As more time passes, tough questions are surfacing regarding the necessity and long-term benefit of the assassination of senior Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. If Israel was responsible for the operation - which gave rise to problems on an international level over the forging of passports from various countries and exposed operational methods - it is unreasonable that the matter be spared competent investigation, which would allow the proper lessons to be drawn for the future. This is true even if the mission's goal was achieved and its operatives got away unscathed.
Despite the absence of clear information, it appears the prime minister alone approves the special operations of the Mossad, Israel's espionage agency - the only government agency whose operations are subject to the decisions of only one individual.
Puppet Masters
© AFP
Forged: The Australian passport in the name of Adam Korman allegedly used in the Dubai hit
Forged: The Australian passport in the name of Adam Korman allegedly used in the Dubai hit
Relations between Australia and Israel are under strain after three Australian passports were apparently used by suspects in the killing of top Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in Dubai last month. Dubai police say they are 99 per cent sure Mossad was behind the operation to smother Mabhouh with a pillow in his hotel room.
Victor Ostrovsky, a case officer at Mossad for several years in the 1980s, says he has no doubt Australian passports have been forged or fraudulently used for similar operations in the past.
© Unknown
Abdolmalek Rigi
Abdolmalek Rigi
Jundullah is one of several groups that have been conducting bombings and other violent attacks against Iran's Islamic regime with the aim of knocking it off balance.
In a July 7, 2008, article for The New Yorker magazine, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh quoted Robert Baer, a former CIA clandestine officer who worked in South Asia and the Middle East for nearly two decades, as saying that Jundullah was one of the militant groups in Iran benefiting from U.S. support.
Al-Manar: Lebanese man arrested for aiding Mossad admitted he helped kill Ghaleb Alawi.
A man suspected of collaborating with Israeli intelligence admitted under interrogation to having been involved in the assassination of Hezbollah commander Ghaleb Awali in 2004, legal and security sources in Lebanon said Monday.
The organization's al-Manar news agency reported that Michel Abdo, who was arrested in Lebanon recently on suspicion that he aided the Mossad, admitted to involvement in the July 2004 murder, which took place in Beirut's southern suburb of Harat Hreik.
The London-based al-Hayat added that Abdo was responsible for securing the passage of a Mossad cell to a location in the area, from which agents entered the Hezbollah-controlled neighborhood and planted a bomb in Awali's car.
A man suspected of collaborating with Israeli intelligence admitted under interrogation to having been involved in the assassination of Hezbollah commander Ghaleb Awali in 2004, legal and security sources in Lebanon said Monday.
The organization's al-Manar news agency reported that Michel Abdo, who was arrested in Lebanon recently on suspicion that he aided the Mossad, admitted to involvement in the July 2004 murder, which took place in Beirut's southern suburb of Harat Hreik.
The London-based al-Hayat added that Abdo was responsible for securing the passage of a Mossad cell to a location in the area, from which agents entered the Hezbollah-controlled neighborhood and planted a bomb in Awali's car.
The federal government has demanded Israel explain its role in the alleged theft of three Australian citizens' identities by its spy agency, Mossad, to carry out a political assassination.
Mr Rudd is unhappy with Israel's response so far. "Australia is not satisfied with the answer that we received from the Israeli government ... in relation to the use and abuse of Australian passports," he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
At the UN General Assembly, Australia abstained from a resolution demanding Israel and Palestine investigate possible war crimes during the 2008-09 Gaza assault.
© Aliosha Marquez/AP
Soldiers guard the streets of Talcahuano, in southern Chile, after the earthquake.
Soldiers guard the streets of Talcahuano, in southern Chile, after the earthquake.
The Chilean military has taken control of towns and cities affected by the earthquake, it was reported today, imposing curfews and guarding shops from looters as the death toll from the disaster rose to more than 700.
The Chilean president, Michelle Bachelet, signed a decree putting the military in charge of security in the province of Concepción, where looters have targeted markets and supermarkets, hitting food and water supplies.
"We are facing a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort [for Chile to recover]," Bachelet said after meeting ministers and generals at the quake-damaged La Moneda Palace.
© Dubai Police
Some of the agents suspected of involvement in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai
Some of the agents suspected of involvement in the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai
Israel has a long, bloody history of murder, sabotage and outright terrorism all over Europe, in Beirut, Tunis, Amman, Damascus and now Dubai. And that is just what we know about. All of this is allegedly in "self-defense" against "terrorism" even though the Zionist movement in Palestine invented the sort of modern terrorism for which the Middle East became known. It started with countless Zionist bomb attacks on Palestinian civilians from the 1930s, often in markets and cafes, the bombing of the King David and Semiramis hotels in Jerusalem in the 1940s claiming dozens of innocent lives, and the murder of UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte. These crimes, on top of the long history of massacres of Palestinians, Lebanese and other Arabs over the past six decades, were all worn as badges of honor by Zionist leaders including Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir who later became prime ministers.
Dubai police officials claimed on Saturday they expected to soon announce they have firm evidence that the Mossad was involved in the killing last month of Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh.
Records of credit card payments and cellphone calls made by members of the 11-person hit squad that entered Dubai on European passports would provide the details needed to tie the assassination of Mabhouh to the Mossad, the police said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon denied on Saturday that Israel was behind the killing in Dubai or that it would damage Israeli-European relations.
Records of credit card payments and cellphone calls made by members of the 11-person hit squad that entered Dubai on European passports would provide the details needed to tie the assassination of Mabhouh to the Mossad, the police said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon denied on Saturday that Israel was behind the killing in Dubai or that it would damage Israeli-European relations.
Dahi Khalfan Tamim calls on Dagan to 'own up to his crime or deny Mossad's involvement in Mabhouh hit'; urges Arab states to thoroughly check Jews carrying non-Israeli passports.
After announcing that he was in possession of the DNA of at least one of the assassins of senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim called on Mossad Chief Meir Dagan to "own up to his crime or unequivocally deny his organization's involvement (in the assassination)".
According to Emarat Al Youm, a newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, Tamim urged Arab countries to thoroughly check any Jewish person who carries a non-Israeli passport in order to "prevent Mossad's infiltrations".
The Dubai police chief also called on European countries to take more stringent measures in order to make certain "Mossad does not make use" of the passports they issue, Emarat Al Youm reported Saturday.
After announcing that he was in possession of the DNA of at least one of the assassins of senior Hamas figure Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim called on Mossad Chief Meir Dagan to "own up to his crime or unequivocally deny his organization's involvement (in the assassination)".
According to Emarat Al Youm, a newspaper published in the United Arab Emirates, Tamim urged Arab countries to thoroughly check any Jewish person who carries a non-Israeli passport in order to "prevent Mossad's infiltrations".
The Dubai police chief also called on European countries to take more stringent measures in order to make certain "Mossad does not make use" of the passports they issue, Emarat Al Youm reported Saturday.
© Unknown
The following is the detailed transcript of Rigi's confession, stated in Farsi, as broadcasted on Press TV.
"After Obama was elected, the Americans contacted us and they met me in Pakistan.They met us after clashes with my group around March 17 in (the southeastern city of) Zahedan, and he (the US operative) said that Americans had requested a meeting."
"I said we didn't have any time for a meeting and if we do help them they should promise to give us aid. They said they would cooperate with us and will give me military equipment, arms and machine guns. They also promised to give us a base along the border with Afghanistan next to Iran."
Comment: Ex-CIA agent confirms US ties with Jundullah
Pakistani-based US branch of Terrorism Inc. "Jundullah" claim responsibility for Iran blast
Western intelligence agencies finance and train Jundullah terrorist group
Terrorist group inside Iran has been secretly advised by U.S. officials since 2005
Comment: Just imagine how many of all those terrorizing groups that spread havoc across the Middle East are acting on behalf of US and Israeli interests while the rest of the world is led to believe that they are just crazy Arabs who are killing each other. We wouldn't be at all surprised if the answer is: all of them. SOTT editor, Joe Quinn, has been writing about it since 2007.