http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20030115-035849-6156r 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 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 View printer-friendly version
Am I the only one who doesn't like the idea of gun-wielding foreign spies assasinating people on American soil? That has the makings of a disaster.
You are not alone Jeff. Can you imagine what would happen if some Mossad agents were to off an innocent muslim american by accident or by mistake? We can't just say "it's okay, we forgive you." I mean killing an american should piss us off and killing a muslim will always piss the Middle East off and rightfully so if they are innocent. Israel ought to focus on their own problems and maybe try the whole "giving back that which doesn't belong to them" thing first.
1. I imagine that gun-wielding foreign spies assisinating people on US soil is not a new concept; 2. I also imagine we do the same, especially now; 3. Neither 1 or 2 make it 'right', so..uh...please continue...
I heard a local Hamas group is looking for new warriors.. you should join. Who are you to say who deserves the land and who doesn't?
Gee, I don't know, maybe reading about the Israeli army kicking people out of their homes, demolishing the empty houses, then building new settlements might cause me to lean a certain way. You are an a$$hole for calling me a terrorist just because I think Israel is doing something wrong. One, you can't act all high and mighty and tell me that it's not my place to say something, which was an opinion, when you clearly have it in your mind that Israel deserves the land when you called me a terrorist for disagreeing with what they have done and still do. Two, don't ever freaking call me a terrorist again. My family lost everthiyng they owned and members of our family in Nicaragua when the communist took over. I know the pain that can be caused when people with twisted ideology arm themselves. So stop acting like you know me and go fu** yourself.
Secret police principally utilize torture to attain their "intelligence". I thought we were going to war to stop all the torture
This is a very complex problem. The Palestinians have been attacking the Israelis from the very nanosecond that the UN put them there in 1948. When the Israeli military basically beats the Palestinians into submission the bombings decrease. When they start to release territory, the bombings flare up. I'm not saying that the tactics are right, but the Israelis have every right to protect themselves.
Alright tough guy.. thanks for the personal attacks. I never said you were a "terrorist", but I was just making a point that your statement of "giving them back land that which doesn't belong to them" was wrong and uncalled for. There are 2 sides to every story and I know Israel has a lot of blood on their hands but the Palestinians have atleast the same amount of blood. Israel won these territories from Egypt and Jordan during a DEFENSIVE WAR. I won't go into history because its a waste of time and it differs on whos history you are reading. You are entitled to your opinion, and im entitled to say that your opinion sucks. You can base your's off of articles that read of Israeli's demolishing homes(some of which are truly bomb factories or homes of suicide bombers) and I can base mine off of people getting blown up all because they went to a hotel to have a passover seder or going to a coffee shop or a pizza parlor. Stop acting like you know me and don't dare call me an a$$hole and you are crossing the line by telling me to go F myself. I won't be so quick to jump the gun with you. I don't know you personally and I don't know what you've been through in life. I can sympathize with your family. My grandfather was the only one from his family to survive the Holocaust. He lost EVERYTHING.
I thought this thread was about Israel assassinating "whomever" on American soil. If we tacitly allow them to do this, then this administration has gone down yet another road of madness. If they know where they are to kill them, then Mossad can tell our new "Homeland" Security people to arrest and extradite them to Israel or put them on trial ourselves. You know, under our beleaguerd Constitution. What a concept.
Israel and the Mossad have been assasinating individuals for years. Irregardless to what they call it "targeted killings" etc. I'm not sure if most people remember last year when they dropped a bomb on an apartment complex city block and killed close to 20 people including over 10 children all in order to assasinate one individual. I sure as hell do not want these people and their blatent disregard for human rights to be acting in our country. I personally feel that their harsh stances, violent approaches to settlments, and assasinations significantly increases reigonal animosities towards the state.
Your statement fails to explain why the bombings increase in frequency and severity whenever the Israelis have retreated out of the occupied territories. On another note and from a different poster.... I agree. They don't deserve the $hit they have been given in the form of unprovoked bombings, dead schoolchildren on the bus and destroyed businesses. Thanks for making the point so eloquently.
I agree with you that just as the Palestinians do not deserve their lives under oppression, the Israeli populace does not deserve the violence that has been inflicted upon them. Its the leadership of both sides that seems to be more preoccupied with pride and animosities rather then the future for their progeny.
You know if any Arab country, Asian country, Latin American country, African country or practically anyone else said this there would be something tough talk from Rumsfeld/Bush, a protest at the UN, demand for an apology or maybe even talk of adding them to the axis of evil.
i think you're absolutely right. i haven't heard a response yet at all...will be interesting to hear one way or another.
