Israel Matzav

#Wikileaks: Clinton: 'A Potemkin process better than nothing,' exploit Bibi's apology to Israeli Arabs

You might recall that in the final days of the 2015 election, as he was panicked that the Obama administration was underhandedly attempting to remove him, Prime Minister Netanyahu urged Right wing voters to come out and vote to prevent the Arab population from causing the Left to win the election. Later, Netanyahu walked back those remarks.

Here, courtesy of Wikileaks, is Hillary Clinton's reaction.

And you want to put her in charge?

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton, Israeli Arab, John Podesta, Knesset elections 2015, Middle East peace process, V-2015, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:20 PM 0 comments

Wow! Federal judge calls Netanyahu 'turbaned Israeli mullah,' Podesta nods in agreement

Wikileaks yields another treasure trove.

In an email to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, US judge George Paine (more on him in a minute) refers to Prime Minister Netanyahu as a 'turbaned Israeli mullah,' and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta nods in agreement (Hat Tip: Zvi S).

Who is George C. Paine II of Nashville, TN? He was, until his retirement, Chief Judge for the US Bankruptcy Court of the Middle District of Tennessee. He is most famous for having been subjected to a disciplinary proceeding because of his membership in a club that excluded blacks and women. Odd are the number of Jewish members approached zero, too.

The amazing thing about this email is that a federal judge felt comfortable sending it at all. And he wouldn’t have sent it unless he knew that Podesta shared his biases… which is obvious from Podesta’s comment.

And you thought which campaign is being supported by racists and anti-Semites?

Labels: anti-Semitism, Hillary Clinton, John Podesta, US presidential campaign 2016, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:09 PM 2 comments

Hillary Clinton campaign manager: Don't mention Israel at public events

Here's another gem from the latest release of John Podesta emails. Clinton campaign manager Robbie Mook said that Clinton should not mention Israel at public campaign events.

Here's the conversation:

Labels: Hillary Clinton, US presidential campaign 2016, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:29 PM 0 comments

Podesta on Iran nuke deal: 'Yup' it will lead to nuclear war

Here's part of the latest Wikileaks dump - an email from Clinton campaign manager John Podesta the day after the Iranian nuclear sellout was signed.

He agrees with Senator Mark Kirk (R-Il) that the Iranian deal will lead to nuclear war.

Does Hillary agree?

(Hat Tip: Sunlight).

Labels: Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iranian nuclear threat, Mark Kirk, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:15 AM 1 comments

Hillary Clinton's 'facade of a peace process' would require releasing real terrorists

Shavua tov, a good week to everyone.

The latest Wikileaks email dump discloses that Hillary Clinton believes that a 'facade of a peace process' would be better than no peace process at all.

Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton wrote to her senior advisors, a few days after the Israeli elections, that she believes that a "Potemkin" peace process between Israel and the Palestinians (meaning a peace process that was only for show) was better than no peace process at all, a Clinton campaign email posted on WikiLeaks shows.

On March 23, 2016 at 8:56 P.M. Clinton's senior foreign policy advisor Jake Sullivan emailed Clinton and John Podesta, chairman of her presidential campaign. If Clinton is elected, Sullivan is likely to be appointed White House National Security Advisor. The email sent by Sullivan included a link to a New York Times article discussing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's apology for his Election Day statement that “Arab voters are coming in droves to the ballot boxes." By the link to the article, Sullivan wrote Clinton and Podesta "Unsurprisingly, Pragmatic Bibi makes an appearance."

Seven minutes later Clinton responded positively to Netanyahu's comments quoted in the article. She wrote that Netanyahu's apology was "an opening that should be exploited," and tied it to the promoting of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. "A Potemkin process is better than nothing," and referred her advisors to another New York Times article published a few days earlier in which Netanyahu's next moves as prime minister were described.

A 'Potemkin' peace process would not come without cost. Without a price in Jewish blood, the 'Palestinians' won't show up.

We had one of those during the Obama administration. We released 78 terrorists with Jewish blood on their hands to pay for it. It ended badly, with our Defense Minister under attack (and apologizing) for calling US Secretary of State John Kerry a messianic (a fair description especially if you consider this). Thanks, but no thanks.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorists, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:50 PM 0 comments

Clinton emails show visceral hatred for Michael Oren

I've been arguing on social media for the last few days that we ought to be focusing on the contents of both Hillary Clinton's and the Democratic National Committee's emails, and not on how they came to light. At the end of the day, what's in the emails is far more important than Donald Trump trolling the Russians to release them (and he may well be correct that the Russians already have them).

In that light, I'd like to discuss some of what's come to light about Hillary Clinton's relationship with Israel as Secretary of State, and particularly about her relationship with Michael Oren, who was the Israeli ambassador to the United States during her tenure at the State Department.

In his book, Ally, Oren writes that during his first six months in Washington, he could not get a meeting with Clinton. It's perhaps indicative of that relationship that when I tried Googling "Clinton Oren" and "Hillary Clinton Michael Oren" in Google Images, the picture above was the only one I found that had the two of them in it together. There were several pictures of Oren with Barack Obama and of Prime Minister Netanyahu with Clinton, but only one of Oren and Clinton together.

This was not Oren's imagination, as Haaretz reported about a year ago from an earlier release of Clinton emails:

On December 10, 2009, about six months after Oren took up his position in Washington, Brian Greenspun sent an email to the private account of then- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, asking her to check why her staff was not allowing the Israeli ambassador to meet her. It’s isn’t clear whether Oren was the one who asked Greenspun to intervene.

Greenspun is publisher of the Las Vegas Sun and was Bill Clinton’s old college roommate. He even raised money for him in Nevada when Clinton was president. According to various reports, in January 2001, a few weeks before the end of the president’s term, Greenspun also asked Clinton to grant a pardon to the founder of Israel Aerospace Industries, Al Schwimmer, for his role in smuggling U.S. planes to Israel in 1950.

“Hi Hillary,” writes Greenspun in the short message, parts of which were redacted before it was released for publication. Greenspun writes that rumor has it that the Israeli ambassador was unsuccessfully trying to arrange a meeting with the secretary of state. 

He says he can’t imagine why her staff would keep Oren away from her and offered his help if there was any problem.

Why did Hillary keep Oren away? Rabbi Shmuely Boteach connects it to Oren's refusal to speak at the first J Street conference in 2009.

Furthermore, a flurry of email communications from July 2012 surrounded Hannah Rosenthal, who served from 2009 to 2012 as special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism for the Obama administration. After three years in this position, news broke that Rosenthal had accepted a position as president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. However, she faced harsh criticism from sectors of the Jewish community for her past views toward Israel. The exchange in these released emails from Hilary’s server showed that the administration was very concerned about this opposition and planned on how best to counteract it, with long-time aide Huma Abedin keeping Clinton apprised.

Rosenthal had previously served on the board of directors of the anti-Israel J Street. She was also on the board of directors of Americans for Peace Now – an organization that advocates for a total BDS-style boycott of Judea and Samaria and its settlements. Yes, this was the person hand-picked by the White House with Clinton’s blessing to fight anti-Semitism.

The protests of Rosenthal’s appointment to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation post stemmed in part from her associations with these anti-Israel groups.

We know that Rosenthal has been a major supporter of Hillary Clinton for the past 20 years and was appointed and served under the Bill Clinton administration in a top-level position in the Department of Health and Human Services.

In a speech of July 13, 2010, Hillary Clinton praised Rosenthal’s appointment to combat anti-Semitism, saying, “I have known Hannah for more than 20 years and we have worked over those 20 years on issues that are near and dear to both of us.” She went on to say, “We know we have a big challenge ahead of us, but I was thrilled when Hannah agreed to take this position...”

Yet just a few months earlier, Rosenthal’s first denunciation in her new role was not against anti-Semitism but shockingly against ambassador Michael Oren.

Oren had recently turned down the offer to be the keynote speaker at J Street’s inaugural conference in December 2009, saying that the policies and approaches of J Street toward Israel were “fooling around with the lives of 7 million people.”

Rosenthal, no doubt offended at the refusal, broke protocol in an uncharacteristic attack on Oren, condemning his comments, and calling his approach to J Street “most unfortunate,” saying that he “would have learned a lot” if he had attended the conference.

Supporting J Street, boycotting Judea and Samaria, and condemning Michael Oren. Was this the basis of Hillary’s support for Rosenthal? Rosenthal faced criticism from a number of Jewish groups for her words. Alan Solow, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, summed up the unusual and inappropriate nature of Rosenthal’s comments. “As an official of the United States government, it is inappropriate for the anti-Semitism envoy to be expressing her personal views on the positions ambassador Oren has taken, as well as on the subject of who needs to be heard from in the Jewish community.”

The Israeli government released a statement that said in part, “We received Ms. Rosenthal’s statements as reported in Haaretz with astonishment and surprise.”

The Obama administration tried to reassure Israel that these comments did not represent State Department policy.

Unfortunately, the truth is that based on everything we have seen in these email dumps, this is precisely what the State Department’s policy was.

Drawing on Clinton's emails, Boteach describes some of the paranoia in the State Department's treatment of Oren.

In one email, [Sidney] Blumenthal sent an article from the notoriously anti-Israel website Mondoweiss, which has long trolled me on the Internet, and which duplicitously implied with empty insinuations that Oren had planted a false story about a joint US-Israel Iran strike in a plot to manipulate US policy.

On another occasion, Blumenthal sent two articles written by his anti-Semitic son, the notorious Israel-hater Max Blumenthal, which implied Oren was conspiring with Benjamin Netanyahu to derail the peace process.

Sidney Blumenthal derisively emailed Hillary about Oren’s untrustworthiness writing, “[T]he New Republic is a preferred outlet for the highest level Likud/neocon propaganda. Michael Oren, a channel for Israeli intel, was a frequent contributor in the past.”

He also sent an email describing rumors from his journalist son Paul, who claimed to have heard that “Oren raced around the West Wing searching for Barack [Obama], opening doors and looking in rooms.

[Then-US national security adviser Thomas] Donilon heard about Oren’s frantic snooping and raced after him, catching him, and escorted him out. Apocryphal? True?” Hillary responds to the email, “Doubt that it happened, but, these days, who knows???”

In another article several months ago, Boteach went further.

In the entire forced dump of her emails, you will be hard-pressed to find a single note that is sympathetic toward the Jewish state from any of the people she trusted. The negative, poisonous approach Ms. Clinton established demonstrates that a huge segment of her close advisers and confidants were attacking Israel, condemning Prime Minister Netanyahu, and strategizing how to force Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria at all costs.

This was occurring in the backdrop of Israel’s recent Gaza withdrawal, which led to the takeover of the Strip by Hamas. There is almost zero mention of the huge risks to Israel’s security in withdrawing, as Ms. Clinton and the Obama Administration did everything they could to pressure Israel to capitulate to their demands.

Read some of the emails cited by Boteach in that article. Appalling. 

One doesn't need much imagination to conclude that a Clinton administration's relationship with Israel would be no better than the Obama administration's relationship with Israel over the last eight years, especially so long as Binyamin Netanyahu is Prime Minister.

That's one lesson we should all be learning from the Clinton emails.

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Hillary Clinton, Max Blumenthal, Michael Oren, Rabbi Shmuely Boteach, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Sid Blumenthal, US presidential campaign 2016, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:17 PM 0 comments

It came to this: Netanyahu had to ask Berlusconi for help with Obama

In case you missed it, Haaretz reported on Tuesday that the US National Security Administration intercepted a 2010 phone call between Prime Minister Netanyahu and then-Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in which Netanyahu asked Berlusconi for help in repairing his relations with the self-declared 'most pro-Israel administration evah.'

During their conversation, Netanyahu claimed he needed Berlusconi's help due to an "absence of direct contact" between himself and President Barack Obama.

The document leaked to the WikiLeaks website is a brief summary of Netanyahu and Berlusconi's communications that was published by the NSA for internal usage by the American intelligence community and the White House. According to the document, the call was intercepted as part of U.S. monitoring of Berlusconi's office, and not through a wiretap on Israeli lines.

The conversation between Netanyahu and Berlusconi took place four days after a crisis erupted during Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Israel on March 9 due to Israel's decision to green light 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem's Ramat Shlomo neighborhood, which is beyond the 1967 Green Line.

The NSA report said "Israel has reached out to Europe, including Italy, for help in smoothing out the current rift in its relations with the United States."

The call took place on an open international line, so it is likely Netanyahu knew the conversation would be intercepted by U.S. intelligence services. It is even possible Netanyahu used the conversation with Berlusconi to try to reach out to America.

I don't know which is more troubling here - the fact that Netanyahu even had to reach out to Berlusconi in the first place or the fact that the United States, which continues to hold Jonathan Pollard after he spent 30 years in jail for 'spying' on Israel's behalf, was spying on Israel in the first place.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Joe Biden, Jonathan Pollard, Ramat Shlomo, Silvio Berlusconi, spying, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:10 PM 1 comments

Martin Indyk, Barak Ravid and Haaretz (and NPR) campaign to pin Rabin assassination on Netanyahu continues

Israel's Left, together with certain career 'diplomats' in the US State Department, have never relented in their efforts to pin the assassination of Yitzchak Rabin on Prime Minister (and then opposition leader) Binyamin Netanyahu. The latest assault comes from the publication by Barak Ravid and Haaretz of a 'secret' cable (published by uber-Leftist NPR) ostensibly sent by then-US Ambassador Martin Indyk to the State Department on the morning after the assassination more than 20 years ago. But before we even look at the cable, look at the inflammatory Haaretz English edition (the only edition that's read and it's read mostly outside Israel) headline: Indyk: At Funeral, Netanyahu Lamented That Assassination Made Rabin a Hero.

Indyk made the remarks in a Frontline documentary broadcast on PBS on Tuesday. Netanyahu was opposition leader at the time. 

"Netanyahu sat next to me when I was ambassador in Israel at the time of Rabin’s funeral," Indyk says in the film. " … I remember Netanyahu saying to me: 'Look, look at this. He’s a hero now, but if he had not been assassinated, I would have beaten him in the elections, and then he would have gone into history as a failed politician.”

Indyk said that he had the impression that "even at that moment of tremendous support, a tragic moment of support for Rabin, Netanyahu was thinking, well, politically he was on the ropes before he was assassinated."

Indyk's comments are reinforced by a telegram sent from the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv on the morning after Rabin's assassination, a message that was exposed by Wikileaks a few years back. In the classified telegram that Indyk sent on November 5, 1995 at 10:15 A.M. to the White House and the State Department, he reported on a conversation that had taken place a few hours earlier between the State Department adviser at the embassy and Netanyahu. The Rabin assassination, Netanyahu is quoted as saying, is "a disaster for the Jewish people, a disaster for Israel and a disaster for the right, which will be decimated if elections are called soon."

Netanyahu's office denies that the conversation ever took place and says that Indyk fabricated it.

The Prime Minister's Office issued a “blanket denial,” saying that what Indyk said “never happened.”

The Likud issued a response to Indyk's statement saying that “this is another blatant lie by Indyk, who never stops discrediting and defaming” Netanyahu.

True that.

But what's also true is that the comments attributed to Netanyahu do reflect what the conventional wisdom here in Israel was shortly after the assassination: That it would turn Rabin into an icon (indeed, it has made criticizing the very premises of the Oslo Accords into heresy) and would decimate the Right the next time there were elections.

But instead of calling elections immediately as many in the Left urged Shimon Peres to do (link in Hebrew and discussed below),  Peres waited three and a half months to call elections, by which time the 'Palestinians' had committed two massive terror attacks here in Jerusalem against the number 18 bus on consecutive Sunday mornings followed by a massive terror attack on the eve of Purim at Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv.

The elections took place in late May, and shortly after Uzi Baram of the Labor party publicly thanked Arab voters for putting his party and the Left over the top, around 6:00 am on the morning after the elections, Netanyahu and the Likud suddenly and inexplicably pulled ahead and went on to victory.

Much of that is in - or is alluded to - in the Hebrew version of Ravid's article, which has far more than the English version. The Hebrew version reports that on the morning of Rabin's funeral, the Left was behaving every bit as politically expediently as the Right, urging Peres to call elections. And the Hebrew version reports that Yasser Arafat was decimated by Rabin's assassination (no other event shook him as much except for the 1988 assassination of his top aide - Abu Jihad - allegedly by Israeli commandos led by Ehud Barak in Tunis), believing correctly that Peres would not be strong enough or have close enough connections to the IDF to give the 'Palestinians' their reichlet.

The Hebrew version of Haaretz also reports that Arafat gave orders to the 'Palestinians' to 'minimize' celebrations of Rabin's assassination and shooting in the air (an order that Arafat did not give on 9/11 by the way).

Not the first time that Haaretz has told a lot more in Hebrew than it did in English.  For those who read Hebrew, read the whole thing. I don't have time to translate it.

Labels: 9/11, Binyamin Netanyahu, Martin Indyk, Middle East peace process, Palestinian terrorism, Shimon Peres, Wikileaks, Yitzchak Rabin

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:54 PM 2 comments

Wikileaks' Assange blames 'Jewish pro-censorship lobby' for Charlie Hebdo terror attack

How the Jewish pro-censorship lobby legitimized attacks on Carlie Hebdo for "offensive" speech http://t.co/6Ts6rWgw7p #CharlieHebdo
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 8, 2015

I can't even tell you 'it starts' because there were stories on Wednesday and Thursday that already blamed Israel for the Charlie Hebdo attack, some even ascribing it to the Mossad or labeling it a 'false flag' operation.

But Assange is in a different league than the BDS'ers, and had a lot of credibility until now. Breitbart calls Assange for the tweet.

While Google is unable to find anything resembling an official or organized “Jewish pro-censorship lobby,” to back its defamation, WikiLeaks links to a 5 year-old Daily Telegraph report about a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist facing charges of anti-Semitism in a French court. Mauraice Sinet, who was 80 at the time, faced these charges (and was fired by Charlie Hebdo) over a column some interpreted as “linking prejudice about Jews and social success.”

France’s notorious Hate Speech Laws, however, are not designed to just protect Jews.

France’s principal piece of hate speech legislation is the Press Law of 1881, in which Section 24 criminalizes incitement to racial discrimination, hatred, or violence on the basis of one’s origin or membership (or non-membership) in an ethic, national, racial, or religious group. A criminal code provision likewise makes it an offense to engage in similar conduct via private communication.

There are numerous instances of French citizens, including actress Brigitte Bardot and even legitimate presidential contenders, finding themselves hauled before French courts and convicted of speech crimes against Muslims.

Hmmm.

Labels: anti-Semitism, Charlie Hebdo, France, Islamic terrorism, Islamophobia, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:33 PM 1 comments

Where's the outrage over US spying? CIA agents instructed how to avoid secondary screening at Ben Gurion

Wikileaks has released a CIA document entitled "CIA Assessment on Surviving Secondary Screening at Airports While Maintaining Cover." The document, which is dated September 2011, has instructions for CIA agents traveling on false identities on how to avoid secondary screenings at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.

"Secondary screening – a potentially lengthy and detailed look by airport officials at passengers not passing initial scrutiny – can significantly stress the identities of operational travelers," reads the introduction. "Referral to secondary screening can occur if irregularities or questions arise during any stage of airport processing – immigration, customs, or security – and regardless of whether the traveler is arriving, in transit, or departing. Officials may also randomly select travelers." 

...

The document details the reasons that could lead to security agents at Ben-Gurion to refer a traveler to secondary screening. "A review of clandestine reporting reveals examples of what various countries consider to be suspicious," it is written.

"Israel’s security personnel focus on frequent travel to Islamic countries," the document explains. "Security personnel at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, commonly refer military-aged males traveling alone with backpacks to secondary screening, regardless of their nationality or skin color."

The document includes a detailed description of secondary checks at Ben-Gurion.

"At Ben Gurion airport in Israel, the secondary screening room contains trace-detection equipment for explosive residue; tools for dismantling passengers’ personal items for inspection, particularly items unfamiliar to security officers; and a disrobing area, divided by privacy curtains, to conduct strip searches of individuals, if necessary," according to the document.

The CIA's internal guide book also refers to an internal manual from 2004 published by International Consultants on Targeted Security, an Israeli-founded company, which provides security advice to various governments on matters such as profiling techniques. The manual reportedly "lists suspicious signs in passenger behavior, documentation, tickets, or baggage." The document adds, "Although dated, the ICTS guidelines probably are typical and remain valid."

Now imagine what would happen if a Mossad manual were released that showed how to avoid being stopped at TSA checks in the US.... I know - it would be laughable.... But you can bet the Americans would be outraged.

This line is particularly telling:

"With the exception of Israel’s Ben Gurion airport and a few others, immigration inspectors conducting primary screenings generally lack the time and tools to conduct in-depth examination of travelers’ bona fides," according to the document released by WikiLeaks.

Sounds to this frequent traveler like a great argument for implementing Israeli-style security everywhere.... 

Labels: airport security, Ben Gurion Airport, CIA, Israeli airport security, Mossad, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:07 PM 1 comments

CIA gets lots of job applicants from Hamas, Hezbullah and al-Qaeda

A document turned over to the Washington Post by former NSA analyst Edward Snowden shows that the United States government investigates thousands of employees every year for suspected terror ties, and that Hamas, Hezbullah and al-Qaeda members have repeatedly sought employment with the CIA.

The CIA found that among a subset of job seekers whose backgrounds raised questions, roughly one out of every five had “significant terrorist and/or hostile intelligence connections,” according to the document, which was provided to The Washington Post by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

The groups cited most often were Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda and its affiliates, but the nature of the connections was not described in the document.

So sharp is the fear of threats from within that last year the NSA planned to launch at least 4,000 probes of potentially suspicious or abnormal staff activity after scrutinizing trillions of employee keystrokes at work. The anomalous behavior that sent up red flags could include staffers downloading multiple documents or accessing classified databases they do not normally use for their work, said two people familiar with the software used to monitor employee activity.

This shrouded, multimillion-dollar hunt for insider threats has suffered from critical delays in recent years and uneven implementation across agencies, the budget records show. And the spy agencies’ detection systems never noticed that Snowden was copying highly classified documents from different parts of the NSA’s networks.

The hunt is apparently motivated by Wikileaks. But it's not being done efficiently. As noted, Snowden fell through the cracks, because he was a contractor and not an employee.

Fellow Israelis: Aren't you glad we share intelligence information with the United States while they spy on us? What could go wrong?

Labels: al-Qaeda, Central Intelligence Agency, Hamas, Hezbullah, intelligence, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:32 PM 0 comments

'Palestinian Authority' wanted Falk fired

A Wikileaks cable shows that in 2010, the 'Palestinian Authority' asked that UN 'human rights council' special envoy Richard Falk be fired... because he was too pro-Hamas (Hat Tip: Elder of Ziyon). The cable was written by Douglas Griffiths, then the American charge d'affaires in Geneva.

PA May Call for Special Rapporteur Falk's Dismissal

¶8. (C) Also on February 16, in a separate conversation with Charge and PolCouns, PA DPR Zuhairi was visibly upset by Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the OPT Richard Falk's reference to Hamas in his draft report. In para 8, Falk states that UNGA resolution 64/10 calls on Hamas - vice the PA - to undertake investigations. Zuhairi argued that he had too often corrected Falk's many errors and that this latest misguided effort by Falk had gone too far. Zuhairi said he might use the February 18 HRC organizational meeting to seek to block Falk's report from being presented to the HRC on the grounds that Falk overstepped his mandate, had addressed issues outside his brief, and had failed to appropriately recognize a UNGA resolution (not to mention the legitimate authority of the Pa). Zuhairi also said he wished Falk would drop his repeated suggestions that Israel's actions in the OPT be equated with the Holocaust. Such language has allowed Israel to justify its refusal to allow Falk to visit, and has limited his usefulness as a rapporteur.

¶9. (C) In light of the reference to Hamas, Zuhairi said he had called Falk personally and asked him to step down, something Falk angrily rejected. Zuhairi sought our advice on how best to approach the issue, particularly in light of currently OIC and African Group attempts to censure the secret detention study. Charge and PolCouns, while acknowledging the problem of recognizing Hamas, told Zuhairi that the U.S. defended the independence of the special procedures mandate holders and that we objected to state's use of the code of conduct as a means to muzzle rapporteurs.

In other words, Falk is so anti-Israel that choosing him shoots the 'Palestinian' cause in the foot. Heh.

Labels: Hamas, Palestinian Authority, Richard Falk, United Nations Human Rights Council, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:52 PM 0 comments

Kissinger accused Israel of holding back peace

The idea that Israel is solely responsible for the lack of peace in our region dates back to at least 1975. That's what we've learned from a cable written by then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 1975, which was among more than 1.7 million cables released by Wikileaks this week, in which Kissinger accuses Israel of holding back peace.

The Jerusalem Post has uncovered a cable sent from the US Embassy in Saudi Arabia on January 9, 1975, which analyzed the Israeli-Arab conflict. It was concluded that it was Israel's stubborn position that was holding back peace.

At one point the cable stated, "Nevertheless, viewed from here, the Israeli pessimism seems largely if not entirely unwarranted. It seems based on an extraordinary lack of understanding of what happened in the Arab world in the last year and a half. Rather than girding their loins for the fifth, sixth, seventh Israeli-Arab wars. The Israelis might examine more carefully than they seem to have done so far the alternative of a peaceful accommodation with the Arabs."

The US report also went into the Israel public's pessimistic attitude toward peace following the Yom Kippur War, "We have been struck by the growing pessimism in Israel and in American Jewish circles. It seems to be based on the axiom that Israel cannot be expected to relinquish any more of the Arab lands it conquered in 1967 without Arab guarantees of security for Israel, the collorary [sic] that the Arabs will never give such guarantees and the conclusion that another war is therefore inevitable." The report seemed to be blaming Israel for not making peace with the Arabs and even shows its disappointment with the Arab offer in Algiers for going too far in making concessions to Israel.

"The Arab decision in Algiers to give de facto recognition to Israel in its 1967 borders was perhaps a mistake. To announce, before negotiations start, what is your final position is usually not a good bargaining tactic," the report stated.

The mention of Algiers, the capital of Algeria, most likely refers to the Arab League summit that was held there in 1973, whose resolution called for an Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories and Jerusalem. It also called for supporting the Palestinian resistance by all possible means.

A "just peace" based on Arab demands was offered conditionally if Israel agreed to their demands.

The report goes on to make stinging criticism against the Israeli position.

"Before talking about extermination, and before allowing either the Masada or the Samson complex to progress to obsession, the Israelis might usefully examine their own position and that of the Arabs," the report stated, adding that Cairo and Damascus strongly yearn for peace.

"All reports we have heard and read from Egypt and Syria lead us to believe that those two countries strongly yearn for peace and that they would like to devote their energies to reconstruction of their countries." Then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, the cables continued, was not helping the Arab leaders who sought peace.

"The advocates of this approach, however, have not been helped by statements of Rabin and others in Israel that the next withdrawal will be the last for several years." The report concluded with a policy prediction reminiscent of contemporary arguments.

"The Palestinians might consider a demilitarized state as humiliating or detracting from their sovereignty, but it is unlikely they would get much sympathy or help from the Saudis if they tried to spoil a settlement. If they agreed they could expect massive Saudi financial support to make their tiny new state viable. Jordan and Israel would benefit vicariously."

 If only Israel would roll over and play dead, we might really be dead (God forbid) and then there would be 'peace.' The more things change....

Labels: anti-Israel obsession, Henry Kissinger, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:26 PM 1 comments

Wikileaks may have outed 'Mossad agent' causing his death

A report in the Times of London shows that Wikileaks may have exposed Majid Fashi, a 24-year old Iranian 'Mossad agent' who was executed earlier this week for his alleged role in the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

The Times of London reported Wednesday that a document from the US Embassy in Baku, Azerbaijan, seemingly drew attention to Fashi. The September 2009 US diplomatic document — identified by the code 09BAKU687 — quotes an Iranian source who was a licensed martial arts coach and trainer as describing to his American contacts pressure from the Iranian regime to train soldiers and militiamen in martial arts.

Fashi was reportedly in Baku for an international martial arts competition only days before the US Embassy document was written.

The suggestion is that the Iranian authorities identified Fashi as someone who was in illicit contact with the West on the basis of the document. He was arrested days after the publication of the document by WikiLeaks in December of 2010 and charged with carrying out the January 2010 assassination of nuclear scientist Masoud Ali-Mohammadi on behalf of the Mossad.

The British report Wednesday quotes a UK academic, Birmingham University professor Scott Lucas, speculating that the diplomatic cable may have been a critical piece of evidence or simply a pretext on which to arrest Fashi. “It could have been used as a pretext against him; to set him up as a person who could take the fall for the assassination,” Lucas said.

There is nothing in the US document pertaining to Israel.

The evidence against him certainly sounds flimsy, but if you're an Iranian, how much contact are you going to want to have with the West after this? Let alone actually help out Israel or the US....

Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, Mossad, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:48 AM 0 comments

Video: WIkileaks founder Julian Assange interviews Hassan Nasrallah

A man in hiding interviews a man in hiding: Wikileaks founder interviews Hezbullah chieftain Hassan Nasrallah on Russia Today.

Let's go to the videotape (Hat Tip: MFS - The Other News).



Gee, you think he wants to destroy Israel or something? What do you think, Dan Meridor?

Labels: Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbullah, Julian Assange, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:50 PM 2 comments

Erdogan denies he has two years left to live

You may recall that I reported here that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has colorectal cancer. One of the Startfor email series leaked by Wikileaks claims that Erdogan has only two years to live. Erdogan has now taken the trouble to deny that he only has two years left.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday dismissed as "impudent" rumors about his health based on an e-mail released by WikiLeaks claiming that he had only two years to live.

"Allah is the owner of our soul," Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AKP party in Ankara. "It is Allah and only Allah who will decide how long I will live."

The prime minister, who turned 58 a few weeks ago, has undergone two successive operations on his intestinal system, one on November 26 last year and the second on February 10.

A long period of convalescence after the first operation has prevented Erdogan from travelling overseas, while leading many to speculate on his state of health.

But Erdogan has repeatedly said that the surgeons had taken out polyps from his intestines and there had been no trace of cancer.

Polyps can be cancerous or non-cancerous. The fact that there were polyps doesn't prove that there was no cancer - in fact, they make it more likely that there was cancer than would have been the case if there were nothing.

Erdogan is scheduled to travel to South Korea on March 26 and 27 and to Iran on March 28. Let's see if he makes those trips.

Labels: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Stratfor, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:42 AM 0 comments

Wikileaks (Stratfor): Israel Defense Intelligence like Stratfor?

A Stratfor email released by Wikileaks gives the impression that Stratfor operates a lot like Israel's Defense Intelligence agency.

On 12/15/11 10:30 AM, Marc Lanthemann wrote:

Source is an old friend from college who is now a major in IDF intelligence. Had not seen one another in years. Very secretive of what they do; seemed pretty suspicious about what exactly I was doing in Israel. Nothing too groundbreaking, just some interesting observations.

...


- Opsec at IDI (Israel Defense Intelligence) seems pretty extreme. If you try to email this person, you don't hear back for a month, minimum - usually even longer. Reason is because no websites that have passwords are allowed at work. Emails for internal comms only.

- Source is in D.C. frequently for meetings with DIA. When I asked if they are often trained by the Americans, the response was a smirk and, "We like to think we don't need the Americans to train us." IDI, source said, is "more creative" than American counterparts. The way they work sounded similar in philosophy to STRATFOR, actually. For example, there is a specific officer who is referred to as the "Devil's advocate" at the IDI offices. This person is allowed to challenge any random paper on any topic, produced by someone of any rank. If a paper is written that says, hypothetically, that Bashar will fall in three weeks, the Devil's advocate can then say, "Okay, I'm challenging this assertion. Now, I want you to write the exact opposite argument and play out the logic." Source did not deny that they, too, can fall prey to groupthink like any other intelligence body, but was a firm believe that this was a good way to avoid it.

- "Where are the moderates in the Muslim world?" That was the theme of the conversation on source's end. If you listen to this person, you come away with the notion that the Israelis seem extremely unnerved about the future of the region, with the primary focus being on the Iranian threat. (Again, this is not groundbreaking insight.)

- Source openly said that none of this shit would be happening right now had Obama not abandoned Mubarak like he did. When I later criticized Bush for shattering the balance of power in the PG, source shot back, "Well what about Obama?" I said that Obama had maintained the same FP as Bush, a claim with which the source agreed. And yet the source loves Bush's policies and hates Obama's. Israelis are not a fan
of Barack.

- Because Obama abandoned Mubarak, source lamented the fact that Egypt was no longer the leader of the Arab world. This does not mean source believes the MB is on the verge of completely taking power in Egypt - (I specifically asked if that was the belief the IDI holds) - but it does mean that there is a steep drop in faith that the SCAF has ability to maintain the status quo. Overall I found the message on Egypt a bit confusing.

Since they don't allow access to websites with passwords, at least the IDI will (hopefully) avoid being hacked by Wikileaks like Stratfor was. I suspect that the IDI would be a lot more interesting.

Elder has an amusing piece on a Maan reporter whom the source calls 'batsh*t insane.'

Here's the inside scoop on Nasser and the key to understanding how Maan remains the only truly independent news source in Palestine: He's a decades long supporter of the Popular Front, was president of the PFLP at Bethlehem Univ. and went to jail six years for it.

As a PFLP supporter, he detests organized religion and its mixing in politics (Hamas) just as much as he hates materialism/capitalism/corruption (Fatah). (On that second point, he's probably the most beloved media personality in the country and has huge influence, yet he never thought to move out of the refugee camp where he was born. Badass.)

The other important thing to know about Nasser, more important than anything else I just mentioned, is that he is batshit insane. Really do love the guy but something is off up there, trust me. He will spout out the craziest theories every once in a while.

Heh.

Labels: intelligence, Stratfor, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:38 PM 0 comments

Wikileaks (Stratfor) CIA alive and well in Lebanon?

Some of you may recall that back in November, it was reported that several CIA operatives in Lebanon were 'outed,' and that as a result it was reported that the crucial CIA listening post in Beirut was shut down. Stratfor documents released by Wikileaks on Wednesday report that the station is still alive and well, and that the claim that the CIA was shut down was one that was made to get Hezbullah off the CIA's back.

Email-ID 5287911
Date 2011-11-21 16:10:50
From Anya.Alfano@stratfor.com
To burton@stratfor.com, alfano@stratfor.com, korena.zucha@stratfor.com
Some of this feels like disinfo. If the CIA lost a few people in Beirut,
it would be reasonable for them to send a few "current and former US
Officials" to the AP to "leak" a story that the all US coverage of Hez has
been "wiped out" -- best way to stop the search for more informants.

On 11/21/11 10:03 AM, burton@stratfor.com wrote:

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Goldman, Adam"
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:56:44 -0600 (CST)
To: Fred Burton
Subject: RE: CIA spies outed in Lebanon

Thanks! Been working on this for a while. It's bad. CIA's Hezbollah
coverage has been wiped out.

From: Fred Burton [mailto:burton@stratfor.com]
Sent: Monday, November 21, 2011 8:05 AM
To: Goldman, Adam
Subject: Fwd: CIA spies outed in Lebanon

Great work Adam!

AP Exclusive: Spies Outed, CIA Suffers In Lebanon

http://www.salon.com/2011/11/21/ap_exclusive_spies_outed_cia_suffers_in_lebanon_2/

Monday, Nov 21, 2011 10:17 AM 11:15:26 GMT+0200

By Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The CIA's operations in Lebanon have been badly
damaged after Hezbollah identified and captured a number of U.S. spies
recently, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press.
The intelligence debacle is particularly troubling because the CIA saw
it coming.

The CIA may not have anyone on the ground in Beirut (or more likely they do), but you can bet that the Mossad does. Heh.

Labels: Beirut, CIA, Stratfor, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:50 PM 1 comments

Wikileaks (Stratfor): Israel traded Georgian UAV codes to Russia for Iranian Tor M-1 codes, Turkey gave Israel S-300 codes

Wikileaks' Stratfor email dump is reporting that Israel gave Russia the codes for UAV's that Israel sold to Georgia in exchange for the codes for the Tor M-1 anti-aircraft systems that Russia sold to Iran. Again, I am putting this in chronological order:

PUBLICATION: ask me first
ATTRIBUTION: N/A
SOURCE DESCRIPTION: MX301 - Former Mexican cop, Latam military analyst,
writes for Jane's
SOURCE RELIABILITY: A
ITEM CREDIBILITY: 1
SUGGESTED DISTRIBUTION:
SPECIAL HANDLING: n/a

...

Ok, here's the really juicy part:
There is a private Mexican company called Idra that the government funded
to make UAVs. They are actually pretty high standard according to him and
beat out the Israeli UAVs in testing. My friend was consulting Idra at the
time and so he was privy to a lot of deals that were on the table. This is
the story --

The Mexican government is now paying some $25m (? can get the #s later)
for UAVs from Israel. Idra is basically like WTF, but the reason is
basically corruption. There is a deal b/w the Mexican interior ministry
and the Israelis where they're getting a hefty kickback.

This is the interesting part, though.

Idra had an offer to sell UAVs to Georgia (this was happening during and
after the war). The reason Georgia needed the UAVs is because the UAVs
they had bought from Israel had been compromised by the Russians. The
Russians got the data link for the UAV (there is some suspicion that the
Israelis after the war may have given this to them. Remember all the
intense mtgs b/w the Israelis and the Russians where the Russians got the
Israelis to back off of defense deals to Georgia in return for Russia
backing off Iran?). Anyway, the Georgians gave Idra a picture of one of
their crashed UAVs. The source explained though that if the UAV were
targeted, it would have been blown to pieces pretty much (it's like the
size of a car basically). But the picture he saw showed the UAV intact. He
inquired and basically what happened was that the Russians acquired the
data link to hack into the system and force the UAV into the ground. I
think they may have crashed another one too.

So, since the Georgian UAVs were compromised, they then tried to sell them
to the Azerbaijanis. I dont know if that deal went through. Idra backed
off the deal to Georgia because they were advised that it would raise a
lot of political complications between Mexico and Russia.

...

PUBLICATION: No, but ask first
ATTRIBUTION: N/A
SOURCE DESCRIPTION: MX301 - Former Mexican cop, Latam military analyst,
writes for Jane's
SOURCE RELIABILITY: A
ITEM CREDIBILITY: 1
SUGGESTED DISTRIBUTION:
SPECIAL HANDLING: n/a

Met with my Mexican source/friend again today and dude is getting shadier
by the day. We followed up on our past discussion on Russia compromising
the Israeli-made Georgian UAVs prior to the August war.

Here is what else I learned

One of the source's friends/colleagues -- formerly military i think but
now does private defense deals on the side (it's Mexico) contacted him in
July (prior to the Georgia war). Apparently the Georgians had contacted
this guy because they were frantically looking for a replacement for the
Israeli UAVs that were compromised....

Here is the most interesting part:

I inquired more about the compromised Israeli UAVs. What he explained was
that Israel and Russia made a swap -- Israel gave Russia the 'data link'
code for those specific UAVs; in return, Russia gave Israel the codes for
Iran's Tor-M1s.

I asked about the S-300 (source tracks a lot of defense deals for Jane's).
He doesn't think the Russians will give it to the Iranians. Besides, he
said... Israel and Turkey have been collaborating very closely on the
S-300s. He explain how about 8 years ago when Russia sold S-300s to Greece
to base in Crete (which were supposed to protect Cyprus), Russia delivered
those with a carrier so that Turkey wouldn't try to sink them. (things got
a bit noisy so i may have misheard some of this). The gist of what he said
is that Turkey has been cracking the S-300 since the Crete sale and has
been sharing intel on the S-300 with the Israelis to ensure that they
retain an advantage over Iran should Iran get them from the Russians.

as far as the Georgian UAVs go, they were interested in the Mexican ones
because the Mexican UAVs had something (forget the name. it was
auto-something' that basically backs up teh UAV system in case someone
hacks into it and immediately returns the UAV to base.

Hmmm.

By the way, that's a Tor M-1 at the top.

UPDATE 1:41 AM

I forgot to add that Israel Radio has been reporting all evening that Georgia's Foreign Minister was here for a one-day 'secret' mission on Tuesday. But if Stratfor was correct and Georgia knew its UAV's had been compomrised, one has to wonder why he was here now. It may have had nothing to do with this.

UPDATE 5:07 PM

Photo updated (thanks to Asher G).

Labels: Georgia, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Russia, S-300 missile defense system, Stratfor, Tor M-1, Turkey, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:45 AM 0 comments

Wikileaks (Stratfor): Pakistan attempts to influence US policy, blasts Israel

Wikileaks intercepts Stratfor emails that indicate that Pakistan - where they love Barack Hussein Obama (and where Korans are dumped in raw sewage canals without any apologies) - attempted to influence US policy toward India and Israel.

Source Code: PK700
ATTRIBUTION: STRATFOR security source
SOURCE DESCRIPTION: Former Pakistani intelligence officer
SOURCE RELIABILITY: B
ITEM CREDIBILITY: 3
SOURCE HANDLER: Fred

Pakistan bashing continues. How convenient it is to ignore the huge size of India cocuss and the campaign funding they receive from India through Indian Americans acting as conduits. No one talks about the covert and overt influence israel enjoys through funding American congressmen and the control Israel has on American policies through coercion and fear of Jewish lobby. Since FBI is involved the blessing of US administration is obvious. Unfortunately this PAK bashing is earning hatred for US in a normally pro US country specially it's Armed Forces. This campaign to browbeat or pressurize Pakistan will have an opposite effect in a society where respect is valued and enmities leave memories for generations

By the way, the email was written two months after the United States killed Osama Bin Laden a few blocks away from Pakistan's intelligence agency's headquarters. Maybe there was a reason people in the US were 'bashing' Pakistan?

Labels: Israel, Pakistan, Stratfor, Wikileaks

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:11 PM 0 comments