Report: Saudi intelligence chief meets with Israeli counterpart... and with J Street?
Take this with a grain of salt, because the source is Iranian, but Iran's FARS News is reporting that Saudi intelligence chief Prince Bandar al-Sultan
met in Geneva last month with his Israeli counterpart. From there, it gets comical.
Mujtahid, a whistleblower who is well connected with the inner circles
of the Saudi secret service, revealed through his twitter account that
Prince Bandar has met his Israeli counterpart and several other
high-ranking Israeli officials in Geneva on November 27.
He said that Prince Bandar and Israeli officials have agreed on a
number of crucial issues, including “containing Iran by any possible
means, exercising stronger control over Syria’s Jihadist forces,
sidelining Muslim Brotherhood and stopping the waves of the Arab
spring".
Different sources had told FNA in September that Prince Bandar’s envoy
had been in Geneva to explore ways of enticing the world powers into
war on Syria in a series of meeting with the executive director of a
very influential Zionist lobby.
"The latest meeting between Riyadh al-Tamimi and Jeremy Ben-Ami, the
executive of J Street lobby, was held in Geneva on August 20, during
which the two sides discussed the latest developments in Syria, ways to
strengthen militants fighting against President Bashar al-Assad and
proper methods of persuading the US officials to wage a war against
Syria," an informed Saudi source present in most of the meetings told
FNA in September.
J Street - the main Jewish opponent to sanctions against Iran - is trying to get the US to wage war on Syria? You've got to be smoking something....
J Street, a US Jewish lobby is widely thought to be American Israel
Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)’s rival. J Street Director Jeremy
Ben-Ami has announced that as a pro-Israel lobby the group works for
Israel’s benefit and has underlined its commitment to Israel.
And the Iranians are dumb enough to believe that?
The source, who asked to remain unnamed due to the sensitivity of his
information, also said that like the Saudi officials, specially Prince
Bandar, J Street has made use of all its possibilities and potentials in
recent months to coax the US political and military officials into
limited military operations against Syria's sensitive and vital regions.
I can think of some other reasons that the source might want to remain unnamed....
And from the 'make sure you get this into Google Cache before they can take it down department, the JPost is actually
carrying this as a credible story, leaving out the parts about J Street. Of course the Post is using the Sunday Times of London as its 'credible' source....
According to a report in The Sunday Times from last month, Riyadh gave its consent for Israel to use Saudi airspace for a potential attack on Iran.
The Times report came out before the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers was reached. Both Jerusalem and Riyadh expressed displeasure at the deal being formulated.
The
paper quoted a diplomatic source as saying the Saudis were willing to
assist an Israeli attack by cooperating on the use of drones, rescue
helicopters and tanker planes.
“Once the Geneva agreement is
signed, the military option will be back on the table. The Saudis are
furious and are willing to give Israel all the help it needs,” the Times quoted the source as saying.
If you're dumb enough to use the
Sunday Times of London as a
credible source on anything having to do with
Israel, you deserve what you get. Anyone want to take bets on how long this story stays up at the JPost site?
Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, J Street, Mossad, our friends the Saudis, Prince Bandar al-Sultan, Syria, Times of London, Uzi Mahnaimi
Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler
Here's Soccer Dad's Middle East Media Sampler for Tuesday, April 23.
1) Middle East arms deal
The United States is concluding an arms deal with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Hoagland: arms deal "weaken the only containment strategy Obama consistently practiced - the containment of Israel" wapo.st/12D0xtp
— Shmuel Rosner (@rosnersdomain) April 23, 2013
The New York Times reports U.S. Arms Deal With Israel and 2 Arab Nations Is Near:
While one goal was to ensure that Israel continues to field
the most capable armed forces in the region to deter Iran and counter a
range of threats, it was equally important to improve the capabilities
of two important Arab military partners. Another challenge, senior
administration officials said, was coming up with a package that could
help Israel deal with various security challenges — but devised so it
would not be viewed as an American endorsement of accelerated planning
by Israel to strike alone at Tehran’s suspected nuclear facilities.
The objective, one senior administration official said, was “not just to
boost Israel’s capabilities, but also to boost the capabilities of our
Persian Gulf partners so they, too, would be able to address the Iranian
threat — and also provide a greater network of coordinated assets
around the region to handle a range of contingencies.”
Those other security risks, officials said, include the roiling civil
war in Syria — a country with chemical weapons that could be used by the
Assad government or seized by rebels — and militant violence in the
Sinai Peninsula.
The Washington Post reports Hagel: Mideast arms deal ‘a very clear signal’ to Iran and adds some background:
Hagel has visited Israel several times previously, including
during his 12 years as a Republican senator from Nebraska, but this is
his first visit since he became defense secretary in February. Hagel was
narrowly confirmed by the Senate after some proIsrael groups
vigorously opposed his nomination, arguing that he was insufficiently
supportive of the Jewish state and too soft on Iran.
Speaking to reporters aboard his military aircraft, Hagel was reluctant
to reopen that debate, saying that his confirmation hearing was “years
ago.”
He also took pains to emphasize that the United States and Israel regard
Iran as a clear threat that must be prevented from developing nuclear
weapons. He stressed Israel’s right to self-defense and repeated that
the Obama administration would not rule out military action to stop Iran
from building nuclear bombs.
Yes, pro-Israel groups objected to Hagel's nomination. But their
"argument," as the reporter put it, was Hagel's record. Would the Hagel
who objected to the undue influence of the Israeli lobby object to this
deal that Secretary of Defense Hagel is concluding?
2) Good Kerry, Bad Kerry
Secretary of State John Kerry has gotten some flack from Turkey.
The New York Times reports Turkey Criticizes Kerry Over Request to Postpone Visit to Gaza:
The criticism came a day after Mr. Kerry, while on a visit
here, told reporters that he had urged Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan to delay the Gaza trip to avoid inflaming tensions at a time
when the Americans were trying to revive talks between the Palestinians
and Israel.
“Only our government decides where and when our prime minister or
another Turkish official would go to, and is not in a position to seek
permission or acceptance of any authority,” Mr. Erdogan’s deputy prime
minister and government spokesman, Bulent Arinc, said in a televised
statement. “Because both Mr. Kerry and the world know that Turkey has
the power to do whatever it wishes at the desired time.”
Mr. Arinc’s statement may have been partly intended for a domestic
audience, aimed at countering the possible impression that a visiting
American secretary of state could give Turkey orders. It was also
notable that the Turkish reaction was delivered by a lower-ranking
official, an indication that the Turks did not want the issue to
escalate.
True, Turkey is an independent nation, but so is the United States.
Erdogan reportedly plans to visit Gaza after a visit to Washington. If
Erdogan continues to defy the wishes of Washington maybe it would be
appropriate for President Obama to reschedule the planned Washington
trip, as long as Erdogan dismisses Washington's concerns. It's good to
see Secertary Kerry articulating a good American policy.
Unfortunately not all of Kerry's comments have been well considered.
Kerry's equation of families of Mavi Marmara terrorists with Boston terror victims shows shocking moral imbecility. timesofisrael.com/deputy-ministe…
— Melanie Phillips (@MelanieLatest) April 22, 2013
3) The Mahnaimi problem
Turkey denied a report that was made on Sunday by Uzi Mahnaimi that
Turkey agree to allow Israel bases from which to attack Iran. The Times
of Israel follows up on its earlier report:
A Turkish official told the Hurriyet Daily News that the
Sunday Times report was “a hypothesis” about the “step by step” process
of the normalization of Turkish-Israeli relations.
“Talking about the prospects of a military cooperation at this stage
would be irrelevant,” he added. “We are not there yet. We haven’t even
yet appointed a new ambassador to Israel.”
I'm surprised that the denial wasn't more categorical. Still it's a
stretch to claim that Israel has an agreement with Turkey for airbases,
when its negotiators just got to Turkey.
The problem with repeating unreliable reports (as in the case of
Mahnaimi) is that it gives the report a credibilty. Sure, by qualifying
the article with the word "Report:" leading the headline you're saying
that it was true that this story was reported without guaranteeing the
veracity of the details. But why do that, if you're not also going to
explain why the claim is dubious?
Labels: Boston, Boston Marathon, Islamic terrorism, John Kerry, Middle East Media Sampler, Soccer Dad, Turkey, Uzi Mahnaimi
Hamas preparing for armed struggle to take over Judea and Samaria
The
often hysterical Uzi Mahnaimi at the Times of London is now claiming that
the sky is falling Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal has ordered Hamas 'sleeper cells' in Judea and Samaria to prepare for '
armed struggle' to gain control of the territory.
According
to the report, citing the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the
Aman military intelligence service, Hamas, at the behest of Iran, was
preparing to seize power in the West Bank as it did in Gaza in a 2007
civil war.
The Sunday Times
claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had been warned by
Israeli intelligence services of Hamas's possible usurpation of power,
and quoted what it described as a close Netanyahu associate as saying:
“Bibi [Netanyahu] understands the geopolitical changes in the Middle
East. No way would [he] give up an inch of the West Bank - he is
convinced that the intelligence assessment about a Muslim Brotherhood
[Hamas] takeover is solid.”
The Sunday Times
also alleged that relations between Hamas and Iran were on the upswing
after a brief cooling off period; relations were strained when Sunni
Hamas abandoned its support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, Shi’ite
Iran's primary ally in the region.
According to the paper,
however, as Assad’s position has weakened, Iran has hedged somewhat by
re-pivoting towards Hamas in order to protect its interests were Assad
to fall.
The Sunday Times
said that Iran's motivation was to create a third proxy force in the
West Bank - after Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza - through which
to retaliate to any potential Israeli attack on Tehran's nuclear
program.
The paper concluded by quoting senior Fatah member and
former head of Palestinian general intelligence General Tawfik Tirawi as
saying that "Hamas wants intifada [uprising]" and "will take over the
West Bank.”
What could go wrong?
Labels: Hamas, Judea and Samaria, Khaled Meshaal, Uzi Mahnaimi
Israeli spies scouring Iran for evidence of nuclear weapons?
Put an
Uzi Mahnaimi alert on this one. This time, the Times of London's Israel correspondent claims that Israel has spies based in Kurdistan who are attempting to find 'definitive evidence' of Iranian nuclear weapons. No link for this one either - it's behind a paywall. Someone fished it off Lexis/Nexis for me and sent it.
ISRAEL is using a permanent base in Iraqi Kurdistan to launch cross-border intelligence missions in an attempt to find "smoking gun" evidence that Iran is building a nuclear warhead.
According to western intelligence sources, the Israelis, who have a close relationship with the semi-autonomous Kurds, have been conducting such operations for several years.
In recent months they have intensified, aimed at the Parchin military complex near Tehran to which the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations nuclear watchdog, has been denied access. The IAEA has voiced suspicions that a military nuclear capability is being developed there.
Cross-border operations are also aimed at Fordow near the holy city of Qom, a protected site where Iran says it is conducting intensive uranium enrichment. This process could lead to military-grade purification, although Iran insists it is intended for peaceful purposes.
Israel has used sensitive equipment during its covert operations to monitor the radioactivity and magnitude of explosives tests.
[Here's where Mahnaimi becomes really unbelievable. CiJ] Israeli special forces are using Black Hawk helicopters to carry commandos disguised as members of the Iranian military and using Iranian military vehicles, according to the sources. The Black Hawks can carry about 10 commandos in full gear and two pilots about 500 miles without refuelling.
Earlier this month the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China called on Iran to co-operate fully with UN inspectors and allow them to visit the Parchin site. The last IAEA inspection was in 2005.
"We've detected clean-up efforts recently in Parchin which might indicate that the Iranians are trying to hide evidence of warhead tests in preparation for a possible IAEA visit," said a western source.
The Israelis said 10 years ago they had provided the IAEA with information pointing to possible nuclear tests at Parchin. But when IAEA inspectors were allowed in, no trace of such experiments was found.
The nuclear programme, which started more than 20 years ago, has three components - uranium enrichment, the Shahab-3 missile and weaponisation - to fit the bomb and detonator to the missile.
Earlier this month Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, is reported to have passed to President Barack Obama new evidence about the programme, some of which was a result of cross-border operations.
In 2003, after the US invasion of Iraq, the Iranians are said to have stopped their weaponisation programme for fear of being the next in line.
A US intelligence report indicated this in 2007, but caused confusion because it led many to believe that Iran had stopped its quest for a nuclear weapon. "While the weaponisation stopped, building ballistic missiles and the enrichment process continued," said the source. The Israelis blame this confusion for delaying effective sanctions against Iran.
In the past, cross-border operations by the Israelis have been the precursor to a military strike. In September 2007 Israeli jets attacked a secret Syrian nuclear reactor built with the help of North Korean experts and financed by the Iranians.
A short time before the attack, a group of Israeli soldiers carried out a cross-border intelligence operation to collect evidence of radioactivity.
I believe that Israeli intelligence has many assets on the ground in Iran (in fact, I know that they have). But Blackhawk helicopters ferrying spies in Iranian uniforms from Kurdistan? Come on....
Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran, Uzi Mahnaimi
Hmmm....
Last Sunday, I reported that brothers Sammy and Yuli Ofer were
sanctioned for selling tankers to Iran. In Sunday's Times of London,
occasionally sensationalist columnist Uzi Mahnaimi claimed that the Ofers' company was actually
ferrying commandos for raids in Iran (for those, like me, who refuse to pay for access to the Times of London, you can find the full article
here). (Hat Tip:
David R via
Globes).
Military experts suggested the cargo ships had carried Black Hawk helicopters, hidden in modified containers, for use by commando teams in reconnaissance missions against Iran’s secret nuclear sites. Israel is conducting a massive intelligence operation to monitor Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.
By using giant freighters with helicopters and men hidden in containers on their decks, the Israeli forces would possess a logistical platform similar to a helicopter assault warship and one that could approach the Iranian coast without suspicion.
Defence sources said some ships from the group controlled by Ofer and his brother Yuli were known to have given Israeli forces access to Iranian waters.
At least 13 ships owned by the Ofer Brothers Group have docked in Iran over the past decade, using the port of Bandar Abbas on the southern coast and the Kharg Island oil terminal in the Gulf, according to Equasis, a shipping information database.
The Raffles Park, a ship sold to Iran by the Singapore-based Tanker Pacific, had docked off the Iranian shore four times between September 2002 and January 2010, according to Equasis records. The US State Department said Tanker Pacific was owned by the Ofer Group but the company has said this is “a mistake” and denied any wrongdoing.
Israel has said the matter is one between the company and the State Department and it will not back Ofer’s efforts to be removed from the American blacklist of companies found trading with Iran.
Sammy Ofer passed away on Friday. In a statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu praised him as a 'Zionist through and through.'
Hmmm.
Labels: Blackhawk helicopter, Iran, Ofer Brothers, Uzi Mahnaimi
