[News] The Mossad hit and Israel's path of self-destruction

[Anti-Imperialist News]

The Mossad hit and Israel's path of self-destruction

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11100.shtml
Hasan Abu Nimah, The Electronic Intifada, 25 February 2010


Some of the agents suspected of involvement in the assassination of 
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai. (Dubai Police)

The assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, a Hamas official in Dubai, 
almost certainly by a death squad dispatched by Israel's Mossad, is 
by no means the first such aggression against the sovereignty of 
another state. While Israel has literally gotten away with murder 
thousands of times, was this one killing too far?

Israel has a long, bloody history of murder, sabotage and outright 
terrorism all over Europe, in Beirut, Tunis, Amman, Damascus and now 
Dubai. And that is just what we know about. All of this is allegedly 
in "self-defense" against "terrorism" even though the Zionist 
movement in Palestine invented the sort of modern terrorism for which 
the Middle East became known. It started with countless Zionist bomb 
attacks on Palestinian civilians from the 1930s, often in markets and 
cafes, the bombing of the King David and Semiramis hotels in 
Jerusalem in the 1940s claiming dozens of innocent lives, and the 
murder of UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte. These crimes, on top of 
the long history of massacres of Palestinians, Lebanese and other 
Arabs over the past six decades, were all worn as badges of honor by 
Zionist leaders including Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir who later 
became prime ministers.

Current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who according to 
reports personally approved the killing of al-Mabhouh, must have 
thought it would be a great achievement celebrated by the "civilized" 
world that is engaged still in a "war on terror." The so-called 
"international community," after all, has helped Israel isolate Hamas 
and labels it a "terrorist" organization despite Hamas' diplomatic 
overtures, repeated offers of truces and ceasefires, and the mandate 
it won at the ballot box.

Unfortunately it is not working out that way this time. Counting on 
the usual international complicity was not that unrealistic on 
Israel's part. Indeed there has been no clear condemnation of the act 
of extrajudicial execution of al-Mabhouh, in a hotel room, apparently 
by electrocution and smothering with a pillow according to The Daily 
Mail (UK). What has been greeted with indignation is the forging of 
passports and identity theft.

Meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers strongly condemned the 
abuse of passports, but did not have the courage to publicly name 
Israel even though several governments including the UK and Ireland 
had already summoned their Israeli ambassadors. The British and Irish 
foreign ministers even directly confronted their Israeli counterpart 
Avigdor Lieberman, who was also in Brussels.

Mossad, the Israeli intelligence and international murder agency, has 
a long history of using fake and stolen passports of countries 
including Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 
Germany. It notoriously used fake Canadian passports during the 
attempted murder of Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Amman in 1997. 
Countries view their passports much like their currencies -- their 
credibility and value must be defended. The lives of their citizens 
may well depend on it; an Irish, British or German citizen has to be 
able to travel all over the world without fear that he or she will be 
suspected of being a Mossad assassin.

Several years ago, New Zealand, a country of three million people, 
broke off diplomatic relations with Israel over the use of its 
passports by Mossad. But apart from that example, most countries have 
been too timid to confront Israel. That Lieberman refused to provide 
any additional information or even acknowledge an Israeli role in the 
Dubai attack when he met with the European foreign ministers is a 
sign that Israel still feels safe displaying arrogance and 
lawlessness, because it knows the "international community" has never 
dared to hold it accountable.

This time, however, Israeli arrogance may have exceeded the limits of 
what has been tolerated so far, and turned what was supposed to be an 
"heroic" act into a scandal with far-reaching consequences. There are 
some specific and general factors that contribute to that. First, the 
crime was committed on the territory of a moderate Arab country whose 
support for peace with Israel has been practically translated into 
unofficial bilateral relations. A high-level Israeli delegation had 
been in the country only days before the Mossad hit squad arrived. 
Showing so much contempt for a leading moderate Arab state gives a 
very bad example for any other state that might consider softening 
its position toward Israel (as the United States had been demanding 
as "confidence-building measures" for the "peace process").

A second factor is that Israel mostly used stolen identities of 
living people, whose very public shock and fear at waking up to find 
their names splashed over the newspapers and linked to a murder, 
could not easily be hidden.

A third factor is that the Israeli adventure in Dubai carries the 
traits of just the kind of terrorist act the world has been 
mobilizing to fight. Improvements in passport security were 
introduced in recent years to stop terrorism, but here is a country 
violating and sabotaging these security measures in order to commit murder.

We cannot assume that the assassination in Dubai will be the straw 
that breaks the back of Israeli immunity and impunity, but we can be 
sure that the general erosion of Israel's standing as a result, 
particularly of its aggressive recent wars on Lebanon and Gaza, means 
that what was tolerated by the world more easily five or ten years 
ago, is less tolerated now. Global public disgust at Israeli actions 
has reached levels that may require governments who normally prefer 
complicity and silence to act.

And when there was a "peace process," Israel's crimes particularly 
against Palestinians were ignored in the interests of not damaging 
relations or slowing momentum toward the hoped-for successful 
conclusion. But no one today -- except the most naive or delusional 
-- believes that there is any peace process. Despite Israel's efforts 
to blame the Palestinians, only the most pro-Israel extremists deny 
that Israel's aggressive colonization in Jerusalem and the West Bank, 
as well as the siege on Gaza, is what killed any prospect of a 
negotiated solution for the foreseeable future.

Consider that just days before the passport affair broke out, Israel 
was once again pressuring the UK to change its laws to protect 
Israeli officials from arrest for war crimes should they visit 
London. Although British officials had publicly expressed shameful 
enthusiasm to tailor UK law to meet Israeli needs, they may now face 
real public opposition if they attempt to change it. What interest 
does the UK have to protect the likes of Tzipi Livni from arrest if 
the facts and evidence make it necessary?

The truth is that as it becomes desperate, Israel is turning ever 
more wild and dangerous, not only for its neighbors but for world 
peace, security and prosperity. Without constant pressure from the 
Israel lobby, there may have been no invasion of Iraq. Today, it is 
Israel and its apologists who are constantly inciting confrontation 
and war against Iran when most of this region wants peace and good relations.

Even if the countries harmed by Israel's latest brazen act do not 
hold it properly and adequately accountable -- as they must and 
should -- it appears that it is on a path of self-destruction. The 
great fear is how much more harm it will do to others on the way.

Hasan Abu Nimah is the former permanent representative of Jordan at 
the United Nations. This essay first appeared in The Jordan Times and 
is republished with the author's permission.



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