The mainstream media for the most part has moved on. But there are a few more gleanings to be had, of perhaps the most interesting comes from the Daily Mirror, which labels al-Hilli an extremist on the grounds that he was against the war in Iraq, disapproved of the behaviour of Israel and had doubts over 9/11 – which makes a great deal of the population “extremist”. But the Mirror has the only mainstream mention I can find of the possibility that Mossad carried out the killings. Given Mr al-Hilli’s profession, the fact he is a Shia, the fact he had visited Iran, and the fact that Israel heas been assassinating scientists connected to Iran’s nuclear programme, this has to be a possibility. There are of course other possibilities, but to ignore that one is ludicrous.
Which leads me to the argument of Daily Mail crime reporter, Stephen Wright, that the French police should concentrate on the idea that this was a killing by a random Alpine madman or racist bigot. Perfectly possible, of course, and the anti-Muslim killings in Marseille might be as much a precedent as Mossad killings of scientists. But why the lone madman idea should be the preferred investigation, Mr Wright does not explain. What I did find interesting from a man who has visited many crime scenes are his repeated insinuations that the French authorities are not really trying very hard to find who the killers were, for example:
the crime scene would have been sealed off for a minimum of seven to ten days, to allow detailed forensic searches for DNA, fibres, tyre marks and shoe prints to take place.
Nearby bushes and vegetation would have been searched for any discarded food and cigarette butts left by the killer, not to mention the murder weapon.
But from what I saw at the end of last week, no such searches had taken place and potentially vital evidence could have been missed. House to house inquiries in the local area had yet to be completed and police had not made specific public appeals for information about the crime. No reward had been put up for information about the shootings.
Behind the scenes, what other short cuts have been taken? Have police seized data identifying all mobile phones being used in the vicinity of the murders that day?
The idea that the French authorities – who are quite as capable as any other of solving cases – are not really trying very hard is an interesting one.
Which leads me to this part of a remarkable article from the Daily Telegraph, which if true points us back towards a hit squad and discounts the ides that there was only one gun:
Claims that only one gun was used to kill everybody is likely to be disproved by full ballistics test results which are out in October.
While the 25 spent bullet cartridges found at the scene are all of the same kind, they could in fact have come from a number of weapons of the same make.
This throws up the possibility of a well-equipped, highly-trained gang circling the car and then opening fire.
Both children were left alive by the killers, who had clinically pumped bullets into everybody else, including five into Mr Mollier.
Zainab was found staggering around outside the car by Brett Martin, a British former RAF serviceman who cycled by moments after the attack, but he saw nobody except the schoolgirl.
Her sister, Zeena, was found unscathed and hiding in the car eight hours later.
Both sisters are now back in Britain, and are believed to have been reunited at a secret location near London.
There are of course a number of hit squad options, both governmental and private, which might well involve iraqi or Iranian interests – on both of which the mainstream media have been very happy to speculate while almost unanimously ignoring Israel.
But what interests me is why the Daily Telegraph choose, in the face of all the evidence, to minimise the horrific nature of the attack by stating that “Both children were left alive by the killers”? Zainab was not left alive by design, she was shot in the chest and her skull was stove in, which presumably was a pretty serious attempt to kill a seven year-old child. The other girl might very well have succeeded in hiding from the killers under her mother’s skirts, as she hid from the first rescuers, and then for eight hours from the police.
The Telegraph article claims to be informed by sources close to the investigation. So they believe it was a group of people, and feel motivated to absolve those people from child-killing. Now what could the Daily Telegraph be thinking?
Saad and Iqbal al-Hilli met in 2003 in Dubai, and were married that same year:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/07/annecy-murders-french-alps-baghdad
Did we ever learn for certain what Saad was doing there, or if Iqbal had ever studied cosmetic dentistry?
@Marlin: Look at the passport photo of Nicole Sandra McCabe. I wonder if it was photo-shopped. It has some features which I’ve seen in photographs of an Australian man. I’ve compared it to the real Nicole Sandra McCabe. Her eyes are different, her nose is wider and the real Nicole Sandra McCabe has a mole on her chin which is lacking in the passport photo. The hair in the photo has a wiggy look to it. It is not a red wig, however.
Speaking of which, I found a LinkedIn page for someone with Ben Zygier’s name. That man must be getting a lot of visitors to his page now, especially considering his similar appearance.
It is believed – although Fairfax Media has been unable to confirm – that Mr Zygier travelled back to Australia in 2009 to do an MBA at Monash University.
A source at the time observed him over several days sitting with a group of students from Saudi Arabia and Iran at the university’s Caulfield campus.
The source said: ”[Australian Taxation Office] records from 2008 show that he applied for and was approved a HECS loan for postgraduate studies at Monash University where he is currently [November 2009] studying.”
Since 2006, Monash has been involved in education in Middle Eastern countries, and in 2007 it proposed an initiative for higher-degree students from Saudi Arabia.
Apart from his move to Israel and his MBA study, little is known about Mr Zygier’s movements over the decade before he died, except that he was working in insurance law at the Australian firm Deacons in 2002. http://www.smh.com.au/national/ben-zygier-asio-suspect-who-died-in-israeli-jail-20130213-2edid.html?skin=text-only
Hashim Al-Hilli’s Overview
Current
Senior Analyst at Deloitte Australia
Education
Monash University
Connections
118 connections
Hashim Al-Hilli’s Experience
Senior Analyst
Deloitte Australia
Partnership; 5001-10,000 employees; Management Consulting industry
February 2009 – Present (4 years 1 month) Melbourne Area, Australia
Hashim is a specialist in the provision of IT Controls assurance, Governance and Business Continuity Management. He has experience in both controls assurance and BCM through various local, interstate and overseas entities. Hashim has performed many controls assurance reviews as part of Deloitte’s internal and external audit projects. Furthermore he has both reviewed and implemented BCM for a range of clients. http://au.linkedin.com/pub/hashim-al-hilli/47/979/a5b
Hashim Al-Hilli’s Education
Monash University
Bachelor of Business Information Systems, Information Technology
2006 – 2009.
Senior Analyst
Deloitte Australia
Partnership; 5001-10,000 employees; Management Consulting industry
February 2009 – Present (4 years 1 month) Melbourne Area, Australia
Mr Zygier travelled back to Australia in 2009 to do an MBA at Monash University.
When Lachlan Cranswick disappeared, there was no word of any involvement by the consular staff, embassy or any Australian politicians. This stands in direct contrast to the al-Hilli case. It seemed odd at the time that a scientist who worked with neutron beams at a nuclear plant near the nation’s capital, and who had studied part of a space shuttle, would disappear into thin air without so much as a peep.
@Tim V: Others have reported that he studied law at Monash in the 1990s:
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3690776.htm
Q
14 Feb, 2013 – 5:32 pm. Passports take on special meaning in espionage don’t they. Were those passports in the footwell the same names as the the ppl in the car?
@Tim V: Some operatives were reported to have had 25 passports each.
Uncle of Ben Zygier seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvulrpb1XhQ
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/australasia/prisoner-x-ben-zygier-was-rational-before-apparent-suicide-in-israeli-prison-cell-8495911.html
Q
14 Feb, 2013 – 6:42 pm It is not beyond the realms of possibility that a decision to assassinate one in Dubai might be part of a broader offensive possibly in concert with other agencies? How many suspicious disappearances/deaths/arrests can be ascribed to early 2010 and what are the connections? And whilst we are at, what were the Al Hilli’s doing about then I wonder?
Jim
A starting point to your question maybe….
were the people in the car…and in the passports, the same as the people (or indeed person) it actually was ?
Sa’ad isn’t a “dead ringer” for his brother is he.
And I assume that the brother didn’t know about his father’s Swiss Bank accounts ?
I wonder if the father know he had a Swiss account ?
What if it was only “Sa’ad” that knew about the (those) accounts.
What if “Sa’ad” wasn’t Sa’ad ?
I mean our Sa’ad only appears on the scene after his mothers death.
He goes to…and then retutns from Dubai.
He brings with him his “new” girl….and marries her.
Workwise he becomes a contractor.
And his father “retires” to southern Spain.
Ao what’s in a name ?
As a “and another thing”…
SAH’s father had a high powered brother that came to a sticky end.
But SAH’s father didn’t. He got out.
I wonder what deal was done there.
If there was a deal….did it then get repaid “in kind” ?
Did someone else “get out” in 2003 ?
Name, passport, place to live, income (I mean Bank account) ?
already trained in “Engineering” ?
…they did like engineering in the old Iraq I recall.
Have I hit on an important point? Not only did Lachlan DISAPPEAR at the same time as Rigi, but his body was DISCOVERED withing DAYS of each other. Now what are the chances of THAT?
On June 11, 2010, two canoeists found the body of Lachlan Cranswick floating in shallow water near Welsh Bay in the Ottawa River. The area is downriver from the city of Deep River where Lachlan had been living since 2003.
Rigi was hanged in Tehran on June 10, 2010. On June 14, 2010,
Q
14 Feb, 2013 – 7:10 pm that Monash connection is getting ever more significant.
Re: Zygier. The following have been accused of working for Mossad by various conspiracy groups, some nearer mainstream and many far-fringe ones. I suppose everybody has been accused of that at one time or another, but FWIW: Rupert Murdoch, Julian Assange, the two that framed/grassed Bradley Manning (those two the mentally ill, gay, homeless-hacker and the loony near-homeless, self-proclaimed IT expert who linked to the three-letter-agencies [his claim], Jimmy Savile and assorted British politicians and royals.
Don’t recall anyone has accused Bradley Manning or Gareth Williams of being on Mossad’s payroll, or Lachlan Cranswick either.
Tim v
The Hashim al Hilli you cited is Ali al Hilli’s son, he is the nephew of Saad and tge grandson of the diplomat Hashim al Hilli.
His full name is Hashim Ali al Hilli. Yes, he is living in Melbourne and he must be about Ben Zyger’s age.
I believe that Saad al Hilli is in fact the cousin of Alu al Hilli and that Saad’s picture is real simply because Ali al Hilli looks like Saad’s twin brother. Look at the pictures in the link i posted further above showing Ali al Hilli. He looks like Saad.
What if the pre 2003 “Sa’ad” could be identified by someone he worked with previously ….in Iraq ?
Say someone who knew the pre 2003 Sa’ad when they had worked yogether way back when the French were sneekily working in post war Iraq ?
Oops ! Meant to say “post 2003 Sa’ad” and “pre war Iraq”.
Long day !
You pose some important questions Marlin
14 Feb, 2013 – 7:45 pm. There is a big question as to why Ziegler’s own family (wife and children) and immediate family back in Australia raised no questions about the disappearance of their husband, father or son. Perhaps they did and we haven’t heard about it. If so the silence is difficult to explain. The second question is how the Australian government could have failed so abysmally to look after the interests of one of their own. (Strange how several of the cases we have been discussing involve the nationals of one country live in another).
However we are dealing with large, influential, secret, largely unaccountable organisations with virtually limitless funds. What contacts were made to Zeigler’s wife? “Look your husband has got into some serious trouble. We are looking after himm for his own safety. Go along with us and we’ll look after you and your family. If you make a fuss not only will you be on your own but it may put your husband’s life at risk.” Now what would you do?
As to Australia’s secret service, originally an extension of British Intelligence, now probably leaning more heavily on CIA, we don’t know how intentional was the decision not to know or not to act. Words between Mossad and CIA’ and CIA and ASIS, should be sufficient to keep it all under wraps. But how about that same man dies in custody? Even then no objections from family and Australian State?
When it comes to Spookland yet another reminder that normal protections just can’t be relied upon.
If “Rendition Air” was flying in and out of Dubai, and the UAE found out, would there be the potential of flying privileges being revoked, especially if the cargo was found to be related to the death of a powerful figure in the Arab world?
Thanks for this Bluebird
14 Feb, 2013 – 11:00 pm. I realised that was the family connection and posted it to show it was more than possible there could have been an Al Hilli lachlan link – same time, same place, same ages roughly.
@NR: You are quite right, NR. The last three have not been accused of working for M. I wonder if one of them took a free trip on Rendition Air, no passport required. Regular flights were leaving for Afghanistan at the time, and those lucky enough for some respite from their battles were able to relax at the Mirage, if the logistics were right.
Its a bit like playing that simple game of joining the dots until a picture emerges. I think we are slowlu piecing together a tiny bit of Mossad planning focusing on 2003 which also happens to be Iraq invasion, and 2010+. I am no longer seeing the Chevaline operation in isolation but as a world wide element of Israel’s covert positive and negative actions in respect of Iran mainly. It must also be seen in the context of a joint CIA/Mossad operation to destabilize Iraq post 2003 whilst claiming the opposite. There is little doubt in my mind that the hundreds of academics targetted and killed 2003 through 2009 was part of this action. Once we are clear about this general overview these individual cases more easily fall into place. Israel has claimed, with some justification, that it has American politics sewn up. It is very likely despite protestations to the contrary, it has Europe as well. We have seen how Germany is supplying submarines with nuclear weapon capability. We have seen how France is prepared to dissimulate to provide cover for their actions. How the west has allowed UN resolutions to go unenforced, settlements to continue a new “Berlin Wall” to be built and Gazza to be turned into a Warsaw Ghetto (how ironic is that?), and how States can conveniently forget their citizens and not even make enquiries when one of their own “commits suicide” in a suicide proof facility. Meanwhile the west regards Iran as the threat.
@Tim V: The National Research Council made this announcement on June 21, 2010:
http://archive.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/news/cnbc/2010/06/21/nrc-cranswick.html
The timing is interesting, when you compare the date of the announcement of Rigi’s death. The body was found on June 11, 2010 (or was that June 10 further downstream?).The remains were cremated. Despite the length of time the remains were in the river, news reports stated that the body was clothed in items that were missing from Lachlan Cranswick’s house after he disappeared. This included his heavy winter boots, coat and his work ID. The work ID was found variously around the neck, or in the coat pocket or on the body, depending on which report you choose to believe.
@NR, 12:20 p.m.: See links at 5:00 p.m.
For those who are interested, here is one definitive (5 part) article from Der Spiegel that details the timeline in Mahmoud al Mabhouh’s assassination by Mossad agents.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/targeted-killing-in-dubai-a-mossad-operation-gone-awry-a-679764-5.html
To summarize (just so we all have the timing right since the news items are too lazy to verify):
Jan 18: Some of the israeli agents enter dubai and take pains to behave like regular tourists. it’s an advance team.
jan 19: 18 Mossad agents (more identified later) fly into Dubai on various planes from various European cities
Jan19: Mabhouh arrives in Dubai (3:15PM), checks into hotel (3:25PM), goes out to meet various people, returning to hotel (8:24PM), enters room (8:27PM) killed shortly thereafter, operation over by 8:46PM.
Jan 19: killers movements: 2 killer teams (2 each) arrive at hotel (6:34PM), open door to Mabhou’s room (8:00PM), team of 2 killers by elevator 8:46PM
Jan 20 1:30PM: Mabhou’s body is discovered by hotel employee (that’s why some accounts have him killed on the 20th).
Jan 28/29: first accounts of assassination by Mossad team hit the news.
Feb 12–28 Mossad agents ID’s trickle out in groups – flashed across the world.
Note about the coincidence with timing in Cranswick’s disappearance: he goes for a walk around midnight the 18th, and disappears sometime on the 19th early morning hours, canada time. About the time that the Mossad agents are already en route to or are landing in Dubai, and the operation is in full swing.
@Marlin: Cranswick reportedly boarded a bus at Chalk River at around 4:30 on January 18, 2010, a Monday, headed for the town of Deep River, where he lived. The source of that information is not named.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/mystery-of-australian-nuclear-scientists-bizarre-disappearance-20100301-pbzv.html
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/02/22/canadian-nuke-genius-vanishes/
“It’s not like he’s a reactor designer or that he knows how to use them,” Faris told FoxNews.com. “He’s not someone who, if you gave him highly enriched uranium, he could make a bomb. He’s not that kind of person.”
The Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was said to be involved, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. No mention was made of any involvement by government representatives of Australia.
With no named witnesses to Lachlan Cranwick’s whereabouts, could the time of his disappearance have been earlier than midnight on January 18, 2010?
Once again, here’s a chart of the “Rendition Air” flight routes and partners:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/02/13/graphic-the-extraordinary-renditions-54-guilty-nations/
A battle over landing rights in the UAE:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/uae-threatens-to-kick-canada-out-of-covert-military-base-camp-mirage/article4328727/
http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-438903.html
Tim V 11:58PM – you ask about Zygier’s family. Well, the cloak of silence is being lifted little by little off the Israeli family at least. A report in Haaretz mentioned that the family was offered millions of shekels as compensation and that the agreement was finalized 6 weeks ago. Nice, right?
So since late december when Zygier died there have been “negotiations”. One wonders what kind. It would have been easy enough to pressure the wife to stay silent, using the promise of big money and the threat of public humiliation if her husband is shown to have been a “traitor”.
That still leaves a question: why would he not have been buried in israel? too inconvenient?
And what of the Australian family – his parents and sibling? what were they offered and/or threatened with? I read they resigned their jobs and went into seclusion. That they were ‘devastated”. that the whole community was. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. the good name of Australian jewish community members was compromised on the one hand; on the other, israel behaved abominably – fancy that – a nice Australian jewish idealist boy makes Aliyah, serves in the army, possibly renders services to the intelligence agencies at risk to himself. A real mensch! and in return? they dump him in a solitary confinement with hardly any human contact, in complete secrecy, all his rights summariily removed. overnight he, who might have been a hero to some in his community, becomes a non-person. One whose name can only be whispered. With no regard for his parents who did so much for israel! Is that how a nice jewish democracy behaves? if you were them (zionistically-inclined Jewish community members) would you not be asking whether there couldn’t have been a more humane way of handling the case, even if he did something wrong, or erred in some way.