Citing current and former US officials, CNN reported Tuesday that Israel has ramped up its covert attacks and assassinations inside Iran but has kept the US in the dark about its operations.
Over the past month, Israel has been suspected of being behind a string of mysterious deaths inside Iran. US officials told CNN that Israel was responsible for the killing of Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, a colonel in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who was gunned down in Tehran at the end of May.
Israel was also likely behind the death of a young Iranian engineer, who was killed in a drone attack on an Iranian military facility outside of Tehran. Israel is suspected because it has launched similar operations against Iranian facilities in the past. Iran believes Israel was also behind the killing of two Iranian scientists, who were both poisoned separately at the end of May and died within a few days of falling ill.
Other mysterious deaths have occurred inside Iran, including two men working for the IRGC in the aerospace industry, who were labeled “martyrs,” suggesting Iran thinks they were killed.
While it’s not known if Israel was responsible for all the deaths, it’s clear there has been a serious escalation in its covert operations inside Iran. The CNN report said that Israel hasn’t informed the US of its plans ahead of time and that the US has taken a “hands-off” approach to the operations and hasn’t directly asked Israel to stop.
The report could be an attempt by the US officials to absolve Washington of being suspected of involvement in the attacks, although the US still tacitly supports Israel’s covert operations by never condemning them or trying to stop them.
The officials said that while they think it’s unlikely a conventional war between Israel and Iran will break out, they think the possibility of a miscalculation that spirals out of control is higher than usual.
The ramped-up Israeli attacks come ahead of President Biden’s trip to the region, where he will visit Israel and Saudi Arabia. A major part of Biden’s visit will be focused on increasing regional cooperation against Iran.
Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz revealed Monday that Israel has been working with Arab countries to build a new US-backed military alliance to isolate Iran in the region. The alliance is focused on integrating air defense systems and is the result of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, which resulted in Israel normalizing with the UAE and Bahrain.
Biden is attending a summit of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, next month where he is expected to push for more Arab involvement in Israel’s alliance. He will also hold a separate meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, which Israeli officials reportedly pushed for.
“Report: Israel Keeping US In the Dark on Its Covert Attacks Inside Iran”
Of course they do and when Iran retaliate no precccccious israeli blood will be spilled, it’ll be American. What else is new.
Very well said and very true!
When was the last time that the US fought in a war that involved Israel?
Never. They fight FOR Israel not WITH them.
Very well then. When was the last time they fought FOR Israel?
Iraq(twice). Syria(ISIS instead of Assad). Yemen(enabling the Saudis and UAE because Houthis aligned with Iran). The sanctions against Iran(an act of war).
Clean, clear and concise!
Very good. I’m reminded of an old Jewish joke:
In the 1930s, a dark joke was told about a rabbi in Germany who was reading the Nazi paper called Der Sturmer. A congregant came up to him, astonished, and said, “Rabbi, how can you be reading that Nazi rag, filled with libels of the worst kind. Are you some kind of masochist, or, God forbid, a self-hating Jew?”
On the contrary,” the rabbi responded, “When I used to read the Jewish papers, all I learned about were pogroms, riots in Palestine, and
assimilation in America. But now that I
read Der Stürmer, I see that the Jews control all the banks, we pull all the strings in the art world and cinema, and that we’re on the verge of taking over the entire world. You know – it makes me feel a whole lot better!”
How powerful we 15 million Jews are. Must be the chosen people, no?
Right. It’s just my imagination. Here’s how some of my misconception came about. Silly me.
The White House announced on Tuesday that President Joe Biden will visit the region, including Israel, between July 13-16. In a statement, the administration said that the visit will “reinforce the United States’ ironclad commitment to Israel’s security and prosperity and attend a Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan (known as the GCC+3).”
“Also, nobody has done so much for Israel as I have, as you know. With Jerusalem and frankly ending the Iran nuclear deal which is a disaster and all of the other things I’ve done for Israel,” Trump said.
“The U.S. remains ironclad, I keep using that word, in our support of Israel’s security and its regional stability,” Pelosi said
LLoyd Austin:
“As a major strategic partner for the United States, our bilateral relationship with Israel, in particular, is central to regional stability and security in the Middle East. And during our meeting, I reaffirmed to Minister Gantz our commitment to Israel is enduring, and it is ironclad.”
Yemen? are you for real? Iraq-you never heard of stealing Russian oil service contracts in Iraq,controlling Iraq’s low sulphur oil, US military contractors profiting, US generals getting promotions? Did Israel tell Iraq to grab Kuwait?
Hell yes. The Houthi’s are supposedly backed by those same Iranians that Israel has been begging the US to attack for over 40 years.
Editing your comment after I reply to it is such a class act. And that’s sarcasm so you understand.
Not to count them all — take the last one as a good example. Where Ukrainian sheep did everything to force Russia to respond. Total support by all Israel enabling entities in US and Europe. Pulled all the stops. Motivation? Russia had too much sway in the Middle East, wioryying Israel and US. Too much global influence.
It is operatiiin Z, Zelensky and Zionism. All around the globe this has been figured out.
This however is a mistake. Predictably, Israel and US have same reaction — double down. The damage to our ecoonomy and reputation will be commesurate.
When was the last time that the U.S. fought a war that did not involve it? And there is an elephantine question of just what role Israel and the Israeli fifth column in the U.S. have played in the war raging in Ukraine. Don’t forget it was Victoria Nuland who executed the National Endowment For Democrats financed the bloody coup that enabled the Russophobic (Nazi?) Third Reich Phillic groups that have been killing and discriminating against the Russian speaking peoples
in Ukraine which the Russians claim that their reason for their invasion. It is important to know her husband is a leading Neocon & signatory to AIPAC
“Israeli fifth column in the US”. Like I said before, I can “smell” the difference between an “antizionist” and an “antisemite”.
I can too, … somehow I don’t think you meant to say that.
Sure did. Please clarify
And like you’ve no doubt been told when you said that before, pretending that everything you don’t like is antisemitism isn’t an effective substitute for argument or evidence.
Sorry! “Fifth column” is a classic antisemitic trope. When it walks like a duck…
Why is the allegation of an Israeli Fifth Column in the US anti-Semitic?
There are many Israel Firsters in powerful positions in the US government and media, and not all are Jewish, by any means. They don’t hide. They relentlessly advance Israeli interests and attempt to crush the democratic rights of anti-zionists, such as supporters of BDS.
The false accusations of anti-Semitism, like the slime you spew, are intended to prevent the US public from being aware of the extent of the Israel Lobby’s power in the US
So let me educate you. Dual loyalty is a bigoted trope used to cast Jews as the “other.” For example, it becomes antisemitic when an American Jew’s connection to Israel is scrutinized to the point of questioning his or her trustworthiness or loyalty to the United States. “Fifth column is even worse.It’s defined as a group within a country who are sympathetic to and/or working with its enemies. Nothing false about this accusation. It’s no less than the Nazis did to the Jews in Germany before they started the killings.
Yes, you are correct: Actual anti-semites do actually use the “dual loyalty” trope to bash Jews, often with a “who, me? I’m just talking about the Israeli lobby” response when called on it. They love to do things like publish list of “dual citizens” in Congress, but when I ask them for the evidence that these people are “dual citizens,” it turns out that they just made lists of congresscritters whose names “sound Jewish.”
On the other hand, there IS a powerful Israeli lobby, and that lobby is the reason why the US writes a $3.8 billion welfare check to the Israeli regime every year (as well as large bribes to e.g. Egypt to keep them at peace with Israel). That lobby is behind a number of states passing laws requiring anyone doing business with their governments to sign loyalty oaths to Israel. That lobby comes down hard on any politician who dares to mention the illegality of West Bank squats (“settlements”), Israeli regime murder of American citizens, etc.
While the “Fifth Column” talk would persist in anti-semitic corners even if Israel ceased to exist tomorrow morning, it would be a lot less effective as propaganda to non-anti-semites if Israel turned down the welfare checks and stayed out of US politics.
Yes the pro-Israel lobby is strong. But many countries, particularly America’s allies spend a great deal of money lobbying on behalf of their interests. Why apply a different standard to Israel than to all of America’s other allies? Here’s a short article:
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-08-17/biggest-spenders-of-foreign-lobbying-in-the-us-comes-from-americas-closest-allies?context=amp
If you have questions about applying different standards, you’d have to ask people who apply different standards. As an anarchist, I support neither the US state, nor any other state, nor lobbying of any state by any other state, nor aid by one state to another, etc. To me, the difference between the US, Israel, and Iran is the difference between the Crips, the Bloods, and MS-13.
That said, the idea that Israel is a US “ally” is preposterous. A whiny, jealous, demanding welfare client is not the same thing as an ally.
I don’t know much about anarchy but from the little I’ve read, it suggests to me that you have more faith in human nature than I do. I certainly do not believe that all forms of government are “equally bad” and that all cultures are equally good (or bad).
I have very little faith in human nature. That’s why I’m an anarchist. States are made of humans. Giving those humans the power to run other humans’ lives inevitably ends up in things like the US Civil War, the Holodomor, the Holocaust, the Great Leap Forward, etc.
As to your second sentence, we agree.
Yes, you are correct: Actual anti-semites do actually use the “dual loyalty” trope to bash Jews, often with a “who, me? I’m just talking about the Israeli lobby” response when called on it. They love to do things like publish list of “dual citizens” in Congress, but when I ask them for the evidence that these people are “dual citizens,” it turns out that they just made lists of congresscritters whose names “sound Jewish.”
On the other hand, there IS a powerful Israeli lobby, and that lobby is the reason why the US writes a $3.8 billion welfare check to the Israeli regime every year (as well as large bribes to e.g. Egypt to keep them at peace with Israel). That lobby is behind a number of states passing laws requiring anyone doing business with their governments to sign loyalty oaths to Israel. That lobby comes down hard on any politician who dares to mention the illegality of West Bank squats (“settlements”), Israeli regime murder of American citizens, etc.
While the “Fifth Column” talk would persist in anti-semitic corners even if Israel ceased to exist tomorrow morning, it would be a lot less effective as propaganda to non-anti-semites if Israel turned down the welfare checks and stayed out of US politics.
Yes, you are correct: Actual anti-semites do actually use the “dual loyalty” trope to bash Jews, often with a “who, me? I’m just talking about the Israeli lobby” response when called on it. They love to do things like publish list of “dual citizens” in Congress, but when I ask them for the evidence that these people are “dual citizens,” it turns out that they just made lists of congresscritters whose names “sound Jewish.”
On the other hand, there IS a powerful Israeli lobby, and that lobby is the reason why the US writes a $3.8 billion welfare check to the Israeli regime every year (as well as large bribes to e.g. Egypt to keep them at peace with Israel). That lobby is behind a number of states passing laws requiring anyone doing business with their governments to sign loyalty oaths to Israel. That lobby comes down hard on any politician who dares to mention the illegality of West Bank squats (“settlements”), Israeli regime murder of American citizens, etc.
While the “Fifth Column” talk would persist in anti-semitic corners even if Israel ceased to exist tomorrow morning, it would be a lot less effective as propaganda to non-anti-semites if Israel turned down the welfare checks and stayed out of US politics.
Tell me about Victoria Nuland and how her actions might be tied to Israel/Israel 5rh column.
The Neocons, to a ‘man’, are Zionists. They have owned US foreign policy since the Iranian revolution, the origin the hostile Iran policy. And as they are wont to say “there’s no daylight btw Washington and Israel.
Consider the source, a CNN report. Of course the US is in on it.
If one of our generals was assassinated , our scientists were to be assassinated on our soil, all manner of attacks, what would we do?
Should the Allies have tried to assassinate scientists working on the Nazi V-2 program? Israel tried to kill German scientists who fled after the war and were helping Egypt develop a rocket program. I have no problem with this.
There aws a state of war declared against the NAZIs.
Has Israel declared war against Iran or vice versa?
Israel is a rogue, terrorist state founded on lies land theft and ethnic cleaning.
It’s also a criminal state that illegally and secretly maintains a nuclear arsenal, and stole much of the information needed for that arsenal from the US decades ago.
End all US aid to Israel!
More stupid nonsense. There is no need to declare war. The Iranians have made it clear that they would destroy Israel if they had the chance. The Egyptians were at war with Israel. Israel was built on land that belonged to Jews 3000 years ago. They were willing to share it with the Palestinians. The other side refused. As for “stealing information”, I believe the US benefits a great deal from Israeli technology. Go read a book
Your nonsense is beyond the pale sir. All of those Palestinian men woman and childrens bodies that you proudly kick and ridicule via your monsters in power is sick. Israel will always be a squatter state because it has never embraced humanity or the rights of others outside of the Zionist cabal. Oh the satire….3000 years ago…who gave you any right to Palestine after the fact….go read a book
Indeed…Israel and all of its petty sick propagandists damning Iran at every turn based on nothing but what the Mossad and the other faulty intelligence they dream up. Iran is the boogeyman!!!! No it is an independent sovereign state that does not adhere to US or Israeli hegemony….why should it.
You’re not suggesting that there is a double standard, are you? (rhetorical)
Can we afford to be associated with Israel, under such circumstances?… Our alliance needs a thorough review, then some decisive action should be decided and acted upon. Israel is a loose cannon…
Biden needs to cut his leash (held by Israel).
Israel will be responsible for starting WWIII, which will be nuclear.
Good grief!
No, I don’t think that grief is good!
And Iran is a model of decency,respect for human rights, and progress.
She didn’t say a damn thing about Iran. But yet once again, any critique of Israel is meant as support for Iran in your mind.
And Israel is a model of decency, respect for human rights, and progress
You are quite the slimey Zionist deceiver.
End all US aid to Israel!
Nice psople. Just go around the region killing any talent that might surpass them technologically. It is so understandable. We are kept in the dark, but not disapproving either.
I have a problem getting past the official normalization of murder. The US government needs to stop using the phrase “rules based order”. You have to wonder what it’s like when American negotiators are interacting with their Iranian counterparts and they’re like, “Yep, we murdered your general, and two carloads of people along with him. While he was on a state visit to Iraq. Blew them all to bits. On purpose. Yeah. You need to follow the rules.”
Well, if CNN sourced this news, it obviously is the opposite of the headline.