Israel and state-sponsored terrorism
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Israel is alleged to support militant organizations that conduct acts of terrorism against its enemies in the Middle East. Particular efforts are made to prevent its neighbors from the developing nuclear capabilities, part of a general effort to maintain a Qualitative Military Edge over its numerically superior adversaries.[1] Israel is involved in an ongoing proxy war with the Islamic Republic of Iran, similarly it provides medical assistance to Syrian rebels such as Al-Nusra Front on its border who are fighting the Iran-backed Assad Government in Syria.
Proxies Against Iran
Iran is a belligerent enemy of Israel. Though they have never been at war, both nations make efforts to undermine the others influence in the region through various means: diplomatic, economic, and military. This includes the use of (often armed) proxies, which facilitate indirect conflict between the powers, and in the case of Iranian proxies Hamas and Hezbollah, outright war. The Israeli government supports groups in conflict with Iran's government.[2] Among the groups Israel supports are the People's Mujahedin of Iran, a secular Iranian opposition movement in exile that opposes the changes made to Iranian society in the Islamic Revolution and advocates the overthrow of the Iranian Government. The PEK is opposed to Iranian nuclear ambitions and revealed the existence of Iran's nuclear program in 2002.[3][4]
In the interval between January 2007 and January 2012, four scientists working for Iran's nuclear program — Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, were assassinated American observers considered the campaign a cooperation between the Mossad and the MEK,leading to allegations of Israel "teaming up with terrorists".The European Union, Canada and the United States formerly listed the MEK as a terrorist organization, but this designation has since been lifted, first by the Council of the European Union in January 26, 2009 (following what the group called a "seven-year-long legal and political battle"),[5][6][7] then by a decision by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton[8] on September 21, 2012 and lastly by a decision by the Canadian government on December 20, 2012.[9] According to NBC news, unnamed U.S officials have confirmed that members of MEK were trained and armed by Mossad to assassinate the scientists.[10][11] In an interview with Der Spiegel, Moshe Ya'alon hinted that Israel was behind the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists.[12][13]
The Bid Kaneh explosion was a large explosion that occurred in 13:30 local time, 12 November 2011 in Shahid Modarres missile base[14]).According TIME magazine an unnamed Western official said implied the explosion was deliberate.[15] Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said about the explosion, "May there be more like it."[16] Major General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam was killed in this explosion.[17]
Nearly a year before Bid Kaneh explosion, about 11 local time, 12 October 2010, an explosion occurred in Khorram Abad Imam Ali garrison. The Daily Telegraph wrote that the Israeli's media claims this explosion is a sabotage by Israel.[18]
Jundallah
According to a 2012 report in Foreign Policy, Mossad agents disguised as Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officers recruited members of Jundallah—"a Pakistan-based Sunni extremist organization ... responsible for assassinating Iranian government officials and killing Iranian women and children"—to carry out "false flag" operations against Iran, straining Israel's relations with the United States.[19]
PJAK
According to a piece published by Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, "thanks to Wikileaks, it also now documented fact that Israel has long since attempted to use Kurdish groups such as PJAK... against Iran."[20]
Lavon Affair
The 'Lavon Affair' is an unsuccessful Israeli covert operation, code named 'Operation Susannah', conducted in Egypt in the Summer of 1954. As part of the false flag operation,[21] a group of Egyptian Jews were recruited by Israeli military intelligence to plant bombs inside Egyptian, American and British-owned civilian targets, cinemas, libraries and American educational centers. The bombs were timed to exploded several hours after closing time. The attacks were to be blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Communists, "unspecified malcontents" or "local nationalists" with the aim of creating a climate of sufficient violence and instability to induce the British government to maintain its occupying troops in Egypt's Suez Canal zone.[22] The operation caused no fatality, except for operative when a bomb he was taking to place in a movie theater ignited prematurely in his pocket; for two members of the cell who committed suicide after being captured; and for two operatives who were tried, convicted and executed by Egypt.
The operation ultimately became known as the 'Lavon Affair'. Following this operation the Israeli defense minister Pinhas Lavon was forced to resign. Even though Israel denied any involvement in the operation for 51 years, the surviving members were honored by Israeli President Moshe Katzav in 2005.[23]
1950–51 Baghdad bombings
1950–1951 Baghdad bombings refers to a series of bombings of Jewish targets in Baghdad, Iraq, between April 1950 and June 1951.
There is a dispute around the true identity and objective of the offenders behind the bombings, and this issue remains unresolved.
Two activists in the Iraqi Zionist underground were found guilty by an Iraqi court for a number of the bombings, and were sentenced to death. Another was sentenced to life imprisonment and seventeen more were given long prison sentences.[24] The allegations against Israeli agents had "wide consensus" amongst Iraqi Jews in Israel.[25] Many of the Iraqi Jews in Israel who lived in poor conditions blamed their ills and misfortunes on the Israeli Zionist emissaries or Iraqi Zionist underground movement.[26] The theory that "certain Jews" carried out the attacks "in order to focus the attention of the Israel Government on the plight of the Jews" was viewed as "more plausible than most" by the British Foreign Office.[27][28] Telegrams between the Mossad agents in Baghdad and their superiors in Tel Aviv give the impression that neither group knew who was responsible for the attack.[28] Israel has consistently denied involvement in the bombings.[29]
Israel-Syrian rebels relationship
Israel provides medical assistance to wounded Syrian rebels[30] crossing the border of "the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights"; most of this assistance has gone to Al-Nusra Front.[31] Israeli officials stated that they provide humanitarian aid to wounded combatants and civilians regardless of their identity.[32][33] According to a March 2015 report in The Wall Street Journal, two-thirds of "the Syrians treated in Israel" were military-age men.[31] One UNDOF report stated that two boxes of unspecified content were transferred from Israel to Syrian rebels and that the soldiers of IDF met with Syrian rebels in the east of the border.[32] Israel is believed to share intelligence with the rebels, although it is unknown whether it has provided weapons.[34] "Former head of Israel's military intelligence" Amos Yadlin explained Israel's rationale: "There is no doubt that Hezbollah and Iran are the major threat to Israel, much more than the radical Sunni Islamists, who are also an enemy."[31]
See also
- Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists
- Iran and state-sponsored terrorism
- Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism
- Qatar and state-sponsored terrorism
- Saudi Arabia–United States relations#Allegations of funding terrorism
- Terrorism and the Soviet Union
- United States and state-sponsored terrorism
- Zionist political violence
References
- ^ QME
- ^ International Journal of Middle East Studies, 19, 1987, p. 261
- ^ Spector, Leonard. "Iranian Nuclear Program Remains Major Threat Despite Partial Freeze of Weapons-Relevant Activities Described in New U.S. National Intelligence Estimate". Retrieved 2014-12-17.
- ^ Morello, Carol. "Exile group accuses Iran of secret nuclear weapons research". The Washington Post. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
- ^ Runner, Philippa. "EU ministers drop Iran group from terror list". Euobserver. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
- ^ "EU removes PMOI from terrorist list". UPI. January 26, 2009. Retrieved 2012-09-29.
- ^ John, Mark (January 26, 2009). "EU takes Iran opposition group off terror list". Reuters.
- ^ Shane, Scott (September 21, 2012). "Iranian Dissidents Convince U.S. to Drop Terror Label". The New York Times.
- ^ Sen, Ashish Kumar. "U.S. takes Iranian dissident group MeK off terrorist list". Washington Times. Retrieved 2014-12-17.
- ^ Marizad, Mehdi. "Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News". NBC News. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ Greenwald, Glenn. "Israel, MEK and state sponsor of Terror groups". Salon. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
- ^ "Israel behind assassinations of Iran nuclear scientists, Ya'alon hints". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
- ^ Arutz Sheva Staff. "Israel to Resume Assassinations of Iranian Nuclear Scientists?". Israel National News. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
- ^ Mysterious explosions pose dilemma for Iranian leaders. washingtonpost.com . 23 November 2011
- ^ Was Israel Behind a Deadly Explosion at an Iranian Missile Base?
- ^ "Barak hopes there will be more explosions in Iran". The Jerusalem Post - JPost.com. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
- ^ Iranian missile expert killed in explosion The Guardian, 13 November 2011
- ^ "Israeli's media knows this explosion is a sabotage". Persian Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 30 September 2015.
- ^ Perry, Mark (2012-01-13). "False Flag". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2016-10-30.
- ^ Draitser, Eric (17 March 2015). "Breaking the Resistance with Terrorism and Proxy Wars". New Eastern Outlook. Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
- ^ James M. Lutz; Brenda J. Lutz (2004). Global terrorism. p. 46. ISBN 0-415-70051-5. Retrieved 7 June 2011.
- ^ S. Teveth (1996). Ben-Gurion's spy: the story of the political scandal that shaped modern Israel. Columbia University Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-0-231-10464-7.
- ^ "Israel honors 9 Egyptian spies". Ynetnews. Reuters. 30 March 2005.
- ^ Morris & Black, 1992, p. 91
- ^ Klausner, Samuel (1998), "The Jewish Exodus from Iraq 1948-1951", Contemporary Jewry, 19 (1): 180–185, JSTOR 23455343,
Most of the 120,000 Iraqi Jews, transported to Israel through Operation Ezra and Nemehiah in 1950-1, believed they had been stampeded into fleeing by the Israeli Mossad. Many still believe that when registration for emigration slowed, members of the Zionist underground tossed hand grenades into Jewish institutions. This suspicion has contributed to the alienation of Iraqi immigrants from successive Labor governments.
- ^ Ian Black; Benny Morris (1991). Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. Grove Press. p. 92.
- ^ British Embassy in Baghdad, FO371, EQ1571, Baghdad to FO, 27 June 1951, "one theory which is more plausible than most is that certain Jews have endeavoured, by throwing bombs at certain buildings, to focus the attention of the Israel Government on the plight of the Jews in Iraq so that they would keep the airlift moving quickly, and, possibly as a second object, to induce those well-to-do Jews who had decided to remain in Iraq to change their mind and emigrate to Israel."
- ^ a b Tom Segev. Now it can be told. Haaretz.
- ^ To Baghdad and Back
- ^ "UN Reveals Israeli Links With Syrian Rebels". HAARETZ. 7 December 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ a b c Trofimov, Yaroslav (2015-03-12). "Al Qaeda a Lesser Evil? Syria War Pulls U.S., Israel Apart". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
- ^ a b MAYA SHWAYDER (12 July 2014). "New UN report reveals collaboration between Israel and Syrian rebels". THE JERUSALEM POST. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ Johnlee Varghese (December 7, 2014). "UN Report: Israel in Regular Contact with Syrian Rebels including ISIS". International Business Times. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
- ^ Berman, Lazar (2016-08-16). "Bibi the Strategist". Commentary. Retrieved 2016-10-30.