Israel & intelligence (merged thread)

[davidbfpo]

Via an Israeli paper an article based on the public comments of the Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevy:

His speech gave a general overview of the region, but did not reveal any information not previously released by the Israel Defense Forces. He touched on the Syrian civil war, Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, terror in the West Bank and the Islamic State group.

Link:http://www.timesofisrael.com/intelli...ael-neighbors/

[davidbfpo]

A difficult paper to absorb 'The lack of in-depth understanding about objects researched by the intelligence community' by a former Israeli intelligence officer and author.
Link:http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Dat...7_55734278.pdf

I expect the theme that a lack of professional understanding, assisted by cultural knowledge and skill in languages, can be found in other threads.

[davidbfpo]

From Vanity Fair:

During a May 10 meeting in the Oval Office, the president betrayed his intelligence community by leaking the content of a classified, and highly sensitive, Israeli intelligence operation to two high-ranking Russian envoys, Sergey Kislyak and Sergey Lavrov. This is what he told them—and the ramifications.

Link:https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017...mp-intel-slip?

I recall the earlier reporting, this appears to be more detailed. Even devastating.

[davidbfpo]

Ronen Bergman's new book 'Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations' is reviewed in WaPo, the thread title is the review's author's.

A taster:

But at what point does violence in the name of self-defense become an end in itself, so addictive to its practitioners, who in time become so adept at its use, that it undermines the very values it is meant to preserve? This question is the underlying theme of Ronen Bergman’s authoritative and exhaustive history of Israel’s targeted killings of its enemies, which he calls “the most robust streamlined assassination machine in history.”

Link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlo...4d_story.html?

Link to book:https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Kill-Fir...=ronen+bergman

Targeted assassinations of high value targets (HVT) has appeared on the Forum before, in two main threads, one on OBL and this one:HVTs/Political Assassination Whether this policy has actually benefited Israel is a moot point.

[davidbfpo]

Following the suspected assassination in Malaysia of a Hamas scientist Al-Jazeera has a story that links Ronen Bergman's book 'Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel’s Targeted Assassinations' to the murder.

Included here to show the scale of Israel's policy:

Bergman writes that, until 2000, which marked the beginning of the second Intifada in the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel had conducted more than 500 assassination operations that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,000 people, including the targets and bystanders. During the Second Intifada, Israel conducted 1,000 more operations, of which 168 succeeded, he writes in his book. Since then, Israel has carried out at least another 800 operations aimed at killing Hamas civilian and military leaders in the Gaza Strip and abroad.

Link:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/...152144736.html

The article also refers to other matters, e.g. the policy machinery that supports such a policy in Israel and the USA.

[davidbfpo]

A short BBC News item that is self-explanatory and interesting to note Mr Segev was extradited form Equatorial Guinea, not Nigeria where he had been practicing. In the past Israel had good relations with Nigeria.
Link:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-44520850

[davidbfpo]

An officially assisted Mossad burglary story in the NYT, although the documents may show that Iran had ceased nuclear weapon developments.
Link:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/15/u...d-nuclear.html