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?
Thanks Marlin. Great wedding picture. So Yehuda was at his wedding?
In the middle there is Ben Zygier and his bride Maya Zavelski.
Left of Ben there is Eyal Zavelski (Maya’s brother).
http://il.linkedin.com/pub/eyal-zalewski/5b/880/9b4
On far left there is Ben’s father Geoffrey Zygier and his wife. The other guys we must identify, too. Shouldn’t be that difficult.
Bluebird, I can tell you that he does seem a bit on the right of the spectrum in israel, which means – way right for anywhere else (ie, borderline fascist). He certainly doesn’t like Arabs – but most jewish israelis don’t – so that must be what passes for typical. Perhaps he got over his little silly norwegian escapade by now – according to our buddy google, he got taken to the cleaners for that nonsense (ie, got seriously ridiculed – yes, I did check). Gotta face it though, israelis have a love affair with their precious little mossad, so they are all kind of crest fallen at the moment – the golden “boy”, their ‘can-do” king is a tad tainted right now – after this botched prisoner x affair (which gives me goose bumps, BTW).
I don’t think Yehuda was necessarily at the wedding or knew Ben in person – that photo was circulating in israeli social sites uncensored. But yehuda seems to have a lot of people in common with ben et al – it’s about the same age group – maybe the same army unit – plus he is kind of persistent at digging things up. In the past, he claimed in his twitter that he spoke to maya, and to ben’s sister and to all kind of ‘sources’ who knew Ben and/or had mossad connections. As I said above, it’s a country run on gossip mill. he seems not to have updated his feed for a while – who knows may be he got into trouble?
One of the commenters on this page says Israel is all abuzz and atwitter, but the really good gossip is only in Hebrew. In English it’s more restrained, with calls to be respectful of the families – the same thing we often hear when “somebody” doesn’t want speculation.
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/02/18/shin-bet-kept-zygiers-wife-under-surveillance-long-after-his-death/
Bluebird, just one more thing – I believe i saw him say that he doesn’t have a facebook account. So the one you have checked on is probably not him. Actually I’m not totally sure this is the same person that was connected to that idiotic Norway story either. Must confess that i did not dig too deep on Bello’s prior goings on – apparently it’s not an uncommon name. I can tell from the twitter that this particular YB fancies himself a blogger journalist – he does have a blog too where he posts his longer musings, and claims to have scooped everyone else (and don’t believe that either – he claims to have been the first to “break” the arrest date of Zygier as march 4 but then it was supposedly a house arrest until march 10 – making it a perfect 9 month from the date of birth of Zygier’s second daughter. Very convenient. this then got picked up by other israeli outlets and is on its way to being the official story. except i prefer to believe the Australians….).
Well put Marlin.
Mossad in the eyes of their fans are “crest fallen”.
Mossad are responsible for “overseas” affairs in the protection of their homeland.
…and I think certain things are coming to light that Mossad are also “up to their neck” in the dealings of their homeland and Iran.
They need Iran. They need to show it as a real threat to their people. Therefore they have to help Iran be that “dark force” or it just doesn’t work.
Timely coincidence
Somebody busted over 100 Mossad spies in Lebanon to Hezbollah agents. The spies were covert in Israeli telecom and communications companies.
Was it Zygier or Iqbal Mata Hari? Or both? Note the date!
http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/136592.html
Wed Jul 28, 2010 9:53PM
Since April 2009, Lebanon has arrested nearly 100 people, including members of the country’s security forces and telecommunications personnel, on suspicion of spying for the Mossad, which has dealt a serious blow to Israel’s intelligence gathering system in Lebanon.
Follow up the busted Lebanese Mossad network
They were employed by Alfa, a subsidiary of Egypt Orascom telecommunications.
Why would Orascom employ 100 Mossad agents in Lebanon?
The circle closes. Nadhmi Auchi is a significant investor in Orascom. Do you remember Mr.X?
Orascom is busy in Iraq, but in North Korea, they invest in licences, too. North Korea? OMG!
The circle closes and the plot thickens …
http://newhk.blogspot.com/2009/02/orascom-telecom-is-wide-open-door-to.html?m=1
Orascom investing in North Korea
http://www.northkoreatech.org/2011/01/24/orascom-ceo-meets-kim-jong-il/
Orascom in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran after MTN joint venture
http://www.itp.net/mobile/580077-are-orascom-and-mtn-about-to-seal-some-kind-of-deal
How many other Israeli agents are employed with Nadhmi Auchi’s Orascom? How many will go to North Korea?
Interesting photo Marlin
22 Feb, 2013 – 10:36 am – thanks. I assume that’s Zigier’s wedding and the six year old is his wife’s daughter?
@ Bluebird
22 Feb, 2013 – 11:24 am I agree. Zigier’s mate seems to be singing the Mossad tune. (“You hum it, I’ll play it”)
2:49 PM on Friday, February 22, 2013 Feminist activist RONI ALONI Sedovnik wrote on Israel’s News1 web site that “A nauseous atrocity has been going on for a long time behind the scenes at the leftists’ demonstration at Bil’in, Naalin and Sheikh Jarrah [Shimon HaTzaddik].”
“Female peace activists are being sexually assaulted in an “ongoing and widespread” manner that includes verbal and physical abuse, she complained.
The article also cites blogger YEHUDA BELLO who writes about idealistic Scandinavian girls who go to live in West Bank villages and end up raped and even impregnated by local men. http://www.worldjewishdaily.com/bilinrape.php
It is easy, he writes “to carry out a sexual crime against a foreign girl, in her first days away from her family, in a place where no police have ever visited. And this is what happens, and has happened.”
NR
22 Feb, 2013 – 12:32 pm – Shin Bet Kept Zygier’s Wife Under Surveillance Long After His Death
by RICHARD SILVERSTEIN on FEBRUARY 18, 2013
“Walla reports (Hebrew) that Israel’s security service devised an elaborate cover story for Ben Zygier’s widow to explain his absence to her neighbors after he was arrested. She told them that he’d contracted cancer and had flown back to his native Australia for treatment. After his death, she told them that he’d died of the illness. This indicates either she was forced to adhere to this story or else she willingly did so.
The neighbors, themselves working in the security service, noted something not quite normal due to the fact that the widow was afforded security protection for a long period. That’s not what I would call it. I’d say the Shin Bet had pressured her to adhere to this cover story and put her under surveillance to ensure she would not do anything to endanger the agency and expose this scandal.
What’s interesting about this is that the Shin Bet devised a similar lie they fed to the family of KGB spy, Marcus Klingberg, telling them he’d had a severe mental breakdown and was in isolation in a psychiatric hospital. The ironic difference is that the Shabak gave Zygier a fatal dose of cancer while Klingberg managed to recover from his Shabak-induced breakdown and live. It also occurs to an Israeli friend that giving him cancer as a cover story to explain his arrest could allow the Shabak to make his illness “terminal” should it need to “terminate” him.”
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/02/18/shin-bet-kept-zygiers-wife-under-surveillance-long-after-his-death/
ME: This case has certainly put the cat amongst the Israeli pigeons (or doves even!) A good example of “cognitive dissonance”. Israeli’s want to think of themselves as good. They feel under threat for which Mossad and its methods are an unfortunate necessity. They would rather be ignorant of what it does but when those actions become public what should prevail – up-holding principles of justice or the protection of the state.
Then again it is one thing for an Israeli soldier to shoot an Hezbollah terrorist intent on killing; another somewhat less certain to shoot a Palestinian protester; but how about a Palestinian civilian unconnected with violence or protest who just happens to be killed by shell or tank; even more innocent the babe in arms? Yes, but they are ALL the enemy and we are at war so that’s excusable. We can still sleep at night.
Assassination operations abroad? Distasteful but excusable if the target can be shown to be a “terrorist”. Foreign reporters/cameramen/women shot intentionally in Gaza? Unfortunate, possibly criminal but soldiers following instructions can be excused or cleared on a legal technicality.
So all these situations are rationalized and the State is given the benefit of the doubt. However when we come Zigier we have a more tricky situation to deal with. It is harder for the public to be comfortable with it and to explain it away.
Here you have a good Jewish boy, inconveniently handsome (It’s always easier to dispose of ugly people) who has specifically come to the country to help out, to serve. He has a beutiful wife and a child on the way – also inconvenient for the PR Department. He is an employee of the State that owes him a duty of care, moral AND legal. He works for Massad so can be assumed to place himself at personal risk.
Not only is he abducted, held in solitary confinement but secrecy surrounds him so that no one might ever know. The normal legal protections can’t help him, nor can his “suicide” be prevented by the most sophisticated prison system. Has the state murdered one of its own?
This eats at the very foundations of the moral, democratic, civilized, State that protects individual rights. It challenges the belief that citizens are safe from their own. It is an explosive case made worse by the way the facts were subsequently buried, lies told about his disappearance, failures in the prison and justice system, threats/inducements/coercion of the wider family. If anything could engender a national debate, this case could.
Now we must ask how is it, it remained secret for two years? Mossad bosses must have been rubbing their hands in glee. They had got away with it. Threat (whatever it was) neutralized. (No protracted Vanunu international agitation this time around) Families in both Israel and Australia compliant and quiet. The Australian State mollified and uncomplaining.
The reporter who asks embarrassing questions, did so prior to his imprisonment/disappearance but the proverbial appears to hit the fan only subsequent to his death on the back of a presumed “tip-off” that “Prisoner X” was indeed an Australian citizen also. The timing and source of these tip-offs are significant as to whether they are causal or reactive to Chevaline.
Shin Bet Kept Zygier’s Wife Under Surveillance Long After His Death
by RICHARD SILVERSTEIN on FEBRUARY 18, 2013
“Walla reports (Hebrew) that Israel’s security service devised an elaborate cover story for Ben Zygier’s widow to explain his absence to her neighbors after he was arrested. She told them that he’d contracted cancer and had flown back to his native Australia for treatment. After his death, she told them that he’d died of the illness. This indicates either she was forced to adhere to this story or else she willingly did so.
The neighbors, themselves working in the security service, noted something not quite normal due to the fact that the widow was afforded security protection for a long period. That’s not what I would call it. I’d say the Shin Bet had pressured her to adhere to this cover story and put her under surveillance to ensure she would not do anything to endanger the agency and expose this scandal.
What’s interesting about this is that the Shin Bet devised a similar lie they fed to the family of KGB spy, Marcus Klingberg, telling them he’d had a severe mental breakdown and was in isolation in a psychiatric hospital. The ironic difference is that the Shabak gave Zygier a fatal dose of cancer while Klingberg managed to recover from his Shabak-induced breakdown and live. It also occurs to an Israeli friend that giving him cancer as a cover story to explain his arrest could allow the Shabak to make his illness “terminal” should it need to “terminate” him.”
http://www.richardsilverstein.com/2013/02/18/shin-bet-kept-zygiers-wife-under-surveillance-long-after-his-death/
*BEAUTIFUL
*MOSSAD
Apologies for these typos and for repeating the extract. I really must read/check before sending.
Bluebird
22 Feb, 2013 – 1:36 pm Significant – I should say so. Who let on to the Lebonese? The Iranians or the Syrians or God forbid the British through our Al Hilli friends? If the latter, undoubtedly a “casus belli” for a Mossad operation to irradicate the source.
Your reference is worth quoting an extract Bluebird
22 Feb, 2013 – 1:49 pm
“Now another deal is coming under scrutiny. A senior Pentagon official told TIME that the U.S. is reviewing its decision to grant the mobile license for Baghdad and central Iraq to a consortium led by Egyptian telecom giant Orascom because of its ties to Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born billionaire who built his fortune partly through arms deals with the Iraqi regime in the 1980s. Industry sources say Auchi provided Orascom with a $20 million loan to help pay down its $500 million debt. The sources say the loan gave Auchi, who faced French prosecutors earlier this year for his role in a corruption and embezzlement scandal, a controlling stake in Orascom. A senior U.S. official says Orascom’s ties to Auchi are being investigated. As a result, no mobile licenses have yet been issued.”….until OT is
fully integrated into OSP, CIA and MOSSAD, VIA the NSA….? LOL…
Who Is Nadhmi Auchi and What’s His Tie to Obama?
By Jack Kelly
You probably would have heard of Nadhmi Auchi by now if Sen. Barack Obama were a Republican.
A British citizen of Iraqi descent, Mr. Auchi, 70, is a billionaire, the 279th richest man in the world, according to a Forbes magazine survey last year.
A great deal of Mr. Auchi’s money was made doing business with the regime of Saddam Hussein, much of it under the table. In 1987, Mr. Auchi helped French and Italian firms win a huge oil pipeline contract in Iraq, chiefly by paying off Iraqi officials, according to testimony given by an Italian banker to prosecutors in Milan. In 2003, he was convicted for his role in what was then the largest scandal in French history, involving payoffs from executives of the oil company now known as Total to political figures in Spain, Germany and Africa.
“He has been able to collect British politicians the way other people collect stamps,” wrote Nick Cohen in a 2003 profile of Mr. Auchi in the left wing British newspaper the Observer.
Mr. Auchi was a leading supplier of arms to Saddam’s regime. A former Belgian ambassador to Luxembourg charged that a bank in Luxembourg owned principally by Mr. Auchi laundered funds — including oil for food money — for Saddam and other Islamic dictators. http://newhk.blogspot.com/2009/02/orascom-telecom-is-wide-open-door-to.html?m=1
It’s difficult to make head or tail of this tho. Auchi, an Iraqi/British national with financial support to Obama and British political establishment, who makes money out of Saadam’s weapons and oil during sanctions, owns a telecom company providing communications in Lebanon employing a significant proportion of Mossad agents? Who’s doing what to whom. No doubt you have an explanation BB?
FYI on
Tarek Rabaa
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72824331@N07/7785068328/
Charbel Kazzi and Tarek Rabaa
http://securityfiles.wordpress.com/tag/tarek-rabaa/
Israel, Allot, Surrey, Denmark, Iran, Lebanon and Hizbullah.
Could that lot be linked together ?
It is very strange that both sides hold “their own” as prisoners…and as “spies” on the back of “flimsy” eveidence.
Are “both sides” virtually running as “One” ?
We have seen a 10 year war (that has destroyed many many lives) begin with a massive televised massacre….and complete and utter lies (yet Bush and Blair still are free !), which then has continued on the back of little or no logic.
The benefit of such action.
Freedom ? Security ? A safe world ?
Freedoms have been reduced.
We live in a world that is less secure than it has ever been.
And “extremists” and “fundemenatlsits” are having a field day.
The core “benefits” are of course lips service.
The benefits of war are not those stated. But people have benefited. And in some (if not many) case, fortunes have been made.
Can/is this what we are seeing on a smaller scale in the Middle East ? I think so.
I cannot help think of Bernays here.
He would be very impressed.
@Tim V: Total Oil executive Peter Fuller came up in this thread some time ago:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151781/British-golf-course-owner-stabbed-death-drunken-handyman-following-row-dream-retirement-estate.html
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/343427/Murder-that-killed-a-French-dream
He died on June 26, 2009 in the Dordogne.
“On June 25, 2011 the leader of the so called Hizbullah (the HIZB) confessed the identification of CIA’s agents inside his organization”.
But where are they ???? No where perhaps !
http://telcoleaks.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/the-cias-agents-members-to-the-so-called-hizbullah-have-disappeared-in-beirut/
Some miscellaneous items not in any particular order:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2013/02/israel-grants-oil-rights-in-syria-to-murdoch-and-rothschild/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/9634530/British-ExxonMobil-oil-chief-assassinated-in-Brussels-street.htmlhttp://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/02/20132913263566603.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil-for-Food_Programme
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanctions_against_Iran
Iran is currently under sanctions. As we recall, the Oil for Food scandal took some time to emerge.
There’s a glam movie about the women of Israel who serve their country:
http://www.timesofisrael.com/what-the-mossads-female-agents-do-and-dont-do-for-the-sake-of-israel/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203632/Meet-Israeli-female-super-spies-FLIRT-way-deciphering-enemy-secrets.html
http://www.israelandstuff.com/mossad-uses-hot-young-women-to-gain-access-to-secrets
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Vanunu and Cindy are mentioned. I don’t suppose it’s a tell-all. The Daily Mail used caps for FLIRT in their article, which is a copy of the first article. Oh, look, the red-haired Anna Chapman’s photograph is used.
And finally a third article that is a copy of the first article. It talks about “hot young spies”, including one who has been in the biz for 38 years and has young children. Her story brings tears to her eyes. I was expecting a fembot photo with that one.
A different perspective with a label for such women: “honey-pots”.
http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/israeli-rabbi-honey-pot-sex-is-kosher-for-female-mossad-agents-1.317288
This article says that male agents have no restrictions on similar activity.
What did Ben Zygier do to warrant Mordechai Vanunu’s old cell?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordechai_Vanunu
Vanunu had an Australian connection.
Shades of Chevaline here in the last line: “Seeing, but not seeing.Speaking but not speaking.”
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/124432/prisoner-x-was-from-my-shtetl
The thing with “spies” is, you often wonder do they know which side they are actually working for ?
“Lead this people into war, and they’ll forget there was ever such a thing as tolerance”
From Yehuda bello’s blog today. Sorry for the poor google translate (note that sometimes the name Alon is translated as oak – almost as good as “ornaments”?). You may want to get your own translation. read and see how whitewash is done professionally. I could try and get a better translation from someone if demanded.
http://benhateva.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/75519/
A l l o w e d t o e x p r e s s : t h e p r i s o n e r ‘ s g u i l t b e c a m e c l e a r X
O n 2 2 / 0 2 / 2 0 1 3 a t 1 3 : 4 6
T a g s : P r i s o n e r X
I n 2 0 0 8 , o n e d a y i n v i t e d B i n y a m i n E l o n c i r c u m c i s i o n i n I s r a e l . H e a t t e n d e d , w a s p h o t o g r a p h e d w i t h t h e i n f a n t ‘ s f a m i l y a n d a l o t o f c h a t w i t h o t h e r g u e s t s . O n t h a t d a y h e c a l l e d o t h e r r e l a t i v e s r e s i d e d , h e r e p o r t e d h e w a s s i c k a n d c u r s e d t h e b a d w e a t h e r i n E u r o p e . S h e k n o w s t h e e x a c t d a t e . S h e w a s s i c k a n d t o o k l e a v e f r o m h e r j o b . T h r e e w e e k s l a t e r , a l e t t e r a r r i v e d i n t h e m a i l a i r r e t u r n s t o t h e a t t r a c t i v e M e l b o u r n e . I t w a s s e n t f r o m t h i s a d d r e s s o n t h e q u e s t i o n t o t h e i n c o r r e c t a d d r e s s i n H a m b u r g . S e n d e r w a s a m a n n a m e d B e n A l l e n .
B i n y a m i n E l o n i s t h e n a m e h e c h o s e f o r h i m s e l f B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r , a y o u n g m a n o f 1 9 w h o i m m i g r a t e d t o I s r a e l f r o m A u s t r a l i a i n 1 9 9 6 . D u r i n g h i s m i l i t a r y s e r v i c e h e l i v e d i n K i b b u t z G a z i t . T e s t i f i e d t h i s w e e k f r o m t h e t i m e a w o m a n w h o k n e w h i m w e l l i n t h o s e d a y s : ” W e c a l l e d h i m s o n . H e w a s a l w a y s s m i l i n g . U n t i l o n e d a y h e d e l e t e d s m i l e . H i s c h a r a c t e r c h a n g e d d r a s t i c a l l y . S o m e o n e s a i d B e n e x p e r i e n c e d e m o t i o n a l t r a u m a , a n d t h e r e i s n o n e e d t o w o r r y b e c a u s e i t i s t r e a t e d i n t h e a r m y . B u t I h a v e n o t s e e n h i m s m i l e m o r e . T h e n I n e v e r s a w h i m a g a i n . H e l e f t t h e k i b b u t z . I t h i n k a s s o o n a s h e w a s r e l e a s e d . ”
I n 2 0 0 4 A l o n B e n t o l d h i s d a u g h t e r t h a t h e h a d j o i n e d t h e I s r a e l i M o s s a d . G e n e r a l b a c k g r o u n d t o t h e r e c r u i t m e n t h a s a l r e a d y b e e n t o l d . E v e n a f t e r n i n e y e a r s , s h e r e m e m b e r s w h a t w a s f e e l i n g a t t h a t m o m e n t : ” I w a s s c a r e d . S o n w a n t e d m e t o b e p r o u d o f h i m , b u t I w a s s c a r e d . H i d i t f r o m h i m . I t a l k t o y o u a n d s h a k e s a g a i n . , H e a s k e d m e t o k e e p t h e s e c r e t . I c o u l d n o t e v e n a n s w e r h i m . Y o u k n o w W h e n I c a l m e d d o w n , o n l y a f t e r m a r r y i n g a n d d a u g h t e r w a s b o r n . i m a g i n e d t h i s s i t u a t i o n w i l l n o t s e n d h i m t o p e r f o r m d a n g e r o u s w o r k . I d o n o t k n o w w h y I d i d . I s r a e l i a r m y d i e a l l t h e t i m e f a t h e r s . ”
I n 2 0 0 6 h e m a r r i e d h i s s w e e t h e a r t A l o n B e n , a y o u n g I s r a e l i w o m a n b o r n i n B r i t a i n . S h e k n e w w h a t h e r h u s b a n d ‘ s o c c u p a t i o n . I t b e c a m e s o s u s p i c i o u s t h a t o n e o f h e r n e i g h b o r s d e s c r i b e d : ” I c a n n o t b e l i e v e e v e n j a d e m a d e h o m e d e l i v e r i e s . E x t r e m e l y q u i e t g i r l . N e v e r m i x e d . J u s t s a y i n g h e l l o a n d n o t h i n g e l s e . ” A f e w w e e k s l a t e r h e w a s a s k e d t o r e t u r n t o A u s t r a l i a A l o n B e n a n d c h a n g e h i s n a m e t o t h e o r i g i n a l n a m e . N a t i o n a l i d e n t i t y n e e d e d a n d w a n t e d i t m a y b e c o m p l e t e l y r e l i a b l e , s o i f a n y o n e c a n d o u b t i t , c o u l d h e f i n d a r e a l t r a c e o f t h e m a n . T o d o s o h e h a d t o r e t u r n t o B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r , t h e c h i l d g r e w u p i n M e l b o u r n e .
F o r m o r e t h a n a y e a r ‘ s w o r k w a s h a l t e d B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r i n s t i t u t i o n u n t i l h e w a s o r d e r e d t o r e t u r n t o A u s t r a l i a t o c h a n g e i t s n a m e a g a i n w h i t e o a k . H e A n g l a i s e t h e n a m e A l a n W h i t e . N o t k n o w n w h a t h a d e x c u s e s , b u t i t s e e m s t h a t t h i s i s a c o m m o n p h e n o m e n o n t h a t a p e r s o n c h a n g e s h i s n a m e , r e t u r n e d t o t h e p r e v i o u s n a m e a n d r e g r e t . T h e f a c t i s t h a t n o o n e i n A u s t r a l i a d i d n o t a t t r i b u t e a n y i m p o r t a n c e t o s p e a k , n o r P r e v e n t i v e I n t e l l i g e n c e ( A S I O ) . N o n e o f h i s m e n d i d n o t n o t i c e h i s c a s u a l e x c h a n g e o f i d e n t i t i e s e x p o s e d t o o a k o l d s i n o f h i s o w n i n i t i a t i v e . T h e n t h e A u s t r a l i a n a u t h o r i t i e s M t r d m t n a r o s e e v e n b e f o r e t h e a s s a s s i n a t i o n o f M a h m o u d a l – M a b h o u h i n D u b a i .
A l o n B e n k n e w t h e n e x t f e w y e a r s w h a t d i d t h e i n s t i t u t i o n o f B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r i d e n t i t y . H o w e v e r , i t i s r e q u i r e d t o p r o v i d e a n a l i b i i m p o s t o r . H e w a s c a l l i n g h i s f a m i l y r e p o r t e d h e r b u s i n e s s i n E u r o p e , s o i f s o m e o n e w o u l d f i n d o u t a b o u t L z i g i i r M e l b o u r n e , w a s r e v e a l e d t o h i m i n t h e E u r o p e a n c o n t e x t – a c o n n e c t i o n t h a t d i d n o t e x i s t r e a l l y f o r o l d o a k .
N e v e r o n c e c a l l e d A l o n B e n ‘ s f a m i l y t o E u r o p e t o t a l k w i t h h i m t h e r e . H e w a s t h e o n e w h o c r e a t e d u s w i t h h e r p h o n e , d i a l e d I s r a e l . S o m e t i m e s t h e w e a t h e r r e p o r t s o n t h e t h r e a t , a n d o n c e e v e n t o l d h i s c o n f i d a n t e t h a t A l l i s o n , f o r m e r g i r l f r i e n d f r o m S o u t h A f r i c a , c a m e t o v i s i t h i m i n I t a l y . H e m a d e s u r e t o t e l l a b o u t s o m e o f h i s r e l a t i v e s , b u t n o o n e e v e r m e t h e r o r s e e n h e r p i c t u r e . D o n o t k n o w i f t h e r e r e a l l y i s .
M e a n w h i l e t h r i v e d B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r i m p o s t o r . T o g e t h e r w i t h t w o f a l s e A u s t r a l i a n i d e n t i t y i s e s t a b l i s h e d c o m m u n i c a t i o n s e q u i p m e n t c o m p a n y i n M i l a n . T h e y d i d l e g i t i m a t e b u s i n e s s e s w i t h n e i g h b o r i n g c o u n t r i e s a n d b u i l t t h e m s e l v e s a r e p u t a t i o n , b u t t h e s e s a l e s w e r e j u s t a c o v e r f o r t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s s e c r e t . B e l o w t h e s u r f a c e r e a l l y i n t e r e s t i n g t h i n g s h a p p e n e d . T h r e e c a m e i n c o n t a c t w i t h a n i n t e r n a t i o n a l t r a d e r s e c r e t l y s u p p l i e d I r a n n u c l e a r i n d u s t r y c o m p o n e n t s . V i d e o I r a n i a n a g e n t s a n d t h e i r a l i b i , i n c l u d i n g t h e a l i b i o f B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r , a n d g a v e t h e i r a p p r o v a l t o t h e s i g n i n g o f t h e c o n t r a c t . T h u s , o v e r a l o n g p e r i o d I s r a e l p r o v i d e d t h r o u g h a t h i r d p a r t y , d e f e c t i v e c o m p o n e n t s t o h i t I r a n ‘ s n u c l e a r f a c i l i t i e s . S t r a n g e m i s h a p s o c c u r t h e r e f r e q u e n t l y a r e t h e r e s u l t o f t h i s d i s r u p t i v e a c t i v i t y .
I n 2 0 0 9 b e g a n l a s t s t e t h o s c o p e A l o n B e n ‘ s l i f e e n d e d i n h i s d e a t h . O n e o f t h e c l o s e s t C h a b a d H o u s e i n M e l b o u r n e s a i d : ” I t e l l y o u , s o m e o n e f r o m t h e A u s t r a l i a n g o v e r n m e n t f e l t m e
t w i c e . H o w d o I k n o w , t h e s e a r e q u e s t i o n s t h a t o n l y t h e p o l i c e o r i n t e l l i g e n c e o r g a n i z a t i o n w a n t t o k n o w t h e a n s w e r s t o . I c a n n o t t a l k t o o m u c h . I a s s u r e y o u , i t w a s s o m e o n e A u s t r a l i a n . ” R e l a t i v e o f B e n A l o n s a i d s a d l y : ” H e c h a t t e d m o r e t h a n i t s h o u l d . H e w a s n o t c a r e f u l e n o u g h . T h i s i s w h a t f i n a l l y k n o c k e d h i m i n t o a t r a p . ”
I n t h e i r s t r u g g l e w i t h t h e Z i o n i s t e n t i t y – a c c o r d i n g t o t h e a p p e n d i x a t t a c h e d t o t h e i n d i c t m e n t – r e c r u i t e d I r a n i a n a g e n t s a l s o n a t i v e t o A u s t r a l i a . S o m e l o c a l J e w i s h c o m m u n i t y s o u g h t i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e a c t i v i t i e s o f t h e i n s t i t u t i o n . T h i s t a s k , t h e y w e r e a b l e t o c a t c h t h e n a m e o f t h e o l d o a k . A t t h i s e a r l y s t a g e s t i l l k n e w n o t h i n g a b o u t h i s c o n n e c t i o n t o Z i g i i r . O n e o f t h e s e e n e m y a g e n t s , a n A u s t r a l i a n m a n i n h i s 5 0 s , w a s a b l e t o m a k e f r i e n d s w i t h t h e s o n o f A l l o n a n d g a i n c o n f i d e n c e . O n e t i m e h e t o l d W h i t e O a k t h a t w o r k e d p r e v i o u s l y t h e A u s t r a l i a n I n t e l l i g e n c e S e r v i c e ( A S I S ) a n d a s k e d h i m i f h e c h o s e t o j o i n a s w e l l . H e p r o m i s e d t o r e c o m m e n d h i m . A l o n B e n r e f u s e d . H e n e v e r b o a s t e d a n d s a i d t h a t a l t h o u g h h e w o r k s f o r a s e c r e t o r g a n i z a t i o n . T h e f o l l o w i n g m e e t i n g s a r e r e a l i z e d e n e m y a g e n t o f a f a m i l y c o n n e c t i o n o a k . I s r a e l c l a i m e d l a t e r t h a t B e n A l o n r e v e a l e d h i m s e l f b e i n g B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r . O n t h e o t h e r h a n d , i t i s c l a i m e d t h a t t h e a g e n t l e a r n e d a b o u t i t w i t h o u t t e l l i n g h i m . H o w e v e r , t h e I r a n i a n s w e r e a b l e t o f i n d o u t w h a t i s k n o w a b o u t t h e n a m e , a n d w a s r e v e a l e d t o t h e m t h a t m a n , b y a n I t a l i a n c o m p a n y , s e l l i n g t h e m n u c l e a r i n d u s t r y c o m p o n e n t s . A m a z i n g l y , t h e y d i d n o t . A p p a r e n t l y , i m p o r t a n t i n f o r m a t i o n w a s a r r e s t e d o n t h e w a y t o I r a n . A c c o r d i n g t o o n e ‘ s b e l i e f I s r a e l i i n t e l l i g e n c e c o m m u n i t y , ” L i s t e n , m i r a c l e s h a p p e n . M a y b e w h o e v e r h e l d t h e i n f o r m a t i o n d i e d s u d d e n l y c a r d i a c e v e n t . ”
A l o n B e n t h o u g h t o t h e r w i s e . F o l l o w i n g h i s a r r e s t , h i s f a m i l y s a i d : ” B e c a u s e u n t i l n o w h a v e n o t f o u n d t h e m a n a n d d i d n o t k n o w w h o h e i s , m a y b e i t h a s n o t h i n g t o I r a n a n d w h a t h e l e a r n e d w a s u s e l e s s f o r h i m . M a y b e h e ‘ s j u s t a f u n n y m a n w h o i n v e n t e d h i s r e l a t i o n s h i p i n t e l l i g e n c e o r g a n i z a t i o n s . ” H o w e v e r , n o t e t h a t t h e o l d o a k w a s a l e r t a n d s u s p i c i o u s m a n h i m s e l f . H e p e r c e i v e d t h a t t h e k n o w l e d g e o f i t s c o n n e c t i o n t o Z i g i i r m a y b e a p r o b l e m . Y e s , h e i n i t i a t e d c o n t a c t w i t h A u s t r a l i a n i n t e l l i g e n c e m a n t o i n q u i r e a b o u t h i s n e w f r i e n d . I n t e l l i g e n c e I n t e l l i g e n c e c o n v e y e d t o P r e v e n t i v e ( A S I O ) t o l o c a t e w h o i s a m a n . T h e P r e v e n t i v e S e c u r i t y , w h i c h e x a m i n e d t h e h i s t o r y o f a Z i g i i r – o a k , A u s t r a l i a n n e w s p a p e r l e a k e d t h e i n f o r m a t i o n , b u t n o t t r a n s f e r r e d t o t h e A u s t r a l i a n I n t e l l i g e n c e S e r v i c e ( A S I S ) . A n d s i n c e t h a t o l d o a k w i l l n o t k n o w t h e i n s t i t u t i o n i n M i l a n c o n t i n u e d t o o p e r a t e t h e c o m p a n y a n d i t s p e o p l e w e r e i n d a n g e r .
A l t h o u g h p r e v e n t i v e i n t e l l i g e n c e n o t s u m m o n e d t h e o l d o a k , b u t r e p o r t e r s f r o m T h e A u s t r a l i a n n e w s p a p e r b e g a n p e s t e r i n g h i m b a d l y . A s t h e r a t e H t z k o t i h m , u n d e r s t o o d e x p o s e d a n d i n f o r m e d t h a t i n s t i t u t i o n . S a m e r e p o r t i n g a n d p o l l i n g t o o k p l a c e a f t e r t h a t h e h i d t h e e v e n t s t h a t r e v e a l i t . I n s t i t u t i o n i m m e d i a t e l y s t o p p e d t h e I t a l i a n c o m p a n y ‘ s o p e r a t i o n s a n d b e g a n t o r e s e a r c h t h e s e r i o u s p r o b l e m . S o o n i t b e c a m e c l e a r t h a t t h e o l d o a k w i l l n o t k n o w t h e i n s t i t u t i o n a b o u t t h e f r i e n d s h i p t h a t d e v e l o p e d b e t w e e n h i m a n d t h e m y s t e r i o u s m a n . O n 4 M a r c h 2 0 1 0 w a s p l a c e d A l o n B e n G u e s t H o u s e ” , w h e r e t h e y b e g a n t o i n v e s t i g a t e w h a t i n f o r m a t i o n t r a n s f e r r e d . O n 1 0 M a r c h , f o l l o w i n g a n i n i t i a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n , i t w a s d e c i d e d t o t r a n s f e r h i m t o p r i s o n A y a l o n .
T h r o u g h o u t h i s d e t e n t i o n a d h e s i v e A l o n B e n r e a l l y – h e a d m i t t e d t h a t h e h i d f r o m h i s s u s p i c i o n s t o t h e i n s t i t u t i o n m y s t e r i o u s f r i e n d , b u t a r g u e d t h a t b r o u g h t h i m t h e f a l s e i d e n t i t y o f B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r , b u t i s r e v e a l e d t o h i m i n d i r e c t l y b e c a u s e o f t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n t h e m . T h e s t a t e a r g u e d f i r s t t h a t i t r e v e a l e d a f a l s e i d e n t i t y c o n s c i o u s l y , i e h a d i n t e n t w h i c h m e a n s b e t r a y a l . A f t e r s e v e r a l m o n t h s , t h e s t a t e o f f e r e d a p l e a b a r g a i n t h a t r e q u i r e d B e n A l o n a d m i t t h a t i n p e r s o n r e v e a l e d h i s c o n n e c t i o n t o Z i g i i r , b u t w i t h o u t r e a l i n t e n t t o d i s c o v e r t h e f a l s e i d e n t i t y o f B e n j a m i n Z i g i i r .
H i s w i d o w a n d h i s l a w y e r s h a v e s u g g e s t e d Ben Alon t o a d m i t t h e c r i m e s a t t r i b u t e d t o h i m i n a p l e a b a r g a i n , a n d h i s f a m i l y i n A u s t r a l i a o b j e c t e d a n d b e g g e d h i m n o t t o a d m i t t h i n g s h e d i d . A l o n B e n m i g h t h a v e c o n t i n u e d t o d e b a t e , b u t i t w a s n o t e n o u g h t o c o n s i d e r i t a l o n g t i m e . O n D e c e m b e r 1 1 , 2 0 1 0 , h i s s e c o n d d a u g h t e r , w h o m h e h a d n e v e r s e e n . was born. M e n t a l c o n d i t i o n , a n d a l r e a d y p r e c a r i o u s g i v e n t h e i s o l a t i o n a n d d i s t r e s s , v e r y d e t e r i o r a t e d f o l l o w i n g t h e b i r t h . H e b e c a m e v e r y a g i t a t e d . R e g i s t e r e d m e d i c a l f i l e t h a t b e g a n t o t a k e a s e d a t i v e c a l l e d d i a z e p a m d o s a g e i n c r e a s i n g . T h e d a y b e f o r e h i s d e a t h , w h e n A v i g d o r F e l d m a n m e t h i m , h e s e e m e d c a l m a n d r e l a x e d , b e c a u s e t h e e f f e c t o f t h e d r u g .
O n D e c e m b e r 1 5 , a t f i v e o ‘ c l o c k i n t h e a f t e r n o o n a Ben Allon was counted as present during the evening count a n d s e r v e d a m e a l . D u r i n g t h e count j a i l the guard has t o s e e w i t h t h e i r o w n e y e s the one s i t t i n g i n a c e l l . By the n i g h t count h e w a s d e a d .
T h i s i s a f a n t a s t i c s t o r y .
Sorry, this came out unintelligible because of the google script. But you can get your own translation…
I’ll try to summarize the gist of the whitewash later, because that’s what this story is. It’s a cover.
I did get one thing out of it about the company in Milano. Chances are that whatever it was it wouldn’t carry the name Allot officially, if it wanted to clandestinely send equipment to Iran. Took years to set up, according to sources we heard. But yehuda claims that the Benjamin Zygier who worked there was not the prisoner X.
I see this blogger and twitterer’s role as one whose job it is to pour cold water on certain damaging speculations by deflecting to a more fantastic story still, claiming “inside” knowledge all the way. may be eric maillaud should hire him?
One more thing I noticed from the story – which is the attempt to resurrect the image of Mossad that is right now suffering a serious hit in Israel. the mossad, in its infinite capability somehow got to the supposedly false Australian agent that our X was communing with (I know it’s not so clear from the translation). Note that throughout this tale, there is an attempt to accomplish three goals simultaneously: restore Mossad’s competency image (which has suffered a very serious set-back), take X off the hook, by presenting him as somewhat naive and misguided rather than a traitor, AND present the Australian and israeli families in better light by showing them as interested and involved parties. All these elements are essential to propping up the myths israelis have about themselves and their society. The overall effect is supposed to be some kind of a greek tragedy therefore steering it away from a cautionary tale about too-much-zionism-is-not-all-that-good-for-you. So obviously, Yehuda’s aim is for internal consumption, the psychology of which is kind of interesting.
If indeed this is the same Bello who concocted the Blond-Norwegian-girls-get raped-by-bad-muslims and rape-scandals-in-Bilin that Tim V brought up above, then he works in an official capacity (part time no doubt) as an informant and spreader of hasbara lines on Israel’s social networks. Those are known to be so infiltrated by various agents as to make the old Stasi look like altar boys (and girls). I followed his twitter updates just to see where he’s going to end up, because he seemed to be weaving a tale with a bit of a purpose (and not the one he claims which is to “get at the truth”)..
One more tid-bit I picked up: Maya Zalewski is British born – now, how about that? right in your back yard. I think we can probably believe that part.
Anyways, it’s probably worth plowing through this account just to fish out a few more useful dates. Again, sorry for the messed up script – had no idea it would look this way.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/honeypot-the-startling-story-of-the-killer-in-heels-2358004.html
Sweden produced an effective weapon for Israel.
No one mentions in any of these stories that a “honeypot” could be male or female. No one mentions Dubai. What happens in Dubai stays in Dubai.
No one mentions whether or not Ben Zygier spoke Polish, although the area where he lived in Melbourne was a Polish Jewish community.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/NewsDetails/tabid/96/smid/414/ArticleID/155244/reftab/69/t/Poland-arrests-Mossad-spy-in-Dubai-murder-case/Default.aspx
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3935817,00.html
@Marlin: Many Polish families wound up in Britain after WWII. Some fought with the British against the Germans. Is it possible that Maya Zalewski lived in a Polish Jewish community somewhere in the U.K., and speaks Polish? It would be quite something if she came from Surrey.