After all, Israel was given a green light to invade and bomb Lebanon for the Hizbollah capture of two Israeli reserve soldiers.
Maybe he did defect (it is interesting that the word defect is only used in cases like the USSR, Cuba, Iran or North Korea, if someone moves from the US to Canada, did they defect from the the US?), I am sure things of that sort happen, but if not, it would definitely appear that Israel is trying to provoke Iran...
Info on Ron Arad's whereabouts isn't exactly a hot burner issue at the moment, worth provoking Iran's ire, but it would be if that is the result you want.
Bryan
---------------------------- Israeli embassies on alert after charges of Mossad kidnapping By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/833799.html
Security was beefed up in Israeli embassies worldwide Tuesday after reports were released that the Mossad allegedly is involved the kidnapping of a missing Iranian official.
Defense officials are concerned that there may be an attempt to kidnap embassy workers and strike Israeli targets.
A former Iranian deputy defense minister whose reported disappearance in Turkey sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping. A British newspaper reported Monday that the missing official is likely to possess information on missing Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad.
Arad has been missing in action since a 1986 mission over Sidon, Lebanon.
According to The Daily Telegraph report, Iranian intelligence official Ali Reza Azkari, 63, is also likely to have intimate knowledge of Iran's defense establishment and nuclear development program.
Azkari's disappearance in Turkey sparked allegations of a Mossad and CIA-linked kidnapping, but Haaretz has learned that he may have defected.
Azkari served in the senior defense post under former defense minister General Ali Samahani. Israeli media have said that for many years, Azkari was the most senior Iranian intelligence official in Lebanon, with responsibility for Iran's ties with Hezbollah.
Unnamed Arab diplomats have been quoted in Israeli media as charging that the Israeli Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agency kidnapped Azkari, who reportedly disappeared under mysterious circumstances from Istanbul, Turkey a month ago.
Israel Channel 10 television said late on Sunday that Azkari was kidnapped on February 7, after arriving in Istanbul from Damascus.
There has been no official Iranian statement on the reported affair.
According to one report, Azkari was to have stayed at a luxury hotel in the city, but disappeared before his planned arrival there. Another report held that he had checked into the hotel and was staying there at the time of his disappearance. The second account said that he left the hotel at one point and never returned, his baggage still in his room.
Iran reportedly sent a delegation of defense officials to Turkey last week to investigate the incident. It has also been reported that Iran has asked Interpol to open an investigation into the disappearance.