عند الثامنة وقليل من صباح أمس، غادر المقاوم علي رمزي الأسود (31 سنة) منزله في ضاحية قدسيا قرب دمشق. وبينما كان يستعدّ لركوب سيارته، انهمر رصاص كثيف باتّجاهه، حيث أفرغ مجهولان أكثر من ثلاثين طلقة من رشاشات خفيفة، أصابت أكثر من عشر منها الأسود بإصابات قاتلة. وعند قدوم سيّارات الإسعاف والأجهزة الأمنية، كان المقاوم قد فارق الحياة. وبعد نقله إلى أحد مستشفيات العاصمة السورية لتشريح الجثة، تمّ إخراج عدد غير قليل من الرصاصات من جسده، ليتبيّن أنها من أسلحة متوسّطة، يبدو أنها غربية مخصّصة للاغتيالات. وأظهر تقرير الطبّ الشرعي أن كمّية كبيرة من الرصاصات أصابت جسده، لكن اللافت أنه تعرّض للطعن بسكين حادّ بعد وقوعه أرضاً.
وبحسب بيان الطبيب الشرعي، فإن عمليات الطعن حصلت بعدما فارق الأسود الحياة، في ما ينمّ عن رغبة العدو في إضفاء طابع متوحّش على العملية. كذلك، أظهرت التحقيقات أن الرصاصات كانت من حجم كبير، ومعدّة أصلاً لضرب أهداف مدرّعة، ما يعني أن القوة المهاجمة أخذت في الاعتبار أن يكون المقاوم الأسود مرتدياً واقياً للرصاص، أو أن العملية كانت لتقع ربّما عند ركوبه سيارته، ما يعني احتمال أن تكون سيارته مصفّحة.
وكان الأسود يعيش في مخيم اليرموك، لكنه نزح عنه بعد اندلاع الحرب في سوريا، وانتقل للإقامة في منطقة أخرى، ثمّ تزوّج وأنجب ابنتين وولداً، وهو كان يقظاً ويتّخذ إجراءات أمنية دقيقة في ضوء ارتفاع وتيرة العمل الصهيوني في سوريا. وقبل فترة، انتقل للسكن في ضاحية قدسيا حيث جرت عملية الاغتيال، والتي دلّت على أن العدو كان يعرف به، وأن خلاياه الأمنية عملت على مراقبته من خلال تعقّب تقني وبشري أيضاً، وهي حضّرت ودرست مسرح الجريمة جيداً، حتى تمكّنت من تنفيذها وسحْب المنفذين إلى خارج موقعها. وأشارت إفادات لشهود عيان إلى أن سيارة «فان» شوهدت تغادر المنطقة سريعاً بعد دقائق من حصول العملية، ويَجري البحث عنها. كما ظهرت بعض المؤشّرات إلى أن عملية المراقبة المباشرة قد أخذت وقتاً غير قصير، فيما يتمّ التكتّم على تفاصيل كثيرة حول التحقيقات الجارية في سوريا.
رصاصة سحبت من جثة الشهيد الأسود في أحد مستشفيات العاصمة السورية (خاص الأخبار)
الشهيد الأسود، هو ابن عائلة فلسطينية هاجرت إثر نكبة العام 1948 من قضاء حيفا، وسكنت في مخيم اليرموك للاجئين الفلسطينيين في العاصمة السورية دمشق. وهو ولد في العام 1991، وتابع تحصيله العلمي في سوريا، وتخصّص في الكيمياء. وطوّر قدراته العلمية بجهد شخصي بعد انخراطه في «سرايا القدس»، الجناح العسكري لحركة «الجهاد الإسلامي» التي التحق بها في العام 2005 عن عمر 14 عاماً، وترقّى في المسؤوليات بعد خضوعه لدورات متخصّصة كثيرة، من بينها دورة قيادة وأركان، وكانت له إسهاماته في تطوير القدرات التقنية لـ«السرايا». والأسود، الذي حمّلت «الجهاد» في بيان نعيه الاحتلال الإسرائيلي المسؤولية عن «الجريمة الغادرة» التي طاولته، مضيفةً أنه «اغتيل على يد عملاء العدو الصهيوني»، معروفٌ في أوساط الحركة بأنه «قيادي عسكري مهمّ في الساحة السورية»، وهو الشهيد السادس لـ«السرايا» في تلك الساحة منذ العام 2019.
الإقرار الإسرائيلي
وبينما سارعت وسائل إعلام العدو إلى نشر الخبر نقلاً عن مصادر خارج الكيان، قال رئيس حكومة العدو، بنيامين نتنياهو، في افتتاح جلسة الحكومة: «تعمل قواتنا على مدار الساعة لإحباط البنى التحتية للإرهاب، قتلنا عشرات المسلّحين الشهر الماضي، واعتقلنا عدداً آخر. أكرّر: كلّ الذين يحاولون إيذاء الإسرائيليين دمهم مهدور، سنصل إلى المطلوبين في كلّ مكان». وأضاف: «نحن نصل إلى الإرهابيين والمهندسين في كلّ مكان وأينما كانوا».
نتنياهو يتبنى الجريمة: دمهم مهدور وسنصل إليهم أينما كانوا
وبدا موقف نتنياهو هذا، بمثابة إشارة انطلاق للخبراء والإعلاميين للربط بين عملية الاغتيال وبين عملية مجدو، إذ وافق رئيس «شعبة العمليات السابق»، اللواء يسرائيل زيف، على الربط بينهما، مبرّراً ذلك في مقابلة مع «إذاعة الجيش»، بأن «حركة الجهاد لا تلتزم بقواعد اللعبة القائمة مع إسرائيل»، في إشارة إلى كون عملية مجدو بدت خارج القواعد المألوفة، وبما يستبطن إقراراً بعنصر المفاجأة التكتيكية وبأبعادها الاستراتيجية. أيضاً، تبنّى العديد من الإعلاميين والمعلّقين العسكريين، بصياغات مختلفة، «نظرية» وجود صلة بين «مجدو» و«قدسيا» التي برز إجماع على كونها نُفّذت من قِبل «الموساد». لكن بعض المعلّقين رأوا أن الاغتيال هو جزء من التعامل مع القوى الموجودة خارج الكيان، وأن لا علاقة له بحادثة مجدو، على رغم أن هؤلاء تحدّثوا عن أن الشهيد كان يعمل على إعداد مجموعة من العمليات العسكرية داخل فلسطين المحتلّة.
في المقابل، قرأت مصادر في فصائل المقاومة في فلسطين في الاغتيال إعلاناً إسرائيلياً عن الاستعداد للدخول في حرب متعدّدة الجبهات، فضلاً عن أنه يفتح الباب من جديد أمام سيناريو تصفية قيادات المقاومة في الخارج.
On the morning of 19 March, Ali Ramzi al-Aswad, a senior leader and engineer in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement’s military wing, the Quds Brigade, was assassinated by Israel near the Syrian capital Damascus.
“The Al-Quds Brigade mourns the martyr commander and engineer Ali Al-Aswad, who was assassinated by agents of the Zionist enemy in the countryside of Damascus,” the PIJ said in a statement.
Initially, unofficial Syrian sources had reported that Aswad, 31-years-old, also known as Abu Abdel Rahman, was killed early on Sunday morning in the Dahiat Qudsaya region west of Damascus.
According to the PIJ statement, Aswad was a Palestinian refugee whose family was displaced from the city of Haifa after the 1948 Nakba. He grew up in the Palestinian refugee camps in Syria before joining the ranks of the PIJ movement in Syria.
“An Israeli Mossad squad consisting of four members shot and killed the engineer commander, Ali Ramzi al-Aswad,” Israeli journalist Yoni Ben Menachem was quoted to have told Hebrew media.
“The security establishment has begun to work,” Menachem added.
Israel’s Channel 12 media network claimed in a report that Aswad “had a hand in” in the Megiddo bomb attack in the northern occupied territories last week, casting further doubt on the Israeli narrative regarding the incident. Israel had initially claimed that Lebanon’s Hezbollah was suspected for carrying out the attack.
“Investigations into the assassination of Commander Ali Al-Aswad in the Damascus countryside are still ongoing and more than one party is participating in it … The decision to respond will be taken based on the results of the investigations,” Palestinian sources told Al-Mayadeen.
This was the first known Israeli operation to be carried out against the PIJ’s Syria branch since 2019, when a leader in the group, Akram al-Ajouri, was unsuccessfully targeted in an airstrike.
The killing comes after a string of Israeli assassinations in the occupied West Bank. Over the past ten days, Israeli military and special forces units have carried out targeted killings of several leaders and members of a number of resistance factions, including Hamas, the PIJ, and other West Bank-based factions affiliated with the PIJ.
It also comes one day after a meeting was held between the Secretary-General of the PIJ, Ziad al-Nakhala and Lebanon’s Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, in the Lebanese capital Beirut.
During the meeting, Nasrallah praised the ongoing and ever-expanding resistance activity across the occupied West Bank and in the holy city of Jerusalem.
The two resistance leaders vowed to “continue dialogue and cooperation” between the Lebanese resistance and the PIJ.
Hezbollah has long been known to cooperate with Palestinian resistance factions, and has provided them with significant amounts of technical expertise.
During the 2021 Sayf al-Quds battle, there was “high-level coordination” between Hezbollah and the Gaza-based factions.
Biden forces illegally deployed and operating in Syria to help ISIS and other terrorist groups continue their task of stealing the Syrian oil and depriving the Syrian people of their own fuel despite the devastating earthquake that struck the country earlier this month.
Locals in the countryside of Al Yarubiya in northeastern Syria spotted a new convoy of tankers loaded with stolen Syrian oil and protected by the US Army heading toward Iraq through the illegal Mahmoudiya border crossing.
The locals said they counted 34 tankers in the convoy which was also guarded by vehicles of the US-sponsored Kurdish SDF separatist terrorists coming from the oil wells of the Syrian Hasakah province in northeastern Syria.
Under the guise of combating ISIS (ISIL – Daesh), the terrorist organization that was founded by the former US junta of Obama / and Zionist Biden, the US Army led a coalition of similar evil forces comprising several NATO armies, a host of black op units from the most retard political regimes in the world, the Saudis and Qataris, along with officers from the Israeli IDF and Mossad terrorist organizations, Jordanian and Turkish ‘intelligence’ units, and some local units of the defunct FSA, the umbrella created to spring-up Al Qaeda Levant.
Instead of combating ISIS, the terrorist organization was founded under the US army’s watchful eyes, grew in numbers and weapons, and moved in its brand new machine guns-mounted Toyota pickups across the open deserts between Iraq and Syria which are under US control, those were former US Secretary of State John Kerry’s own words.
The US Army and its coalition buddies were also busy with other tasks, they created the Kurdish SDF separatist terrorists and branched out Al Qaeda Levant into dozens of smaller competing terrorist groups to further the goal of destroying Syria, the last secular country in the region while the US Army does what it only knows what to do: steal oil.
Former US Commander in Chief laid out the only task of the US troops in Syria: ‘to keep the oil,’ he said and added: ‘I like oil.’
Meanwhile, the Syrian people continue suffering from severe shortages in food and fuel to heat their homes, cook their meals, fill their cars and public transportation, deliver humanitarian aid to the destroyed areas, and run their factories in order to survive.
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Professor David Miller is a non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University and a former Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol. He is a broadcaster, writer and investigative researcher; the producer of the weekly show Palestine Declassified on PressTV; and the co-director of Public Interest Investigations, of which spinwatch.org and powerbase.info are projects. He tweets @Tracking_Power – though he has been shadow-banned by Twitter.
The Israel lobby is working directly with the Canadian government and with Silicon Valley corporations to quash the voices of those critical of its expansionist policies and systematic oppression of its indigenous population.
One clear example of this came last September when an international parliamentary committee met in Congress in Washington, DC, to demand that Twitter remove the account of Palestinian-Canadian Laith Marouf. Marouf is a multimedia producer who currently serves as a senior consultant at the Community Media Advocacy Centre and the coordinator of ICTV, a project to secure a national multi-ethnic news television station in Canada. He also has a long record of active support for Palestinian rights.
As such, Marouf – whose Community Media Advocacy Centre is funded by the Canadian government – faced official consequences for comments he made critiquing Israel. But the Trudeau administration went further to secure his erasure from social media, which should concern all those who believe in free speech.
Marouf’s case is just one in an endless stream of such acts happening all over social media and beyond. Marouf, in other words, was not the first and certainly will not be the last. Furthermore, his case opens the floodgates for the stream of suspensions to become a torrent.
As a major human rights abuser engaged in apartheid and military occupation of Palestinian land, Israel’s working relationship with big tech and the Canadian government is showcasing how antisemitism is being weaponized to target, flag and now vanish accounts critical of the apartheid state.
Marouf’s case also highlights the existence of a nearly fifty-year alliance between a Canadian national and a former Soviet dissident – a relationship that began as part of an Israeli intelligence operation. This history directly ties what happened to Marouf to Israel’s foreign policy strategies developed between 2000 and 2016.
A BIASED GROUP
The Interparliamentary Task Force To Combat Online Antisemitism is, as the name suggests, an international grouping of parliamentarians. Launched in September 2020, the task force is focused on increasing awareness of and developing responses and solutions to allegedly growing online antisemitism. Its first hearing was held on September 16, and the committee called executives from Twitter, YouTube, Meta, and TikTok to testify and explain how and why accounts like those of Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, were still in existence. Khamenei’s English Twitter account has nearly a million followers. At the time of writing, it and its Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Farsi alternative accounts remain live.
Former Canadian member of parliament (MP) Michael Levitt went over his five allotted minutes in his enthusiasm to denounce Marouf’s tweets. Another member of the task force devoted some of her time to arguing that “Zionism as an identity” should be included as a “protected characteristic.” She elaborated, “Zionist is an integral part of the identity of the majority of Jews and many non-Jews who self-define as Zionists.”
But who is on this committee, and why would they make such an argument? Answering this question accurately involves peeling back several layers of the onion and tracing back the origin story of this latest assault on online Palestinian speech.
An exhausted Laith Marouf and his CUTV crew report live from the ground in Montreal, May 20, 2012. Alexis Gravel | Flickr
It is claimed that the committee consists of “bipartisan legislators” and parliamentarians from Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Yet this claim of “bipartisanship” is quickly scotched. The task force’s four South African members identify as Zionists and are part of the controversial Democratic Alliance, the party for whom most White South Africans vote. No African National Congress (ANC) members are involved in the group. At the hearing, one MP denounced the ANC, reportedly claiming, “The greatest proponents of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment comes from our government.”
Members of the Task Force from the US include Democratic Congresspersons Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has visited Israel on an AIPAC-sponsored tour, and Ted Deutch, the newly-appointed CEO of the Zionist lobby group, the American Jewish Committee.
Among the British representatives is Andrew Percy, the Conservative MP who converted to Judaism in 2017 partly because of “a wholehearted commitment to support of Israel.” The other British representative is Alex Sobel, a longtime supporter of the Zionist affiliate of the Labor Party, the Jewish Labour Movement (JLM). The Canadian representatives included the former MP Michael Levitt, who is now President-CEO of the Zionist Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Also from Canada was Anthony Housefather, who in 2019 wrote, “I have always been and will continue to be a huge supporter of Israel.”
Along with two Members of the Israeli Knesset (MK) was the former MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh. Widely respected journalist Gideon Levy has described Cotler-Wunsh as both “an expert on human rights, an enlightened intellectual” and “nationalist, racist, cruel.”
At the hearing itself, three more Zionists were present. The first was the Israeli special representative for antisemitism, Noa Tishby. Recently Tishby denounced Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib and Bella Hadid – all Muslim women – as anti-Semites for condemning the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli soldiers. Tishby reportedly “singled out only criticism of Israel from Muslim Americans,” showing an apparent “effort to cast their anger as the product of ethnic or religious bigotry.” Another Zionist at the hearing was Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, appointed in March 2022. According to Ismail Allison of CAIR, Lipstadt has a “history of using bigoted rhetoric, including Islamophobic … talking points.”
Well-known Canadian politician and jurist Irwin Cotler was also in attendance. He is Canada’s Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism, a position receiving CA$ 5.6 million over five years beginning in 2022. He is also the stepfather of Michal Cotler-Wunsh MK, mentioned above. As it turns out, Cotler is the most significant actor in this story, being deeply embedded in Zionist lobby networks.
Unsurprisingly, no representative of Arab or Palestinian origin is involved in the task force.
20 YEARS OF CLASHES
Marouf claims that “in 2021, I began to be stalked and harassed online by Zionists in the Broadcasting sector in Canada.” These efforts led to his Twitter account being shut down for “hateful conduct” and promoting “violence against or directly attacking” people with protected characteristics like race, ethnicity or national origin.
In fact, Marouf has spent much of the past two decades years combatting Zionist efforts to censor him. The first such instance happened at Concordia University in 2001 when he was the first Arab candidate to be elected to a student union executive in Canada. Within months of his appointment, he was “expelled summarily … for writing that ‘Zionism is Jewish Supremacy’”. He won an ensuing six-month court battle with the university. After that, however, the attacks continued; the next was from the Chair of the Department of History, who, as Marouf noted, was also the chair of a Zionist lobby group.
Among the interlocutors back in 2002 was then-MP Irwin Cotler. Cotler’s reputation was at that stage not nearly as great as it is now. Perhaps this is why Marouf’s comrades were able to occupy his office, following which the police were called. Marouf has confirmed to Mintpress that he was “part of the organizing of the occupation” but was not present in the office.
At the time of Marouf’s clashes with Cotler, Cotler’s wife, Ariela, was also involved in the events. She was President of the board of Montreal Hillel in 2001 during the most heated period at Concordia. Hillel is the Zionist student organization on campus in Canada and the US. She “played a major role in the pro-Israeli activity” at that time, according to the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an Israeli think tank.
Before that, Ariela had been parliamentary secretary for Menachem Begin. As can be imagined from this, Ariela is a hardline Zionist and claims to have been involved “at the cradle” with the creation of the so-called Birthright program, which takes young Jews to “Israel” despite there being no “birthright” for Jews in Canada or elsewhere to colonize Palestine.
Ariela Cotler has also been involved in a wide range of other Zionist lobby groups, including the Canada Israel Committee and the Federation Combined Jewish Appeal, the largest Zionist fundraiser in Canada. The Federation CJA, as it is known, has promoted Canadians joining the Israeli army.
IRWIN COTLER – ZIONIST REGIME ASSET
Cotler’s public persona is that he has some sympathy for the underdog. At the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, he notes he has been described as “Counsel for the Oppressed” and as “Freedom’s Counsel.” His 600-word profile does not use the words “Israel,” “Zionism,” “Jewish,” or “antisemitism”; his decades-long advocacy for the crimes of the State of Israel are not even hinted at.
Born in 1940, he took degrees at McGill University and then secured a Law postgraduate degree at Yale in 1966. In 1968 he was hired as a speechwriter for the then Justice Minister for four years. In 1970 he was appointed as an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto before being appointed Professor at McGill in 1973. That same year he helped found and became President of the pro-Israel Canadian Professors for Peace in the Middle East, and he then “spent his summers travelling the Middle East.”
By the late 1970s, he was already heavily involved in Zionist advocacy, being the lawyer for Anatoli Shcharansky. A Ukrainian Zionist activist, Shcharansky was active in agitation as part of an operation run by a secret Israeli intelligence organization, Nativ, to access new settlers from the Soviet Union. Was Cotler aware that he was involved in an intelligence operation?
Cotler is welcomed by Benjamin Netanyahu during a 2014 visit to Israel. Photo | Israeli GPO
In 1978 while working with Shcharansky, he was living in the Jewish quarter of Damascus and, not surprisingly – given his Zionist contacts – drew the attention of Syrian officials. He also spent time in Egypt in 1975, 1976 and 1977, making contact with the political elite, including the foreign minister, and was introduced to President Anwar Sadat. Knowing that Cotler would later visit Israel, Sadat “asked him to deliver a message to … prime minister Menachem Begin.”
Cotler claims he said “he didn’t know” Begin “particularly well.” But when he arrived in Israel, he was “invited to lunch with members of the Knesset.” There he met a Begin staffer named Ariela Zeevi, who took him to meet her boss. The message was, “Egypt was prepared to enter into peace negotiations with Israel.” Cotler later married the staffer in 1979 and became a “close personal friend” of Begin.
ZIONIST LOBBY STALWART
In 1980, Irwin Cotler was appointed President of the Canadian Jewish Congress. Four years later, he participated in a Jerusalem conference entitled “Hasbara: Israel’s Public Image.” (Hasbara is a Hebrew word meaning “explanation,” which is used as a synonym for “propaganda” in English). The American Jewish Congress ran the event, a group with a history of working directly with the Israeli intelligence agency Nativ, a campaign to recruit new settlers from the Soviet Union. Though referred to only as a professor of law at McGill, Cotler made it clear that he was a committed partisan of Israeli hasbara, complaining that “hasbara efforts are discriminated against” and that “Israel itself has become some kind of illegitimate entity.”
Since this public declaration of commitment to the cause of Zionism, he has taken up a dizzying number of appointments in Zionist organizations. He is or has been affiliated with a wide range of Zionist groups on three continents, including,
All of these groups are closely related to the State of Israel, some with intelligence connections, some in receipt of funds, or created by Tel Aviv. None of these roles are listed in his biography at the Wallenberg Center, to which he is currently attached. Nor are Cotler’s interesting links with the far right in Ukraine; he is reportedly on the advisory board of “Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter,” which honored Ukrainian Nazis who collaborated with Nazi Germany and massacred Jews in the 1940s.
ENTER THE MOSSAD
But it is in the policy planning process of the state of Israel that Cotler seems to have made the most significant impact. Cotler has been, as British writer Antony Lerman puts it, “probably the most significant and influential international figure in the propagation of the concept of the ‘new antisemitism.’” As codified and finally published in its current form in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association, the “working definition” of antisemitism is the weapon of choice of the Zionist movement to intimidate and bully supporters of the Palestinians.
While the idea of the new antisemitism has roots back to the 1940s and was a subject of renewed interest from the early 1970s, the administrative infrastructure to redefine antisemitism flourished from the late 1980s when Mossad was given the lead in the coordination of the strategy. As Lerman has noted, the Monitoring Forum on Antisemitism, established in 1988, “aimed at establishing Israeli hegemony over the monitoring and combating of antisemitism by Jewish groups worldwide.” It “was coordinated and mostly implemented by Mossad representatives” working in Israeli embassies.
A key step in the process was the first Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust in January 2000. The resulting Stockholm Declaration “became the founding document” of the International Holocaust Remembrance Association. Cotler headed the Canadian delegation to that event. He was also a key figure in responding to the 2001 Durban World Conference Against Racism, which concluded that Zionism is racism. In a hyperbolic reply for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, he denounced “what was supposed to be a conference against racism” [emphasis in original], saying it “turned into a conference of racism against Israel and the Jewish people.” He also decried what he called a new “genocidal antisemitism – the public call for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.
Cotler was engaged directly with the state of Israel’s response to Durban in co-founding the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA) in 2002 “in collaboration with Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior.” This venture, however, collapsed, its main problem being that it was obviously an instrument of Israeli foreign policy. Even an arch-Zionist like Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League observed: “If a lot of its strategy and implementation is coming from Israel, I won’t be supportive of it.”
In 2003 a new body, the Global Forum for Combatting Antisemitism, was created by Melchior and Cotler’s friend and former “client” Natan Sharansky (formerly known as Anatoli Shcharansky, he changed his name to Zionise it, as do many incoming settlers). Sharansky was also – as an Israeli government minister in charge of antisemitism —chair of the Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism, which had been set up in the 1990s. “The State of Israel has decided to take the gloves off and implement a coordinated counteroffensive against antisemitism,” Sharansky said.
Scharansky, right, holds the Congressional Gold Medal presented to him by President Reagan, center, as President-elect Bush looks on, Jan. 11, 1989. Barry Thumma | AP
In his “3D test of antisemitism,” Sharansky took up the idea of discrimination against a nation-state, trialed by Cotler. It focused only on the occasions where it was claimed that criticism of Israel became antisemitism:
“demonization” is “when Israel’s actions are blown out of all sensible proportion”;
“double standards,” when criticism of Israel is “applied selectively”;
“delegitimization” when Israel’s “fundamental right to exist” is denied.
These are tendentious arguments. Who is to judge what is “sensible” or “selective”? No regime or even state has a “fundamental” right to exist.
Cotler and Sharansky would frequently connect again over the course of the ensuing decade. For example, they both attended the February 2008 Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism. It was here that the plan to extend the event around the globe was announced. Though it has been claimed that the subsequent London event was independent, the 2008 event it was seen as simply another GFCA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) event. Minister Tzipi Livni personally thanked British MOP John Mann for ‘volunteering to host the Global Forum next year.’
Tellingly, the new body used the identical name to the previous 2002 effort: the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA). Sharansky was an advisor.
In 2009, Cotler was on the steering committee of the ICCA. Also, there was Fiamma Nirenstein, an Italian writer and politician who has lived in an illegal settlement in East Jerusalem since 1998. Cotler led a delegation of 11 Canadian MPs to the event. Together, they decided to form a Canadian coalition. Thus was the Israeli network extended to Canada: the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism. It met in November 2010 and produced a final report the following year. Canadian groups which were critical of the redefinition of antisemitism to equate it with anti-Zionism responded to the consultation, but their submissions were “excluded from the hearings.”
The ICCA would host conferences in London in February 2009, Ottawa in November 2010, Brussels in June 2012 and Berlin in March 2016. A “task force” report on “internet hate” was published in 2013. In addition, an Italian parliamentary report was published in 2011, having reportedly taken “inspiration” from the ICCA. Similar German parliamentary reports came out in 2011 and 2017. These reports, commissions and groupings laid the groundwork for the American hearing late last year that removed Marouf from social media.
ZIONIST INFLUENCES EMBEDDED IN TWITTER
As the State of Israel developed its strategy to redefine antisemitism as opposition to Israeli government policy, it embedded a number of Zionist lobby groups in the process. For example, advisors on the Coordination Forum for Countering Antisemitism included the following: The U.S.-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL), B’nai B’rith International (BBI), the World Jewish Congress (WJC), and the U.K.-based Community Security Trust (CST). Some of these advisors to the state of Israel were carried over as advisors to the European Union Monitoring Center, which first introduced the “working definition” of antisemitism in 2005. Both the ADL and BBI were there, as was the EU branch of the WJC, the European Jewish Congress and the UK-based CST.
When Twitter started to appoint advisors on content, these same groups were again in the frame, with no indication that they were essentially assets of the Israeli government. In 2015, Twitter launched a safety center and listed a number of ‘trusted partners’ in the US, Australia, and Europe.
In the area of offensive speech, it listed both the ADL and CST as concerned with antisemitism. Twitter executives have referred to the CST as “empowering” Twitter to “take action.” The big tech platform takes advice from precisely zero Palestinian organizations or grassroots Muslim groups on how to regulate its content.
From 2018, the list of groups working with Twitter evolved. In addition to the ADL, two new European groups were added: the Board of Deputies of British Jews in the UK and the Centre Européen Juif d’Information [European Jewish Information Center] (CEJI) in Brussels. Both these groups are strongly pro-Israel. The Board of Deputies unblushingly admits in its 2020 Trustees report that it enjoys a “[C]lose working relationship with the Embassy of Israel in the UK, including with the Ambassador, diplomats, and professional staff, and strengthened links to the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and the IDF Spokesperson Department.”
The CEJI is a Zionist organization that advertises working closely with a range of other Zionist groups as “partners,” including B’nai B’rith Europe and the CST. Scandalously, amongst its funders are a host of social media firms, including Twitter itself. So Twitter funds a Zionist lobby group to lobby Twitter on issues relating to the question of Palestine. It is not surprising, therefore, that when pressure is brought to bear from apparently bipartisan lawmakers, and Twitter turns to its trusted advisors, pro-Israel decisions are routinely made. The whole process of both pressure and response is entirely corrupted by Zionist influence.
Israel’s government is also heavily involved in censoring pro-Palestinian content online. According to 7amleh – The Arab Center for the Advancement of Social Media, the Israeli Ministry of Justice Cyber Unit sends requests to remove Palestinian content to tech giants. Through Israel’s access to information law, the government said requests to social media companies led to the deletion of 27,000 posts from Facebook, Twitter, and Google from 2017-2018.
CONCLUSIONS
After all these years, Cotler continues to spearhead illegitimate attempts to subvert solidarity with Palestine under the guise of fighting antisemitism. Shored up by a constantly evolving Zionist movement with its front groups, lobby initiatives and covert operatives (many of whom are embedded in Twitter’s own editorial structures), it is not a surprise that Twitter censored Laith Marouf’s account.
The Israel lobby’s cancel culture depends on the decades of work done by Cotler as an Israeli asset and by his close co-conspirator, the former Soviet prisoner and Israeli government minister Sharansky. Both have been central to forging the “criticism of Israel is antisemitism” weapon which is put to daily use by the lobby through their operatives on the ground, via inter-parliamentary front groups or via the editorial structures of Twitter itself, to do the bidding of a foreign state.
It was Tuesday, February 12, 2008, when the brave knight stepped down to conclude a long, bright journey of fighting the enemies of Islam and the nation.
Hezbollah top military commander Hajj Imad Mughniyeh embraced martyrdom in a car bomb attack carried out by Israeli Mossad agents.
Al-Manar TV’s late news anchor, Ali Mesmar, mourned the martyr in the bulletin’s introduction, driving millions of spectators to cry.
It was the detested fact; however, Hezbollah took instantly the decision to confront the Israeli open war of assassinations.
Addressing the mourning ceremony, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah affirmed the Resistance readiness to face this aggression.
Sayyed Nasrallah also stressed that Hajj Imad Mughniyeh’s martyrdom will drive ‘Israel’ out of the existence.
On the 15th anniversary of Hajj Imad Mughniyeh’s martyrdom, the Zionist entity is witnessing strategic discussions about its destiny.
The formation of the far right government and the consequent rifts among the Zionist political parties pushed a lot of experts and analysts to predict an imminent civil war in the occupation entity.
The former prime minister Ehud Barack described PM Benjamin Netanyahu as Nazi, saying that President Isaac Herzog’s call for running a dialogue with Netanyahu is the same as the call to engage in a dialogue with Nazism.
Zionist Channel 12 indicated that the anti-Netanyahu protests will be escalated this week with 40 spots, including the area next to the premier’s house.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The retired military general David Hudak said that he would be ready to use guns to confront the judicial amendments as proposed by the far right ruling team in the occupation entity.
Accordingly, the Israeli security agencies voiced concerns about the calls for militarization of the protests in the occupation entity as circulated via social media applications.
To Levny, Israeli investor, said that if the judicial amendments get approved, he would leave Palestine and immigrate.
Former Zionist prime minister Naftali Bennett stated, in a televised interview several months ago, that ‘Israel’ is heading into civil war, citing an existential danger in this regard.
In brief, the image in the Zionist entity is dark and gloomy and indicates that a civil war is imminent, which would represent a catastrophe with respect to the Israelis.
Thus, Sayyed Nasrallah’s threat about the power of Hajj Imad Mughniyeh’s martyrdom has started to be reflected in the Israeli reality even if the Zionists do not engage in a war with the axis of resistance in the region.
The Lebanese army intelligence arrested a 20-year-old Syrian refugee (M.D.), who found a job in Southern Lebanon before another Syrian, living in Turkey, contacted him via Messenger.
“Abu Omar” offered to give M.D. amounts of money in return for carrying out certain assigned tasks.
M.D. managed to carry out a number of tasks, capturing videos that show certain positions and locations, but failed to burn a firm in southern Lebanon.
Security reports mentioned that M.D. was arrested in the beginning of his spy journey, adding that his confessions indicated that he had not known the Zionist identity of “Abu Omar”.
The Lebanese military intelligence concluded that the Israeli Mossad is ordering spies to burn forests that hinder the Zionist drones movement.
The Lebanese army intelligence arrested a 20-year-old Syrian refugee (M.D.), who found a job in Southern Lebanon before another Syrian, living in Turkey, contacted him via Messenger.
“Abu Omar” offered to give M.D. amounts of money in return for carrying out certain assigned tasks.
M.D. managed to carry out a number of tasks, capturing videos that show certain positions and locations, but failed to burn a firm in southern Lebanon.
Security reports mentioned that M.D. was arrested in the beginning of his spy journey, adding that his confessions indicated that he had not known the Zionist identity of “Abu Omar”.
The Lebanese military intelligence concluded that the Israeli Mossad is ordering spies to burn forests that hinder the Zionist drones movement.
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has identified and arrested members of a spy network who were planning to sabotage the country’s defense industry through front companies and security marketing.
The intelligence forces uncovered a plot by a Mossad spy network to gather information from Iranian knowledge-based companies that cooperate with Iran’s defense industries, Tasnim News Agency reported.
The ‘Israeli’ regime’s Mossad spy agency hired data broker Frank Genin, who introduced himself as the chief of a spare parts manufacturer company and was able to contact several Iranian companies and employees, the report said.
The Mossad agent then invited his coworkers to a seminar in Malaysia, where he introduced them to another Mossad agent, Hadrien Lavaux.
As a cover-up, Lavaux has been the managing director of Triple A Industries, an Aerospace advanced alloys and composites company that was established in Singapore in 2017. Since then, the company started communicating with Iranian companies that provide carbon fibers, resin, and other metal alloys.
It is worth mentioning that Triple A Industries’ website says that Frank Genin is the chairman of the company, which explains the close cooperation between Genin and Lavaux.
Lavaux’s associates in Iran attended different exhibitions, monitored scientific conferences, and identified the latest needs of Iran’s defense industries.
According to the report, they later began to identify the chiefs, salespersons and important employees in companies that are active in the field of defense industries. These employees were invited to multiple front conferences abroad, including in Turkey, Hungary, Oman and Georgia, and their trips were fully covered.
However, Iran’s intelligence forces had kept a close eye on these trips and were able to track down the network.
Mossad has upped its espionage activity in the past few months and has been involved in a covert war against Iran by supporting terrorist attacks and violent riots across the country.
Iran’s foes, mainly the ‘Israeli’ apartheid regime and the US, have also been engaged in an attempt to spy on and sabotage Iran’s defense industry.
The cornerstone of the Iranian defense strategy is its missile program, which emerged after Iran learned the art of reverse engineering on missiles it had acquired from Libya in the thick of the imposed Iraqi war in the 1980s.
Summing up the advances, the Islamic Revolution Guard [IRG] says Iran currently produces hypersonic missiles all on its own.
Iran realized the importance of military independence through over four decades of sanctions, including during Iraq’s eight-year war, when world powers did not even supply Iran with barbed wires, let alone weapons.
The Islamic Republic maintains that given Washington’s permanent strategy of military threats against Tehran, it has no choice but to build up its defense capabilities.
The Israeli occupation admits that Syria’s capabilities are what caused Eli Cohen’s demise rather than him sending plenty of messages.
Israeli spy Eli Cohen (L) and two other unidentified co-defendants, during their trial in Damascus, ten days before his execution (AFP)
Notorious Israeli spy Eli Cohen was captured in Syria in 1965 due to a successful counter-intelligence operation from the authorities in Damascus, the Israeli occupation announced on Monday.
Mossad director David Barnea revealed that Cohen, who had operated in Syria between 1961-1965 was not caught because he was sending a lot of messages to “Tel Aviv”, but rather because “his transmissions were intercepted by the enemy.”
The revelation dismissed theories saying Cohen had tipped off Damascus through the vast number of telegrams he was sending, instead highlighting that the spy was detected and detained because Syria, using its counterintelligence capabilities, intercepted and located Cohen through the signals he was sending.
Barnea unveiled a copy of the last telegram sent by Cohen to “Tel Aviv” during the inauguration of a museum in the spy’s memory in “Herzilya”, stressing that Cohen was “among our best agents.”
“MEETING AT GENERAL QUARTER YESTERDAY AT FIVE GMT WITH AMIN ELHAFEZ AND HIGH OFFICERS,” Cohen, otherwise known by his operative name Kamel Amin Thabet’s last telegram read in French.
Israeli spy Eli Cohen’s last telegram
Cohen, an Egyptian-born, got affiliated with the Zionist movement and became an illegal Israeli settler. He joined Mossad in the fifties before he was dispatched to Syria in 1961 pretending to be a Syrian immigrant and businessman in Argentina.
After his final telegram, the spy was tried and hanged for espionage later that same year in accordance with Syrian law.
The Israeli occupation has tried over and over again to have Cohen’s remains sent to occupied Palestine on “humanitarian” grounds. Still, as Syria has long had an unwavering stance on the Israeli occupation, never signing a peace treaty with it, it has not responded to “Tel Aviv’s” requests.
The Mossad, however, retrieved a watch belonging to Cohen and brought it to “Tel Aviv”, and it is likely that it will be displayed in the aforementioned museum.
Israeli occupation Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu said: “We are trying in all sorts of ways […] to reach Eli Cohen and bring him back.”
“The passage of time brings no comfort to us. There is no expiration date on our commitments to bring back our fighters and prisoners. This is an eternal commitment,” Netanyahu stressed.
With Syria unwavering and Damascus is still at war with the Israeli occupation, it is unlikely that the Israeli occupation will see the remains of his Arab Egyptian-born spy anytime soon.
رئيس مركز الدراسات الاستراتيجية للجيش الإيراني العميد أحمد رضا بوردستان يصرّح بأنّ الأميركيين لم يكونوا قادرين على تنفيذ الخيارات العسكرية ضد إيران لذلك لجأوا إلى إشعال أحداث الشغب والفتنة.
رئيس مركز الدراسات الاستراتيجية للجيش الإيراني العميد أحمد رضا بوردستان (أرشيف)
أشار رئيس مركز الدراسات الاستراتيجية للجيش الإيراني، العميد أحمد رضا بوردستان إلى ضلوع السعودية في أحداث الشغب الأخيرة في البلاد.
وقال بوردستان في حوارٍ خاص أجرته معه وكالة أنباء “فارس” الإيرانية: “على النظام السعودي أن يعلم بأنّ إيران تُمارس ضبط النفس تجاهه إلا أنّ هنالك حدوداً لذلك”.
ولفت إلى أنّ “الولايات المتحدة غيّرت استراتيجيتها من الحرب الاستنزافية إلى حرب هجينة”، مضيفاً: “بعد أن جهّزت واشنطن أفراداً مُندسين وجندتهم في الميدان ووضعتهم قبالة القوات الأمنية، قامت بدعمهم لإشعال مواجهات وتنفيذ عمليات قتل”.
وأكّد أنّ الدول الداعمة للفوضى قررت إدخال العناصر الإرهابية لإشعال الفتن الإثنية والقبلية في كردستان وسيستان وبلوشستان، ثم في خوزستان، “إلّا أنّ يقظة الأجهزة الاستخبارية أفشلت مخططاتهم الخطيرة والمدمرة”، مشيراً إلى أنّ العمليات الميدانية للجماعات الإرهابية رافقها دعم إعلامي واسع ودبلوماسي معادٍ، لذلك قلت أنها حرب هجينة تمّ التخطيط لها في ثلاث طبقات استراتيجية وعملانية وتكتيكية.
وفي وقتٍ سابق، أكّد مدير مركز الدراسات الاستراتيجية والعلاقات الدولية في طهران، أمير موسوي، أنّ “السعودية أرسلت أموالاً لمثيري الشغب والأمن الإيراني اكتشفها”.
وشدد بوردستان على أنّ “إيران تحظى بالكثير من مكونات القدرة والصلابة العالية جداً ولا يمكن للحوادث أن تمسّ بها، وقد أدّى وجود هذه المكونات إلى صمود الشعب”.
وسائل إعلام معادية استخدمت “القصف الخبري”
ولفت بوردستان إلى أنه “في أعمال الشغب الأخيرة، استخدمت وسائل الإعلام المعادية، في عمل مشترك، جميع تقنيات وسائل الإعلام وجاذبيتها وبكميات ونطاق كبيرين للغاية نادراً ما شوهدت مثلها، وليس مبالغة أن نستخدم مصطلح القصف الخبري فيما يتعلق بحجم وكثرة الأخبار عن إيران، فالأخبار تتدفق مثل المدفع الرشاش بطريقة تسلب قوّة التفكير من الجمهور وتضع ما يريدونه في أذهانهم”.
وأضاف: “هناك مهمة أخرى غير مسؤولة ودنيئة لوسائل الإعلام المعادية، كانت تنسيق وتوجيه المشاغبين وتعليم أساليب التدمير والقتل وإبقاء ميدان الاشتباكات مشتعلاً، ويمكن القول بثقة أنّ وسائل الإعلام المعادية لعبت في أحداث الشغب الأخيرة دور القيادة والسيطرة، بتوجيه من أجهزة الاستخبارات والأمن الأجنبية”.
وصرّح بأنّ إيران واجهت حرباً معرفية عمل فيها العدو على خداع العديد من الشباب، موضحاً بأنّ عدداً ملحوظاً من الشباب الذين ألقي القبض عليهم خلال أحداث الشغب الأخيرة “أعربوا عن ندمهم وأيقنوا بأنّهم خُدعوا من قبل وسائل إعلام العدو، وأضروا بأنفسهم وأسرهم وبلادهم”.
وفي وقتٍ سابق، أحصت وكالة “فارس” الإيرانية أكثر من 38 ألف كذبة نشرتها وسائل الإعلام المعادية لإيران.
العدو لجأ إلى الفتنة لعدم قدرته على استخدام الخيار العسكري
وقال بوردستان: “المؤشرات الواضحة على قدرات البلاد العسكرية والقتالية أن الأميركيين لم يكونوا قادرين على تنفيذ الخيارات المطروحة على الطاولة، لذلك نرى أنهم بدافع اليأس والعجز لجأوا إلى إشعال أحداث الشغب والفتنة”.
ولفت إلى أنّ “لجوء نظام استكباري مثل النظام الأميركي، الذي يُعدّ بصورةٍ ما القوة العسكرية الأولى في العالم، إلى إثارة الفتنة والاستعراض في بيئة غير عسكرية، يبيّن ضعفه الشديد وعدم قدرته على القتال في حربٍ عسكرية”.
وأعلن بوردستان أنّه بالنظر إلى أنّ الأعداء غير موجودين على الساحة وأنّ وكلائهم يؤدون عنهم مهامهم في الميدان، فإن “ردّنا بالتأكيد لا يمكن أن يكون واضحاً وظاهرياً لأننا لا نرى العدو أمامنا لنقاتله. لهذا السبب، فإنّ أساليبنا لمواجهة الحرب الهجينة للعدو هي استخدام قدراتنا الهجينة”.
وتابع القائد العسكري: “يعرف الأميركيون وكذلك الأوروبيون وأيضاً النظام السعودي أنّ لدينا أدوات قوية جداً تحت تصرّفنا لنستخدمها بصورةٍ هجينة ضدهم، وبحسب خبرتي في القوات المسلحة لا بدّ لي من القول إنّ كل ممارسات الأعداء سيتم الرد عليها بالتأكيد وهذا الرد سيكون بالتأكيد للأعداء رداً باعثاً على الندم”.
وأشار إلى أنّ “العدو بعث أفراداً مندسين تحت غطاء سياح وزوار وعلماء، عملوا بعد دخولهم البلاد على تجنيد البعض من أصحاب السوابق والمشبوهين”، وأردف: “الأميركيون وظفوا في الفتنة الأخيرة خبراتهم التي حصلوا عليها من كل الفتن”.
وأضاف أنّ “هدف العدو من هذه الفتنة كان توريط البلاد في حربٍ أهلية إلا أنّه تمّ إجهاض هذه الفتنة في ظلّ توجيهات قائد الثورة وحنكته، وشجاعة القوات المتواجدة في الساحة”.
وتابع بوردستان: “علينا أن نقبل حقيقة أن محمد بن سلمان تدرّب على يد الأميركيين. لقد درس في أميركا وأساتذته كانوا من ضباط الموساد وهو أحد العملاء الرئيسيين للموساد وأميركا في المنطقة”.
ولفت إلى أنّ إبن سلمان “أظهر عداءه، بينما كان القادة السعوديون السابقون مهتمين بتخفيف التوترات إلى حدٍّ ما وهو ما رأيناه يحدث على مستويات عديدة. ومن الأمثلة على ذلك التسهيلات التي وفّروها لحجاجنا”.
وقال: “إيران وفقاً لقدراتها وإمكانياتها تمتلك القدرة التي يمكنها من خلالها أن تُنفّذ إرادتها في المنطقة، وباعتقادي أنّ إيران مارست ضبط النفس حقاً خلال الأحداث الأخيرة”.
وأردف: “شعرت أنا شخصياً أنّه كان من المناسب أن تتلقى السعودية صفعة قوية في هذه الفتن من خلال الطاقات الموجودة في المنطقة لكنني أرى بأنّ المسؤولين لدينا يمارسون ضبط النفس كما هو الحال دائماً. ومع ذلك، يجب أن تعلم السعودية بأنّ ضبط النفس له حدود، ولو أرادت تصعيد أعمالها العدائية، فإنّ ردّنا على هذه الأعمال سيكون رداً باعثاً على الندم بالتأكيد”.
The remarks of the French President that the alleged “revolution” in Iran will have an impact on the Iranian nuclear talks corroborate the Iranian accusations of French meddling in the country.
French President Emmanuel Macron (AFP)
During an interview for France Inter radio on Monday, November 14, the French President estimated that the current alleged “revolution” in Iran has an impact on the nuclear deal negotiations. The interview was recorded Friday with Elysée, after Emmanuel Macron’s meeting with four members of delegations of Iranian regime-change mouthpieces, as described by Fars news, including a Washington-based journalist, Masih Alinejad.
Macron commented on the Western-induced hysteria surrounding the Iranian riots, saying that the “revolution changes a lot of things,” adding that “the regime is weakened by Iran’s internal situation and the demands that are hard to obtain.”
He called for international sanctions against Iranian officials saying, “I am in favor of a strong diplomatic reaction and sanctions on the figures of the regime who have a responsibility” in what he called “the repression of this revolution,” in an interview for France Inter radio.
Macron described the crackdown as “unprecedented,” adding, “We don’t rule out any option,” he said, noting that Iran’s government was already the target of numerous sanctions.
He repeatedly used the word “revolution” to describe what was happening in Iran, while accusing the government of “cracking down” on the western-instigated riots.
Was it a mere coincidence that when he welcomed pro-Western Iranians who are strong advocates of regime change in Iran he brought up the issue of the so-called “revolution” having an impact on Iran’s nuclear talks? Or does it stand as clear proof of the real intentions of the west, particularly France in this case?
As a matter of fact, one can only say that the French President has actually confessed to interference in Iran’s affairs, albeit indirectly and unintentionally, having brought up the impact of the riots on the nuclear talks, which only confirms the Iranian accusations of Western interference in the country.
But how is it so? The answer lies in Iran’s statements via different officials all along, from day one.
Western meddling in Iran
The Assistant Commander of the IRGC for Political Affairs, Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, confirmed on November 11 that one of the enemy’s goals in destabilizing the country and trying to repeat the Syrian scenario in Iran is to influence the nuclear negotiations and obtain some concessions.
During a speech at a symposium entitled “From protests to riots,” Javani said all the “enemies have united to confront the government in Iran.”
In the same context, Iranian Army Commander, Maj. Gen. Seyyed Abdolrahim Mousavi, considered on November 7 that the riots in Iran were part of the US plan to disrupt the negotiations on the restoration of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Mass riots began in Iran in mid-September in connection with the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Iranian authorities have accused Western countries of fueling the riots, and European diplomats were given a note of protest in connection with anti-Iranian media reports and calls to overthrow the country’s government.
“The recent unrest in Iran was part of US efforts to disrupt the negotiations in Vienna [on the JCPOA],” Mousavi was quoted as saying by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB.
Foreign intelligence services behind riots
Foreign intelligence was never absent from the Iranian arena ever since the riots started.
Earlier, a spokesperson for the Iranian Parliament’s presiding board, Nizamuddin Mousavi, stated that the Minister of Interior submitted a report on recent developments in the investigation into Mahsa Amini’s death.
On September 23, the Iranian Minister of Interior Ahmad Vahidi confirmed that “reports, evidence, and medical examinations confirm that Amini was not beaten,” which refutes western media claims that the Iranian woman was brutally beaten while in morality police custody.
Mousavi said that “there are individuals linked to foreign organizations, intelligence services, and terrorist groups that had a hand in fomenting the recent riots.” He pointed out that “estimates indicate that some 45,000 people formed networks across the country, some of whom have been arrested.”
Referring to the recent riots, Vahidi considered that the enemy harnessed all its energies, including the media, in order to undermine national unity but suffered defeat in the face of the vigilance and insight of the coherent Iranian people that were able to thwart this scheme.
It is noteworthy that in late October, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry and the IRGC’s intelligence wing revealed that intelligence obtained by Tehran indicates that the CIA and allied intelligence services planned a conspiracy against the Islamic Republic.
“The conspiracy’s goal is to commit a crime against the Iranian people and the territorial integrity of Iran,” the statement underlined.
“The main perpetrators were the CIA, the British and Saudi intelligence services, the Israeli Mossad, and the intelligence services of other countries,” it read, indicating that “the planning and the execution of the majority of the riots were carried out by the Mossad in collaboration with terrorist organizations.”
French nationals confess to unrest in Iran
It is worth noting that Iran released a video on October 6 of two French citizens, Cecile Kohler and Jacque Paris, arrested for espionage in Tehran. The two are unionists with France’s National Federation of Education, Culture, and Vocational Training.
In the clips, Kohler confessed to being an “intelligence and operation agent of French foreign security service.” The two French nationals infiltrated into Iran as tourists on April 28 but turned out to be spies for Western intelligence agencies.
According to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, the duo attempted to foment instability and social disorder earlier in June when some teachers took to the streets in peaceful protests to demand fair wages and better working conditions.
Macron’s ‘double standards’ exposed through social media
Some wrote on social media platforms against Macron’s anti-Iran statements, highlighting the French President’s double standards. Some reminded him of France’s colonial past, stating that Iran will teach him a lesson this time, while others slammed him for undertaking the mission of defending what he called a “revolution” to describe riots in a country while turning a blind eye to the crimes and slavery practices of Qatar.
Alors que la 🇫🇷est au bord de l'explosion #Macron se permet de donner des leçons à l'Iran. En effet, pas un mot sur le Qatar et ses crimes ses pratiques esclavagiste. La 🇫🇷 devient un autre islam, venu de celui qui a enlevé le sourire aux 🇫🇷 tartufferie, foutaises et incompétence
Translation: While France is on the verge of exploding, Macron allows himself to give Iran lessons, while not saying a word about Qatar and its crimes and slavery practices.
La france n'a décidemment pas retenu la leçon de ses nombreuses ingérences dans la politique interne des autres pays apparemment. L'iran va vous apprendre ça
Translation: France decided not to learn from its past interferences in the internal affairs of other countries. Iran will teach it that.
Now, what about the French protests, and how did Macron handle them? The President demonstrated utmost hypocrisy by criticizing Iran while his people were prevented from merely expressing themselves during the recent French protests.
Macron confidently defended the Iranian riots as a “revolution”, while designating the French protests as riots. He criticized the Iranian government’s “violent suppression” while allowing his security forces to crack down on protests against the deteriorating livelihood in France.
Moreover, 100 injuries were reported in clashes between environmentalists and French police at a protest on October 31 against the building of a sizable water reservoir for farm irrigation in western France, according to the authorities. About 60 gendarmes and 30 demonstrators were injured in the protest, which the authorities tried to suppress in the Sainte-Solin area.
Regimi fasciti, la Russia? Noooo la Francia: 🇫🇷⚡French police use tear gas and plastic bullets on protesting schoolchildren
On October 11, the police forcefully suppressed a protest by high school students at the Lycee Joliot curie school in Nanterre and arrested 14 students. pic.twitter.com/CbpGQn3gbW
Additionally, tens of thousands of French people took to the streets last month in protest of the government’s performance, Macron’s economic plans for the country, and the rising costs of living. The protests were predominantly led by the country’s leftist coalition.
So, technically, when people protest for their most basic rights in a European country, they are attacked and beaten under the pretext of putting an end to riots.
In stark contrast, the actual riots taking place in Iran, coupled with vandalism, violence, murders, and arson, which are in fact instigated by the very natural death of Mahsa Amini, are hailed as acts of “democracy” that ought to be protected by all means necessary, even if that leads to the violation of a country’s sovereignty and interference in its internal affairs through collaborators and proxies, such as the terrorist groups MEK and ISIS.
The aim behind all that is going on in the Islamic Republic of Iran is terrorizing and fomenting unrest in the West Asian country after all the development and progress it has achieved at all levels. Rising as a key influential player in the region, all eyes, whether friends’ or foes’, remain focused on the Islamic Republic either to build or to tear down bridges.
As I’m writing this, I, together with many other Iranians are filled with outrage. The almost daily terrorist attacks in Iran are trouble to say the least. Today, November 3, another outrageous terrorist attack took place in the city of Karaj, northern Iran. Terrorists attacked civilians and police officers on the Qazvin-Karaj highway in the morning. In a video released on social media, one of the terrorists can clearly be seen executing a wounded police officer. This is how the tragic Syrian war began, and this is what Washington has planned for Iran.
For the past two months, Washington, the Zionists and their Western client states have launched a massive psychological operation against the Islamic Republic, with tens of thousands of online trolls and their army of “journalists” who spread fake news and disinformation every minute, every day. The amount of fake news spread during this psyop is ridiculous. Some trolls/bots even claimed that the Halloween disaster in South Korea was Tehran’s fault.
Saudi-owned “Iran International”, BBC Persian, ManotoTV and other disgraceful outlets have, from their London and Los Angeles offices been spewing lies and fake news around the clock, while also openly encouraging violence in Iran. These lies have been repeated by western media and both Iranian and non-Iranian celebrities around the world. This is a massive psychological operation that is arguably only second to the one going on against Russia concurrently.
Immediately after accusing the Islamic Republic of beating Mahsa Amini to death, the western countries announced that they’d be imposing new sanctions on Tehran, despite having announced their eagerness to revive JCPOA only a week earlier. What happened? Ostensibly the reason given for these sanctions are “repressive measures and violation of human rights and international law”.
By now, only the idiots of the world actually believe that “human rights” is the reason behind western sanctions anywhere in the world. If “human rights” or “women’s rights” were the issues they had with Iran, then how come the Saudi kingdom is spared from these sanctions, where women need Mahrams (male guardian) to go anywhere outside their home, where they chop up journalists in their embassies abroad, and behead people in public in the “chop chop square” in Riyadh?
This is about western interference in Iran and how it ended with the Islamic Revolution. It´s about a country that they had absolute control over, and then suddenly lost it all. This is what their hostility is about. It is not unique for Iran. We see the same hostility towards any independent country such as Russia and China for example. It´s not about “regimes” or ideologies either. If that was the case, then they wouldn´t have overthrown the democratically elected Mossadegh in 1953 in favour of the dictator Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
In his most recent speech, Ayatollah Khamenei correctly identified the root for the long conflict between the US and Iran: “They say the reason the Americans stood against the Iranian people was the move you made in the embassy,” he said. “That is, ‘you attacked our embassy and a dispute emerged between us [which led to] a fight and an enmity.’ They lie. This is not the case.”
“Mosaddegh’s government was a national government. His problem with the Westerners was only the issue of oil. He neither was a Hojatoleslam (top Islamic cleric) nor did he promote Islam. The issue was just related to oil, which was in the hands of the British. He said that the oil should be in our hands. This was his only crime.”
“They arrested Mosaddegh and his entourage and everyone [else],” he said. “Some were executed later, and some were imprisoned for many years.”
“Our dispute with the Americans started that day. Now, American politicians are hypocritically and shamelessly saying that ‘we support the Iranian nation,’”
To the imperialists in Washington, there´s no greater affront than a country that stands independently, securing the interests of its people and its future. This is intolerable! Even worse, when a backward and “uncivilized” country such as Iran dares to challenge US hegemony, such audacity must be met with the most vicious and cruellest animosity. Ever since the Islamic Revolution, the US has imposed “draconian sanctions”, conducted numerous terrorist attacks and assassinations, imposed an 8 year long war on the country, and launched several coup/regime change operations. They have over the past 43 years, both through direct and indirect channels offered Tehran bribes to abandon the struggle and support for the Palestinian cause, end the hostility towards Washington´s dear Zionist regime and abandon the struggle for a multi-polar world.
All of these efforts to destroy the Islamic Republic´s resolve have failed. And they will continue to fail. Why? Because they do not understand, and they won´t ever understand. Ever since the days of Jimmy Carter and his embarrassing New Year´s speech in Tehran in 1977 where he declared Iran to be “an island of stability”, meaning that Washington felt absolutely safe in their control over the country, to John Bolton´s pathetic speech in front of Iranian terrorist supporters in 2018 where he expressed his hope to “celebrate in Tehran” before the end of the year, they have failed time and time again to correctly analyse the Iranian people and nation.
In a great speech, Ayatollah Khamenei talks about these repeated miscalculations:
Today, we see the same type of miscalculation as the one that Ayatollah Khamenei speaks about in the video above. They thought that they could launch a “feminist revolution” in Iran, believing in their own lies that the Islamic Republic has no supporters, and will collapse under the pressure of riots and strikes. The Islamic Republic responded by mobilizing its supporters and this was the result:
Here are the ”liberal feminist rioters”:
And here are the supporters of the Islamic Republic:
Clearly, the few thousand “protestors”, of which a minority of them were actual terrorists/subversives, were overwhelmed by the massive amount of people who have come out in support of the Islamic Republic. But of course, they won´t show any of this in the Western media. Instead they have dozens of “analysts” who speculate on how quickly the Islamic Republic can fall and how Ayatollah Khamenei is “already dead and has been replaced by a body double”.
Seeing how they failed to cause any trouble for the Islamic Republic through “protests”, they resorted to riots, separatism and terrorist attacks instead. Kurdish terrorists, Baluchi terrorists, Arab and Azeri terrorists, all seeking to partition Iran. ISIS seeking to genocide Iranian Shias, and monarchists seeking to “immediately re-establish ties with Israel and the United States, and take a historically correct stance against Russia´s war in Ukraine”, as the self-styled “crown prince” of Iran said last month. These are the people Washington has mobilized for a “free Iran”. If the Islamic Republic were to fall, these people would partition the country into at least five different pieces, and start killing each other in a free-for all Battle Royale. Thankfully, security forces in Iran are arresting numerous rioters and terrorists on a daily basis who often start crying on camera, confessing to their crimes and who they received money and weapons from. Not a single one of them have stood their ground and defended their despicable actions. Big surprise!
What do they know about fighting for a cause? What do they know about bravery and sacrifice? What do they know about brotherhood? Nothing! They are opportunists who, like their ex-pat friends in the West, would sell their own mothers for money and power. Just like in Syria, they have no leaders, no honour and no dignity. They are being used as tools by Washington, only to be thrown under the bus when the Americans are done with them. This is how the Americans treat their “allies”.
On the contrary, The Islamic Republic was deeply embroiled in chaos and war with Saddam when it sent the first men to Lebanon to assist in the creation of Hezbollah in response to Israel´s invasion in 1982.
IRGC Quds force personnel arrive in Lebanon 1982.
Since those days, everything Iran has achieved, it has shared with its brothers in the region. Why? Because only united, can this region kick the barbaric Anglo-Zionists out. It was in anticipation for days such as this that Iran built an impressive missile arsenal, formed, and supported multiple armed militia groups in different countries in the region and have now reached out to great powers such as Russia and China to form a strong alliance against the Empire. In their arrogance and racist view, they thought that the Islamic Republic was resting on a rotten foundation such as the ones that their allied regimes in the Persian Gulf are resting on. Did Washington expect the Islamic Republic to go down so easily? Did they think that Syria, Hezbollah, Hashd Al-Shaabi, Ansarullah and other allies in the region would just idly stand by and watch while the strongest member of the Resistance alliance is being destroyed? Did they think that the Islamic Republic built an arsenal of hundreds of thousands of missiles just to collapse under the pressure of petty thugs and crude terrorist attacks?
Like I mentioned in my previous article, Iran is not Libya or Iraq during Saddam Hussein who stood alone in face of a NATO onslaught. Iran is both powerful on its own, and has powerful allies. Tehran is not alone in facing the evil empire and today, not just regional allies but great powers such as Russia and China have major stakes in Iran. Any foreign intervention, or bombing campaign against Iran will be met with missiles raining on Israel and US bases across the entire West Asia. If they want to test the Islamic Republic´s capabilities, then they must be ready to make very big sacrifices, because the era of hit and run attacks is over.
The westerners didn’t understand why Iranians were angry at them in 1979 and why they overthrew a “modern king” in favour of a “backward Islamic theocracy”. Many westerners still cannot understand how the Islamic Republic can be so popular among the Iranian people, and often just refuse to believe it. Why would they understand? They don’t know how 200 years of humiliation and subservience to others feel. They don´t know how it feels to have elected a prime minister, only to see him overthrown by foreigners who returned an unpopular dictator to the throne. They don´t know how it feels to have their country´s natural resources plundered by foreigners for decades.
Throughout the years since the Revolution, the Islamic Republic and its allies have given a lot martyrs for the cause of liberating West Asia from the Zionist empire. From the war against Saddam´s Iraq, where hundreds of thousands of young men were martyred, to the wars against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, these martyrs were inspired and driven by Imam Hussein´s immortal struggle against oppression. This is the ideology on which the Islamic Republic was formed and still rests on. They do not fear the US and its fabled “military might”. They do not fear American “super duper” bombs and missiles. They fear only God and consider fighting against oppression a religious duty, just like Imam Hussein did 1400 years ago. This is what the westerners do not understand when they try to intimidate Iran and its allies.
43 years since the embassy takeover on November 4 1979, they still do not understand that the Islamic Republic is a result of their own cruelty and injustice against Iran, and it has come back to haunt them. If they haven´t understood by now why the Islamic Republic continues to grow stronger, despite all their attempts to destroy the country from both the outside and inside, then they will never understand.
The Iranian Judiciary on Monday announced that ten people were arrested in West Azarbaijan province on spying charges and links with the Zionist regime’s Mossad spy agency.
Iran’s Judiciary reported in a statement on Monday that ten people with links to the Mossad have been arrested in West Azarbaijan Province in northwest Iran.
The detainees, whose main actions were to identify intelligence forces spearheading the fight against the ‘Israeli’ occupation regime in West Azarbaijan province, were arrested through intelligence surveillance. The members of the team were in direct contact with several Mossad officers, the Judiciary explained.
The detainees, under the direct guidance of the Mossad spy officers, were trying to identify the forces that cooperated with the country’s security departments and tried to obtain information from them after kidnapping, threatening, and beating them. These people had received money from the agents of the Zionist regime and Mossad officers on several occasions for the missions they had completed.
They were operating in the provinces of West Azarbaijan, Tehran and Hormozgan.
The Judiciary statement added that a lawsuit has been filed against the ten arrested members and their cases are being investigated in public and Revolutionary courts in Urmia, the capital of West Azarbaijan Province.
Ten Mossad agents in the hands of the Iranian security services
Israel’s Mossad is increasingly turning to social media in order to recruit agents to gather intelligence on Syria, a crucial hub in the Axis of Resistance
The war raging between Israel and Iran is not as inconspicuous as it may seem. It is taking place on a wide front that not only includes Iran, but also Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan and other regional states.
Syria, however, remains the main battlefield in this war, given the fact that it represents the vital geographical artery between Iran and the Lebanese resistance Hezbollah, through which arms, food, fuel, and other commodities flow.
Tel Aviv routinely bombs airports in Damascus and Aleppo when allegedly Iranian planes carrying members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) arrive or depart.
Israel also claims to target missile shipments on route to the resistance in Lebanon, but per their unofficial rules of engagement, they avoid causing resistance casualties. This is in compliance with the red line drawn by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, who has vowed to retaliate in kind if Hezbollah members are killed.
As a result, Israel’s current modus operandi is to launch warning missiles near trucks carrying weapons, bombing them only after the drivers leave their vehicles.
Online operatives
The acts of aggression don’t just end there: another obscure war of espionage and counter-espionage hums constantly in the background. The prevalence of Israeli spy networks operating in Syria is certainly not a recent development. Recall Eli Cohen, the Mossad agent who penetrated senior Syrian circles in the 1960s, for which he was captured and hung with great fanfare in a public Damascus square.
Today, however, the use of social media has made recruiting far easier and more difficult for states to detect.
Israel employs social media networks to covertly penetrate Lebanon and Syria for the purpose of recruiting spies and informants – with a particular emphasis on infiltrating the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).
The most recent Israeli security operation to be foiled was the recruitment of a Sweden-based Syrian doctor and his two brothers – both officers in the Syrian army – to work for Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad.
One of the two brothers, who held a brigadier general rank, worked in the SAA’s Surveying and Topography Department, and was assigned to provide the Mossad with maps of the city of Damascus and its surroundings, including details of roads, highways, and bridges.
This particular espionage operation was uncovered by Lebanese security services, who managed to follow online accounts allegedly used by Mossad officers to recruit previously arrested agents. Investigations revealed a connection between these accounts and a person close to Beirut International Airport, using Syrian and Swedish phone numbers between 2020 and 2022.
Following the probe, it was discovered that these numbers belonged to Syrian doctor Moeen Youssef, who resides in Sweden and had previously travelled to Syria via Lebanon. He heads the nephrology department at a Stockholm hospital for a monthly salary of $7,300.
The security services arrested Youssef at Beirut International Airport last August on charges of working for the Mossad. During his interrogation, he informed investigators that an individual named “Christopher” contacted him via e-mail in 2018, claiming to work for environment and water purification companies, and offered to help him implement a free water purification project in Syria.
After communicating directly by phone, they met about a month later at the Sheraton Hotel in Stockholm, allegedly to discuss the water project. At that time, the doctor recommended that “Christopher” work with his two brothers inside Syria, Louay and Mazen.
Groomed by Mossad
Louay is a retired colonel in the Syrian army and Mazen was the brigadier general serving in the Topographical Engineering Department who retired early this year. His brother’s wife, a civil engineer working in the Damascus municipality, appears to have also been part of the project.
For two years, the Israelis worked to gain the trust of the Syrian doctor, before revealing their identity. During this span, several meetings were held with him in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and the Czech Republic. The “company” even covered his travel expenses for these encounters.
At the last meeting in Switzerland, in August 2020, Youssef was asked to obtain a map that revealed the distribution of Syria’s water network over the entirety of its territory. He was paid 2,500 euros to purchase a cell phone with a Swedish chip and a laptop with encryption software for sending maps/documents, to lease an office in Syria run by his brother, and to buy a ticket to Beirut via Rome.
Youssef was also told to activate the WhatsApp application on the Swedish mobile line for communicating with his brother Mazen, and was trained to take security precautions to protect them both – under the pretext that his brother would not be exposed because he would be the recipient of confidential documents.
During interrogation, Youssef confessed that at that point, he realized he was communicating with an Israeli Mossad officer. Upon his return to Syria, he informed his father and two brothers, Louay and Mazen, of his suspicions. He added, “A discussion took place between us and we decided to continue communicating with him.”
Even the army has been compromised
Youssef admitted that he transferred sums of money in stages to his two brothers and father, in addition to modest gifts, and was also promised finances for a cement factory owned by his father.
After his arrest in Beirut, Syrian intelligence arrested four officers in the Syrian army and a large number of soldiers suspected of ties with the Israeli enemy. Yousef’s father, Omar, appeared in a recorded video where he repudiated the “heinous accusation.” After all. dealing with the Israeli enemy is a crime of high treason in Syria, punishable by death.
Lebanese security sources informed The Cradle that Hezbollah’s security apparatus provided logistical assistance to Syrian intelligence in pursuing these local agents. Hebrew websites published news of the subsequent arrests, naming officers from the SAA’s air force and military units in Tartus, and claiming that members of Hezbollah interrogated the detainees.
Modern recruitment methods
Investigations conducted by the Lebanese security services have revealed a new method of operation for the Mossad. Previously, spies were recruited through deception by women – “honeytraps,” as the practice is popularly known – or through extortion, after obtaining personal information about local targets.
Today, the Mossad casts a wider, less discerning net: most of the recent recruitments have taken place via social media platforms, where money acts as the primary incentive for a large number of collaborators living in financially distressed countries. This indiscriminate method also exposes Israeli intel to the intelligence agencies of targeted states more readily, as recruits could easily act as double agents for those same incentives.
One peculiar instance of an attempt to recruit a Hezbollah official was through a delivery service employee. A woman called a delivery business and offered $100 for its employee to purchase a book from a Beirut bookshop and deliver it by hand to an address in Bir al-Abed, a mostly pro-Hezbollah area in the city’s southern suburbs
The woman asked the deliveryman to place inside the book a letter she emailed that included the phrase “contact us,” with a phone number and an e-mail connected to the Mossad. She also asked him to photograph the building to make sure it was the correct address.
As it turned out, the intended person was not at home, so the courier delivered the book to his wife instead. After reviewing surveillance footage, the Lebanese General Security Service arrested the young man, who confirmed that the woman who asked him to deliver the book was Russian and that she had spoken to him in Modern Standard Arabic. At the time of writing, the courier is still under arrest pending further investigation.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
The ‘Israeli’ Mossad spy agency eliminated at least six senior officers at its Iran desk after the Iranian Intelligence Ministry thwarted an act of sabotage at an industrial center in the central city of Isfahan.
The Iranian Intelligence Ministry forces have detected a complicated security operation for an act of sabotage that Mossad was planning at an industrial center in Isfahan, arresting all operational elements involved in the plot.
Thereafter, Mossad discharged the head of its Iran desk and killed, with various methods, at least six senior officers working at the desk on a charge of links with Iranian intelligence forces.
Tomer Eikes, Ayalon Shapira, Sharon Small, Shaili Westland, Ofek Aharon, and Itamar Elhara were the six ranking officers who have been killed by Mossad during an interrogation process on a charge of links with Iran’s security service. The Zionist regime has confirmed the deaths of those six persons.
According to the report, apart from these six officers, a number of other officers have also been eliminated by the counter-espionage department of Mossad in various ways, such as through car accidents. The exact number and the fate of the victims remain unknown.
Mossad claims that ‘Sharon Small’, 42, and 21-year-old ‘Shaili Westland’ have had a stroke, alleging that ‘Ofek Aharon’, 26, and ‘Itamar Elharar’, 28, have been shot dead in a clash.
Mossad considered the exposure of its complicated act of sabotage as a big defeat and scandal, so it was forced to eliminate all officers in order to fix the breach of security and links with the Iranian security service in an attempt to protect other persons and their connections.
Considering Iran’s full dominance over Mossad’s activities in the West and Southeast Asia, it is not clear whether or not the recent thwarting of Mossad’s operation in Malaysia and the arrest of all of its agents in that country had taken place as part of cooperation between the intelligence services of Malaysia and Iran.
An informed security source has confirmed Tasnim’s report, saying, “Mossad could never imagine that the counter-espionage service of Iran’s security organization had been informed of their moves for the act of sabotage in Isfahan since the operation was being planned, and had maintained such [intelligence] dominance from when the plot was created until the arrest of the operational forces.”
The source also pointed to Mossad’s leading role in the riots in Iran, adding, “Mossad has direct responsibility in the recent riots [in Iran] and thinks that it can pursue its sabotage activities through a number of nuisance raid operations and in cooperation with the regional [espionage] services by provoking the artists and athletes indirectly. However, one can definitely say that all measures and plots of the Mossad’s officers are being controlled and dominated by the anonymous soldiers of Imam Zaman [AS], as blows have been dealt to some of those activities while some others will receive blows in due time.”
The MintPress podcast, “The Watchdog,” hosted by British-Iraqi hip hop artist Lowkey, closely examines organizations about which it is in the public interest to know – including intelligence, lobby and special interest groups influencing policies that infringe on free speech and target dissent. The Watchdog goes against the grain by casting a light on stories largely ignored by the mainstream, corporate media.
The Israeli state has been losing the battle for Western public opinion for quite some time now. Even in the United States, its closest ally, support for Israel is waning, while sympathy for Palestine has more than doubled since 2013, according to a series of Gallup polls.
Knowing this, Israel has redoubled its efforts in soft power. Joining Lowkey today are three people who have closely monitored these efforts: Dr. Ramzy Baroud, Jessica Buxbaum, and Alan MacLeod.
One example of Israel trying to launder its image in pop culture is the character of Sabra, an Israeli superhero and Mossad agent. Sabra features in the upcoming Marvel blockbuster, “Captain America: New World Order.” Baroud asked Lowkey the question, “why now?” Why had this controversial character made a return, noting,
The timing of introducing Sabra fits really nicely into the progression of Israeli propaganda in American movies and in the entertainment industry in general. We are living in an age now, where a superhero can actually be a Mossad agent!”
This latest attempt at woke imperialism is particularly notable, Baroud said, as,
Mossad is a notorious organization that is responsible for the assassination of many people, sabotage, destruction, all sorts of sinister business. This is by no means the kind of agency or organization that should be introduced to American youth as if they are the saviors of the human race.”
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, as well as a non-resident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. He is the author of six books, including “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out,” co-written with Professor Ilan Pappé.
Jessica Buxbaum highlighted the many connections Marvel Studios – particularly its senior executives – have with the apartheid state. Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac Perlmutter, for example, grew up in 1948-occupied Palestine and served in the IDF during the 1967 Six-Day War, alongside Marvel CEO Avi Arad. Her recent investigation found that many other Marvel senior figures had donated to Zionist organizations, or even to campaign funds for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Buxbaum is a journalist specializing in Middle Eastern politics and current affairs. Aside from MintPress News, her work can also be found in Middle East Eye, The New Arab, and Gulf News.
Also joining Lowkey today is Alan MacLeod, whose latest investigation goes through emails published by WikiLeaks showing that many of Hollywood’s most influential producers work closely with the Israeli government and the IDF in order to whitewash its crimes, promote its image, and stamp out any pro-Palestine sentiment in the entertainment world. This went so far as senior entertainment executives introducing IDF officers to other celebrities in an effort to spread Israeli narratives throughout the profession. Hollywood’s top brass also attempted to “cancel” actors and directors who spoke out against Israeli aggression, using their financial clout to intimidate venues and festivals into cutting ties with them.
Earlier this month, activists and comic book fans alike were in uproar over Marvel Studios’ announcement that Israeli actress Shira Haas will play Zionist superhero Sabra in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Captain America: New World Order. Many Palestine advocates accused Marvel’s decision to add Sabra to the MCU as exalting Israeli abuse and war crimes.
“By glorifying the Israeli army & police, Marvel is promoting Israel’s violence against Palestinians & enabling the continued oppression of millions of Palestinians living under Israel’s authoritarian military rule,” the Institute for Middle East Understanding wrote in a tweet.
Following the backlash, Marvel said in a statement to Variety that it will take a “new approach” to the character, in a perceived attempt to placate criticisms.
Yet vows to reimagine the Sabra character, a former spy for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, may come across as disingenuous, especially when, upon closer examination, Marvel appears closely connected to the Israeli government and its main intelligence agency Mossad.
MARVEL AND ISRAEL’S DEEPENING RELATIONSHIP
Many individuals who have held or still maintain roles at Marvel are associated with the Israeli military, Israeli intelligence and Zionist institutions that uphold apartheid. For instance, Isaac Perlmutter, the current chairman of Marvel Entertainment who served on Marvel Comics’ board of directors until 1995, grew up in 1948-occupied Palestine (or modern-day Israel) and served in the Israeli military during the 1967 Six-Day War. Avi Arad, the CEO of Marvel Entertainment, also grew up in modern-day Israel and served in the Israeli army during the Six-Day War.
The Perlmutters are also heavily linked to the Trump family. In 2016, their organization donated $25,000 to the Eric Trump Foundation. According to Open Secrets, a campaign finance tracker, in 2016, Laura Perlmutter donated $5,400 to former President Donald Trump’s campaign and nearly $450,000 to the Trump Victory Committee, a joint fundraising initiative by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. The couple then gave more than $1 million to the Trump Victory Committee in 2019 and 2020 and contributed another $11,200 to Trump’s reelection campaign in 2019.
President Trump shakes hand with Isaac “Ike” Perlmutter, an Israeli-American billionaire and the CEO of Marvel on April 27, 2017. Andrew Harnik | AP
Isaac Perlmutter donated $5 million in 2016 to the Great America PAC, a super political action committee (PAC) supporting Trump. The couple also contributed $10.5 million in 2020 to American First Action, a PAC supporting Trump. In addition, Both Perlmutters have backed several state and federal Republican entities and candidates over the years. The hefty donations did not go unnoticed, earning Isaac a spot in shaping policies at the Department of Veteran Affairs during Trump’s time in office, according to an investigation by ProPublica.
Early Marvel Comics’ investors Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman are also tied to both Israel and Trump. Icahn donated $5,400 to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and was subsequently named Trump’s special adviser
Both Perelman and Icahn were revealed as potential donors to former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign ahead of the 2007 primary elections. Perelman’s foundation has also contributed to several pro-Israel organizations, including the Chabad Lubavitch’s social services agency, Machne Israel, and the Jewish National Fund, which is a leading organization in establishing illegal Israeli settlements and displacing Palestinians.
Perelman also donated $125,000 to Trump’s Victory Committee in 2017 and is reportedly friends with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. He was also listed in convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein’s address book.
Film producer Amy Pascal, who plays a key role in coordinating the collaboration between Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, is a known Israel lobbyist. Leaked Sony emails reveal Pascal received email updates on the security situation in Israel from the now-defunct, right-wing advocacy group, The Israel Project.
She also received emails from Creative Community for Peace, an organization fighting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in the entertainment industry. In 2014, Pascal and her husband also received an email invitation to attend a private event about the situation in Israel with the Israeli Consul General of Los Angeles, David Siegel, and president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Jay Sanderson.
Israeli propaganda has become deeply entrenched in Hollywood, in part because of many prominent entertainment oligarchs’ pro-Israel beliefs, as well as the global success of Israeli television series like “Shtisel” and “Fauda”. The latter television show glamorized the Israeli army, specifically the Mista’arvim unit, an undercover military wing designed to infiltrate Palestinian communities.
Israel’ only contribution to “entertainment” is to export shows and figures that commit war crimes – because that’s what they do best. War crimes are not entertaining. #FreePalestinehttps://t.co/Da1537aQ9b
Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s casting as Wonder Woman also helped normalize Israel on the world stage, especially given her pride in serving in the Israeli military. Now Haas, who is set to play Sabra, is poised to be another example of Hollywood normalizing the apartheid state. Haas has been involved with pro-Israel organization, StandWithUs, participating in a StandWithUs Facebook live to talk about her success. StandWithUs presents itself as an educational resource on Israel, but the organization is responsible for silencing the Palestinian narrative in schools and blacklisting pro-Palestine voices on campuses. Haas also served in the Israeli military’s theater.
The Mossad works with the U.S. entertainment industry to promote an attractive image of Israel abroad. SPYLEGENDS – an agency made up of former Mossad spies and other ex-security officials – was established in 2021 to advise Hollywood on spy films. The Mossad has also openly welcomed the slew of thrillers showcasing the intelligence agency as sleek and prestigious in an effort to boost recruitment.
MARVEL’S LINKS TO US MILITARISM AND INTELLIGENCE
Marvel’s nationalist sentiment does not end with Israel. Cloaked in mesmerizing cinematography and flashy special effects, the American company has also been instrumental in promoting U.S. militarism with its comic book universe.
In “Captain America: The First Avenger”, the U.S. army allowed Marvel Studios to film at Camp Edward, a military training site. The 2003 “Hulk” film also benefited from access to military bases and loaned military equipment. “Iron Man” and its sequel created iconic scenes by borrowing the military’s weaponry as well. These Marvel movies — along with “Captain America: Winter Soldier” and “Captain Marvel” — received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to help build their blockbuster enterprise.
The military’s support, however, came with a price. The Pentagon approved the scripts for “Hulk” and “Iron Man”, cutting out unfavorable references to the military, such as their experimentation on humans and dropping herbicides on South East Asia during the Vietnam War.
With the “Captain America” franchise, the army supported the Marvel movie, seeing it as “building resiliency” and considering the Captain America character to hold values of a modern U.S. soldier. “Captain Marvel” was the Air Force public relations department’s dream. The film’s release coincided with an Air Force recruitment campaign, using feminism as a way to sugar coat “Captain Marvel’s” obvious militarism. The recruitment effort clearly worked with the Air Force seeing the highest number of female applicants to the Air Force Academy in five years.
With Marvel’s U.S. military propaganda in full swing, it seems the studio is now turning its focus to Israeli nationalism. Whether Sabra will don an Israeli-flag-inspired suit remains to be seen, but what is apparent is Marvel’s close relationship with Israel and the U.S. military is manufacturing a fantasy world dripping in real-world imperialism.
منذ اندلاع الأزمة في سوريا، وحصول الفوضى على أكثر من صعيد، لمست الجهات الأمنية الخاصة في الدولة السورية والقوى المساندة للنظام، تعاظم النشاط الأمني المعادي في أكثر من منطقة سورية. وكانت أصعب مهمة على الأجهزة الأمنية، التمييز بين عمليات التجنيد التي شملت مواطنين وموظفين وعسكريين من النظام لمصلحة دول تعمل على إسقاط النظام، وبين الذين تبين أن الاستخبارات الإسرائيلية هي من يقف خلف عمليات التجنيد لأجل القيام بجمع معلومات تخص مراكز عسكرية وأمنية ومدنية للنظام، وكذلك لقوات الحرس الثوري الإيراني ومراكز حزب الله في عدة مناطق من سوريا.
وإلى جانب التجنيد المباشر الذي شمل مواطنين في مناطق الجنوب المتاخمة للجولان المحتل أو القرى اللصيقة بالحدود الشرقية الجنوبية للبنان، كان لافتاً أن العدو لجأ أيضاً إلى استخدام الأزمة الاقتصادية في سوريا لاستخدام عدد من اللاجئين السوريين في أوروبا وبعض الدول العربية لأجل تجنيدهم مقابل إنجاز مهام بالتعاون مع أقاربهم أو أعوانهم داخل سوريا مقابل مبالغ مالية كان يجري تبرير وجودها بدعم المنظمات الإنسانية العالمية للسوريين المتضررين من الأزمة. ومنذ أكثر من عامين، اعتقلت الاستخبارات السورية عدداً من المشتبه في تعاونهم مع العدو، سواء من عناصر عسكرية أو موظفين في الدولة أو مواطنين عاديين، بعد تعاون وثيق مع جهاز أمن المقاومة الإسلامية في لبنان. وبعد انكشاف شبكة التجنيد الكبرى بواسطة شبكات التواصل الاجتماعي نهاية العام الماضي في لبنان، أمكن للأجهزة اللبنانية العثور على دلائل تشير إلى تجنيد سوريين موجودين داخل سوريا، وحصل تنسيق غير مباشر أدى إلى توقيف غالبية هؤلاء. وتبين في وقت معين أن الاستخبارات الإسرائيلية عمدت إلى التركيز على تجنيد عملاء من أبناء مناطق الساحل السوري والذين ينتمون إلى الطائفة العلوية، لاعتقاد العدو بأن هؤلاء يتمتعون بحرية حركة أكبر داخل سوريا وداخل المؤسسات العسكرية والأمنية. وكان العمل الأمني من قبل النظام وحلفائه في سوريا قد تطور بصورة مختلفة بعدما لجأ العدو إلى تنفيذ أكثر من عملية أمنية داخل سوريا مستغلاً الفوضى القائمة من جهة، ومستفيداً من مساعدة أرضية وفرت من خلال عملاء محليين ناشطين، وقد وصلت جرأة العدو إلى حد قيام مجموعة كوماندوس منها بالانتقال إلى قلب العاصمة دمشق وخطف أحد الأشخاص قبل إعادة إطلاق سراحه بعد مدة في بلد أفريقي. وقبل أسابيع، تبلغت السلطات السورية معلومات أولية عن الطبيب العميل، وبعد التدقيق في معطيات تم جمعها بطرق مختلفة، عمدت السلطات السورية إلى توقيف أفراد عائلة الطبيب السوري وآخرين من أصدقائهم وتم التحقيق معهم، وقد تبين أن والده وشقيقيه قد أقرا بالتعامل عن معرفة لاحقة، وأنهم وقعوا ضحية المغريات المالية من جهة، وأنهم كانوا يعتقدون أنهم يساعدون على تحسين الواقع الاقتصادي والمعيشي في سوريا. لكن المحققين السوريين واجهوا المعتقلين بمعطيات ووثائق جعلتهم يقرون بما قاموا به، وقد تم العثور على أجهزة كومبيوتر وهواتف وعلى مواد خاصة بعدد من الوزارات السورية بحوزة الموقوفين، خصوصاً أن المشغل الإسرائيلي كان يسعى إلى جمع كل الخرائط التي تعطيه فكرة على كل ما هو موجود تحت الأرض في العاصمة السورية ومحيطها، سواء بما خص شبكات المياه أو الصرف الصحي أو الهاتف أو الأسلاك الكهربائية وخلافه. بالإضافة إلى معطيات حول الجهات المسؤولة وأسماء المسؤولين عنها ومعطيات عنهم وبياناتهم الشخصية. معلوم أن سوريا لم يسبق أن أعلنت رسمياً عن هذه التوقيفات أو غيرها، والمصادر الرسمية فيها لا تعلق على هذه الأخبار، لكن الأكيد أن السلطات السورية أقامت محاكمات عسكرية للعملاء الذين أدينوا بالتعامل مع العدو، وطبقت بحقهم العقوبات المنصوص عنها في القانون السوري والتي تقضي في غالبية الحالات الشبيهة بالإعدام شنقاً أو رمياً بالرصاص.
Almost a week before the 40th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre, a document submitted to the Israeli High Court of Justice has revealed Israel’s role in Lebanon’s bloody conflicts, dating back to the 1950’s.
The report establishes 1958 as the year when contact was first made between Lebanese Christian leaders and the Israeli military establishment.
Then-Lebanese President Camille Chamoun requested armed assistance from the Israeli army to counter the 1958 power struggle against groups influenced by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.
“In the 1950s in the framework of ‘Khalil’ there was a discussion between us about the need to support Christians in Lebanon. Chamoun was in danger of losing his rule,” the declassified Israeli document adds.
In response, the Israeli army and Mossad agreed to prepare an Iranian plane sent by the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to transport weapons from Israeli stocks to the Lebanese Christian militias.
Decades later in 1975-1976, these same Christian officials reestablished contact with Israel to purchase weapons in preparation for Lebanon’s civil war. A delegation from Mossad’s operational and intelligence branches next visited Lebanon to understand “what is happening in the war between those sects.”
The document narrates how the Mossad “visited command posts of the [right-wing, Christian militias] Phalangists and Chamounists and met with Bachir Gemayel at his parents’ home in the village.”
Israel then took the decision to provide these Lebanese militias with weapons for a fee in a bid to leverage the assistance later on.
“The first shipment went out in the middle of November 1975, after weapons were prepared and loaded at a naval base [in Israel]. The meeting [with the Lebanese] was perfectly fine – we shook hands, we received an envelope with money, we counted the money, and then helped load them to their ship.”
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the office of the Israeli prime minister, which oversees and directs the Mossad, released the dateless document that implicates the intelligence agency in the atrocities carried out by right-wing Lebanese Christian militias.
Earlier in 2020, a petition was filed to declassify these documents, but the Mossad staunchly objected, initially claiming they were not able to locate the historical papers.
However, in an unexpected turn of events this week, the intel agency agreed to declassify the documents, despite a court dismissal of the petition last April.
Israeli human rights lawyer and activist Eitay Mack announced that “the [Israeli] clandestine affair [in Lebanon] must come to light and enable discussion that might prevent continued support by the Mossad and the State of Israel for security forces and militias that commit atrocities.”
Mack reveals that despite previous knowledge of the massacres, executions, terrorism, and atrocities carried out by the Lebanese, the Mossad and the Israeli army believed it was acceptable to resume support and conceal information from the public.
Israel’s ‘Christian militias’ massacre civilians
The document in question, which has been translated by Ronnie Barkan, was an intelligence brief written by the Mossad for the Israeli political and military echelon. It exposes the Mossad’s role in, and facilitation of, weapon transfers that were used in the two-day, round-the-clock massacre of Palestinian civilians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
The bloody massacre took place in 1982, between 16-18 September at a camp under siege by the Israeli army, leaving thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians dead, raped, and injured by the militias to whom Israeli occupation forces provided passage, weapons, and protection.
As a result of the widespread condemnation and magnitude of the event, Israel launched its own investigation into the incident by establishing the Kahan commission, which conveniently concluded that only Ariel Sharon, Israel’s defense minister at the time, bore “indirect personal responsibility.”
The commission suggested that Sharon be fired from his position as defense minister for failing to safeguard Beirut’s civilian population, which had fallen under Israeli authority. However, Sharon refused to resign, and the prime minister at the time Menachem Begin refused to fire him.
“Goyim killing Goyim,” Begin is famously quoted as saying in a bid to disavow any Israeli role in the events.
However, as Pultizer prize-winner Patrick J. Sloyan revealed in his book When Reagan Sent the Marines, Sharon met with the Phalangist militia leaders the day after the assassination of president Bachir Gemayel, and abetted them in avenging his death.
Sharon told the commander of the Lebanese Forces Militia Elie Hobeika: “I don’t want a single one of them left,” in reference to the Palestinians in the camps in Beirut.
As a result, the Israeli army set up command posts overseeing the Sabra and Shatila camp and besieged it with tanks, calling on either the Lebanese army or Phalangists to come in and “clear it.”
“They’re thirsting for revenge. There could be torrents of blood,” warned then Israeli chief of staff Rafael Eitan in response to Sharon’s plans to use the Mossad-trained and armed militias.
During the war, the Phalanges were behind numerous other crimes aside from the Sabra and Shatila massacre, such as the Karantina massacre that left 1,500 dead.
The Mossad document further reveals that the Israeli army and military establishment dictated the agency’s activities in Lebanon, rather than the Israeli government.
“This is the asset (Lebanese militias) that we have, now tell us what to do with it. Because the state (Israel) isn’t at all that organized in its decision-making. The government isn’t telling us what to do with the asset, but rather the military,” the document reads.
The Israeli Mossad chief’s remarks on a looming nuclear agreement, which he called a “strategic disaster”, were not coordinated with the Israeli PM and were contradictory to official talking points.
Israeli Mossad chief David Barnea meets with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid
In yet another feature of mounting internal divisions in “Israel”, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid was taken aback by Mossad chief David Barnea‘s harsh warnings about an emerging Iran nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, as per Israeli media.
Barnea called the nuclear deal, as quoted by reporters, “a strategic disaster” for “Israel”, stressing that the United States “is rushing into an accord that is ultimately based on lies.”
The message was considered harsher and more critical of the US position than previous statements from “Tel Aviv”.
In further detail, Israeli Channel 12 news said that Lapid had met with Barnea between the Mossad chief’s briefing to reporters and the publication of the remarks, which took Lapid by surprise.
Barnea briefed reporters at 11 am, on the condition that his remarks not be published until 8 pm. During that time gap, Barnea and Lapid had a pre-scheduled meeting, which was announced by the Prime Minister’s office.
Lapid was aware of Barnea’s media briefing, but they had not coordinated the comments, and Barnea’s statements differed from talking points circulated by the Prime Minister’s office several days ago and from the message Lapid has been attempting to convey, as per Israeli Channel 12.
Lapid called the Mossad chief shortly after Barnea’s comments were published, telling him he had gone off script in how he criticized the US and asked him for clarification. Whether Barnea was reprimanded or not remains unclear.
Trying to downplay Barnea’s anti-US comments, Israeli media claimed there was an intentional inaccuracy in reporting Barnea’s words to make it seem that he had directly criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the Iran issue, when he had not done so, as per Israeli claims.
Israeli Channel 12 reported that the Mossed has told Lapid that a new Iran deal will most likely be inked in the coming days or weeks.
In response, the channel reported, the Israeli army and Mossad are planning a series of attacks against Iran, including a strike on its nuclear program, which Iran has been confirming its peacefulness for a long time now.
It is worth noting that the divide over the Iran nuclear deal runs roughly between Israeli officials, becoming more salient as the US pushes for the deal’s revival.
This dispute has a direct impact today on escalating internal divisions which threaten the occupation’s national security.
Amir Bohbot, a military affairs commentator for the Israeli Wallah website, has lately said that “Israel will not sit in the audience amid the developments in the negotiations between Iran and the United States over the nuclear deal.”
Bohbot added that a conflict might soon begin between the United States and “Israel” over the issue, maintaining that even if they try to keep it behind the scenes, it will appear to the public.
According to Bohbot, “The Iranians are cleverly leading the Americans by the nose,” which does not make the United States militarily reliable, he added.
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Six months after the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO) by Russia in Ukraine, the geopolitical tectonic plates of the 21st century have been dislocated at astonishing speed and depth – with immense historical repercussions already at hand.
To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way the (new) world begins, not with a whimper but a bang.
The cold-blooded assassination of Darya Dugina – terrorism at the gates of Moscow – may have fatefully coincided with the six-month intersection point, but will do nothing to change the dynamics of the current, work-in-progress, historical shift.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) appeared to have cracked the case in a little over 24 hours, designating the perpetrator as a neo-Nazi Azov operative instrumentalized by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) – itself a mere tool of the CIA/MI6 combo that de facto rules Kiev.
The Azov operative is just a patsy. The FSB will never reveal in public the intel it has amassed on those that issued the orders, and how they will be dealt with.
One Ilya Ponomaryov, an anti-Kremlin minor character granted Ukrainian citizenship, boasted he was in contact with the outfit that prepared the hit on the Dugin family. No one took him seriously.
What is manifestly serious, however, is how oligarchy-connected organized crime factions in Russia would have a motive to eliminate Alexander Dugin, the Christian Orthodox nationalist philosopher who, according to them, may have influenced the Kremlin’s pivot to Asia (he didn’t).
These organized crime factions blamed Dugin for a concerted Kremlin offensive against the disproportional power of Jewish oligarchs in Russia. So these actors would have both the motive and the local know-how to mount such a coup.
If that’s the case, it potentially spells out a Mossad-linked operation – especially given the serious schism in Moscow’s recent relations with Tel Aviv. What’s certain is that the FSB will keep their cards very close to their chest – and retribution will be swift, precise and invisible.
The straw that broke the camel’s back
Instead of delivering a serious blow to Russia’s psyche that could impact the dynamics of its operations in Ukraine, the assassination of Darya Dugina only exposed the perpetrators as tawdry killers who have exhausted their options.
An IED cannot kill a philosopher – or his daughter. In an essential essay, Dugin himself explained how the real war – Russia against the US-led collective west – is a war of ideas. An existential war.
Dugin correctly defines the US as a “thalassocracy,” heir to “Britannia rules the waves.” Yet now the geopolitical tectonic plates are spelling out a new order: The Return of the Heartland.
Russian President Vladimir Putin himself first spelled it out at the Munich Security Conference in 2007. China’s Xi Jinping put it into action by launching the New Silk Roads in 2013. The Empire struck back with Maidan in 2014. Russia counter-attacked by coming to the aid of Syria in 2015.
The Empire doubled down on Ukraine, with NATO weaponizing it non-stop for eight years. At the end of 2021, Moscow invited Washington for a serious dialogue on “indivisibility of security” in Europe. That was dismissed with a non-response response.
Moscow took no time to assess that a dangerous US-led trifecta was instead in the works: an imminent Kiev blitzkrieg against Donbass; Ukraine flirting with acquiring nuclear weapons; and the work of US bioweapon labs. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
A consistent analysis of Putin’s public interventions these past few months reveals that the Kremlin – as well as Security Council Yoda Nikolai Patrushev – fully realize how the politico/media talking heads and shock troops of the collective west are directed by the rulers of Finance Capitalism.
As a direct consequence, they also realize how western public opinion is absolutely clueless, Plato cave-style, totally captive to the ruling financial class, who cannot tolerate any alternative narrative.
So Putin, Patrushev, and their peers will never presume that a senile teleprompter reader in the White House or a cokehead comedian in Kiev “rule” anything.
As the US rules global pop culture, it is fitting to borrow from what Walter White/Heisenberg, an average American channeling his inner bad, states in Breaking Bad: “I’m in the Empire business.” And the Empire business is to exercise raw power, maintained with ruthlessness, by all means necessary.
Russia broke that spell. But Moscow’s strategy is way more sophisticated than leveling Kiev with hypersonic weapons, something that could have been done at any moment, starting six months ago.
Instead, what Moscow is doing is talking to virtually the entire Global South, bilaterally or to groups of actors, explaining how the world-system is changing right before our eyes, with the key actors of the future configured as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), BRICS+, the Greater Eurasia Partnership.
And what we see is vast swathes of the Global South – or 85 percent of the world’s population – slowly but surely becoming ready to engage in expelling the finance capitalists from their national horizons, and ultimately taking them down: a long, tortuous battle that will imply multiple setbacks.
The facts on the ground
On the ground in soon-to-be rump Ukraine, Khinzal hypersonic weapons launched from Tu-22M3 bombers or Mig-31 interceptors will continue to be employed.
Piles of HIMARS will continue to be captured. TOS 1A Heavy Flamethrowers will keep sending invitations to the gates of hell. Crimean Air Defense will continue to intercept all sorts of small drones with IEDs attached. Terrorism by local SBU cells will eventually be smashed.
Using essentially a phenomenal artillery barrage – cheap and mass-produced – Russia will annex Donbass, very valuable in terms of land, natural resources and industrial power. And then on to Nikolaev, Odessa, and Kharkov.
Geoeconomically, Russia can afford to sell its oil with fat discounts to any Global South customer, not to mention strategic partners China and India. Cost of extraction reaches a maximum of $15 per barrel, with a national budget based on $40-45 for a barrel of Urals, whose market value today is almost double that.
A new Russian benchmark is imminent, as well as oil in rubles following the wildly successful gas for rubles scheme.
The assassination of Darya Dugina provoked endless speculation about the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense finally breaking their discipline. That’s not going to happen. Russian advances along the enormous 1,800-mile battle front are relentless, highly systematic, and deeply invested in a Greater Strategic Picture.
A key vector is whether Russia stands a chance of winning the information war with the west. That will never happen inside NATO’s realm – even as success after success is unfolding across the Global South.
As Glenn Diesen has masterfully demonstrated in his latest book, Russophobia, the collective west is viscerally impervious to admitting any social, cultural, historical merits by Russia.
They have already catapulted themselves into the irrationality stratosphere: the grinding down and de facto demilitarization of the imperial proxy army in Ukraine is driving the Empire’s handlers and its vassals literally nuts.
But the Global South should never lose sight of the ‘Empire business.’ That industry excels in producing chaos and plunder, always supported by extortion, bribery of local elites, and assassinations on the cheap. Every trick in the Divide and Rule book should be expected at any moment. Never underestimate a bitter, wounded, deeply humiliated, declining Empire.
Fasten your seat belts for more of this tense dynamic for the remainder of the decade.
But before that, all along the watchtower, get ready for the arrival of General Winter, whose riders are fast approaching. When the winds begin to howl, Europe will be freezing in the dead of dark nights, lit up occasionally by its finance capitalists puffing on fat cigars.
The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of The Cradle.
UPROOTED PALESTINIANS: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM 