Israel-related animal conspiracy theories

Israeli zoological militancy conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories about Israel's alleged training of animals to attack, to spread diseases, and to spy for Israel. These theories have been propagated by some Arab media and Arabic language websites, although some other Arab sources have criticized the coverage these events have received.

Overview of the allegations

Israel has been accused of sending a spy pelican and a spy vulture to Sudan. The birds, wearing a GPS device and a tag with the sign "Tel Aviv University," were captured by local officials. Sudanese authorities refused to return the GPS transmitters.

Israel has also been accused of releasing lethal jellyfish in the waters off Sinai and of infecting mosquitoes with HIV, even though this form of HIV transmission is not considered possible.

Most recently, during latest intifada, Wafa, also known as the Palestine News Agency, issued reports of rats as big as dogs and wild boars that were allegedly released in East Jerusalem by Israel in order to make Palestinians to flee so that Jews could take their homes. The report read: "Rats have become an Israeli weapon to displace and expel Arab residents of the occupied Old City of Jerusalem. Settlers flood the Old City of Jerusalem with rats.

In December 2010, shark attacks in Egypt were attributed to a shark released by the Mossad.

In January 2011, Saudi Arabian authorities arrested what they described as a "Zionist" vulture.

Theories

Shark

An oceanic whitetip shark, one of the two species implicated in the attacks

This conspiracy theory started to evolve December 2010, with an interview that Captain Mustafa Ismail, introduced as "a famous diver in Sharm El Sheikh", gave on TV program Egypt Today. In the interview Ismail claimed that there are no oceanic whitetip sharks in the Red Sea off Egypt. When asked how the sharks got there, Ismail responded: "no, it's who let them in?" He went on to describe his phone conversation with an Israeli diver who told him that they captured an oceanic whitetip off Eilat, an Israeli town also on the Red Sea coast. Ismail became suspicious when the Israeli told him the shark they captured had a GPS navigation device. Although this is a common method of monitoring shark migrations, Ismail offered his own theory of using GPS device on sharks: "the sharks were monitored to attack in Egypt's waters only".

Prompted in a TV interview to comment on the theory, the governor of South Sinai, Mohammad Abdul Fadhil Shousha, was reported to have said it couldn't be ruled out: "What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark [in the sea] to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question. But it needs time to confirm." He later directly dismissed the theory.

Describing the theory as "sad", Professor Mahmoud Hanafy, a marine biologist at Suez Canal University, pointed out that GPS devices are used by marine biologists to track sharks, not to remote-control them. Egyptian officials suggested that the attacks were due to overfishing, illegal feeding, the dumping overboard of sheep carcasses, or unusually high water temperatures.

Vulture

A vulture similar to this one was arrested in Saudi Arabia and accused in spying for Israel

A griffon vulture with a wingspan of about 8 feet (2.4 m) was seen flying in Saudi Arabia, near the home of a shaikh, near the city of Hayel. When the bird was captured, a GPS device and a leg tag with the sign "Tel Aviv University" were discovered on the bird. The authorities were alerted that the vulture was a part of "Zionist plot". The story was first reported in Saudi Arabia's newspaper Al-Weeam, and was later discussed in Arabic websites and other Saudi Arabia media outlets.

According to Riyadh newspaper Harmony the bird with code number "R56" was well trained and resisted the arrest by emitting a large amount of "a foul smell waste out of his mouth".

According to Arab Nyheter news agency "Al Jazeera has reported that Saudi security authorities arrested a suspect bird, who worked for Israeli intelligence (Mossad) and was flying in Saudi airspace to gather information on the country."

Israeli officials described the accusation as "ludicrous" and said they were "stunned" and were concerned that the bird could meet a severe punishment in the Saudi justice system.

A spokesman for Israel's Park and Nature Authority told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv that Israeli scientists are using GPS devices to determine the migration routes of the birds. He explained that, "The device does nothing more than receive and store basic data about the bird's whereabouts, and about his altitude and speed".

The bird was later released from custody after Saudi wildlife authorities determined that its tracking system was used for scientific purposes.

Rats

In 2008, 2 Palestinian newspapers including official news wire Wafa, released articles claiming that "Settlers flood the Old City of Jerusalem with rats." Reports were of extremely aggressive, dog-sized, supernatural rats who like to attack Arab children and breed four times more often than a normal rat. The rats have reportedly, been inserted into the Old City by "dozens of settlers ... carrying iron cages full of [them]" with the intention of scaring the locals out of their homes. An Israeli spokesman for the Jerusalem Municipality described the report as "pure fiction". Political commentator Joshua Muravchik mocked the report, arguing that it made no sense as Jews also live in the Old City.

Wild boars

A Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that Israeli settlers own wild boars and released them on Palestinian farmlands near Salfit. According to the report, wild boars destroyed crops and fruit trees that belong to Palestinians. A witness reported that "One of the attacked fields was planted with peach trees. All were broken and caused a big loss for the field's owner, farmer Abo Ayman Oada"

Ma'an has also reported that wild boars released by settlers have attacked people, causing serious injuries. In 2008, Ma'an reported a claim attributed to Palestinian security forces, according to which several Palestinian Arabs got hurt near the city of Nabulus by wild boars released by Israeli settlers from Ariel.

Ma'an has also linked Ariel settlers to snake attacks; in 2009, Ma'an quoted Salfit "locals, who have often accused Ariel settlers of releasing wild boars into villages and farmland" as stating that one-meter long snake that bit a woman on Salfit farmland "might have escaped from the nearby settlement."

Reaction

After media reports of the allegations of animal use emerged, many commentators dismissed them as "paranoid" or claimed the evidence supporting the allegations was "scant". Other commentators used the opportunity to criticize belief in conspiracy theories in the Arab world, which they characterized as a widespread problem.

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Secretary-General of the Saudi National Security Council, has criticized the coverage that the vulture incident received in the Saudi media, saying "Some of the Saudi journalists rushed in carrying the news of this bird for the sake of getting a scoop without checking the information...they should have asked the competent authorities about the bird before publishing such news."

See also

• Animal-borne bomb attacks
• Military dolphin
• U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program

External links

• Egyptian Intellectuals Fight Common Arab Misconceptions
• British blamed for Basra badgers
• Hunter lured Israeli vulture with “dead sheep”
• Video: Israel’s Latest Secret Weapon: The Death-Defying Rodent