Dubai seeks '11 Europeans' for Hamas killing

[Peter Presland]

Don't think this has been mentioned here before.

Andrew Gilligan in The Telegraph

The Foreign Office denied claims that it had been tipped off about the use of British passports before the hit, insisting: “We only received details of the British passports a few hours before the [February 15] press conference held by the police in Dubai.”
But the Irish foreign ministry has confirmed that it knew Irish passports had been used by the hit squad as early as February 4 – and it would seem surprising if Britain did not know at least that soon too. The use of “European” passports in the hit was being claimed by the Dubai authorities as early as January 29. Not for the first time, the British government may not be being wholly frank about what it knew and when it knew it.

Note the usual wriggle-room - as 'details' of the British passports - slippery duplicitous sods!

The earliest mention I saw of Irish passports was 5th February on the "Irish4palestine" site so it was certainly public knowledge by then.

Its as plain as could be though that the UK government - as usual - is in thrall to Israel. Faux-outrage and a ridiculous, "pouting, foot-stamping" (aka Magda) Pinicchio-puppet Milliband notwithstanding.

[Peter Presland]

I really am lost for words about the following from The Jerusalem Post.

Unbelievable! :puke:
They just have to find outlets for all that pent up victim outrage I suppose.

The New York-based American Jewish Committee blasted the BBC on Sunday for airing an accusation that Jews around the world assist in supposed Mossad assassinations.

The AJC said in a statement that it was “dismayed that a guest on BBC Radio 4 was allowed to state unchallenged” that the Mossad relies on Jews for assassination plots.

“This baseless accusation crosses every red line between legitimate public discussion and bigoted fear-mongering,” said AJC executive director David Harris. “In less than a minute, the BBC has cast a shadow on the lives of Jews worldwide.”

BBC Radio 4’s PM program interviewed Gordon Thomas, author of Gideon’s Spies, a book about the Mossad, about the January 20 assassination of Hamas military commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai.

Local authorities and many international media outlets believe that the killing of Mabhouh, who bought rockets for Hamas forces in the Gaza Strip, was carried out by the Mossad.

In explaining the Mossad’s operating methods outside Israel, Thomas told PM host Eddie Mair, “They have a whole backup system called ‘asylum.’ These are people, local residents, Jewish people, who help the Mossad . It is estimated to be in the world about half a million; some people say a million; I tend to say it’s about half a million, all of them Mossad people.”

“Of course, Mr. Thomas is irresponsible in making such unfounded assertions on a radio program heard around the world,” said Harris, “but even more shocking is BBC, a premier public broadcaster with a far-reaching global network. How can the interviewer allow such aspersions to be cast on a community without the reporter calling the so-called expert to order?”

The comments also drew condemnation from observers of the BBC.

“Unfortunately, such ugly and nonsensical statements on the BBC come as no surprise. The BBC often handpicks interviewees who are likely to say such things as part of a wider pattern to demonize the State of Israel,” said Tom Gross, a former Middle East correspondent for The Sunday Telegraph and a Middle East analyst who has long been critical of BBC coverage of the region.

The AJC called on the BBC “to examine this disgraceful transmission, apologize to Jews around the world and remove from its archive the slanderous words.”


Reached for comment, the BBC press office in London said, “This interview was part of a wider piece about the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh which involved contributions from a number of people including Gordon Thomas, an author of a book about [the] Mossad.

“The sentiments expressed by Gordon Thomas were clearly his own opinions. They came at the end of the interview when it was being wrapped up and there was no time to come back on them.”

[David Guyatt]

It is an extremely odd statement, and one aided at further de-balling the Beeb, I suspect.

To my knowledge Thomas's book Gideon's Spies has been rubbished before this. I've read it and found it highly informative and credible. And he is regarded as a highly credible researcher and writer and his book on Dr. Ewen Cameron, "A Journey Into Madness", is required reading for anyone who has an interest in mind control. I cannot imagine there is a shred of doubt about his claims about the extensive network of Jewish helpers around the world who are called upon to aid particular Mossad projects.

One must hope that the BBC shrug this off and that the UK government do not feel the need to rush to the aid of the AJC under the suspect rubric of "fair and balanced reporting". If a report is factually accurate, fairness and balance are irrelevant. That is, unless we are going to reach the point where facts no longer matter, and are to be replaced by some perverse philosophy.

If the APC have a problem with Thomas then sue him. I'd love to see that. But mightily do I doubt they ever will be so stupid.

[Austin Kelley]

It is an extremely odd statement, and one aided at further de-balling the Beeb, I suspect.

To my knowledge Thomas's book Gideon's Spies has been rubbished before this. I've read it and found it highly informative and credible. And he is regarded as a highly credible researcher and writer and his book on Dr. Ewen Cameron, "A Journey Into Madness", is required reading for anyone who has an interest in mind control.

I read Gideon's Spies several years ago and also found it useful. I've also read A Journey Into Madness and Enslaved, as well as various articles on the Internet. I don't have a particular problem with the content I recall reading.

That said, I have a lingering concern about his ties to spooky circles and how he might have been able to do things that covert agencies wouldn't like, while simultaneously enjoying close ties to operatives.

Here's an excerpt from his biography, as given on his web page:

[Emphasis added]

In 1933 in Wales, Gordon Thomas was born in a cemetery keeper’s cottage where his grandmother lived. He wrote and had his first story published at nine years old in a Boys Own Paper competition on why he wanted to grow older and listen to adult conversations. With his father in the RAF, he travelled widely and was educated at the Cairo High School, the Maritz Brothers in Port Elizabeth and, finally, at Bedford Modern from where he was expected to go on to university. His first book was completed at the age of seventeen. It was the story of a British spy in Russia during World War Two, titled Descent Into Danger. This was his initial encounter with spying. He turned down the offer of a place at university in order to accompany a travelling fair for a year. Those experiences became Bed of Nails. Since then, Gordon has written forty-one books published worldwide. He has been a foreign correspondent beginning with the Suez Crisis and ending with the First Gulf War. He was a BBC writer/producer for three flagship BBC programmes: Man Alive, Tomorrow’s World and Horizon. He is a regular contributor to Facta, the respected monthly Japanese news magazine, and he lectures widely on the secret world of Intelligence. He also provides expert analysis on Intelligence for US and European television and radio shows. Gordon’s awards include a Monte-Carlo International Television Award; an Edgar Allen Poe Award; and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Investigative Journalism from the Citizens Commission for Human Rights. He divides his time between his homes in Ireland and England.


FROM THE AUTHOR:

Writing about myself is not easy. There is much I do not wish to share, which explains why I have turned down several offers to publish my memoirs. Perhaps one day.

I have few close friends. One was Bill Buckley, a near perfect spy who died too soon for all the wrong reasons (read: Secrets & Lies). Essentially, I am fortunate to be a writer who has come to be trusted by the men and women of the secret world of Intelligence. Rafi Eitan of the Mossad opened doors for me to the most covert of all the secret services. Meir Amit, a living legend in the global intelligence community, was another guide. Last, but far from least, was my late father-in-law, a Cold War spy. They are all part of the pantheon of spies to whom I owe my career.

So, I don't at all want to impugn Gordon Thomas based on vague or unsubstantiated allegations, but I do want to say I sometimes wonder what's up in regards to him, and to invite further comment on this subject.

[Peter Presland]

I concur with pretty much all of David and Austin's comments in the last two posts, with the following caveats:

1. On the BBC I am less sanguine than David's post makes him appear (though erroneously I suspect). The Beeb really are quintessentially Establishment and as such will ALWAYS promote and defend the Establishment 'for public consumption' consensus, no matter how absurd it is. It is the increasingly vast absurdity of that consensus that led to this little peccadillo slipping through I suspect. After all, their editors positions are somewhat analogous to that of King Canute addressing the tide. There is just Sooooo much for them to be on guard for that the odd leakage is just bound to happen occasionally.

2. I certainly hold no brief for Gordon Thomas either; and I agree that his output, though necessarily somewhat compromised by his position of trust with those who by definition trust nobody, is informative - and even uniquely so if one is practised at reading between the lines.

The real point of my posting that Jerusalem Post piece was the demeanour - the faux outrage - of those eternal victims.

The AJC said in a statement that it was “dismayed that a guest on BBC Radio 4 was allowed to state unchallenged” that the Mossad relies on Jews for assassination plots.

“This baseless accusation crosses every red line between legitimate public discussion and bigoted fear-mongering,” said AJC executive director David Harris

The very idea that Mossad relies on scattered Zionists !!! - I wonder what the reaction would have been if he had alleged they relied on Christian, or Muslims?

As is so often the case it would be farcically funny if it weren't so damned tragic.

[Austin Kelley]

The real point of my posting that Jerusalem Post piece was the demeanour - the faux outrage - of those eternal victims.

I understand your critique- and don't disagree, but I will point out that Gordon Thomas handed the Israeli propagandists a rationale for their faux indignation on a silver platter by asserting that there were half a million to a million sayanim in the exterior.

This is based on what? I don't know of any substantiation for such assertions- and there's the rub...

[Peter Presland]

.... Gordon Thomas handed the Israeli propagandists a rationale for their faux indignation on a silver platter by asserting that there were half a million to a million sayanim in the exterior.

This is based on what? I don't know of any substantiation for such assertions- and there's the rub...

Well on a strict interpretation of the word maybe; but really, does anyone seriously doubt that the Mossad will have information on substantially in EXCESS of 1/2 million non-Israeli residents throughout the world who, by whatever means (ranging between being made offers they can't refuse to being deeply embedded 'Manchurian Candidates') are potential 'assets' in Mossad operations - witting or unwitting?

It is the modus operandi of all SIS's with their 'assets' as often as not believing (in their naivety) that they are involved in some sort of exciting hush-hush patriotic exercise before receiving a rude awakening - or silencing - as the case may be.

In any event I can think of a whole raft of things thoroughly deserving of outrage, whereas this (IMHO) is deserving of nothing but contempt - The AJC statement that is.

[Austin Kelley]

I don't doubt that the Israeli Government can tap into a large network of unpaid helpers. That said, here's a quote that Gordon Thomas recently gave to the BBC host Eddie Mair:

“They have a whole backup system called ‘asylum.’ These are people, local residents, Jewish people, who help the Mossad. It is estimated to be in the world about half a million; some people say a million; I tend to say it’s about half a million, all of them Mossad people.”

I'd say that's a problematic statement based on the fact that I don't know of any way for Thomas to back up his claim.

[Peter Presland]

.....I'd say that's a problematic statement based on the fact that I don't know of any way for Thomas to back up his claim.

OK Austin; agreed, it is problematic; as is pretty much any comment on the capabilities and activities of SIS's the world over.

The point here - very well illustrated by the diversionary rucus caused - is that it is ESPECIALLY problematic where Israel's hyper-sensitive Hasbara is involved. Maybe GT did have that in mind, though on balance I think he was probably flattered at the invitation and did a barely rehearsed motor-mouth memory dump that slipped passed the censors ....or maybe he's just another Sayanim himself :elefant:

Anyway, I think we're in danger of debating how many angels can dance on a pin-head on this so I'll say no more.

[Austin Kelley]

I think that the Israeli psy-ops people will twist anything and everything they can into fodder for their propaganda war.

The most strategic thing to do is to anticipate your opponent's methodology in advance and be very, very thoughtful about what you do and do not say.

So, essentially Peter, you and I are in agreement- I do not doubt that the Israeli State enjoys a great deal of help from without, and I do think this is a very important moral and political concern. I just think that, in retrospect, we can see that Gordon Thomas's statement gave them an opening, and this should be a lesson to us all.