Guilty Before Trial: The Mabhouh Assassination and the Incrimination of Israel
For weeks newspapers across Europe and the Middle East have been obsessed with the January 19 assassination of Hamas terror chief Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Although he was a man whose hands were dripping with the blood of innocent victims including infants, the press corps was far more critical of what was described as an Israeli assassination team of 26 that used foreign passports to conceal their identities and commit the murder.
Dubai police officials accused Mossad of the act, even though there was little direct evidence for this assertion. British newspapers blamed Israel unreservedly for Mabhouh’s death, even though there was some evidence Egyptian and Jordanian secret police were on his trail for some time.
The Telegraph claimed that British immigrants to Israel had their passports removed and copied at passport control in Tel Aviv’s airport, a practice that never occurred.
The Times argued the paper had evidence Prime Minister Netanyahu personally ordered the hit, but the evidence wasn’t produced.
Even the New York Times joined the chorus by insisting Dubai assassinations by Israel operatives occur routinely.
And French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, in a state of high dudgeon, said, “[W]e are against this form of assassination; whoever orders them should be punished. Like the British and the Germans we have asked Israeli authorities to explain themselves.” Of course he neglected to point out the many times French Foreign Legion personnel have engaged in assassination.
It is instructive that the Dubai authorities have not provided forensic evidence that points the finger of guilt at Israel, despite the widespread belief it was a Mossad operation. A few commentators, notably Alan Dershowitz, maintain that if Israel killed Mabhouh, it had every right to do so since he was a combatant in the war against the Jewish state.
How comforting. To cherry-pick whatever you wish, so as to blame whom so ever you want, and consider it “evidence.”
Very well. Under these game rules, I hereby blame Iran for beginning WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm (beyond what we already know for certain they are responsible for). Thus we are in a state of war with them. Let’s drop a few nukes on them.
Oh, not “fair?” Well damn, do they understand the concept of consequences leading to actions? Fine if true. Not fine if fabricated.
Then again, if these are their “rules,” that of arbitrarily “deciding” a thing is so, then the sky is the limit, we can “decide” to attack whomsoever we wish, since claiming a thing is soooo much more important than the actual facts.
Whoever assassinated Mabhouh, terrorist (and founder of terrorist organization), my hat’s off to them.
The little non-fiction and new reports I’ve read regarding Mossad and Israeli security (I wish our own security was in as good a shape as theirs is!), I find it awful hard to understand that Mossad had anything to do with this. It would not be like them to send 26 or so agents to off one little piece of crap.
Lately I’ve read recently of Dubai police leaning towards a pack of 26 agents sent from an Arab nation to handle this chore.
Whatever, he needed to be dusted anyway.
Unfortunately, we have MUCH media in a ‘blame Israel first’ mode, and it’s very much unlike them to do retractions.
I actually find it rather amazing the NYT is still in business – thought they would have completely folded more than a year back. Interesting, just read the other day they paid CEO $4.9Mil for ’09… Whoever would have thought being a CEO of a ‘scandal rag’ could be so lucrative?!?!?!
Ah, but this can be good particularly if Israel takes out a few more enemies. Nothing earns respect like 100mg of Succinyl Choline in the leg.
This needs to be considered an opportunity to actually use the copy cat technique more widely whether Israel did this or not (likely they did not, but they were in a position to watch it go down). In fact, they could earn foreign exchange by contracting these services out to the CIA that apart from the use of drones has been completely emasculated by the libs in power.
We could use a little thinning of our enemies within and abroad; this might be considered an investment when one’s enemies are preoccupied with looking over their shoulders.
Did Dubai report on the 5 bogus passports from various countries were found on the dead terrorist gun runner; with the dead terrorist gun runners picture…
Did the msm report it? Did the msm report how 2 of the killers escaped thru Iran! Who ever it was was bold!
How many in Islime complain about this insult to Islime:
It is of course only the leaders of Islime that “insult the Koran/Islime” by claiming the Jews have no connection with the land, (the Jews who understand their faith become Muslims Koran:3:113)
The Koran is obsessed with converting the Jews; but according to today’s “insulters of Islime”, “Jews have no claim/connection to the land” except the Koran makes it clear that “the Jews exist on the land” predating Islime.
Something is rotten outside Denmark! I demand these rascals that obviously no nothing about the Koran/Islime stop insulting Islime/Koran by claiming Jews have no connection to the land!
And yes, Jews have a Torah and a 3000 year written connection to the land which predates Islime by 2000 years. How can Islime claim to know who was on the land for the 2000 years before it/Islime was founded?
When terrorists murdered the Israeli Olympic team Israel hunted them down and executed every one of the murderers! They are still seeking the remainders of those who were in support and ordered the murders. Those executions were professional and it didn’t take 26 members per subject.
There is something entirely too amateur about the events in Dubai. Since when does a professional assassin allow his face to be recorded by a camera? Since when does the Mossad need 26 people to execute one enemy? When was the last time you saw the photograph of a member of the Mossad you could recognize? This whole thing is more like some 70′s movie with Michael Caine and Walter Matthau, although I think even THEY would have done better!
Just as those who run banana republics blame the CIA every time someone in their leadership has a heart attack, so those who store their towels on their heads blame the Mossad for every fever! It’s paranoia, pure and simple.
I suggest a less biased assessment of the events will point to a much less professional organization as the source of the hit. Perhaps, this man has cheated some of his clients, a who’s-who of scumbags in the region, all of whom have indulged in the odd assassination in the past. Just because they didn’t use a bomb, doesn’t mean it wasn’t the wild-eyed maniacs!
Whether you like them or hate them, you have to acknowledge the experience and professionalism of the Mossad! They have exacted justice against their enemies many times without leaving a trace; why would they become such a bunch of bunglers so suddenly?
The reaction to the story of the assassination was a perfect example of anti-Semitism, clothed in the robe of hypocrisy. This attitude is obvious in the press the world over and I should think that most people, if they know anything at all about the past, would be alarmed enough to stand up against it. For one thing, why do people still buy these newspapers which are blatantly anti-Semitic? I wouldn’t waste my time!
5. Bubblehead
I agree. There’s something rather Keystone Kops about this operation. Are we seriously to believe that Mossad was not only unaware of suveillance cameras, but changed into Inspector Clouseau-grade ‘disguises’ in front of them? And used the passports of actual, living Israelis? And why in G-d’s name would Mossad agents flee Dubai…for Iran?
Either this was someone else, or Mossad was playing a very deep double-bluff.
Without actual proof, I too am one of those that “reflexivly assumes” it was an Israeli hit, and GOOD for them. I congratulate the efficiency of the operation, in both moral and practical terms.
It is exactly what we need more of, more often, and should include heads of state as well(Iranian/Syrian/Libyan/Saudi etc etc etc.) These people are in the business of death and terror, and should (for once) reap what they continuously sow. Lord knows OUR leaders are, and have been since before 9/11, in mortal peril of THEIR covert forces. But for good security, does anyone really think Bush, Blair, Bebe, etc etc. are really safe from them?
As far as hidden antisemitism in the “mainstream” reporting, I think not quite so much. Its simply their reflexive disagreement with an ideology that believes in the defense of liberty, and the confrontation of evil.
Remember, these reporters are the spoiled brats of leftist educational systems, where patriotism and right/wrong are just quaint little concepts the ignorant right wing masses take far too seriously. They are reflexively Anti-Israel, in the same way they are reflexively American-American, when it comes to terroism.
Consider their reporting on the so called Abu Ghraib “atrocities”, which amounted to little more than the kind of hazing these very jounalists probably experienced in pledging to their college Frats. Compared the virtual news blackout of the numerous live recorded beheading/murders commited by Muslims, to the “guy with arms outstretched in the hood” standing on the box. One is an Iconic Image on par with Kent State or the Marines at Iwo Jima. Verses Nick WHO?
Its not quite antisemitism that motivated them, as much as it was a “pro terrorist” and “anti Bush” reflex in them, much like thier circa 1968 level solidarity with the Viet Cong, and hatred of Nixon. Sad, yes, but predictable in the extreme. The MSM’s simple, reflexive posture of “its always our fault” and “we’re just as evil as them” is often equally applied to Isreal, and should not necessarily translate to antisemitism, hidden or otherwise.
Which is to say, (in a perverse paradox they probably dont realize) that their predictably immoral stance on honest coverage of events merely that acknowledges Isreal is most often the “good guy”, the white hat in such “controvesial” situations.
Israel, like the US, is held to a higher standard, with the impossible expectations of a bloodlessly clean and non lethal defense, while tolerating attack after attack from the most barbaric, intolerant, and visciously indescriminate murderes in all of the world.
As expected, the smug apologists in the media are busily practicing the “subtle racism of low expetations” from OTHER states and actors, while holding those at the higher end of the moral pendulum’s arc to a completely different set of rules.
That is their worldview.
Antisemitism, in my opinion, has little to do with it.
Did Israel deny it?
as a muslim, I hate Hamas and the rest of the a…..holes. however two wrongs do not make a right
and Mr. London:BTW Alan dershowitz does not get to decide who in enemy combatant. Just like you, his allegance is to Israel not the country of his birth…
“Did Israel deny it?”
I think Joe Stalin once said not to believe any rumors until officially denied.
The Dubai operation was like a beautiful ballet. Let’s see more of same!!!
Addendum:
From Herbert London’s article above: “Yet remarkably, there weren’t any political repercussions. There were no calls for sanctions, no press conferences, no talk about how the killer(s) entered Dubai with fake passports.”
As if anyone needs any more proof of the biases from the media, today in the NYTs is this article:
“Gaza Rocket Attack Into Israel Kills a Thai Worker”
Originally featured on the front page online with this byline (now buried down in the text) : “The foreign agricultural worker, Manee Singueanphon, 30, from Thailand, was the first fatality from Gaza rocket fire since the end of a three-week Israeli military offensive into Gaza in January 2009.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/19/world/middleeast/19gaza.html?hp
No mention of the fact that the “three-week Israeli military offensive into Gaza” was a direct result of Gaza Muslim fascists firing hundreds of rockets into Israel. Along with many in the media, the Israel-bashing America-bashing NYTs consistently uses the passive voice when referring to Muslim atrocities, and worse, attributes the fallout from Muslim atrocities to the victims of those atrocities when they defend themselves. Notorious.
Makes me so proud to be a Jew!
The operation was an extremely overt act. I do seriously doubt the Israeli’s planned or executed the operation. But if they did do it, than they have my congratulations.
Mossad exists without being seen. Their previous operations were small, tight, focused and deliberate. No fanfare, nothing to attract extraneous attention.
This assassination, was a very, very sloppy operation. Judging by the looks of some of the operators, I suspect Chechen’s, or at least Eastern Europeans. Definitely ordered by a muslim country. The hope that Israel would be blamed.
The have been several other assassinations in the region in the last several months. For example, the plane that blew up after taking off from Lebanon. A plane that contained several diplomatic figures, and there were others (HAMAS or Hizbollah operatives) who backed out of the flight just before it took off.
But nothing is mentioned of this plane explosion. It apparently took off in inclement weather. So who knows? Strange days indeed.
The Mossad is hardly infallible but this seemed like an usually clumsy operation–one of the alleged assassins was smiling at the hotel security camera, for example. This many people to accomplish taking out a terrorist does not seem the Mossad’s usual modus operandi. Of course, they’re as capable of screwing up as anyone else is.
Mr. London asks if the western media have a double standard when it comes to Israel? Gosh…you know…why, yes, I think they do.