Perplexing Mysteries Within....A Confusing SubText

The .... had another effect, too. The moment of ...'s announcement was the moment that Israeli intelligence was thrust upon the consciousness of the world. Suddenly Israeli intelligence was on the map, and Israel's enemies became a little more fearful of the tiny State on their doorsteps. **

The world of diplomacy is frothing with indignation over the latest assassination of yet another player in the Middle East. Not necessarily because a man engaged in terrorism - representing a group dedicated to the dispatch of the State of Israel from the map of the Middle East, trained and operating as a surrogate of Israel-destroying Iran - was eliminated, but because of their fury that forged documents carried by those involved in the plot abused their 'trust' by posing as their nationals.

Somehow, Israel must be involved. It would make good sense that Israel would be involved, after all, since the dead man, a senior Hamas operative-commander, Mahmoud al-Mabhouh had years earlier been involved in the killing of Israelis, and his current position was that of covert arms-acquisition-enabler for Hamas. Israel itself neither denies nor agrees that its exterior-intelligence agency Mossad was involved. And Mossad itself, needless to say, never does divulge its activities.

Dubai police are convinced that it was indeed a Mossad operation, despite the sheer depth of the seemingly-unprofessional work involved in dispatching Mr. al-Mabhouh. There has been, however, no direct evidence, despite the best efforts of Dubai's intelligence and police to link Israel with the assassination. However, Jordan did hand over two Palestinians, senior Fatah people, to Dubai authorities whom they claim were involved.

And another Palestinian from Gaza, actually a senior Hamas operative is also highly suspected of being involved. So what are three Palestinians, two from Fatah, one from Hamas - three men who come from parties which detest one another - doing, involved in a Mossad operation? Now, a senior Hamas member claims suspicion lies heavily on Jordanian and Egyptian involvement in the assassination, according to the Al-Quds Al-Araby daily.

Does the plot thicken or sicken in its helter-skelter absurdity? The working premise being, perhaps, that Egypt and Jordan are almost as concerned as is Israel over the Islamic Republic of Iran's future nuclear plans. And Hamas, like Hezbollah, does what Iran dictates. Increasing arms to both Hamas and Hezbollah and setting them on course to attack Israel gives Iran a bit of breathing room, deflecting interior and exterior attention from its course.

Yet there it is, a member of Hamas's political bureau, Mahmoud Nasser, accusing Jordan and Egypt of being involved in Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's January 19 assassination. As Mr. Nasser would have it, Mr. Mabhouh represented a danger to the two countries in the form of "dangerous' information in his possession implicating both in some plot to eliminate "Islamist resistance". Perhaps code for Iran's grand plan of ultimate ascendancy.

The ... was in truth one of the classic cover-intelligence plays of all time - with agents operating ... miles from home, travelling on forged documentation, relying on their own resources and moving to eliminate or capture a single target. It is a fascinating case study of sheer technique of the kind employed not merely by the Israelis but by the intelligence agencies of the super powers, from whom the Israelis learned most of their lessons in the first place. There was the usual quotient of mistakes or misfortune which might have exposed ... and his task force of eleven to the authorities. There were also the compensating pieces of luck that saved hours and sometimes even days of tedious surveillance. **

Yet, despite those claims, Dubai is absolutely certain that these are mere speculative distractions, and it has dedicated itself to "proving" Israeli complicity in the assassination - despite having no hard evidence to augment their gut reaction. The country's chief of police is prepared to have Dubai's prosecutor issue arrest warrants naming Israel's Prime Minister Netanyahu and the head of Mossad. Not, though prepared to issue warrants on suspicion that Egypt and Jordan were involved....

Not a very friendly, trusting gesture from a neighbour. But police chief Dahi Khalfan Tamim, insists he is "almost certain" Israeli was involved in the assassination, and wants Meir Dagan, head of Mossad to be arrested if proven responsible. If, if and when and if. Besides which, he claims, Mossad is guilty of the unpardonable, having insulted Dubai itself, along with those Western countries whose fraudulent passports were used by the suspects whose visages had been picked up by security cameras.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind about the difficulties this would entail. The Israeli team would be operating ... miles away from Israel, in breach of all international law. If things went wrong, the repercussions - political, diplomatic and professional - would be serious. Communications with Israel would be difficult, and taskforce leaders on the spot might be faced with the necessity of crucial decisions without any possibility of advice from headquarters. **

And then there's the story from Israel itself. Despite that Israeli envoys are being called on the carpet to respond to hysteria-laden enquiries by Ireland, Britain, France and Australia with respect to the alleged Israeli misuse of their national documentation, Israel itself appears fairly unperturbed by all of this. The Israeli public, it would appear, feels the entire event represents a reason for celebrating. Peculiar behaviour indeed, for an intelligence-led assassination that appears to have been truly clumsy in its execution.

Then there's the attestation of a former senior officer in Shin Bet who claims that whoever carried out the execution was professional, and well aware of the security camera footage that would ensue. "Ambiguousness is power. It undoubtedly raises the level of deterrence. All the people who yammer, I would say, about the matter, saying there was a foul-up - are talking nonsense. When you prepare for an operation of this sort - any organization that prepares for this kind of operation, it is not as if someone gets up in the morning and gets on a plane and does what he does.

"I have no doubt that whoever did this knew that there are cameras, and I have no doubt that all of the people and photographs that we see are not look-alikes of the original subjects... you definitely do not have real names." The operation, as far as this seasoned veteran of Israeli espionage represented "a very nice success". He would not, however, agree that this was indeed an Israeli operation.

It was decided that at least twelve people, including ... would be needed in the ... for the ... all of whom had to travel on different flights, come from different parts of the world, with forged passports and a variety of visas. No one traveler could have any connection with another. In some cases in order to maintain absolute security, the documentation with which they entered the country would have to be different from the documentation with which they left. They obviously couldn't be seen traveling from Israel, yet some of the ... consulates in Europe and elsewhere asked for character references from the local police of their area of residence before they were prepared to grant visas. **

Well, all right. Was it worth it to Israel, if that country indeed agreed to have her secret exterior intelligence arm embark on this mission in such a seemingly amateur manner? To have its diplomats embarrassed. To suffer the rebukes emanating from all the countries who feel they have been implicated in this little adventure in extermination-and-revenge? Isn't it rather a reality that Israel would prefer to have as much international backing as possible in acknowledgement of her right to exist and to respond to violent provocations just as any other sovereign country would?

Abba Evan was not told the real purpose behind the special flight and, when he discovered it, angrily denounced those responsible for compromising his own diplomatic status by making it appear that he was an active participant in a breach of international law thus reducing his moral stature at the United Nations. **

**The Spymasters of Israel; The dramatic inside story of the world's greatest intelligence service - Stewart Steven. The search for, apprehension and abduction of the notorious Nazi Final Solution taskmaster, Adolf Eichmann.