Posted on 02/13/2013 10:31:19 PM PST by BlackVeil
The exposure in the Australian media this week of alleged former Mossad agent Ben Zygier, who reportedly committed suicide in Ramle’s Ayalon Prison two years ago, could have very dramatic repercussions for ongoing Mossad operations, Israeli media reported on Wednesday night.
Assuming the information is accurate, the impact of the exposure of the alleged agent and his movements on behalf of Israeli intelligence in Iran, Syria and Lebanon, will have “very significant” consequences for ongoing work, Channel 10 news said.
In countries such as Iran and Syria, the authorities would now be checking through their records, working out when Zygier entered, who accompanied him, and who he met with, the TV report said.
The ABC Australia reporter who broke the story, Trevor Bormann, said in interviews on Wednesday that he was first told about the case in Israel by an Israeli source who said he had “a terrific story” to tell but couldn’t publish it in Israel because of “a gag order” surrounding the case.
...Zygier ... was subsequently arrested and held for eight months in Ayalon jail, in a cell originally designed for Yigal Amir, the assassin of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. His jailers did not know his identity, the reports said. There was no definitive explanation for why he was taken into custody.
...There were unanswered questions, too, about how he had been able to take his own life on December 15, 2010 — reportedly via “asphyxiation by hanging,” according to a post-mortem carried out by the Abu Kabir center for forensic medicine outside Tel Aviv — in a cell with constant camera surveillance and other supervision.
...sources intimated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had panicked over the affair on Tuesday, when Israeli editors were summoned in an effort to suppress the story. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at timesofisrael.com ...
I haven’t had time to follow this. If he was Mossad, why was he arrested? Or hasn’t that info been made public at all?
I’m confused. He was a Mossad agent, but he was in an Israeli jail, so why do the Iranians care who he saw? What is going on with this?
A dark and complicated story, impossible to get anywhere near the truth. It seems - yes, he was a Mossad agent - yes, he was Prisoner X, held in secret in an Israeli jail, where he died in 2010.
Did they think him guilty of treason? Unanswered questions abound. If they wanted him dead, surely they could have just wiped him out, in one of those ‘accidents’ that happen to individuals who fall into the world of espionage. Poor Ben ... he was over there in Israel and he had one of those diving accidents ... his equipment let him down ...
And another issue is why was this leaked now? How did the Australian media, until then seemingly unaware of this case, suddenly get a whole lot of information?
Guess I will have to make time to do some digging. Thank you.
Yes, color me confused as well; if he was this great Israeli spy, why did they chuck him in prison and apparently throw away the key?
It’s all very strange.
I’ll wait until the movie comes out.
Simple really, he wanted to retire.
bookBUMP
I predict that as soon as you start reading into this matter, you will be puzzled. None of the information fits together. One can see, though, that this is a king size scandal.
It would be great if you could post any thoughts you have, about the real nature of these events.
I myself dismiss the idea that this is linked to the passports scandal, or that Benji was an ASIS agent. Those matters are small beer, and would never justify a gigantic reaction of the ‘Prisoner X’ type.
I see an Iranian connection to the whole thing. And I think that the Israelis had better check that they don’t have a Burgess/McLean type ring infiltrated into their security establishment. That sounds melodramatic, but it is true to the real history of the 20th century. A series of stuff-ups like this indicate malice, undermining, and a hidden hand.
I am getting the distinct odor of a simmering intel war between Israel and the US. The US has outed several ongoing undercover ops by Israel and endangered Israelis as well as Americans and others in so doing.
This administration, having appointed muslims to high places within the government, now sees Israel as an enemy. Israel had an inkling of this but is truly shocked and visibly panicked by the highly classified revelations leaking out of the US. This is dangerous on so many levels...both to us and to Israel.
I agree with you completely.
I believe, however, that Israel and Netanyahu are way too smart to ever trust Ubama as far as they can kick him.
This whole thing could easily be a Mossad disinformation campaign.
This is a very dangerous game with exceedingly high stakes. obama has put our own national security at very high risk, and his appointees will further that risk exponentially. As sure as I was born, we are witnessing high treason and allowing it.
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