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Voice of Israel from Jerusalem,
Shalom, the time is now 6 am and here is the news,
in the studio, this is Rivki Dangot, Continue reading
The Day After Israel Attacks Iran
Category Archives: Mossad
Israel to Iran: Do you get the picture?
When it comes to sending signals, a picture is worth a thousand words. And lately, Israel has been sending a lot pictures to get its message across.
Just over the past week, the Israeli defense establishment has released the following pictures of its set pieces:
The Ministry of Defense has released pictures of an Arrow 3 anti-missile defense system test. [Message to Iran: We can hit your long-range missiles, your threats of massive rocket attack have been noted and we're prepared].
The Israeli diplomatic psyche explained
You dont like us when we’re weak
(Holocaust)
You dont like us when we’re strong
(Israel)
You just dont like us.
So it’s better that we’re strong.
Love in the time of Uranium
“America’s commitment and my commitment to Israel and Israel’s security is unshakeable. It is unshakeable. I am proud to say that no U.S. administration has done more in support of Israel’s security than ours. None. Don’t let anybody else tell you otherwise. It is a fact. We are determined to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. And that’s why, rest assured, we will take no options off the table.” – US President Barack Obama, December 17, 2011
Can Israel live with a nuclear Iran?
Some thoughts about the situation following the release of the IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. So, nu, do they have nuclear bombs or not? Are they clearly trying to make them, or is it still not clear? Does the report have a smoking gun or does it not have a smoking gun? Was the report watered down at the request of China and Russia or was it not? Do we still have time or is time up? What happens now? Continue reading
Protocols of the elders of Mossad
Protocols of a meeting of the former directors of Israel’s foreign intelligence service, the Mossad at a cafe near Ramat Hasharon.
In attendance: E.H, S.S, M.D, D.Y.
Gentlemen, it is clear that we have reached the point of no return. The forces of evil are upon us, the enemy is at the gate. He is strong, armed to the teeth, and is determined to throw our tiny nation into the sea. The mission before us is the most fateful one we have embarked on since the creation of the state in 1948, and we cannot blink, we cannot shirk our responsibility to protect the Jewish people. While we are no longer in active duty, all of us have taken a life-long oath to defend our people and crush our enemies. Now is the time to act, old men, time to dust off the cobwebs and sharpen our daggers. The old men of the Mossad are saddling up for one last charge against the forces of evil. Continue reading
‘Superhero’ spymaster now a thorn in government’s side
Former Mossad chief, now chief thorn in government's side
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking cabinet support for a military strike on Iran, the Haaretz newspaper reported on Wednesday, after days of speculation about plans for an attack. The report, citing a senior Israeli official, said Netanyahu was working with Defense Minister Ehud Barak to win support from skeptical members of the cabinet who oppose attacking Iranian nuclear facilities.
The above quote is making its way around the world’s media. It bothers me that the whole world now knows what’s going on deep inside the top Israeli leadership concerning the issue of an attack on Iran, no less. But there you have it. A few days before the Haaretz report, Yediot Aharonot reported that Barak and Netanyahu had already decided to attack Iran, without consulting the other ministers.The Israeli government is furious that Haaretz even reported on the inner deliberations of the Israeli ministers. Now everybody is talking about this issue: should Israel attack Iran before the winter clouds make it difficult for our planes to find their targets? Are Barak and Netanyahu sufficiently experienced to carry out this fateful mission? Is the Israeli home front ready and capable to withstand an Iranian and Hezbollah retaliation? Should the Israeli public be readied to live with the Iranian bomb, or is there no way on earth the Jewish people should ever let radical Islamists arm themselves with nuclear weapons? Should our planes swoop in from the east or the north? What music should the pilots listen to the night before, something rhythmic or something soothing? Metallica or Mozart? Continue reading
Israeli intelligence rules, OK?
The conventional wisdom around these parts in the days following the return of Gilad Shalit in a costly prisoner exchange deal is that the much-vaunted Israeli establishment was handed a resounding failure by failing to locate the missing soldier, and proposing a viable rescue operation. Continue reading
Not ‘our man in Cairo’ – some thoughts on Israel’s ‘Facebook spy’ held by Egypt
Do Mossad agents post their photos on Facebook?
The man accused by Egyptian prosecutors of being a Mossad spy has been named as 27-year-old Ilan Grapel, a US/ Israeli citizen from Queens in NY who immigrated to Israel to join the army. He was wounded by Hezbollah gunmen during the Second Lebanon War, after which, according to some reports, he developed a passion for all things Arabic. During the protests that eventually toppled Hosni Mubarak, Grapel posed as a journalist and joined the protests in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. It’s still unclear what he actually did during the protests, but photos of him holding protest placards have been disseminated by Egyptian media. Israel has denied that Grapel is an agent, and it seems very unlikely that he is. More likely Grapel was the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time: a naive Israeli/ American idealist with a military background drawing attention to himself during an Arab revolution and with pictures of himself in IDF uniform posted on his Facebook page, prancing around revolutionary Cairo egging on Egyptian youth and generally making himself very conspicuous. Not exactly textbook Mossad behavior. Continue reading
What will Goldstone’s reversal mean for Israel’s next wars?
Some thoughts on Richard Goldstone’s Op-Ed in the Washington Post over the weekend.
Is Israel capable of reaching out to new Arab elites?
There is a famous saying: “for a man carrying a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.” In other words, for Israel’s top politicians and generals [is there a difference?] the tectonic change currently cracking the Middle East wide open is one big, nasty nail. Why is the ‘only true democracy in the region’ so utterly miffed by the freedom movement sweeping this area? Democratic eggs may be hatching in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Algeria, Yemen and Bahrain; but for every newborn free-range chick taking its first steps, Israelis see a wolf in chicken’s clothing. Why? Because democracy brings Muslim extremists to power [like it did in Gaza and Iran], and them brothers want to throw us into the sea. Continue reading
News of a kidnapping
Experts believe Hizbullah is more interested in perpetrating a terror attack against Israeli and/or Jewish targets abroad than in kidnapping Israelis. Kidnapping people in a foreign country is the most complex of operations and one that does not yield the greatest results.
Abducting even just a handful of foreign nationals, getting them on a plane and smuggling them out of a country is an extremely difficult and complex business. Even in remote and undeveloped locations, a missing foreign national won’t go unnoticed for long, as evidenced in the latest case of the Ra’anana man kidnapped in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.
Getting hostages through airports and sea ports is also not easy, even under the most lackadaisical port conditions.
Kidnapping or murdering a handful of Israelis overseas is not the kind of response Hizbullah envisions to the assassination of its operations chief Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus last February. One veteran observer of Hizbullah’s activities abroad terms this type of operation “revenge of the poor.” Continue reading
Mrs. Clean is from Mars, Mr. Security is from Venus
While the real battle between Tzipi Livni and Shaul Mofaz to replace Ehud Olmert as Kadima chairperson and prime minister is taking place amongst the 30,000 Kadima members and not the wider public, the two frontrunners have retained the services of skilled campaign consultants to convince both the party membership and the general public that their candidate is worthy of Israel’s top job.
Livni’s core team consists of kingmakers Reuven Adler and Eyal Arad, the duo that established Kadima for Ariel Sharon and got him elected as Prime Minister. On Mofaz’s side is world-renowned political strategist Arthur Finkelstein. While Livni is ahead in the latest polls, Mofaz is closing the gap, and the momentum seems to be with him, hence Livni’s announcement Monday that she has formally hired Adler and Co. Within the general population, Livni is more popular, but in the crucial Kadima membership, Mofaz is stronger. Livni’s team has until September 17 to stem Mofaz’s surge, while the latter will attempt to keep his momentum going.
Mofaz’s team will position their candidate as Mr. Security, a former IDF Chief of Staff, Minister of Defense, and currently heading the strategic dialogue with the US, whose entire life was spent fighting Israel’s enemies, and as such, the secure candidate to steer the Jewish state through what is undoubtedly very stormy security seas to come.
Livni’s team will position her as a strong Mrs. Clean, as Sharon’s successor, and as someone who can restore the country’s faith in the political system in general, and in Kadima in particular. Kadima was founded on the promise of being different to the corrupt Likud, especially its notorious Central Committee. That image has been largely destroyed by Olmert, Hirshzon, Hanegbi and others. That Livni’s hands are politically clean, after all the corruption that has flooded this country of late, is the foreign minister’s strongest selling point.
A bad deal, but is it good for Israel?
While on a recent trip abroad, a senior Israeli defense official was asked by a foreign diplomat why Israelis were making such a fuss about the Schalit, Goldwasser and Regev kidnappings.
“I mean, aren’t you the ones who invented kidnappings in the Middle East?” the diplomat asked the Israeli.
True, Israeli commandos have, in the past, kidnapped Syrian and Egyptian generals from their beds, and Lebanese and Palestinian terrorists from their bases. Mossad agents even captured and smuggled Eichmann from Argentina and Vanunu from Italy.
So what’s all the fuss about? Why are we so emotionally vulnerable to kidnappings of our soldiers that the public pressure exerted on the government, via the media, corners the decision-makers and forces their hand in hostage negotiations? Why do we allow the kidnap weapon to be used to such effect against us by our enemies? Continue reading
Why announce Iranian aliya?
I wrote this piece with Jerusalem Post chief diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon.
Israel’s decision to publicize the arrival of a group of 40 Iranian immigrants Tuesday was intended to send a message to Iranian Jewry that they are wanted here, and that if emigration from Iran were one day prohibited, no one could say they did not have a chance to come to Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
The decision to publicly reveal the Iranian Jews’ arrival – something that has been kept secret in the past – was made in consultation between the Jewish Agency and other governmental bodies to send a message to the remaining Iranian Jews that the sooner they decide to leave Iran the better, the Post was informed. Continue reading
Former Mossad chief: Only force will stop Iran
From the beginning of Teheran’s march towards a nuclear capability, Israel has attempted to convince the world of the danger posed by a nuclear Iran. According to a former Mossad director, should Israel remain alone in its efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, it has only one viable option before Iran achieves its goal: to strike its most important nuclear facilities and set its program back by several years – this, instead of attempting to wipe out its program entirely, which may be beyond Israel’s ability. And once the Iranians recover and begin advancing – which they will – strike them again and again, until they decide to pursue a different path.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post ahead of next week’s Seventh Annual International Institute of Counter-Terrorism (ICT) Conference at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, former Mossad chief and current ICT chairman Shabtai Shavit says only military force can stop an Iran bent on achieving nuclear capability.
Spying on Mr. Video
When the Mr. Video conglomerate opened one of its shiny new stores around the corner from my parent’s homey video shop in the dusty South African mining town of Randfontein in the mid-’90s, I saw it as a declaration of war.
Mr. Video could afford to rent out their videos for less than we did because they could rely on a huge conglomerate safety net, international investors and marketing teams – everything a mom and pop video store simply could not have. It was never going to be a fair fight.
