Whose terror attacks: Iran’s or Israel’s?

Were they Iran’s or Israel’s terror attacks? It depends largely on what newspaper you read and how much truth you know. For instance, the anti-Iran New York Times came out predictably swinging yesterday morning with, Aggressive Acts by Iran Signal Pressure on Its Leadership, this accompanied by a photo of Ahmadinejad at a nuclear reactor inspecting goods for Iran’s nuclear program that will be applied basically to medical and research projects.

The copy read: “As investigators unearthed new evidence implicating Iran in the attacks this week in Thailand, India and Georgia, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran announced Wednesday what he said was his country’s latest nuclear advance, and Iran’s Oil Ministry threatened to preempt a European oil embargo by cutting off sales to six countries there.”

In fact, it was the European countries that had faint-heartedly withdrawn their orders for oil and not replaced them anywhere else, and Ahmadinejad who played “the mensch” and offered them the opportunity to change their minds because it was going to be a cold winter. This aside, an angry USC Analyst/Professor Muhammad Sahimi went on to say, “These are all facets of the same message. Iran is saying, ‘If you hit us, we will hit back, and we are not going to sacrifice our nuclear program.’” Well, that’s not rocket science let alone nuclear science? Hit us, we hit back, which has been the general tenor of the Iranian stance from day one. The Iranians are not Iraqis and are not going to stand there as the latter did and let the Western forces rip their nation apart.

For instance, the Australian Rebel News and its star writer, Christopher Bollyn, questioned, Are the Terror Bombings Israeli False-Flag Operations? His subhead was “Terror is Theater and Theater is Illusion.” Under a photo of bystanders tending a wounded Israeli after a car explosion near the Israel Embassy in New Delhi, the caption went on, “Embassy staff were car-bombed in bomb attacks in Delhi and Tblisi Georgia, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points the finger of blame at Iran.”

What else is new? But does Netanyahu point his finger at Israel and himself for having 300–400 nuclear war heads at the creaky, leaky nuclear reactor facility at Dimona in the Negev Desert, their development going back to the 60s when JFK wanted to have them removed? Also, if we dig into a little history, it turns out, according to Orthodox Jewish Historian Professor Ilan Pappe in his book, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, on page 25, “ . . . When in the wake of the Jewish terrorist attack on the King David Hotel, this force (the 100,000 British Troops) was somewhat reduced.”

The full truth is that this was the last of the British troops who had previously held Palestine. And, dressed as Arabs, members of Israel’s Irgun terror gang had brought in large metal containers of milk to the hotel’s kitchen in the morning, though it wasn’t milk but explosives set to go off at a fixed time. Shortly before that time, the Irgun called in to evacuate but it was too late. Hundreds of people were killed in the blast.

Also, despite Israel’s historic protestations, Amazon’s review states, “Pappe does not mince words, doing Jimmy Carter one better (or worse, depending on one’s point of view) by accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity beginning in the 1948 war for independence, and continuing through the present. Focusing primarily on Plan D (Dalet, in Hebrew), conceived on March 10, 1948, Pappe demonstrates how ethnic cleansing was not a circumstance of war, but rather a deliberate goal of combat for early Israeli military units led by David Ben-Gurion, whom Pappe labels the ‘architect of ethnic cleansing.’”

“The forced expulsion of 800,000 Palestinians between 1948–49, Pappe argues, was part of a long-standing Zionist plan to manufacture an ethnically pure Jewish state. Framing his argument with accepted international and UN definitions of ethnic cleansing, Pappe follows with an excruciatingly detailed account of Israeli military involvement in the demolition and depopulation of hundreds of villages, and the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Arab inhabitants. An accessible, learned resource, this volume provides important inroads into the historical antecedents of today’s conflict, but its conclusions will not be easy for everyone to stomach: Pappe argues that the ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues today, and calls for the unconditional return of all Palestinian refugees and an end to the Israeli occupation. Without question, Pappe’s account will provoke ire from many readers; importantly, it will spark discussion as well.”

Returning to Christopher Bollyn in The Rebel, he writes, “The recent terror bombings of Israeli diplomatic cars in Georgia and India look very much like Israeli false-flag operations designed to justify Israeli military aggression against Iran. They are very similar to the shooting of the Israeli diplomat Shlomo Argov in London, which was used to justify Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982. This would certainly not be the first time Israeli terror/intelligence agencies have bombed Israeli targets.”

Again, under another AP photo was written, “Personnel believed to be from the Israeli Embassy, right, inspect the site after an explosion tore through a car belonging to the embassy, injuring two people in New Delhi. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is pushing for war against Iran, accused the Islamic Republic of Iran of being behind a pair of car bombings against Israeli diplomatic targets in India and Georgia.”

Returning to Bollyn . . .”The capture of three Iranians in Thailand will be seen by many as evidence that Iran is behind the bombings, but it should be remembered that Israeli intelligence is known to operate and fund terror cells within Iran. The fact that three Iranians have been caught is not evidence that the government of Iran had anything to do with the bombings. The Iranian government is not looking for a war, but the Israelis are.”

Bollyn adds, “I was very glad to see that an American journalist named Geneive Abdo pointed out in an interview on Australia’s ABC national radio network the very strong possibility that these recent attacks were Israeli false-flag operations. It should be noted that the Israeli government is headed by the very same people who are the prime suspects of orchestrating the false-flag terror attacks of 9–11, namely Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. This is their modus operandi.”

Again, Mr. Netanyahu, with his one-track drum-beat, told Parliament, “These days, Iran’s acts of terror are clear to everyone.” What acts? At best, they are alleged. The method of the bombing in New Delhi and attempted bombing in Georgia this week—magnetic devices attached to cars—appears to be the same as those used to kill Iranian nuclear scientists in attacks widely attributed to Israel. So what does that mean? That’s the way Israel killed the Iranian nuclear scientists and they are reprising in kind? It’s idiotic. He’s confessing to a crime.

The Iranian actions came at a tense time, after weeks of public discussion in Israel and the United States of the possibility of Israeli airstrikes to slow the progress of Iran’s nuclear program, which Western officials believe is working toward a capacity to make nuclear bombs and which Iranians say is for peaceful purposes.

The latest developments suggested to some analysts that Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was deliberately lashing out at the West, though it was not clear whether his intention was simply to retaliate or to provoke a limited war with Israel. Some Iranian hard-liners are said to believe that such a war would benefit them, allowing them to close ranks and assert greater authority for the elite Revolutionary Guards.

“I think this is Iran’s way of saying, ‘Look out, we can reach out and touch you,’ ” said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, a professor of Middle East Studies at Syracuse University. . . .”But I doubt that Khamenei wants to go all the way to a serious armed confrontation.” Let’s repeat that last sentence. “But I doubt that Khamenei wants to go all the way to a serious armed confrontation.” Amen.

The following is an extract from Eleanor Hall’s interview of February 14, 2012, with Geneive Abdo on “The World Today” . . .

ELEANOR HALL: The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, lost no time today blaming the Iranians for the attacks on Israeli embassies, overnight. Iran denies any involvement in the attacks, which in New Delhi seriously injured an Israeli woman who was travelling in an embassy car. Other plots on Israeli embassies were foiled before the bombs could do any damage.

But despite this, security analyst Geneive Abdo says today’s tension between Israel and Iran is more dangerous than any escalation she’s seen in 30 years. Ms Abdo is an Iran specialist who is the director of the Iran program at the National Security Network in Washington. And when she spoke to me this morning, I asked her who she thought was behind the attacks.

GENEIVE ABDO: I think it’s difficult to answer that question. But if you consider all the nuclear scientists that have been assassinated in Iran, I think the Iranians obviously are trying to determine the cause. And they feel that a covert war is being launched against them.

So I think that the Iranians are feeling much more threatened today than they have been in the past.

ELEANOR HALL: Iran’s leadership says it is sheer lies that are behind the attacks and that the Israelis have planted the bombs themselves to discredit Iran?

GENEIVE ABDO: Well I think that’s entirely possible. I mean, if you consider what the Israelis did for many years in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East, that theory is not so farfetched.

ELEANOR HALL: Although there is an argument that the attacks were similar in style to the bomb attacks on the Iranians scientists and that, therefore, that was a message of retaliation to Israel?

GENEIVE ABDO: Well, you know, there are many theories. I mean theory one is that the Iranians did it in retaliation for attacks on their own nuclear scientists. Theory two is that the Israelis have carried out this attack as a pretext to attack Iran. I mean the Israelis are seriously considering now launching a war against Iran. So that also has to be taken as a possible motivation for these assassinations.

ELEANOR HALL: Yes, regardless of who is behind these attacks, will Israel retaliate with force?

GENEIVE ABDO: I think that the Israelis certainly, when they make the political decision, which I don’t believe has been made, whether or not to attack Iran that they will use this as evidence and justification.

Given the stakes here, we’re looking at a potential World War III, over this mini nation with the huge ambition to be the dominant if not ruling force in the Mideast. It has long ago lost its moral compass. Just as a character reference, Israel also sold nuclear arms to Apartheid Africa for over 20 years, from the mid-1970s to mid-1990s. Also, despite the $3 billion in credits the USA provides every year for military arms, that too is not enough. This David wishes to be a Goliath in the worst way. And it will do anything—anything—to reach that end.

Unfortunately, our flip-flopping president insists on keeping the fleets and battalions of troops in surrounding areas, so you just never know. This is the man who bombed Libya via NATO, deposing the head of a sovereign state. Gaddafi was another leader who stood up to the U.S., which is part of the real problem here, and did not want an African Pentagon (AFRICOM) to be built in his country for staging operations in Africa.

This was his sin, plus having a gold-backed currency, as the U.S. currency dives, some six billion in gold in his Central bank and hundreds of millions stashed in Euro capitals and the U.S. The fact is he ruled for 42 years, providing free healthcare, free education, and stipends to newlyweds, while building a multi-billion underground aquifer from north to south to provide his people with needed water. And now, now that he’s gone, after a brutal slaying and showing of his body in the walk-in refrigerator of a local butcher shop, how is Libya?

Libya is in chaos now, total chaos, which is our finest product it seems. And it would be tragic, truly tragic, if Ahmedinejad or Iran were to face a fate like that delivered by some over-ambitious fly-boys, Navy SEALS and/or mercenaries or fleet. Iran is not the culprit here. The notorious Israel, with its never-ending rap sheet of treachery, including the Attack on the USS Liberty is.

Let me leave you with this wiki summary of that incident,“The USS Liberty incident was an attack on a United States Navy technical research ship, USS Liberty, by Israeli Air Force jet fighter aircraft and Israeli Navy torpedo boats, on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two Marines, and one civilian), wounded 170 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. At the time, the ship was in international waters north of the Sinai Peninsula, about 25.5 nmi (29.3 mi; 47.2 km) northwest from the Egyptian city of Arish.

“Both the Israeli and U.S. governments conducted inquiries and issued reports that concluded the attack was a mistake due to Israeli confusion about the identity of the USS Liberty. Attack survivors contacted in 2007, by John M. Crewdson for a Chicago Tribune article about the attack, ‘to a man’ rejected Israel’s mistaken identity explanation. Lt. Gen. Marshall Carter, the director of the NSA, told Congress that the attack ‘couldn’t be anything else but deliberate.’ The deputy director of the NSA, Louis Tordella, stated that the attack ‘might have been ordered by some senior [Israeli] commander on the Sinai Peninsula who wrongly suspected that the Liberty was monitoring his activities.’

“In May 1968, the Israeli government paid US$3,323,500 (US$21 million in 2012) as full payment to the families of the 34 men killed in the attack. In March 1969, Israel paid a further $3,566,457 in compensation to the men who had been wounded. On 18 December 1980, under threat of a congressional investigation, it finally agreed to pay $6 million as settlement for the final U.S. bill of $17,132,709 for material damage to the Liberty itself plus 13 years’ interest.^”

So just remember, dear reader, this is a tragic changeling we’re dealing with here. Don’t succumb to Netanyahu and the New York Times’ lies. The truth is out already. Don’t let it be drowned by the incessant drums of war from Netanyahu or the US Congress. War is hell. And will be for all in a conflagration with the reluctant Iran.

Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer, life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.