Middle East | Israel 'faked al-Qaeda presence' Officials from the Palestinian Authority have accused the Israeli spy agency Mossad of setting up a fake al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Gaza. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said that Israel had set up the mock cell in order to justify attacks in Palestinian areas. Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, called the allegation "sheer nonsense". On Thursday Mr Sharon said that members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network were at work in the Gaza Strip, aiming to attack Israel. Israel has named al-Qaeda as the prime suspect in a suicide bombing at a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya that killed 16 people last week and an unsuccessful missile attack on a nearby Israeli passenger jet.
"It is a big, big, big lie to cover (Sharon's) attacks and his crimes against our people everywhere," Mr Arafat said at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Communications traced "We can't say there will never be al-Qaeda here, but at least not for now," he added. US accusations. Israel honors 9 Egyptian spies. Israel honors 9 Egyptian spies After 50 years, President Katsav presents three surviving members with certificates of appreciation at Jerusalem ceremony By Reuters JERUSALEM - After half a century of reticence and recrimination, Israel on Wednesday honored nine Egyptian Jews recruited as agents-provocateur in what became one of the worst intelligence bungles in the country's history.
Israel was at war with Egypt when it hatched a plan in 1954 to ruin its rapprochement with the United States and Britain by firebombing sites frequented by foreigners in Cairo and Alexandria. But Israeli hopes the attacks, which caused no casualties, would be blamed on local insurgents collapsed when the young Zionist bombers were caught and confessed at public trials. Embarrassed before the West, Israel long denied involvement. With Egypt, fearing memories of the debacle could sour ties. The Egyptian agents were ignored The situation recurred in 1985, when U.S. Congressional backers look to exiled Iranian group for regime change. It's been over two months since the toughest Iran sanctions ever approved by Congress were signed into law, three months since the UN's latest resolution, and 15 months since Iran's post-election demonstrations began. Despite all of this, Iran's clerical government is not crumbling, nor has Iran shown any sign of giving in to the West on its nuclear program.
Recent weeks have seen a renewed discussion of military options for stopping Iran's nuclear program - kicked off by Jeffrey Goldberg's cover article in the Atlantic. But there is also a campaign underway to promote a different option on Iran: regime change, via Iranian dissidents in exile. Members of Congress led by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA) have introduced a resolution calling on the Secretary of State and the President to throw the support of the United States behind an exiled Iranian terrorist group seeking to overthrow the Iranian regime and install themselves in power.
According to a letter from Filner to his House colleagues: Rep. US admits Israel is arming and training terrorist groups in Iran. Iran and the Terrorism game. In the few venues which yesterday denounced as “Terrorism” the ongoing assassinations of Iranian scientists, there was intense backlash against the invocation of that term. That always happens whenever “Terrorism” is applied to acts likely undertaken by Israel, the U.S. or its allies — rather than its traditional use: violence by Muslims against the U.S. and its allies — because accusing Israel and/or the U.S. of Terrorism remains one of the greatest political taboos (even when the acts in question involve not only assassinations but also explosions which kill numerous victims whose identities could not have been known in advance).
But the case of these scientist assassinations particularly highlights how meaningless and manipulated this term is. The prime argument against calling these scientists killings “Terrorism” is that targeted killings — as opposed to indiscriminate ones — cannot qualify. ABC News: The Washington Post: USA Today: Council on Foreign Relations: DOJ Press Release: US Congressmen Meet Leaders of Group Labeled "Terrorist" by State Department.
US Congressmen Meet Leaders of Group Labeled "Terrorist" by State Department By Nick Hoover Several members of Congress addressed a gathering today of hundreds of Iranian exiles who the government considers terrorists. Reps. Bob Filner, D-Calif., Tom Tancredo, R-Col., Ted Poe, R-Texas, Dennis Moore, R-Kan., and staffers for Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, and James Talent, R-Mo., spoke to MEK supporters at a convention hall just four blocks from the White House. MEK has been listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department since 1997, but some in Congress and close to the Administration want the group to be removed from the terrorist list. "The worst aspect of appeasement, which plays a crucial role in keeping the regime in power, is the terror tag on the Iranian Resistance," Rajavi said.
Sariri also said that there was more opposition to an event last year, but said that was nothinig more than a ploy by Rep. Lt. US Officials Confirm: Israel Financing, Training and Arming MEK Terrorists to Murder Iranian Scientists. Iranian scientists car blown up by MEK terrorist This past July I wrote a piece on the collaboration between, and support for the MEK (Mujahideen-e-Khalq) from US congressmen, as well as the intense effort to delist the group from the US State Department’s “designated terrorist” list.
Congressmen (including Democrats) and former government officials have met with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an organization that was designated a terrorist group in 1997 when the list was first compiled, and is STILL ON THE LIST–for now.MEK has a very aggressive and organized lobby effort in Washington D.C. According to one House staffer, the MEK is “the most mobilized grassroots advocacy effort in the country — AIPAC included.” Their mission is to be delisted as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO), push the USA to foment war with Iran, i.e. “regime change,” and have themselves installed into power. Sound familiar? This exposed several issues which I touched upon in my July article: 1.) 2.)
The U.S. NBC Report: Israel and the MEK Responsible for Deaths of Iranian Nuclear Scientists. NBC News reports that Israel and the MEK have been working together to kill Iranian nuclear scientists: Deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group that is financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service, U.S. officials tell NBC News, confirming charges leveled by Iran’s leaders.The group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, has long been designated as a terrorist group by the United States, accused of killing American servicemen and contractors in the 1970s and supporting the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran before breaking with the Iranian mullahs in 1980. I had seen claims to this effect made earlier this year, but I believe this is the first time they have been corroborated by U.S. government sources.
If true, the murders of Iranian nuclear scientists with bombs have been committed by a recognized terrorist group. Can everyone acknowledge at this point that these attacks were acts of terrorism? MEK. Iran: Téhéran condamne le retrait d'un groupe dissident de la liste noire des Etats-Unis. L'Iran a condamné le retrait prévu du groupe iranien dissident Moudjahadin-e Khalk (Mek) de la liste des organisations considérées comme terroristes par les Etats-Unis, rapporte ce mercredi la presse iranienne. Ce retrait, décidé par la secrétaire d'Etat américaine Hillary Clinton, a été rendu public la semaine dernière.
Il s'agit d'une victoire politique pour le groupe iranien, connu aussi sous le nom d'Organisation des moudjahidine du peuple iranien (Ompi), longtemps hébergé sur le territoire irakien sous le régime de Saddam Hussein et dont nombre de membres sont toujours en Irak. Sur la liste noire depuis 1997 Le Mek/Ompi, qui figurait sur la liste américaine des groupes terroristes depuis 1997, a combattu le régime du shah d'Iran puis le pouvoir islamique après la révolution de 1979. Il avait combattu aux côtés des forces de Saddam Hussein lors de la guerre Iran-Irak des années 80.