On Aug. 1, 2008, a small team of Israeli commandos entered the waters near Tartus, Syria, and shot and killed a Syrian general as he was holding a dinner party at his seaside weekend home. Muhammad Suleiman, a top aide to the Syrian president, was shot in the head and neck, and the Israeli military team escaped by sea.
While Israel has never spoken about its involvement, secret U.S. intelligence files confirm that Israeli special operations forces assassinated the general while he vacationed at his luxury villa on the Syrian coast.
The internal National Security Agency document, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is the first official confirmation that the assassination of Suleiman was an Israeli military operation, and ends speculation that an internal dispute within the Syrian government led to his death.
A top-secret entry in the NSA’s internal version of Wikipedia, called Intellipedia, described the assassination by “Israeli naval commandos” near the port town of Tartus as the “first known instance of Israel targeting a legitimate government official.” The details of the assassination were included in a “Manhunting Timeline” within the NSA’s intelligence repository.
According to three former U.S. intelligence officers with extensive experience in the Middle East, the document’s classification markings indicate that the NSA learned of the assassination through surveillance. The officials asked that they not be identified, because they were discussing classified information.
The information in the document is labeled “SI,” which means that the intelligence was collected by monitoring communications signals. “We’ve had access to Israeli military communications for some time,” said one of the former U.S. intelligence officers.
The former officer said knowledge within the NSA about surveillance of Israeli military units is especially sensitive because the NSA has Israeli intelligence officers working jointly with its officers at NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland.
Brig. Gen. Suleiman was a top military and intelligence adviser to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, and was suspected of being behind the Syrian government’s efforts to facilitate Iran’s provision of arms and military training to Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon. Suleiman was also reported to have been in charge of the security and construction of Syria’s Al Kibar nuclear facility, which Israel destroyed in a 2007 air attack. The NSA document described part of Suleiman’s responsibilities as “sensitive military issues.”
Israel’s involvement in Suleiman’s assassination raises questions about both the purpose of the killing, as well as whether Israel violated international law in conducting the operation.
“The Israelis may have had many good reasons to kill [Suleiman],” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of international law at Notre Dame. “But under international law it’s absolutely clear that in Syria in 2008, they had no rights under the laws of war because at the time there was no armed conflict. They had no right to kill General Suleiman.”
The Assad government withheld news of the assassination for four days before announcing Suleiman’s death. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement.
According to a classified State Department cable published online by WikiLeaks, the Syrian government’s investigation into the killing turned up $80 million in cash in Suleiman’s home. “[Assad] was said to be devastated by the discovery, and, fearing [Suleiman] had betrayed him, redirected the investigation from solving his murder to finding out how the general had acquired so much money,” the cable noted.
Last year, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah told journalists that the Israeli government killed Suleiman, and that the assassination was “linked” to Suleiman’s role in the July 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah.
“For them it’s not only payback, but mitigates future operations,” said one of the retired intelligence officers, who has worked with the Israelis but does not have direct knowledge of the Suleiman assassination. “They will take a target of opportunity if it presents itself.”
The Israeli assassination of Suleiman came less than six months after a joint Mossad-CIA team assassinated a top Hezbollah operative in the heart of Damascus, according to several current and former U.S. military and intelligence officials. U.S. and Israeli involvement in that attack, which targeted Hezbollah operative Imad Mughniyeh, was first reported in detail by the Washington Post. The CIA had long sought Mughniyeh for his role in several terrorist attacks against Americans, including the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, which left 241 American service members dead.
The NSA declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Israeli Prime Minister did not respond to several requests for comment.
Jana Winter contributed to this article.
Photo: Israeli Troops Conduct Anti-Terror Training Exercises (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)
Yet another example of how clueless Snowden traversed documents that harm innocent people who had no involvement with Isreal.
In Twitter, this was referred to as “a daring Israeli commando operation”. Is that how we refer to the attack in Chattanooga?
Who cares?
Fuck Israel and its supporters.
@RR
You speak for yourself, RR. Mona, do you think RR should be going on about “clever” Jews? Seems rather racist.
@everyone
Anything “jews” or “the jews” as such as a denominator seem like a very crude generalization, which is likely unfair, imprecise, and derogatory, as if being hateful towards an entire group of people that might live everywhere on the planet.
Ok, then how about clever Belgians? After all, Leopold is still pictured on currency. Never mind 10 million dead in the Congo.
The story reminds me of The Sunset Limited available for free for Amazon Prime members.
Also reminds me of Richard Pryor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7DhFhzkjcA
oops. wrong place
Did they ever find out who assassinated Yasser Arafat? I was betting on the NeoCon/Deep State, but the polonium poisoning points to Russia. Maybe a Russian contractor?
When Senator Wellstone became inconvenient his plane went down and the Senate flipped, allowing the Bush/Cheney Mob complete control.
What does SpyPedia say?
I think you are looking in the wrong direction.
Israel or Israel-firsters, from somewhere. Hardly Russian gov., if that´s what you´re implying..
More and more will be revealed as time goes on about just how many terror ops the IDF has carried out against its so called allies.Israel has little nation syndrome and keeps playing the holocaust card to the point of insulting thosed who went through it.They tend to twist things to their advantage and the game is getting old.There will be a heavy price to pay once the truth is totally revealed.They call it keeping their people safe and selling the “Never again” mantra when in fact all of this will be their undoing.There are too many extremist on all sides and not enough voices of reason who actually want peace .
They’ve done it again, today in Chattanooga…
Good job.
ATTN: gator
Below, “Jerry” posted this (in its entirety):
This is what I mean about saying “the Jew John Doestein” instead of “John Doestein is Jewish.” It’s jarring, and suggests the writer holds disturbing opinions about Jews.
@ Mona, You assert your clothes are new but you’re buck-ass naked.
I’ve added to what I said to you at the bottom. I’m not letting you off with “I’m done with you for today.”
I’ve asserted that many peoples have been subject to persecution throughout history. The Jews would have us believe they are entitled to attack others to preempt further attacks (Palestinians today) because they’ve been attacked by everyone forever. If the dominate behavior of Israeli Jews today were in practice for millennia then it is entirely possible any ill-treatment of the Jews may be justified. Look at the statements from Israel about their concerted effort to manipulate congress into killing the Iranian nuclear deal. Natenyahoo said
We give Israel billions each year yet Israel is complaining about Iran getting hundreds of millions of dollars in business. Sound familiar?
“Israel wants a permanent state of stand-off” as asserted by the UK Foreign minister. Are you going to call him an “actual antisemite” too? Imagine millennia of a people lashing out at all others, creating a state of endless war, constantly demanding others to behave in a certain way or “we’ll bomb you”. How should those people be received by others?
I treat people as people until they treat others as I would not treat them.
That said, Mona, go fuck yourself.
Reply
You *utterly* moronic piece of antisemitic shit.
That, Louise, is what actualantisemitism looks like. It’s not found in Max Blumenthal, Glenn Greenwald, me or most other critics of Zionism and Israel in whom you authoritarian, neocon sickos claim to locate it.
Really weak, Mona. You’ve shouted Hasbara more times than any other person here. Yet you meet the definition of a Hasbara troll. That’s by definition. You’ve responded with classic ad-hominem as the good Habarist would. I’ll let the reader decide.
That is simply insane. As I said before, it’s akin to claiming Ayn Rand was a Marxist writer.
Does your dog tell you to do things?
Really Mona? More barbs pertaining to mental illness is a sign of something. There are elements of your comments that align with the definitions. You’ve not been able to defend your position and you lash out … but I repeat myself.
60 years of Israeli aggression or 6000? That is the question.
Yes, yes, you’ve been whining that I’m engaging in ad hominem, which shows that just as you don’t k now how to properly use the word “innate,” you also do not know what an ad hominem is.
I do not claim that you are an unhinged nutjob and fuckwit for the purpose of arguing that what you claim is untrue. I refuse to engage you an further on the inane substance of your claims.
No, I am now describing what you are. I would not waste any more of my time debating substance with you. As I said, it would be like arguing with a schizophrenic who had gone off his meds, something a close family member used to always do, and we did not expect to be able to reason with him at such times.
LOL!
You’ll never know how utterly satisfying your uttering is.
Your vacuous commentary has stained this site for some time. You spew tripe and nothing else. And I got the biggest rise out of you yet, despite many folks attempts.
“Israel wants a permanent state of stand-off” as asserted by the UK Foreign minister. Imagine Israel behaving for millennia as it does today. Israel is in constant conflict with its neighbors and its neighbor’s neighbors. Has been basically since inception. The world is pissing down Israel’s throat with BDS for cause. Why is it so heretical to ask if this has not been an on-going situation?
Mona’s pocket guidebook to commenting on TI
Thank you, nuf. I did a screengrab of that and tweeted it. And I’ll be hauling it out when engaging with actual hasbara-ists and show them what actual antisemites say about me. It will be quite useful!
Isn’t that a great summation?
That I can shoehorn in your comments is golden.
No mirrors in your world I’m guessing.
:)
Genuine thanks for this, nuf said. That’s it, in a nutshell. It explains the methodology employed against anyone who tries to draw attention to the Israeli Regime’s criminality.
thanks for this ‘Hasbara’ definition, I mean:
The purpose of Hasbara is to explain and educate western people about the Israeli mission. Hasbara can take many forms, adverts, websites, comments on blogs, letter writing, protests and so on. …
The difference between propaganda and hasbara? I would say Hasbara is more of a soft sell at first, it seeks to inform, influence and educate the ignorant to the Israeli cause. The narrative of Hasbara has a victimized quality underpinning it, a very passive-aggressive approach, Israel is always defending not attacking. They play the mis-understood victim and invite their critics to attack them. The sub-current being that Israel’s message is not understood. Israel views that the reason for this is either lack of education or stupidity. So the Hasbara agents explain until they realise that they are getting nowhere and then respond with disdain and disgust.
More than the actions of the Israelis, I’m more curious why the events in Pakistan in April 2008 were considered being worthy of being redacted. Is there something in there about Bin Laden that corroborates the Hersh article?
Somehow I don’t think when Edward Snowden was risking his freedom and life that this was the sort of information he wanted released. He wanted emphasis to be on NSA abuses of power and violation of the Constitution, not this kind of thing.
The emphasis has been on “NSA abuses of power and violation of the Constitution.” And you have no idea, at all, whether Snowden would object to this article and its disclosure. But you know who would know? Glenn Greenwald, as he and Snowden are in virtually daily contact.
How long before millions(billions?) of armed citizens of every nation, when seeing an “Israeli” coming, just start shooting and consider it self defense?
Are you calling for all Jews to be killed or just some?
I always knew the left are loonies.
You’re doing exactly what hp is doing. Generalize. Never a good thing.
It would nice if someone besides myself would tell that to Mona.
Mona very seldom commits the intellectual sin of inappropriate generalization, so no worries.
That’s pathetically funny, Mona. No one person that I have discussed the issues with about Israel is any further to the left or stereotypes groups (Jews) quite like you do Mona. Your favorite response is how a “reasonable” person views an issue like Zionists (Jews) run our foreign policy. You really in the worst way want to mainstream your bigotry, but you are thankfully a tiny minority of people.
I’m not sure how you jumped to the “left” with this comment. I am also not sure why it was necessary to put Israeli in quotes above either. If it is as one could easily assume, antisemitic in nature, I would probably point my finger in another direction.
Yes, let’s continue to play the Jew get of jail free Holocaust card…poor Jew, no one understands you…
That’s as absurd as it is offensive.
How is this not a blatant case of international terrorism?
Pretty sure it isn’t allowed to go simply kill people in other countries.
Iirc, the state of Israel did murder a man in norway some years ago (some time in the seventies iirc), don’t remember if they ever got convicted for murder.
It is, of course, and standard operating procedure from the #1 terrorist state in the ME – or at least in a tie with the despots in Saudi Arabia.
Isn’t it interesting that the U.S., waging a “war on terror” continues to back two blatant terrorist states? Orwellian doublespeak at its finest.
They are masters of terrorism:
http://www.whale.to/b/mossad_black_ops.html
I am supposed to just believe this shit?
No — you can stick your fingers in your ears and shriek: “LALALALALALALALA I can’t hear you!”
Do you believe 6 – 5 = 6?
You’re supposed to.
At the bottom of the page I was asked for a link supporting the claim that Israel knew about 911 in advance because Mossad had operations running on U.S. soil — Israel did not give the U.S. specific details to warn about the attack because to do so would reveal its operations and operational details.
My information comes from a Fox 4-part series of reports that was quickly scrubbed from its web site and archives. It has, however, been archived elsewhere, including here with transcript: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7545.htm
You are going to have to do much better than that Mona
Thanks.
I don’t know what that comment means as a reply to my comment.
Do what better? Post links to Fox news series in an improved manner?
“Post links to Fox news series in an improved manner?”
Post links to actual sources. Fox is a Murdoch-owned piece of crap. Post a link if you can of the plane that struck WTC 7 causing its collapse.
The video evidence of the collapse of the buildings is fully consistent with demolition engineering; it is not in any way consistent with structural failure due to impact.
I know lawyers think they can understand engineering without the need for a degree in the field. I’ve read their statements.
Mona, you are convinced that the towers collapsed because of the jets impacts. You are not qualified to justify such a statement so please stop doing so.
Yes, but it occasionally does actual reporting, just like CNN and MSDNC occasionally do. And in this instance Fox did some actual reporting. (Whereupon Someone was unhappy and they pulled the series from their web site.)
As for your Truther shtick, I’m not engaging that. For one thing, you are so unreasonable that you called *ME* a hasbara-ist. Arguing with you would be like trying to convince an untreated schizophrenic that the voices are not real.
Your statements are childish.
You seem frustrated when I point out concepts that are beyond your training. Nothing happened to WTC 7 prior to collapse so you throw out ‘truther’ and then equate arguing with me with schizophrenia;
I understand you are not a paid Hasbarist but your actions are fully inline with the practice. You do not seem to be aware of the rank hypocrisy in your comments; perhaps you just do not care. That is the easy way out.
That would only appear to be the case to a nutjob. Moreover, you deploy disturbing rhetoric about Jews that suggests actual antisemitism, such as rhetorical questions implying Jews have been singled out for persecution for justifiable reasons.
I am done with you for today.
Actually, Mona, you DON”T know that nuf is not paid. He/she could be sitting on an IDF base and no one would be the wiser. There is simply no way to tell.
The only thing we do know is that Israel will employ any tactics that they believe will work to deflect world attention from their crimes, in order to prevent the eventual, inevitable ostracism and sanctions.
Doubtful. He’s been a semi-regular commenter, I think since Glenn’s Salon days.
Say Craig, the Zionists running The Only Democracy™ didn’t always prefer elections, my emphasis:
Canberra Times version here: http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/2699177
Of course, now the Zionists commit state-sponsored terrorism, but whichever they do, it’s all good, right Craig?
Nice try, but the Israeli government is descneded from a rival faction (the Hagganah) of the one you mention (the Irgun Zvai Leumi), see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altalena_Affair.
Uh, Menachem Begun?
I see, that then would explain why Israel elected two terrorists as prime minister — Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir. Moreover, the Hagganah was also terroristic:
The State of Israel was founded on terrorism and it continues its reign of terror as a state actor.
Mona
I don’t think anyone has ever denied that there are Jewish terrorists Mona. It’s your perpetual obsession with Israel; your use of labels and support of collective punishment for Zionists (Jews); your labeling of all Zionists (Jews) as racists; your belief that Jews run the Republican party and control US foreign policy and other nasty anti-Jewish sentiments that bother me – and they always will. If you want stories of Palestinian terrorism, I can fill a thread with them – but who cares?
After Israel accepted the two state proposal by the UN, it was the Palestinians that revolted and went to war. A low grade civil war continued for several months until the Arab nations threatened to invade if Israel declared independence. That is when the Palestinians were expelled and Israel expanded the UN proposed boundaries.
Palestinians rejected the two state solution with a war. This was one of the worst decisions in history by the Palestinian and Arab leadership – and the Palestinians have paid the price. Extremely bad leadership has led the Palestinians to their current situation – and it began at the end of 1947 and it continues to this day. Even when Jordan controlled East Jerusalem and the West Bank (Green line), there never was any discussion about a Palestinian state.
What is just as important is how wrong “journalists” like Greenwald have been about Jewish power.
“……It is simply true that there are large and extremely influential Jewish donor groups which are agitating for a U.S. war against Iran, and that is the case because those groups are devoted to promoting Israel’s interests and they perceive it to be in Israel’s interests for the U.S. to militarily confront Iran…..”
You have also waded into those far right stereotypes. Them dual loyalty Joos don’t run US foreign policy Mona. Got it?
Hahahahahahahahaha!
Thus sprach the eternal (fill in the blank)
In which Craig goes full mental paralysis:
Hey everyone, see that? Craig– CRAIG — is declaring that Palestinian terrorism is no biggie. Everyone bookmark this comment — we will want to quote it back to Craig on many occasions.
Now Craig, for the rest you are simply lying. You are fully aware that I deplore collective punishment and advocate it for no one, including Israelis. Moreover, I have said that Zionism is a racist ideology, and it is — its foundational precept is ethno-religious supremacy.
As for the GOP, Adelson has purchased that party, but Haim Saban also owns the Democrats. They and the rest of the Israel Lobby collectively have purchased the Congress. This is no longer particularity controversial Craig — it isn’t reasonably disputed.
Jesus Mona. You are not dense. I don’t care to fill a thread with Palestinian terrorist attacks. That is a lot different than saying I don’t care about the attacks themselves.
“…….As for the GOP, Adelson has purchased that party, but Haim Saban also owns the Democrats. They and the rest of the Israel Lobby collectively have purchased the Congress. This is no longer particularity controversial Craig — it isn’t reasonably disputed……”
Really? Then why did we just sign a nuclear arms agreement with Iran that Israel opposes? You love the word “reasonable” as if its a given – but stereotyping any group is bigotry.
By the way, it was really interesting that the US found out about the Israeli assassination from intelligence (“monitoring communication”). I know how the Intercept (and you) love to portray Israel when they are spying on the US; oh those sneaky and ruthless Joos are spying on us. Now, of course, nothing from you when you find out the US spies on Israel.
Thanks Mona
Craig, you wrote this: ” If you want stories of Palestinian terrorism, I can fill a thread with them – but who cares?”
You’ll be seeing that again.
Because Craig, Obama is a lame duck in his last 2 years, and is beginning, on several fronts — including criminal justice reform — to act like the man I voted for in ’08.
But in the Congress you can expect 99% of the GOP to oppose the Iran Deal. The Democrats are going to have to calculate how much they can afford to oppose AIPAC and Saban in order to side with their Party Leader/President. We shall see.
As for us spying on Israel, Israel has long spied on us so much I can’t get too excited about it. But if Israel wants to object I have no strong feelings against that. I just don’t see how they could do it with a straight face.
But when Bush was a lame duck, he turned down a joint venture with Israel to bomb Iran. No matter how you try to spin it, US foreign policy is not run by Joos. They are a very strong lobby, but fall short of your characterization of the lobby.
I guess the Saudi lobby must run our foreign policy as well?? Rich Arabs just agitating for a war with Iran?
Jesus, Mona. I’m so confused now. What are you? A non-paid Hasbarist or a Zionist hater that believes the Jews are running the Republican Party? Between all the accusations from Graig and nuf said I believe you must be confused yourself.
For starters, Mr. Zionist:
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/9-11/Israel_did_it
You are right, Craig, for the first time in recorded history.
You took a time-out from the booze, didn’t you? Clarity is within grasp of your shaking hands …
This is the kind of detail that has been missing from among the news published from the Snowden leaks – that is, specific instances instead of generalized information. Hopefully there are a lot more. This news is also badly timed as far as Netanyahu is concerned as he is busy organizing opposition to the Iran deal.
It simply confirms that, over time, it becomes harder to distinguish among the thugs, notwithstanding their incessant claims to greater virtue. It also shows the hollowness of international law as an idea; to invoke or ignore it as a matter of convenience shows that force is the sole arbiter of disputes. Worse, it proves that killing people is an ongoing game with no practical purpose other than to delude the killers into believing that they control the narrative.
That general was trying to get weapons to Hezbollah who would then use the weapons to attack Israel. Syria, instead of trying to give weapons to terrorists that want to attack Israel, should have been more concerned with securing their own borders. Now, ISIS controls half their country. If he hadn’t been trying to mess with Israel, Israel wouldn’t have messed with him.
And by “messed with” you mean assassinating him in violation of international law, right? Because that’s what Israel did.
“Messed with” in Ziospeak means “not prostrating yourself before us and permitting us to steal your land while we kill your citizens as we see fit.” Tragically it means the exact same thing in American English.
Funny thing about bullies though–my experiences has been what goes around eventually comes around. And neither Israelis or Americans are going to be real happy when that day comes.
Bottom line is both have a history of having to rely on bombing people with superior technology otherwise they have a real problem with goat herders and farmers using light weapons and improvised explosive devises to run circles around them. Same thing with bullies, they never expect the little guy prepared to take a beating and get nasty.
Then again, I think the true Zionists are just crazy and selfish enough that they’d take down the entire planet if the choice was between them and the rest of humanity–you know because they honestly believe they are “God’s chosen people”. No different than any other loony theocrats. And when you really think about the level of delusion that goes into believing something like that, it’s enough to make you drink. Having to live with theocrats like that and call them fellow human beings is a bit of a conundrum. IMHO, fundamentalists are fundamentalists no matter which subjective version of the Almighty they tend worship. I’ve always figured it would be one or the other group of them that took the human species down. Or the capitalists. Same fundamental type of irrational zealotry drives both.
And your source for that bit of “information”?
Anyway, maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. But Israel has a history of 1) genocide and ethnic cleansing (the initial “founding” of the State of Israel 2) attacking neighboring countries at will (Syria, Jordan, Iraq) 3) attacking “allies” – the U.S.S. Liberty where they murdered 34 U.S. Navy crew and wounded 172 – documented fact.
Israel is a parasite and we need to end all aid immediately. But that won’t happen as long as Congress is Israeli-occupied territory and Sheldon Adelson is allowed to remain free, mega-rich, and use his money to buy our government.
“But under international law it’s absolutely clear that in Syria in 2008, they had no rights under the laws of war because at the time there was no armed conflict. ”
False. Israel has been in an active state of war with Syria and many other Arab nations (plus Iran) for decades. Hezbollah, like Hamas, are genocidal Islamist (“terrorist”) organizations literally dedicated to Israel’s destruction. Anyone belonging to a genocidal group which is actively pursing its aims are legitimate targets, anywhere they can be found.
Good riddance, I say.
Never forget, Americans, this was right around the time Assad’s regime was funneling suicide bombers and fighters into Iraq to slaughter and maim your soldiers by the thousands.
The forebears of the EXACT same groups Assad is fighting today in Syria were established in Iraq, in large part because of his own actions!
The Iran Deal has brought out all new levels of Zionist insanity.
Says the Islamist apologist. Typical of your ilk, can’t debate reality so you resort to grade school insults.
Reality is not what is written in your hasbara manual. That’s not an insult, it’s…reality.
What’s incorrect about what I wrote.
Israel hasn’t been in an active state of war with Arabs and Iran for decades?
Assad wasn’t supporting the exact same jihadists in Iraq that he’s now fighting in Syria?
Hezbollah isn’t an Islamist (“terrorist”) group dedicated to Israel’s destruction?
Hilarious how you E-Jihadis are oblivious to the facts.
As you are surely aware, the answer is: Not literally, no. Israel is not relieved of International Law such that it may willy-nilly go about murdering “Arabs” because it is “at war” with them all.
You need to turn to the section of the Hasbara Manual that addresses engaging well-read and knowledgeable critics of Israel. You are doing the hasbara wrong for this particular site.
“As you are surely aware, the answer is: Not literally, no.”
Wrong again, Israel is literally at war with Islamist terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, which are supported by the likes of Iran and despotic Arab regimes like Syria.
Israel isn’t going willy-nilly after just any Arabs, only genocidal Islamists and their supporters, which they have every right to under international law.
You need to consult your own E-Jihadi manual, I spew out antisemitic Islamist apologizing scum on a daily basis.
Says the Islamist apologist.
Typical of your ilk. Can’t debate reality so you resort to grade school insults.
ISIS is a creation of the Saudi Arabian despots, with Israel’s full backing. Divide and conquer is the name of the game.
As far as the suicide bombers, I’m sure enough Iraqis were outraged over the invasion and occupation of their country by our criminal government to supply all that were needed.
So, Snowden apologists, tell me how revealing this is “whistle blowing” and not treason.
Treason? Jesus. Do you use that mind of yours at all?
Do you think Snowden’s allegiance should be with Israel—a nation the US spy “community” identifies as one of the major espionage threats against American interests?
@ Jesusaurus Rex
How is it “treason” against the US for a US citizen to divulge that Israeli commandos assassinated a Syrian national? I’d call it “news” and further proof that Israel and the IDF or some subset of the Israeli intelligence agency has zero regard for international law. Hard to take the moral or legal high road when you engage in immorality and illegality just like those you seek to demonize or otherize.
Snowden has nothing to apologize for. No one has any need to apologize on Snowden’s behalf. Anyone who supports Snowden and the actions that Snowden took are anything but “apologists,” they are, myself included, immensely grateful to Snowden and proud to be so.
If you’ve chosen to believe that Snowden and the actions that he took are something to be apologized for, speak for yourself, live with it, but don’t pass on your balderdash as something that others share with you, since others clearly do not share, or have anything to do with your “apologist” rhetoric at all.
You said it better than I could. Thank you.
I’ll do that right after you make any kind of case that this article constitutes treason.
@J-Rex
To begin with Snowden is not an Israeli to even qualify as being accused of treason. Only someone with fossilized brains can come up with this stupid notion.
@J-Rex:
Both of us are pro-establishment folks, so don’t get me wrong. But the trouble is stupid and ignorant people commenting makes our work very difficult. Mr Craig Summers was a very knowledgeable person, but unfortunately he has been retired off so he no longer appears here. There is also another person like you called Nate whose only curiosity was the number of documents that Snowden downloaded. Anyway, my suggestion is keep your comments to the level of knowledge that you possess, and also change your name to something that reflects your genius.
I just want to make sure you are not just a figment of my paranoid imagination. You call Mr Graig Summers a very knowledgeable person, and also Nate. You mean, they are good protectors of the fascist ideologies the establishment got going? Is that it?
Treason, Rex? Really? How is revealing criminal actions of a foreign (parasitic) government treason? Snowden wasn’t an Israeli citizen, so there could certainly be no way to twist this into treason against Israel.
Did you even think about this before you posted it?
So Palestinian kids are “terrorists” for throwing rocks at Israelis but assassinating a general in another sovereign country by completely violating its sovereignty is somehow justified. And now that the Syrian regime is falling there are talks in Israel to protect it for its own sake.
Things are getting pretty cramped in that tiny little country the size of NJ. A few years from now it’ll only get worse. Of course now that many of the borders in the mid east are on the brink of being redrawn (I predict IS here to stay in one form or another) wouldn’t it be nice if Israel could gobble up a couple of choice little chunks of Syria?
Also, unless I missed something, the inclusion of the claim that “Suleiman was also reported to have been in charge of the security and construction of Syria’s Al Kibar nuclear facility” is questionable.
The unsubstantiated assertions by Israel that this was actually a nuclear facility have never been verified, and the photographic “proof” that was presented had been clearly doctored.
I realize that the US corporate media swallowed the story whole and repeated the assertions as fact based solely on the claims of anonymous sources, but to my knowledge, definitive proof has never been presented.
The internal evaluation of the Israeli practice of targeted assassination of Palestinian leaders revealed it to be counterproductive as well as legally dubious. The study remains the best documented argument against the Bush/Obama drone program.
As for the confirmation of one such act of terrorism against a Syrian general, including some of the other examples of Israeli assassination would have given the article a little more depth… the more recent assassination of an Iranian general for example or the death squad they sent to Bahrain to murder a Hamas leader where the Israelis using forged passports from allied nations were caught on film.
Maybe those events weren’t documented in the Snowden files, but they were extensively documented and could have provided some context.
I wonder how long it will be until Israeli responsibility for the Hariri assassination is confirmed?
Looking up Suleiman on Wikipedia, it cites news of his assassination by the Israelis to a February Sunday Times article – that’s secured to subscribers, so can someone say what their basis was for saying that? The article also cites speculation that he was killed due to his involvement in the Al Kibar reactor, which Israel bombed in 2007, killing ten North Korean technicians. That attack was justified by the Israelis under their “Begin Doctrine” of preemptively attacking WMD capability. I’m not sure this quite justifies certain comparisons made below, but it appears Israel’s relationship with its neighbors seldom qualifies as outright peace.
Meanwhile: did Snowden get the archive of the entire Intellipedia??? We’re waiting.
Mr. Cole
“…….According to a classified State Department cable published online by WikiLeaks, the Syrian government’s investigation into the killing turned up $80 million in cash in Suleiman’s home. “[Assad] was said to be devastated by the discovery, and, fearing [Suleiman] had betrayed him, redirected the investigation from solving his murder to finding out how the general had acquired so much money,”……..”
It is a shame that the General will not be around to explain why he had $80 million in pocket change at his house. And this really seems to have upset Barrel Bomb Bashar. I’m sure that his major concern was the burgeoning inequality gap in Syria.
Craig, you are strangely silent on the violating international law matter.
Could it be you think Israel has the “right” to do whatever it wants, including assassinating people? “Israel does it, it’s legal,” is that it Craig?
I did read that Mona, but this is the part that I paid attention to.
“……“The Israelis may have had many good reasons to kill [Suleiman],” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of international law at Notre Dame……”
Indeed they did.
Thanks Mona.
I see. So Israel is entitled to violate international law if it deems it has good reasons, eh? Does the same go for anyone else such as , oh, Hamas?
Every government has an interest in getting rid of various people. Should they? With impunity?
So is any country within their rights to kill any government official of any other country, particularly if they appear to have too much money, or only Israel?
well, maybe Syria shouldn’t have declared war against Israel. How is killing an enemy soldier during a war, illegal under international law?
well, maybe you should read this again
It really is a shame, isn’t it?
As was 9/11 said the terrorist.
Are Hamas suicide bombings really a shame, Craig?
whoa. seems Suleiman was an Israeli agent who they simply assassinated, because he had double crossed them in 2006. pretty self-evident.
“The internal National Security Agency document, provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, is the first official confirmation that the assassination of Suleiman was an Israeli military operation, and ends speculation that an internal dispute within the Syrian government led to his death.”
More accurately, this is confirmation that the CIA thinks Israel assassinated Suleiman. Even more accurately, it is confirmation that whoever edited this particular Wiki page believes Israel assassinated Suleiman.
This story seems likely enough, but I would expect The Intercept to have stronger evidence than this before declaring the case closed.
Correction: NSA, not CIA.
I’m sure this is the one and only time Israeli terrorist squads struck the heart of a sovereign nation…
Outside of 911…..
No, Israel didn’t do 911, but there is strong evidence they knew extensive details about it in advance and decided not to warn their “ally” — because doing so would reveal the extent of their spying operations on American soil.
Great friend, Israel.
I partially agree with both of the views regarding 911. Conflict in ME for Last 15 years did not help anybody except Israel. My specialty is understanding social engineering and propaganda. In that regards Israel have us (Americans and most of Europe) where they want us. They are holding our Internal and External politics hostage. They are busy 24/7 trying to control our minds and they have been very successful since the 70s. Media plays a major role. When the guys says in 100 Girls “do you know Muslim shave their pubic hair, no wonder most of them end up as terrorists” or most of the seasons of “24” or statements from the GOP candidates about the Iran “deal” it is all calculated and fully throughout propaganda to help Israel and a certain class who wants endless conflicts in the world. The movie “Unthinkable ” alone may have causes the deaths of thousand of Muslims.
In this new modern age, a character assassination is worst then physical assassination. Israel and its foot soldiers on TV in form of Fiction or Non Fiction are perfect killers.
You don’t see blood on this dead body. Eyes are open but mind is asleep.
Wow. Pretty clever those Jews huh ? Glad I’m one of them.
How “clever” were Jews in avoiding the Holocaust? I guess history indicates not “clever” enough. Maybe Jews weren’t quite as “clever” back then, ya think? Clever only gets you so far in life. If that’s what Israel is relying on, I’d be making sure I have an “out” when “clever” isn’t enough. Then again 400 undeclared nuclear weapons is better than “clever”. It’s MAD and pretty smart rather than clever. But if you concede it’s smart and in the “national interest” of Israel then you have to concede it is “smart” and in the “national interest” of any nation that can afford them. Can’t have it both ways. Can’t call Iranians “irrational” for wanting the bomb when it is “smart” for Israel to have them.
And you know this how? There is more evidence of Israel’s direct involvement than not, but it is your choice to ignore that.
Hasbarist. Stop making excuses for Israel. Stop perpetuating the myth that 911 happened because of an intelligence failure.
Israel has been plotting to have the US obliterate the Muslim world since the USS Liberty attack.
Nothing hit WTC7 yet it dropped like a house of cards.
This alone is sufficient to claim the attack was a false flag operation.
Me?
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA
[holding sides]
LOLOLOLOL HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I’ve tried a couple of times to post a reply to you but no luck. The system recognizes that I’ve “already said that”.(?)
I know. it seems rather comical that you of all people would be labelled a ‘Hasbarist’. :)
The other day you ‘explained’ Gator’s tribalism as something innate because of the millennia long persecution of the Jews. Check.
By claiming Israel knew the 911 attacks were coming but they kept quiet to protect their espionage capabilities you are furthering the narrative that Muslim terrorists flew jetliners into the towers thus causing their collapse. This is the desired narrative to benefit Israel.
Subtly you have been led to believe these things and you repeat them.
Innate? INNATE?! Please. As an intelligent, well-read person who has a generous share of empathy, I grasp that a people whose history is replete with one atrocity committed against them after another — culminating in a close-call to exterminate them completely — are going to feel a bit clannish because a whole bunch of other people have singled them out for special atrocious treatment. This is an environmental consequence, not a genetic one. Duh.
Which I accept as almost certainly what happened.
Reality cannot be crafted around what does or doesn’t — in your view — benefit Israel.
Your fundamental unreasonableness is demonstrated by calling *ME* a hasbara-ist.
@ Mona
But Mona you could see all the thin metal cables that brought down WTC 7 (and all the explosives gnomes running out of the building in every direction). I mean that’s just an indisputable fact. I mean there are actually, you know, like 1500 “scientists” out of millions on the globe that can “prove” those facts to anybody that will listen. I mean seriously Mona, what gives? Why are you being so hasbaristically difficult by not simply conceding this simple truth? There were Israelis and there were explosives Gnomes. And there was a massive coverup that both were involved. Thems just the plain facts counselor. ; )
rr, you aren’t smart enough to understand and I forgive you. You can’t do vector math and that is OK!
Again, what plane hit WTC 7?
In science we do not ignore the observed.
In other words, ‘in engineering, there is no bluffing’. Can’t say that about lawyering … well, you could say it, but it would be untrue.
Yawn. This silliness has been done to death over the years. Believe what you want. And I’ll believe what you believe is absurd. Sometimes that’s the best it gets in life. We’ve got plenty of common ground in other areas to tilt at, but you’ll have to tilt at the 9-11 windmills without a lot of folks help. Most of them being as sane and rational as you perceive yourself to be.
You do not deal well with cognitive dissonance, do you …
You are attempting to testify as an expert yet you lack the credentials; you were in the bottom half of your class I assume.
@ Nuf Said
We’ve all plowed this ground to death long ago. Believe what you choose. I guarantee you that unless and until you can bring new evidence into a court of law under the legal standard of reliable relevant admissible evidence you will never convince me. Call me whatever name you like but you and 1500 non-expert quacks out of millions of scientists worldwide is never going to sway me absent that level of adversarial scrutiny of their “evidence”.
Again, believe what you choose. I’ve seen no coherent scientific or logical explanation to dispute what I saw and what I’ve read about the proximate causes of each and every collision of a plane with an object. And as far as WTC 7 goes, just because it wasn’t struck doesn’t mean that when two 100 story buildings come crashing down in the immediate vicinity that that isn’t going to have structural implications for WTC 7.
Like I said, we can agree on many other things but your insulting condescension toward anybody who doesn’t believe your theory isn’t going to convince me in any way. Waste your time trying to convince someone else.
“just because it wasn’t struck doesn’t mean that when two 100 story buildings come crashing down in the immediate vicinity that that isn’t going to have structural implications for WTC 7.”
Right. Some sort of “structural implication” … and 6 seconds later a 47 story building drops onto its footprint. Bwahahaha.
Shorter RR “Makes sense to me.” says the arts major. Really, you embarrass yourself.
Mockery is a poor argument
The Jewish narrative. Jews have been “singled out” for no reason? Of course, there’s always one group of people that are put-upon by all others … and by coincidence it is the Jews. So if Jews seem to be a tad riled up it’s perfectly justifiable because of the millennia of mistreatment. If that is not the crux of Hasbara … “Jews are attacked by others. Jews only defend themselves. blah, blah ….
Please. Stop.
At this point I begin to wonder if I am dealing with an actual antisemite. What do you mean by that question? Is it your view that there are good reasons that for millennia Jews have been singled out for ill-treatment? That to believe otherwise constitutes accepting “The Jewish narrative?”
Is that what you are about nuf?
Good god Mona, “actual antisemite”?
The Jewish narrative is that they have been singled out because they are god’s chosen ones. (even rr agrees)
I assert that many peoples have been subject to persecution throughout history. The Jews would have us believe they are entitled to attack others to preempt further attacks (Palestinians today) because they’ve been attacked by everyone forever. If the dominate behavior of Israeli Jews today were in practice for millennia then it is entirely possible any ill-treatment of the Jews may be justified.
“Israel wants a permanent state of stand-off” as asserted by the UK Foreign minister. Are you going to call him an “actual antisemite” too?
I treat people as people until they treat others as I would not treat them.
That said, Mona, go fuck yourself.
@ Nuf Said
Please don’t speak for me. I’ve never specifically opined on why I think Jewish people have been subjected to millennia of poor treatment (although that is not always the case consistently–at times they’ve accepted and been a not poorly treated minority in many places throughout history).
But I don’t believe it is because they believe themselves to be the “chosen people” specifically. Most people everywhere of any particular religious or cultural stripe believe themselves to be “favored by God” (whichever God that may be) relative to others (except for atheists/agnostics obviously).
I think for Jewish people it has been different things at different times in different places. But as with almost any group it is because it is easy/easier for the dominant culture to “otherize/demonize” a smaller minority population within their culture/polity/state/dominant religion/economy than to address the actual failures of governing or cultural integration or misdistribution of economic resources and rewards.
I don’t believe it is because they believe themselves to be “the chosen people” as everyone believes themselves to be “chosen” by God to one degree or another. It’s one of the big problems with any religion.
I’d recommend this article by Michael Lerner on the 9th of Av if explorations of Jewish perspective are the question. Sorry, I don’t remember how to do a link here. But this is the url:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Enduring-Universal-The-by-Rabbi-Michael-Lern-080808-683.html
(The Enduring Universal Theological Relevance of the 9th of Av)
Hasbarist is a bit of a strong word for someone that is just giving their opinion. It’s not like Mona is painting Israel in a good light at all.
For anyone to call *ME* a hasbara-ist is like, well, calling Ayn Rand a Marxist.
If indeed they knew, more likely they kept silent because a successful Islamic terrorist operation on US soil would sway American public opinion in support of Israel. They have admitted Islamic terrorism in US advances Israeli interests.
Mona, can you provide links please?
4-Part series with transcript. This was very quickly scrubbed from the Fox web site and archives: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7545.htm
Thanks.
“quickly scrubbed from the Fox web site”
Right. Fox. News …
Jim Rosen is a Fox journalist and the U.S. government really did formally call him a criminal for his REPORTING http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/may/20/obama-doj-james-rosen-criminality