Peeling Back the Curtain on Recent Israeli Machinations

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/26/inquiry-launched-palestinian-fugitive-omar-zayed-death-embassy-bulgaria

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4771252,00.html

This story is from earlier this year and involves a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) fugitive who was murdered while hiding out in the Palestinian embassy in Bulgaria.

But who killed him? On the one hand it's easy to point the finger at Israel who clearly wanted him dead. But on the other hand it's strange that they would kill him right while they were in the middle of negotiations with the Bulgarian government.

Also, to pull it off, a murder within the embassy, that would have been quite an operation. But if anyone could do it... it would be the Israelis. Whatever moral reservations one might have, when it comes to clandestine operations I don't think any agency can hold a candle to the Mossad. In terms of grandiosity and daring they are in a league of their own.  

It's an interesting story that I continue to follow but the news seems to have dried up.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4894098,00.html

This story from about a week ago involves a Hamas official who apparently was their point-man on drone (UAV) technology. He was murdered in Tunisia and I think few will dispute the Israelis had a hand in it.

After the Munich Olympic massacre in 1972 the Israelis sent teams of assassins across Europe and even parts of Middle East to hunt down their enemies. To what degree they engaged in that sort of behaviour before 1972 is debatable but it's fairly clear that these activities have been almost continuous since that time.

The 1970s represented a shift in Israel's posture vis-à-vis the world at large. The older liberal faction which had dominated Israeli politics since 1948 had been pushed aside as global opinion had turned against them in light of the 1967 territorial seizures and their dealings with the Palestinians. Once the friend of the racially oppressed in the Third World, by the 1970s Israel became an object of resentment and scorn, even in Sub-Saharan Africa where they had once been celebrated as an example of colonial independence and opposition to racism.

By the end of the decade, Zionist Fascism the ideology of the controversial Irgun fighters had been resurrected in the form of Likud under Menachem Begin and later Yitzhak Shamir. Both had been involved in paramilitary and terrorist activities which included both massacres and assassinations. Their enemies were the British (before 1948) and of course the Arabs. Begin was even the architect of the attempt to assassinate German chancellor Conrad Adenauer in 1952.

In the 1970s Apartheid South Africa became one of Tel Aviv's closest allies and Israel has continued its programme of befriending Right-wing nationalist governments (like India's BJP) and pursuing an aggressive policy of arms sales, paramilitary actions, espionage and assassination.

Israel's economy was in shambles after the 1973 Yom Kippur War and as a remedy it turned to arms sales on a massive scale. This shift in Israeli policy also coincided nicely with Washington's wishes to prop up proxy regimes in places like Colombia, Sri Lanka (especially under Jayewardene) and Mobutu's Zaire. Israeli arms and military training helped their economy and fulfilled Washington's policy aims.

For the clandestine world of spies, assassins, mercenaries and paramilitary/special ops the post-Cold War and especially the post-9/11 era has proven to be nothing less than a golden age. The Israelis have not been idle. But they couldn't do it without US support and their staunchest allies in the US continue to be Evangelicals. Their money and political influence guarantee the Zionist/Israeli machine a continuous stream of financial, diplomatic and military support.