US scientist charged with attempted spying for Israel

October 19, 2009

AFP - A top American scientist who once worked for the Pentagon and the US space agency NASA was arrested Monday and charged with attempted spying for Israel, the Department of Justice said.


In Depth Report:

The Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies
Alexandria, VA | October 19, 2009


Counterintelligence - Espionage - Spy Case

Name - Stewart NozetteNOZETTE, Stewart David

Employer - Alliance for Competitive Technology, R&D contracts with:

--U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

--Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in Arlington, Virginia

--National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

--Served as a consultant and investment advisor to Murphree Texas Investors and with associated venture backed technology companies

Previous Employment:

--US Department of Energy
--US Department of Defense
--NASA
--White House National Space Council

Dates of Employment

1983-1984: University of California at San Diego, California Space Institute

1984-1989: University of Texas at Austin, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

1986-1989: Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, in the Office of Survivability, Lethality, and Key Technologies

1989-1990: White House National Space Council

Oct 1991-Oct 1994: Department of Defense Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Science and Technology Directorate

1990-1999: US Department of Energy/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

1994-1997: USAF Phillips Laboratory

1997-1998: Hughes Space and Communications

Nov 1998-Jan 2008: Technical advisor to an aerospace company wholly owned by the Israeli government

March 2000-2006: Alliance for Competitive Technology (ACT)

Job Title/Duties

Alliance for Competitive Technology: President, Treasurer and Director

NASA: Mini-RF Principal Investigator (on Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and Co-investigator (on Chandrayaan-1).

USAF Phillips Laboratory: Technical director of the microsatellite program

DOE/LLNL: Professional Staff. Physicist in the "O" Division, Advanced Concepts Group

Hughes Space and Communications: Consultant and Senior Scientist for Spacecraft Design and Production

Department of Defense Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, Science and Technology Directorate: Deputy for Sensor Integration (The Clementine Program)

Strategic Defense Initiative Organization, in the Office of Survivability, Lethality, and Key Technologies: Special Assistant

University of Texas at Austin, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics: Faculty member; Research Fellow IC2 Institute and as the Vice President of the Large Scale Programs Institute

University of California at San Diego, California Space Institute: Post-graduate researcher where he participated in the Defensive Technology Study (Fletcher Study).

Military Rank - n/a

Clearance Level

1989-17 March 2006: TS/SCI, Q Critical Nuclear Weapon Design Information clearance. From 1998-2004, he claims to have held at least 20 special access program clearances.

Spying For - Israel (attempt).

Spying Dates - 3 September 2009 - 19 October 2009

Methodology

Nov 1998-Jan 2008: Technical advisor to an aerospace company wholly owned by the Israeli government. Once a month, the company proposed questions or taskings to Nozette, who then answered the questions and received payment as a technical advisor.

----

Nozette tells colleague that if the US Government tried to put him in jail (based on an unrelated criminal offense), Nozette would move to Israel or foreign country "A" and "tell them everything" he knows.

6 Jan 2009: Traveled to a foreign country "A" with two computer thumb drives.

28 Jan 2009: Returned to US without the two thumb drives.

3 Sept 09: Nozette contacted via telephone by FBI undercover employee (UCE) posing as an Israeli Mossad officer. Nozette agrees to meet that day for lunch at a hotel on Connecticut Ave, NW, in Washington, DC. At meeting, Nozette discusses willingness to work for Israeli intelligence for money; tells UCE he had access to US satellite information. UCE arranges a communication system via a post office box and gives Nozette a 'clean phone'. Nozette agrees to provide regular, continuing information; asks for Israeli passport and the "Right of Return" because his parents are Jewish.

4 Sep 09: Nozette and UCE meet again at same hotel. Nozette asks that his first payment in cash be under $10K so he wouldn't have to report it.

10 Sep 09: FBI puts a letter to Nozette in the post office box. Letter is a list of questions regarding US satellite information. $2K in cash is included.

Nozette retrieves the letter on the same day.

16 Sep 09: Nozette leaves an envelope in the post office box in Washington, DC.

17 Sep 09: FBI retrieves contents. Nozette had answered the questions in the letter about US satellites (including one answer classified SECRET) and included an encrypted computer thumb drive. Nozette also offers to reveal additional classified information concerning nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems.

FBI leaves a second letter with more US satellite questions in the PO Box along with $9K.

Nozette retrieves the letter.

1 Oct 09: Nozette leaves an envelope in the PO Box with the answers to the second set of questions. Answers include TOP SECRET and SECRET classifications concerning U.S. satellites, early warning systems, means of defense or retaliation against large-scale attack, communications intelligence information, and major elements of defense strategy.

FBI agents retrieve his envelope with this information.

Possible Motivations, Problems

Money. "Well I should tell you my first need is that they should figure out how to pay me....they don't expect me to do this for free."--Nozette to UCE

Finances

1998-2008: Paid $225,000 for his services as a technical advisor to an aerospace company wholly owned by the Israeli government.

2006: NASA's IG subpoenaed the bank account of Alliance for Competitive Technology (owned by Nozette) because of allegations the company submitted false claims for expenses.

9 June 2003: Purchased residential condominium property at 4601 N. Park Avenue, Unit 210K for $235,000 and Unit P-431 for $235,000.

Investigation - Undercover FBI employee posing as an Israeli Mossad officer.

Arrest Date/Location - Monday, 19 October 2009

Charges

Violation of Title 18 USC 794

Attempted espionage for knowingly and willfully attempting to communicate, deliver, and transmit classified information relating to the national defense of the United States to an individual that Nozette believed to be an Israeli intelligence officer

Court - U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia


Date/Place of Birth - 20 May 1957, Chicago, IL

Citizenship - US

Residences

"The Elizabeth" condominiums in Chevy Chase, MD

Grew up in Chicago, Illinois (West Rogers Park)
Education
1979: B.S. in geosciences with honors and distinction from the University of Arizona

1983: Ph.D. in planetary science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Family - Married

Other Employment

From George C. Marshall Institute--Science for Better Public Policy website:
Stewart Nozette manages the Advanced Microsatellite Technology Program for the DARPA Tactical Technology Office. He has held appointments at the National Research Laboratory, Teller Corporation, Hughes Space and Communications Corporation, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He was the deputy program manager for the Clementine program and a staff member on the National Space Council under President George H. W. Bush.

Additional Bio

1994: Nozette awarded the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal for his conception and execution of the Clementine mission.

--One of the National Space Society’s 25 Young Space Pioneers for 1994

--Recipient of the NSS 1994 Award for Achievement in Science and Engineering.

--Received the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement

--National Space Club Nelson P Jackson Award

--Aviation Week and Space Technology 1994 Aerospace Laurel Award for outstanding achievement in the field of Space

--1995 Space Frontier Foundation Vision to Reality Award

--X-Prize Foundation New Spirit of St. Louis Award

Profile on NASA website:

How did you get interested in space exploration? I was born in 1957, the year of Sputnik, grew up during the Apollo years, and always had an interest in space exploration and strong science aptitude. The works of Gerard K. O’Neill, which appeared during my high school years in the early 1970s, encouraged my consideration of space exploration as a career. Up until that time I was planning to go to medical school. I was strongly encouraged by many influential people during my undergraduate years and finally closed off my medical option during my sophomore year, much to the benefit of my future patients (many people have told me).

What are your hobbies? I used to fly and scuba dive when I was younger but have not been as active recently. Now I enjoy cooking and listening to The Grateful Dead Channel on Sirius satellite radio.

What’s your job on Mini-RF? I am the principal investigator/co-investigator, so I act to oversee and document the scientific aspects of the program and translate these requirements into specific actions for the engineers and operators.

What has been the most exciting aspect of working on Mini-RF? Seeing it come to fruition after many years of thought and work. I conceived the idea of Mini-RF in 1994 while working as the deputy program manager and chief scientist of the Clementine mission, so returning to the moon with this capability is very satisfying.

What are you looking forward to the most as Mini-RF begins its lunar exploration? Finally seeing what’s at the bottom of the permanently shadowed polar craters.

What excites you about exploring the moon? The possibility that Mini-RF will provide the data that establishes whether extractable water exists on the moon and the importance of that information to the feasibility of humans eventually settling on the moon permanently.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to get involved in space exploration? The most important thing is to get a very good grounding in fundamental math, basic and applied science, and engineering. Some exposure to business, management and economics would also be valuable. Then finding a career path with helpful mentors who can get you involved in real projects once you are sufficiently grounded.

Documents

Maryland Scientist Charged with Attempted Espionage (DOJ press release, 19 Oct 09)

Affidavit in Support of a Criminal Complaint and Arrest Warrant (16 Oct 09)

Books

Nozette is author of "Commercializing SDI Technologies" (1987)
"This highly specialized volume examines the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) for the first time, with critical emphasis on the impact SDI will have on technologically based industries. It reviews the policies and structures in the government, academia, and industry necessary to take full advantage of the commercial potential of the benefits-to-come from the SDI research program."

Challenging the Dahiya Doctrine

By Brenda Heard

Axis of Logic

October 19, 2009

“Part of the functions of reports such as this is to attempt, albeit in a very small way, to restore the dignity of those whose rights have been violated in the most fundamental way of all –the arbitrary deprivation of life. It is important that the international community asserts formally and unequivocally that such violence to the most basic fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals should not be overlooked and should be condemned.”

-The Goldstone Report, p 524 ¶ 1682

The tragic tale of the Samouni family of Gaza has become well known. “ We feel [we are] in an exile, even though we are in our homeland, on our land,” says Salah Samouni in a recent Haaretz article. “We sit and envy the dead. They are the ones who are at rest.” The interesting part, though, is not the renewed images of the dead. The interesting part is the backdrop of suggestion: the Samouni family felt that their longstanding, amicable relationship with the Israeli powers would protect them; they were naively mistaken. They were to be victims to the Dahiya Doctrine.

The Haaretz report states that Salah’s father, Talal, ‘had been employed by Jews’ for nearly 40 years and that whenever he was sick, ‘the employer would call, ask after his health, and forbid him to come to work before he had recovered.’” They had managed to get along.

Haaretz notes:

“Samounis were always confident that, in the event of any military invasions into Gaza, they could always manage to get along with the Israeli army. Until 2005, before Israel's disengagement from the Strip, the Jewish settlement of Netzarim was located right next door, and several family members worked there from time to time. When the joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols were active, Israeli soldiers and Palestinian security officials sometimes asked the Samounis to ‘lend’ them a tractor to flatten a patch of land or repair the Salah al-Din Road (for example, when a diplomatic convoy needed to pass through). While Samouni family members worked on their tractors, gathering sand, the soldiers would watch them.

" ‘When the soldiers wanted us to leave, they would fire above our heads. That's what experience taught me,’ recalls Salah Samouni ... The older men of the family. . . worked in Israel until the 1990s in different localities, including Bat Yam, Moshav Asseret (near Gedera) and the Glicksman Plant. They all believed that the Hebrew they had learned would assist and if necessary save them during encounters with soldiers..”

Even up until the mass killing, the Samouni family still clung naively to the notion that their working relationship with the IDF would protect them. Haaretz reports that

“On January 4, under orders from the army, Salah Samouni and the rest of the family left their home, which had been turned into a military position, and moved to the other, the home of Wael [Samouni], located on the southern side of the street. The fact that it was the soldiers who had relocated them, had seen the faces of the children and the older women, and the fact that the soldiers were positioned in locations surrounding the house just tens of meters away, instilled in the family a certain amount of confidence - despite the IDF fire from the air, from the sea and from the land, despite the hunger and the thirst.”

And then the IDF shelled that home, killing 21 of the Samouni family. Their usefulness had expired.

The Samouni’s had not thrown stones at Israeli tanks and had not waved angry fists at Israeli soldiers. Instead, they had worked dutifully for the Jewish population and had learned its language. But they were not spared. They were not spared because they had not themselves been Jewish. They were not spared because “peaceful co-existence” is merely a phrase bandied about by politicians seeking camouflage.

On 18 January 2009, reports Haaretz, “after the IDF left the Gaza Strip, the rescue teams returned to the neighborhood. Wael's house was found in ruins: IDF bulldozers had demolished it entirely - with the corpses inside.” Evidence destroyed. When Haaretz questioned Israeli military about the behaviour of the military forces in the Samouni family's neighbourhood, an IDF spokesman said that all of the claims had been examined, and that, "Upon completion of the examination, the findings will be taken to the military advocate general, who will decide about the need to take additional steps.”

Whether the Haaretz article intended genuine concern or a subtle sneer, it works both ways.

The Goldstone Mission, however, was not convinced of the usefulness of Israeli self-investigation. Paragraph 1629 of the Goldstone Report notes that the “Mission concludes that there are serious doubts about the willingness of Israel to carry out genuine investigations in an impartial, independent, prompt and effective way as required by international law.” This long-term unwillingness to abide by international law is so thoroughly documented in the Report that the UN Human Rights Council on 16 October 2009 not only expressed “serious concern at the lack of implementation by the occupying Power, Israel, of previously adopted resolutions and recommendations of the Council relating to the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” but also condemned the “non-cooperation by the occupying power, Israel, with the independent international fact-finding [Goldstone] mission.”

The common denominator of the Haaretz article and the Goldstone Report and the UN Human Rights Council Reportis the challenge to the Israeli military concept known as the “Dahiya doctrine.” The Goldstone Report states:

“The Israeli military conception of what was necessary in a future war with Hamas seems to have been developed from at least the time of the 2006 conflict in southern Lebanon. It finds its origin in a military doctrine that views disproportionate destruction and creating maximum disruption in the lives of many people as a legitimate means to achieve military and political goals.” (¶1209)

In supporting the Goldstone Report, the UN Human Rights Council has acknowledged the premise that the responsibility for the most recent Lebanon and Gaza wars lies squarely with one unique factor: Israeli political goals. The UN-welcomed Report notes historical context by underscoring that the “specific means Israel has adopted to meet its military objectives in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Lebanon have repeatedly been censured by the United Nations Security Council, especially its attacks on houses. The military operations from 27 December to 18 January did not occur in a vacuum, either in terms of proximate causes in relation to the Hamas/Israeli dynamics or in relation to the development of Israeli military thinking about how best to describe the nature of its military objectives.” (¶1189)

The Goldstone Report, while situated within the Gaza conflict of 2008, found itself striking at the root of that conflict, a root that stretches back at least two years prior:

“In its operations in southern Lebanon in 2006, there emerged from Israeli military thinking a concept known as the Dahiya doctrine, as a result of the approach taken to the Beirut neighbourhood of that name. Major General Gadi Eisenkot, the Israeli Northern Command chief, expressed the premise of the doctrine: ‘What happened in the Dahiya quarter of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on. […] We will apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction there. From our standpoint, these are not civilian villages, they are military bases. […] This is not a recommendation. This is a plan. And it has been approved'."

"After the war in southern Lebanon in 2006, a number of senior former military figures appeared to develop the thinking that underlay the strategy set out by Gen. Eiskenot. In particular Major General (Ret.) Giora Eiland has argued that, in the event of another war with Hizbullah, the target must not be the defeat of Hizbullah but ‘the elimination of the Lebanese military, the destruction of the national infrastructure and intense suffering among the population… Serious damage to the Republic of Lebanon, the destruction of homes and infrastructure, and the suffering of hundreds of thousands of people are consequences that can influence Hizbollah’s behaviour more than anything else’.” (¶1191—1192)

The Report again points to the similarity of goals and strategies of Israeli policies in both Lebanon and Gaza and quotes at length the October 2008 reflections of Col. (Ret.) Gabriel Siboni:

“With an outbreak of hostilities, the IDF will need to act immediately, decisively, and with force that is disproportionate to the enemy's actions and the threat it poses. Such a response aims at inflicting damage and meting out punishment to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes. The strike must be carried out as quickly as possible, and must prioritize damaging assets over seeking out each and every launcher. Punishment must be aimed at decision makers and the power elite… In Lebanon, attacks should both aim at Hizbollah’s military capabilities and should target economic interests and the centres of civilian power that support the organization.

"Moreover, the closer the relationship between Hezbollah and the Lebanese Government, the more the elements of the Lebanese State infrastructure should be targeted. Such a response will create a lasting memory among … Lebanese decision makers, thereby increasing Israeli deterrence and reducing the likelihood of hostilities against Israel for an extended period. At the same time, it will force Syria, Hizbollah, and Lebanon to commit to lengthy and resource-intensive reconstruction programmes… This approach is applicable to the Gaza Strip as well. There, the IDF will be required to strike hard at Hamas and to refrain from the cat and mouse games of searching for Qassam rocket launchers. The IDF should not be expected to stop the rocket and missile fire against the Israeli home front through attacks on the launchers themselves, but by means of imposing a ceasefire on the enemy.” (¶1193)

The Report emphasises that the Dahiya Doctrine of debilitating punishment was far from bluster. The Mission, states the Report has been “able to conclude from a review of the facts on the ground that it witnessed for itself that what is prescribed as the best strategy appears to have been precisely what was put into practice.” (¶1195) In fact, the Report continues, the “operations were carefully planned in all their phases. Legal opinions and advice were given throughout the planning stages and at certain operational levels during the campaign. There were almost no mistakes made according to the Government of Israel. It is in these circumstances that the Mission concludes that what occurred in just over three weeks at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 was a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability.” (¶1690) What was born in Lebanon in 2006 as a bombardment of the Dahiya district of Beirut had evolved into the blitzkrieg of Gaza.

In challenging the Dahiya Doctrine, the UN Human Rights Council confirms the ultimate finding of the Goldstone Report: Aggressive annihilation in the quest for political gain violates the rule of law which safeguards the balance of civilised societies. It is not merely the vicious act which must be condemned, but the concept itself. It is agreed that the responsibility for these atrocities lies “in the first place with those who designed, planned, ordered and oversaw the operations.” (¶1692)

In carrying forward the recommendations of the Report, the UN Human Rights Council supports the principles of international law and that Israel’s “longstanding impunity has been a key factor in the perpetuation of violence in the region and in the reoccurrence of violations.” (¶1761) These are facts that, unlike the Samouni family home, cannot be demolished and reduced to rubble.

By Brenda Heard
Friends of Lebanon

© Copyright 2009 by AxisofLogic.com

Obama regime vows to "engage" Sudan

Sudan policy review

Aletho News
October 19, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton unveiled the new Sudan policy of the Obama administration today expressing a goal of preventing Sudan from becoming a haven for international "terror" groups. Anonymous officials have said that they are eager to see steps taken to eliminate support for Palestinian militant groups, including Hamas. U.S. Sudan special envoy, Retired General Scott Gration, has also said the administration’s new approach was intended to prevent Sudan from serving as a terrorist haven. Barak Obama described Sudan as a "global security challenge" in his July speech in Ghana.

"We have a menu of incentives and disincentives," Clinton said, refusing to specify the potential punitive measures, though in January the Secretary of State said the Obama administration was considering the creation of no-fly zones and increased economic and trade sanctions.

The "incentives" could possibly include removing Sudan from the U.S. list of states that sponsor terrorism or ending the existing trade sanctions which have been imposed against the nation for over a decade. An executive order, signed in 1997 by then- President Bill Clinton, bans most U.S. trade with Sudan, including any imports of Sudanese goods and the export to the country of anything except food, clothing and medicine. It also bars the extension of U.S. credit to the Sudanese government. The Darfur Accountability Act, passed in 2006, requires the administration to get congressional approval and certify that Sudan is taking certain steps before those sanctions under the executive order can be lifted. The same "steps" appear to apply regarding the state sponsor of terror list; "Getting off the terrorism list is something that could happen if and only if they have taken the right steps" an unnamed source told Reuters.

From now on, the United States will maintain that genocide "is taking place" in Darfur, anonymous officials told the Washington Post, a rhetorical assertion that is backed only by "political statements" made by intervention advocates that the GAO has characterized as lacking in "objective analysis", relying on "too few data points extrapolated to an excessive degree." This new characterization of genocide addresses a prior dispute between U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, who says that there is "ongoing genocide" in Darfur, and Scott Gration over how to characterize the violence in Darfur. Rice has long been a proponent of tough action against Khartoum. The genocide claims have been parroted ubiquitously in the Western press which has likewise parroted the demonization of Hamas by U.S. officials since Hamas won the 2006 elections.

To acquit itself of the "ongoing genocide" designation, Sudan is being asked to prove a negative, a logical impossibility. President of the Save Darfur Coalition, Jerry Fowler, says "the burden of proof is on the government of Sudan", while Ms. Rice said the administration would insist that Sudan show real evidence that conditions for civilians had begun to improve before offering incentives. The administration said that the policy calls for quarterly reviews of conditions in Darfur.

In Orwellian fashion the NYT presents the policy as "more balanced", presumably more balanced than the Bush policy which applied the 1997 sanctions and defined Sudan as a State sponsor of terrorism, but did not apply enough "pressure" according to Sudan hawks. Sudan interventionists are quite pleased with the new policy review. House Sudan caucus co-chairman Representative Frank R. Wolf, Republican from Virginia, said "considering the rumors we’ve been hearing, this policy seems very positive". Representative Donald M. Payne, Democrat of New Jersey, also a co-chairman of the Sudan caucus, said "I think the only thing the government of Sudan understands is bluntness and power." John Prendergast, co-chairman of the Enough Project, said the new policy appeared to be "a fine one."

Left unmentioned in the coverage of the policy review is the impact that the review will likely have on the heretofore promising peace talks which are underway due to the efforts of Egypt, Libya and Qatar. The next round of talks between the rebel movements of Darfur and the Sudanese government are scheduled to begin on November 16 in Doha, Qatar. Sudanese Vice President Ali Osman Taha welcomed the Qatari hosted peace initiative saying "I think the solution to the crisis in Darfur is (above all) in the hands of the Sudanese and the citizens of Darfur."

Israeli Arab backlash over covert police unit

By Jonathan Cook - October 18, 2009

NAZARETH, ISRAEL - Civil rights groups in Israel have expressed outrage at the announcement last week that a special undercover unit of the police has been infiltrating and collecting intelligence on Israel’s Arab minority by disguising its officers as Arabs.

It is the first public admission that the Israeli police are using methods against the country’s 1.3 million Arab citizens that were adopted long ago in the occupied territories, where soldiers were regularly sent on missions disguised as Palestinians.

According to David Cohen, the national police commissioner, the unit was established two years ago after an assessment that there was “no intelligence infrastructure to deal with the Arab community”. Mr Cohen said that, in addition, undercover agents had been operating in East Jerusalem for several years to track potential terrorists.

Israel’s Arab leaders denounced the move as confirmation that the Arab minority was still regarded by the police as “an enemy” – a criticism made by a state commission of inquiry after police shot dead 13 unarmed Arab demonstrators inside Israel and wounded hundreds more at the start of the second intifada in 2000.

In a letter of protest to Israeli officials last week, Adalah, a legal rights group, warned that the unit’s creation violated the constitutional rights of the Arab minority and risked introducing “racial profiling” into Israeli policing.

Although the police claim that only Arab criminals are being targeted, Arab leaders believe the unit is an expansion of police efforts to collect information on political activists, escalating what they call a “climate of fear” being fostered by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister.

Awad Abdel Fattah, the general secretary of the National Democratic Assembly, whose members are regularly interrogated by the police even though the party is represented in the national parliament, said there was strong evidence that undercover units had been operating in Arab communities for many years.

“The question is, why are the police revealing this information now? I suspect it is designed to intimidate people, making them fear that they are being secretly watched so that they don’t participate in demonstrations or get involved in politics. It harms the democratic process.”

Secret agents disguised as Arabs – known in Hebrew as “mista’aravim” – were used before Israel’s founding. Jews, usually recruited from Arab countries, went undercover in neighbouring states to collect intelligence.

The Haaretz newspaper revealed in 1998 that the secret police, the Shin Bet, also operated a number of mista’aravim inside Israel shortly after the state’s creation, locating them in major Arab communities.

The unit was disbanded in 1959, amid great secrecy, after several agents married local Arab women, and in some cases had children with them to maintain their cover.

But the mista’aravim are better known for their use by the Israeli army on short-term missions inside Arab countries or in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where they have often been sent to capture or kill local leaders.

Famously, Ehud Barak, the current defence minister, was sent to Beirut in 1973 disguised as an Arab woman to assassinate three Palestinian leaders.

More recently, however, the army’s mista’aravim have come to notice because of allegations that they are being used as agents provocateurs, especially in breaking up peaceful protests by Palestinians in the West Bank against the separation wall.

In April 2005, during a demonstration at the village of Bilin, north of Jerusalem, Palestinians throwing stones at soldiers were revealed to be mista’aravim. They were filmed blowing their cover shortly afterwards by pulling out pistols to make arrests. The army later admitted it had used mista’aravim at the demonstration.

Palestinians claim that stone-throwing by mista’aravim is often used to disrupt or discredit peaceful demonstrations and justify the army’s use of rubber bullets and live ammunition against the protesters in retaliation.

Last week, Jamal Zahalka, an Arab member of parliament, warned other legislators that mista’aravim police officers would adopt similar tactics: “Such a unit will carry out provocations, in which the Arab public will be blamed for disorderly conduct.”

Mr Abdel Fattah said there were widespread suspicions that mista’aravim officers had been operating for years at legal demonstrations held by Israel’s Arab citizens, including at the protests against Israel’s winter attack on Gaza.

He said they were often disguised as journalists so that they could photograph demonstrators.

A female activist from his party had been called in by the police for interrogation after a demonstration last year in the Arab town of Arrabeh, he said. “The officer told her, ‘I know what you were saying because I was standing right next to you’. And he then told her exactly what she had said.”

In his testimony to a government watchdog, the police commissioner, Insp Gen Cohen, said he had plans for the unit “to grow” and that it would solve a problem the police had in infiltrating Israel’s large Arab communities: “It’s very hard for us to work in Umm al-Fahm, it’s very hard for us to deal with crime in Juarish and Ramle.”

Several unnamed senior officers, however, defended their role in monitoring the Arab community, claiming the commissioner was wrong in stating that the use of mista’aravim inside Israel was new. One told Haaretz: “Existing units of mista’aravim have operated undercover among this population for about a decade.”

Orna Cohen, a lawyer with the Adalah legal group, said the accepted practice for police forces was to create specialised units according to the nature of the crime committed, not according to the ethnicity or nationality of the suspect.

She warned that the unit’s secretive nature, its working methods and the apparent lack of safeguards led to a strong suspicion that the Arab minority was being characterised as a “suspect group”. “Such a trend towards racial profiling and further discrimination against the minority is extremely dangerous,” she said.

Comments two years ago from Yuval Diskin, the head of the Shin Bet, have raised fears about how the police unit may be used. He said the security services had the right to use any means to “thwart” action, even democratic activity, by the Arab minority to reform Israel’s political system. All the Arab parties are committed to changing Israel’s status from a Jewish state to “a state of all its citizens”.

Mr Abdel Fattah said: “This is about transferring the methods used in the West Bank and Gaza into Israel to erode our rights as citizens. It raises questions about what future the state sees for us here.”

Source

orl

U.S. Attacks Iran Via CIA-Funded Jundullah Terror Group

Bankrolling and arming Al-Qaeda offshoot part of 2007 White House directive to destabilize Iranian government

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
October 19, 2009

The U.S. government effectively attacked Iran yesterday after its proxy terror group Jundullah launched a suicide bomb attack against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at their headquarters in Pishin, near the border with Pakistan.

Leaders of the Al-Qaeda affiliated Sunni terrorist group Jundullah have claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in Iran that killed over 40 people yesterday. The group is funded and trained by the CIA and is being used to destabilize the government of Iran, according to reports out of the London Telegraph and ABC News.

In the aftermath of the attack, which killed at least five commanders of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard along with scores of others, media reports have swung between Iranian accusations of US and British involvement and blanket denials on behalf of the U.S. State Department.

However, the fact that Jundullah, who have since claimed responsibility for the attack and named the bomber as Abdol Vahed Mohammadi Saravani, are openly financed and run by the CIA and Mossad is not up for debate, it has been widely reported for years.

“President George W Bush has given the CIA approval to launch covert “black” operations to achieve regime change in Iran, intelligence sources have revealed. Mr Bush has signed an official document endorsing CIA plans for a propaganda and disinformation campaign intended to destabilize, and eventually topple, the theocratic rule of the mullahs,” reported the London Telegraph in May 2007.

Part of that destabilization campaign involved the the CIA “Giving arms-length support, supplying money and weapons, to an Iranian militant group, Jundullah, which has conducted raids into Iran from bases in Pakistan,” stated the report.

Jundullah is a Sunni Al-Qaeda offshoot organization that was formerly headed by alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The fact that it is being directly supported by the U.S. government under both Bush and now Obama destroys the whole legitimacy of the “war on terror” in an instant.

The group has been blamed for a number of bombings inside Iran aimed at destabilizing Ahmadinejad’s government and is also active in Pakistan, having been fingered for its involvement in attacks on police stations and car bombings at the Pakistan-US Cultural Center in 2004.

The group also produces propaganda tapes and literature for al-Qaeda’s media wing, As-Sahab, which is in turn closely affiliated with the military-industrial complex front IntelCenter, the group that makes available Al-Qaeda videos to the western media.

In May 2008, ABC News reported on how Pakistan was threatening to turn over six members of Jundullah to Iran after they were taken into custody by Pakistani authorities.

“U.S. officials tell ABC News U.S. intelligence officers frequently meet and advise Jundullah leaders, and current and former intelligence officers are working to prevent the men from being sent to Iran,” reported ABC news, highlighting again the close relationship between the terror group and the CIA.

In July 2009, a Jundullah member admitted before a court in Zahedan Iran that the group was a proxy for the U.S. and Israel.

Abdolhamid Rigi, a senior member of the group and the brother of the group’s leader Abdolmalek Rigi, who was one of the six members of the organization extradited by Pakistan, told the court that Jundullah was being trained and financed by “the US and Zionists”. He also said that the group had been ordered by America and Israel to step up their attacks in Iran.

Jundullah is not the only anti-Iranian terror group that US government has been accused of funding in an attempt to pressure the Iranian government.

Multiple credible individuals including US intelligence whistleblowers and former military personnel have asserted that the U.S. is conducting covert military operations inside Iran using guerilla groups to carry out attacks on Iranian Revolution Guard units.

It is widely suspected that the well known right-wing terrorist organization known as Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), once run by Saddam Hussein’s dreaded intelligence services, is now working exclusively for the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and carrying out remote bombings in Iran.

After a bombing inside Iran in March 2007, the London Telegraph also reported on how a high ranking CIA official has blown the whistle on the fact that America is secretly funding terrorist groups in Iran in an attempt to pile pressure on the Islamic regime to give up its nuclear program.

A story entitled, US funds terror groups to sow chaos in Iran, reveals how funding for the attacks carried out by the terrorist groups “comes directly from the CIA’s classified budget,” a fact that is now “no great secret”, according to a former high-ranking CIA official in Washington who spoke anonymously to The Sunday Telegraph.

Former US state department counter-terrorism agent Fred Burton backed the claim, telling the newspaper, “The latest attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran’s ethnic minorities to destabilise the Iranian regime.”

John Pike, the head of the influential Global Security think tank in Washington, said: “The activities of the ethnic groups have hotted up over the last two years and it would be a scandal if that was not at least in part the result of CIA activity.”

The timing of the bombing that targeted Iranian Revolutionary Guard members yesterday was clearly orchestrated to coincide with talks between representatives from Iran, Russia, France, the U.S. and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna today concerning Iran’s nuclear intentions.

Berlusconi's TV company filmed bribery case judge

The Telegraph
October 18, 2009

Days after Judge Raimondo Mesiano ordered the Italian prime minister's holding company to pay 750 million euros (£680 million) in damages to a rival, the media mogul's Canale 5 channel aired footage of the judge taking a walk, smoking and having a shave at the barber.

Dubbing the judge's behaviour "eccentric", a narrator pointed to him smoking his "umpteenth" cigarette, called his turquoise socks "strange" and said: "He's impatient ... he can only relax at the barber's."

The incident has further raised tensions between the Italian government and the judiciary, after Mr Berlusconi accused the constitutional court of being packed with Leftists when it stripped him of immunity from prosecution.

The court's action means that cases for alleged fraud and corruption linked to Mr Berlusconi's Mediaset business empire can proceed.

Furious that the judge was shadowed during his leisure time without his knowledge, the National Association of Magistrates asked the privacy authorities to intervene. The authorities said they were evaluating the matter.

"We don't think there are similar precedents in Italy, of denigrating a person and delegitimising an essential and delicate function," the association said in a statement.

Coupled with anger over Mr Berlusconi's remark on Friday that he wanted to modify the constitution on judicial issues, the magistrates' union on Saturday declared a "state of protest".

It also denounced a "climate of constant tension" that it said risked altering the balance among the powers of the state.

Mediaset, which owns Canale 5, responded angrily, saying it would not accept reprimands and that the clip showed a magistrate who "objectively has acquired national and international notoriety".

Some magistrates are debating a "turquoise socks" protest, while others have been collecting signatures for a letter of support for their colleague, Italian media reported.

Some Italian commentators and the centre-Left opposition were also outraged, with one Democratic Party senator likening the incident to a "horrible television movie".

Olive Harvest: notes from the field

Palestine Monitor

17 October 2009

Farming in the villages around Nablus has become a perilous task of late. Each year vandals from nearby Israeli settlements plague the olive farmers, destroying their trees and attacking workers. In the village of Burin, we saw evidence of a more sinister trend

Issam Shedahah with the remains of his car

Photo by Lazar Simeonov

Issam Shedahah, 39, is a long time resident of Burin and it has cost him dear. We are looking at the burnt out husk of his car, torched the previous night by the settlers of Itzhar. “This is the fourth time they have burnt my car”, he tells us, “now it is very common that they come into the village at night”. Neither does Issam’s suffering end with material damage. Another recent settler invasion resulted in the murder of his brother. “He was sitting on the roof one evening, not doing anything. They shot him in the head.”

He indicates the roof of the shop/apartment the family own. It is directly across the street from the remains of his car. “Last night I woke up at 3am and I heard voices. I looked out the window and I saw them breaking the windows and throwing Benzene all over the seats, then they set fire to it and walked away.” Issam explains that the people of Burin are used to having their farms attacked, he points up to ‘black mountain’, where all the once-green trees have been reduced to charcoal. But the recent tendency of settlers to enter the village, with full knowledge of Israeli Army soldiers, is making life unbearable. “All the time we are attacked by settlers. They have taken my grandfather’s land; they want to steal all of our land. All the time we are suffering”.

Neighbours inform us that several more cars have been burnt recently. We can see that nearby houses also bear the scars of settler attacks. Huwara Mayor Samer Odeh has condemned what he called “continuous settler attacks”, while Union leaders tell us that 5,000 PA security troops have been assigned to protect the farmers. For Issam Shedaheh and the people of Burin, no protection exists. Just the daily horrors of a life under siege.

Israel kidnaps Palestinian journalist in Al-Khalil

Palestinian Information Center
October 19, 2009

AL-KHALIL, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) kidnapped Palestinian journalist Iyad Sorour from Al-Khalil city, in the south of the West Bank on Sunday, only one month after his release from the Palestinian Authority’s jails.

The forum of Palestinian journalists said in a press release that a large number of IOF troops stormed the house of Sorour in the city and took him to an unknown destination.

The forum affirmed that Sorour spent 10 months in the PA intelligence’s jail and was released a month ago, adding that he was detained for 14 months in Israeli jails in 2002.

The forum appealed to the international federation of journalists, the organization of reporters without borders and the union of Arab journalists to intervene and pressure Israel to immediately release all journalists in its jails.

It also called on Mahmoud Abbas to instruct his militias in the West Bank to release journalists detained in his jails and end restrictions imposed on their freedom.

Nine other Palestinian citizens have also been kidnapped at dawn Monday during raids carried out by IOF troops on homes in different West Bank areas.

The lawyer of the Palestinian prisoners' society also reported Sunday that the Ofer prison administration imposed a number of punitive measures on Palestinian prisoners in section nine under the pretext of tampering with the section’s door lock, the allegation was denied by prisoners.

The lawyer added that the prison administration deprived prisoners of visits and the canteen for one month and a half as of 18 October.

He also said that the prisoners complained about the Red Cross’s neglect of their needs, saying that they did not receive yet what they asked the Red Cross representatives to bring with them, including books and clothes, because they had not visited the prison for four months.

Source

U.K. Professors Warn Government Not to Subsidize Nuclear Power

By Catherine Airlie

Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. professors from Imperial College, Sussex University and University of Greenwich will advise the government against subsidizing or fixing prices for new sources of nuclear power.

“If the government caves in to nuclear industry demands for subsidies and guarantees, it will be electricity consumers and taxpayers that will pay huge additional costs,” Steve Thomas, professor of energy policy at the University of Greenwich, said today in an e-mailed statement.

The academics are scheduled to present their views before U.K. lawmakers, policy advisers and nuclear industry executives today. Any subsidies for new nuclear power stations could lead to legal challenges under European Union competition law, the professors said.