
> >
> > Salemeh, later a CIA asset, was killed in Beirut,
> > Lebanon, in 1976 by a car bomb placed by an Israeli
> > assassination team, former U.S. intelligence
> > officials said.
> >
> >
> > "Israel knew Salemeh was providing us with
> > preventive intelligence on the Palestinians and his
> > being killed pissed off a lot of people," said a
> > former senior CIA official.
> >
> > But some Israeli operations have been successful.
> >
> > Gerald Bull, an Ontario-born U.S. citizen and
> > designer of the Iraqi supergun -- a massive
> > artillery system capable of launching satellites
> > into orbit, and of delivering nuclear chemical or
> > biological payloads from Baghdad to Israel -- was
> > killed in Belgium in March 1990. The killing is
> > still unsolved, but former CIA officials said a
> > Mossad hit team is the most likely suspect.
> >
> > Bull worked on the supergun design -- codenamed
> > Project Babylon -- for 10 years, and helped the
> > Iraqis develop many smaller artillery systems. He
> > was found with five bullets in his head outside his
> > Brussels apartment.
> >
> > Israeli hit teams, which consist of units or
> > squadrons of the Kidon, a sub-unit for Mossad's
> > highly secret Metsada department, would stage the
> > operations, former Israeli intelligence sources
> > said. Kidon is a Hebrew word meaning "bayonet," one
> > former Israeli intelligence source said.
> >
> > This Israeli government source explained that in the
> > past Israel has not staged targeted killings in
> > friendly countries because "no one wanted such
> > operations on their territory."
> >
> > This has become irrelevant, he said.
> >
> > Dagan, the new hard-driving director of Mossad, will
> > implement the new changes, former Israeli government
> > officials said.
> >
> > Dagan, nicknamed "the gun," was Sharon's adviser on
> > counter-terrorism during the government of Netanyahu
> > in 1996, former Israeli government officials say. A
> > former military man, Dagan has also undertaken
> > extremely sensitive diplomatic missions for several
> > of Israel's prime ministers, former Israeli
> > government sources said.
> >
> > Former Israel Defense Forces Lt. Col. Gal Luft, who
> > served under Dagan, described him as an "extremely
> > creative individual -- creative to the point of
> > recklessness."
> >
> > A former CIA official who knows Dagan said the new
> > Mossad director knows "his foreign affairs inside
> > and out," and has a "real killer instinct."
> >
> > Dagan is also "an intelligence natural" who has "a
> > superb analyst not afraid to act on gut instinct,"
> > the former CIA official said.
> >
> > Dagan has already removed Mossad officials whom he
> > regards as "being too conservative or too cautious"
> > and is building up "a constituency of senior people
> > of the same mentality," one former long-time Israeli
> > operative said.
> >
> > Dagan is also urging that Mossad operatives rely
> > less on secret sources and rely more on open
> > information that is so plentifully provided on the
> > Internet and newspapers.
> >
> > "It's a cultural thing," one former Israeli
> > intelligence operative explained. "Mossad in the
> > past has put its emphasis on Humint (human
> > intelligence) and secret operations and has
> > neglected the whole field of open media, which has
> > become extremely important."
> >
> > Regarding Mossad's new policy and budget increase,
> > Kim Farber an Israeli Embassy official said, "There
> > is so little information available on this, there is
> > nothing I can add."
> >
> > Copyright © 2001-2003 United Press International



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