Tag Archives: Mossad

International, Politics, Privacy

Massive New Spy Leak: An Overview

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Leaks Out of South Africa Cover Spy Operations Worldwide

by Jason Ditz, February 23, 2015

In what is being called the “largest intelligence leak since Snowden,” media outlets al-Jazeera and The Guardian have obtained hundreds of confidential spy cables leaked out of the South African SSA.

The cables detail SSA correspondence with the CIA, Britain’s MI6, Israel’s Mossad, and other nations. The following are the stories that have been released out of the leaks so far.

Mossad Concludes Netanyahu Wrong About Iran’s Nuclear Program
Stories: al-Jazeera, The Guardian

In 2012, Netanyahu declared Iran was a year away from nuclear weapons. Remember the iconic photo of Netanyahu at the UN with the ridiculous cartoon bomb? Weeks later Mossad shared information with the South African government that contradicted the claim, said Iran wasn’t even attempting to produce nuclear arms, and had never tried to enrich any uranium to anywhere near weapons grade.

Of course we knew all that long before Netanyahu made the claim. It seems like Mossad knew it too, but Netanyahu wasn’t going to let facts get in the way of a good speech.

Israel Stole South African Missile Technology
Story: al-Jazeera

In 2010, documents reveal, Israel acquired stolen South African anti-tank missile plans. South African intelligence helped to cover up the theft, and kept prosecutors from releasing information about Israeli involvement when charging the thieves.

South African officials told reporters at the time that Israel had been approached but “was not interested.” The leak shows that not only was Israel interested, it bought the blueprints and Mossad got ahold of them. Mossad agreed to return the plans after they were caught, but only on the condition that Israeli middlemen involved would not be charged.

Abbas Tries to Kill the Goldstone Report
Stories: al-Jazeera, The Guardian

After the 2008-09 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, Judge Richard Goldstone was charged with investigating and reporting on the war crimes therein. You may remember this, as Israeli officials threatened the UN over the report and accused Goldstone, a South African Jew, of being an anti-semite.

South African cables report that even though Abbas did not, and indeed could not, publicly take a stand, he was privately lobbying against the Goldstone Report, fearing Israel would use it as an excuse to kill the peace process, and also fearing that pointing out war crimes committed against Hamas territory would strengthen Hamas’ bargaining position.

Iran Is No Threat to South Africa, But US Still Forced Them to Monitor Iranian Dealings
Stories: al-Jazeera, The Guardian

Even though South African intelligence openly confirmed Iran posed no “discernible threat” to South African interests, Heavy US pressure forced them to follow through on dubious sanctions, and to dedicate huge amounts of resources to spying on every Iranian diplomat in the nation, as well as a large number of ethnic Persians.

Years of investigations turned up very little, and ended with the conclusion that Iran must not consider Africa a high priority.

CIA Tries to Get Access to Hamas
Story: The Guardian

Even though the US government had banned all contact with Hamas, the CIA sought South African help in establishing contact with Hamas, asking the South African SSA to assist them in gaining access.

MI6 Blocked a South African Company’s Deal With an Iranian Petrochemical Company
Story: The Guardian

South African company Electric Resistance Furnaces (ERFCO) was blocked from a contract with an Iranian petrochemical company by British MI6, which claimed the company was trying to buy equipment for rocket production. ERFCO was never given evidence that the company was doing anything illegal, but was heavily pressured by British intelligence to stop the deals, which they did.

International, Politics, US

News agency reports they have obtained ‘Spy Cables’

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Al Jazeera, a news broadcasting agency owned by the government of Qatar, has reported they have obtained hundreds of confidential and hidden documents, which the agency are calling the “Spy Cables.”

The report from Al Jazeera announcing the cables says the documents offer “an unprecedented insight into operational dealings of the shadowy and highly politicised realm of global espionage.” Al Jazeera also says they will release the documents over the next couple of days alongside the newspaper the Guardian.

The leaked documents, according to the Business Insider, come from many government agencies around the world, including Russia’s FSB, South Africa’s SSA, Britain’s MI6, and others. Documents from any American intelligence agencies though seem to be absent from the Spy Cables.

Even though documents from American intelligence agencies are not included, some of the documents point to the CIA working in correspondence with South Africa’s SSA agency. The documents also allegedly say the CIA had attempted to contact the group HAMAS, even though the U.S. government has labeled the group a terrorist organization.

Other documents say MI6 had attempted to recruit a spy in North Korea with the help of the South African government. MI6 reportedly met with a North Korean man and offered him an “undisclosed amount of money” for the man’s cooperation in a “long term clandestine operation.”

Another document claims Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu had exaggerated Iran’s nuclear production levels in a 2012 declaration made in front of the UN. A secret Mossad document released in the leak, however, says Iran was not at the time “performing the activity necessary to produce weapons.”

Al Jazeera writes they will only publish documents which they believe serve the public interest. They also write, “We believe it is important to achieve greater transparency in the field of intelligence…. Publishing these documents, including operational and tradecraft details, is a necessary contribution to a greater public scrutiny of their activities.”

More leaked documents will be released in the next few days on Al Jazeera and the Guardian.

International, Politics

Mossad-Backed Jundallah Pledges Support for ISIS

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Baloch Islamist Group Vows Backing for ‘Whatever Plans’ ISIS Has

by Jason Ditz, November 17, 2014
In a statement today Jundallah, a high-profile Balochistan-based Islamist faction, announced that it is pledging loyalty to ISIS, and will back “whatever plans they have” going forward. The move follows reports from the Associated Press last week that the group’s leadership was meeting with ISIS members.
Jundallah is primarily a Balochistan separatist group, active in both Pakistan’s far west and in southeastern Iran. In recent years, the group’s attacks have mostly centered on Iran, and there is evidence they have been backed by Israel’s Mossad in doing so.
Jundallah was originally an ally of al-Qaeda, but had a falling out with them in 2003. The group then started getting funding from what they claimed were CIA agents, and there was ample evidence at the time that it was the US funding them.

It did not turn out to be the case, however. Rather, Jundallah was being funding in US currency by men with US passports who were actually Israeli spies, in what was seen as an attempt to frame the US for the backing of terror attacks inside Iran.

Foreign Policy reported Israel’s relationship with Jundallah continued to roil the Bush administration until the day it left office, and that it also ‘jeopardized’ US ties with Pakistan, another nation Jundallah was active in at the time.

Though Bush-era officials vowed to ‘take the gloves off’ with Israel over the incident, no public retaliation was even taken, which officials attributed to “political and bureaucratic inertia.”

Jundallah’s leadership at the time was captured by Iran, and was executed for committing terrorist attacks on Shi’ite mosques in Iranian Sistan-Balochistan. Exactly how big the group is anymore is unclear, but their profile is clearly much smaller than it was 5 years ago.

Still, their joining hands with ISIS gives ISIS a much higher profile in Pakistan, particularly in Balochistan, where reports are emerging from Jang of slogans in support of ISIS across Balochistan, and that the October 13 report prepared by the Baluchistan home department and sent to the federal security agencies had claimed a significant increase in ISIS activity in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.