Jerusalem – Israel is waging a covert assassination campaign across the Middle East in an effort to stop its key enemies co-ordinating their activities.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Israeli agents have been targeting meetings between members of Hamas and the leadership of the militant Hezbollah group, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
They are also suspected of recent killings in Dubai, Damascus and Beirut. While Israel’s Mossad spy agency has been suspected of staging assassinations across the world since the 1970s, it does not officially acknowledge or admit its activities.
The current spate of killings began in December when a “tourist bus” carrying Iranian officials and Hamas members exploded outside Damascus. The official report by Syria claimed that a tyre had exploded but photographs surfaced showing the charred remains of the vehicle — prompting speculation that a much larger explosion had taken place.
Several weeks later a meeting between members of Hamas, which controls Gaza, and their counterparts from Hezbollah in its southern Beirut stronghold in Lebanon was also attacked, resulting in several deaths.
Hamas had sought to cover up the incidents because it was embarrassed, a senior Palestinian official in Ramallah told The Times.
“There has been growing co-operation between Gaza and Iran. Israel can read the writing on the wall and they know that with the help of Iran, the Hamas Government in Gaza will become stronger and will fight better.
“But Israel is overstepping their boundaries. Other countries don’t want to become a killing field for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
Most recently, the top Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was killed in Dubai on January 19, 2010. He is believed to have been poisoned by a woman who visited his room at the Al Bustan Rotana Hotel in Dubai.
Israeli officials said that Mabhouh had been a key figure in procuring Iranian-made longer-range rockets for Hamas that could be fired at targets in central Israel.
The exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has vowed revenge for Mabhouh’s death. He has also suggested that the current fighting between Hamas and Israel will become more regional. In an interview with the London-based al-Hayat newspaper, Mr Mashaal said that future wars with Israel would not be fought solely in the Gaza Strip.
Under the current Mossad chief, Meir Dagan, Israel is believed to have renewed efforts to kill high-level opponents. Only months after the former paratrooper assumed leadership of the intelligence service in October 2002, senior Hezbollah operatives in Lebanon began to be targeted. He was credited with ordering the killing of two relatively senior Hezbollah members who were killed in southern Beirut in July 2003 and August 2004.
More recently, Israel has been accused of planting a car bomb in Damascus that killed the top Hezbollah leader Imad Mughniyah in February 2008. The Israeli Cabinet minister Daniel Herschkowitz last week praised the Mossad chief as one of the agency’s most successful leaders.
When asked about Mossad’s involvement in the Dubai slaying, Eli Yishai, the Interior Minister, smiled and said: “All the security services make, thank God, great efforts to safeguard the security of the state of Israel.”
While some countries are questioning whether Israel isn’t taking credit to increase the reputation of its defence establishment, other moderate Arab States are now describing the assassinations as a “covert war” between Israel and Hamas.
Diplomats said they were aware that covert Israeli operations had increased. “We watch their comings and goings; we are aware that there is more activity both on our ground and other countries in the region,” said an Egyptian diplomat. “They are trying to embroil us all in their conflict.”
Tensions between Israel and Hamas have remained high, despite the relative quiet that has ensued since the end of Israel’s offensive in Gaza last winter. Israeli troops were placed on alert yesterday after intelligence suggested that Hamas planned to abduct soldiers. Israel said this week that it had foiled a kidnapping in December by arresting the Hamas operative Slaman Abu Atik on the Israeli-Gaza border. He planned to enter Israel via Egypt, said the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service.
kayn yirbu
Endangering every Jew in the world
If it is on VIN how covert is it?
Let us say that this is not true. The best that we can then say is that this will increase anti-semitism in the world, especially among the arabs.
On the other hand, let us say that it is true. Again, it will bring animosoty towards the Jews.
So why publish it? Most VIN readers do not feel ‘zionistic’ enough to even align them selves with the IDF. This ‘news article’ is basically Lashon Hara against other Jews who put their lives on the line to defend us.
Either we should say ‘thank you’ to the IDF or not say anything at all. (Except in our tefillos to Hakadosh Baruch Hu who has given us 2 armys – one to pray and one to fight)
how can they be so ignorant and not realize that this is a two-way-street. look what happened this shabbos in india where a chabad house was targeted and b”h, miraculously, no one was injured.
What do we care if it’s the Zionists or the Americans or the Arabs themselves who kill them? No one knows for sure that the murders are carried out by our people. There is a lot of Arab in-fighting…
these stories and events are better left better unspoken…whats the point in revealing what the Mossad is doing..
“Hashem yiluchem luchem v’atem tachrishin”
To all commentators that think that mossad can save us, I say,you will never get it because you are missing an important knowledge of how Judaism works. Hashem has designed his world by the goyim that whoever is a bigger stronger army will win but with the yidden its different. In out whole history we didn’t win because we were big or strong. When we won it was with miracles and only with permission of hashem to fight. When we are in gulos we have no right to fight and it only angers hashem that we don’t put our trust in him and we try to be like all the goyim. That’s why the ultimate geulah is not here yet.
Arab rpopaganda. Hoep they are right.
To # 22,
Seeing your confident statement I assume you know kol hatorah by heart and you know that there is no such isur. But unfortunately I’m not such a goan. All I can say is that in my medroshim and gemarah its mentioned many times as when the bnei efraim tried to go out of mitzraim before the time and it was a disaster, bar koikchve in the times of r’ akiva, ben kezivah, etc it all ended in death to thousands of jews. And regarding the shalush shevous, why avoid the conversation? Why not talk about it right now?
To # 29,
megilas esther should only show you that #17 is right. they were destined to die the whole klal yisroel, yet nobody even dreamed about fighting, because at that time they were in golus, all they did was davening and begging achasverosh to be mevatel the decree. Now as far as the chasmoinuim, that was in a time when they were not in golus, and it was not a fight about life and death, it was a fight over ruchnious and that’s why they had such miracles. When hashem wants us to win we don’t need a powerful army and no big army all we need is “mi lashem elie”
To #36
No I don’t prove myself wrong, because r’ akiva initially thought that bar kochva is moshiach that’s why he supported him, but he soon realized he was wrong and he admitted that he was wrong, and went out against him. (How is it possible that the holy tanne made a mistake? there are many peshutim on that in the achroinim)
never the less the minute he realized that its not the time of moshiach he was all out against fighting as an army.
Dear Robbert,
In #37
I knew you will make this mistake. When the king gives us a decree to kill our enemies, then it’s not hisgaros beumes, and even in golus we are allowed to do that, but before that decree came from the king himself, it was never even a thought of rising against the goyim.
in #35
The halacha of “yeherag v’al yavor” is irrelevant here. If someone asks you to do an aveira or he will kill you, you are instructed to do that aveira (not to kill him) if that aveira is 1 of the 3 sins, then you are instructed to let yourself be killed. (i bet this halacha does not sit well with a lot of people here on VIN who try to shape the torah according to their feelings rather then to what the torah really says),
Dear robert in #42
We can sit here all day and try to look at the text of the megilah. The bottom line is that the jews did whatever they did with permission of the king, if they wanted another day in shushan, they went to the king to ask permission. They were in the killing mode already from a day before and the goyim were running scared yet they still asked permission. The concept was clear that while in golus we don’t kill the goyim by our own. Now back to the Israelis government and mossad, not only that they don’t have permission to kill, the whole state was built on an uprising against the goyim and they continuously do that by having an army and a killing agency like mossad, that hisgaros beumos on the highest level.
Regarding ushmartem lenafshosechem, all I can say is, according to my knowledge it means to protect human life by watching over it not to inflict any problems on it (see chofetz chaim that this includes speaking loshen hara because it results in harm on jewish bodies and life) but never did I hear anyone translate this commandment into killing others to protect yourself. Anyway I’m not gonna go back and forth due to time restriction. Good luck and may all jews have open eyes to see and listen to what hashem REALLY wants from us whether we like it or not.
My uncle was a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. I suppose that there are fine, upstanding yidden that say he was wrong to fight.
And his children, my cousins who were born after the war should not even exist. And their children and children’s children who populated many yeshivas in Brooklyn, Monsey, Yerushalayim, Bet Shemesh, even chos v’chalila, the 5 towns ….. well, they also should not exist because my uncle should not have fought in the uprising and should have died.
Looks like Hashem, in his mercy, had different plans for my uncle.
Dear Robert,
In #34
If the halacha of haba lehorgoch applies to this case, then let me ask you.
How come in mitzrayim where we were killed every day in the thousands, why don’t we find the yidden rising against pharaoh? (even the bnei efraim only tried to get out because they had a mistake in the chesbon of how long the decree of golus mitzrayim was, as is explained in many divrei chazal) all we find in mitzrayim was that the yidden waited for the real goel to come and take them out, even so far that Moshe was concerned that the yidden will not believe him to be the goel. (These yidden were zoiche to get the torah)
All through our painful history we were persecuted. The story of the megila, the crusaders, the inquisition, the pogroms in Europe, the blood libels, etc. All the tzadikim and torah giants from all generations understood that we can’t and are not allowed to fight while the decree of hashem is for us to be in golus.
If you think that the only smart people who understand what hashem wants is hertzel and Ben Guerin, then sorry I have no words left.
To prove that in golus Jews are not to kill in self defense because all attempts failed is ridiculous. Then prove that we are not allowed to buy homes , make money , etc. in golus because these , after a period of time , has also been taken from us by the goyim.
The bottom line is that although golus is unpleasant , do not say what we are or not allowed to do unless you can back it up from a WRITTEN mesorah.
oh no, it will increase anti semitism! please, that is jsut ridiculous. Jews are hated no matter what. Okay, even if you are not a “Zionist” (and since most of you have family, friends, studying/ living in Israel, you are a Zionist whether you like it or not)al pi halacha this is a clear case of Rodef.