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Spectator
6 days ago
- Politics
- Spectator
Mossad's secret allies in Operation Wrath of God
More than half a century ago Palestinian terrorists stormed the 1972 Munich Olympics, murdering two of the Israeli team and taking another nine hostage. The West German authorities, ill-equipped to deal with such incidents, agreed to fly the terrorists and their hostages to Egypt. Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, offered to mount a rescue operation. The Germans launched their own, resulting in the deaths of a police officer, four of the seven terrorists and all the hostages. One consequence was the Israeli government's Operation Wrath of God, a programme to assassinate any leaders or planners associated with the massacre. Ten missions were organised in Europe, each signed off by the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir on condition that no innocent bystanders were killed. There have been several books about the operation and a 2005 film by Steven Spielberg. Aviva Guttmann's account does not merely rehearse the stories, though each operation is outlined. Rather, she shows how the security services of European nations cooperated in identifying, monitoring and investigating international terrorists in general and how this aided Mossad in its pursuit of vengeance. Cooperation was via the Club de Berne, an intelligence exchange between eight countries founded in 1969 in response to the growth of international terrorism. Soon expanded to include other countries, among them Israel, it handled communications via encrypted telegrams (which Guttmann calls cables) using the code word Kilowatt. Guttmann found these communications in publicly available Swiss archives. She analyses each assassination, showing how the exchange of Kilowatt information helped Mossad identify and locate their targets, how the various security services learned about terrorist tactics, such as the recruitment or duping of young European women, and how hitherto unknown plots to murder or hijack were prevented. The first assassination was only a month after Munich. Wael Zwaiter, a young Palestinian translator in Rome, returned to his flat to find two men on the stairway leading to his apartment. They shot him 11 times, a bullet for each Munich victim. Journalistic opinion at the time and since concluded that Mossad got the wrong man – a bit-part player at best. But the Kilowatt telegrams show that he had an important logistical role. One operation that Mossad very definitely got wrong was in the small Norwegian town of Lillehammer in 1973 when they shot an innocent Moroccan waiter alongside his seven-months pregnant wife. Not only that, but the assassins were caught. Contributing factors to this debacle were an inexperienced, hurriedly assembled team and insufficient research – the poor man was confused with a real terrorist solely on photographic resemblance. Mossad teams generally comprised about 15 people – two to do the killing, two to guard them, two to organise cover and facilities, six to eight to research the target's routines and movements and two to communicate both within the team and back to Israel. Guttmann's principal concern – oft-repeated – is that European security services 'played a vital role in the organisation and execution of Operation Wrath of God'. The extent to which they did so knowingly is not always clear, although they could not have failed to know after Lillehammer. There is no doubt, though, that the information they exchanged with Israel (including their own investigations into Mossad killings) facilitated assassinations within their own borders. 'One would simply not expect Europeans to help kill Palestinians… Governments… failed in their duty to keep safe all citizens,' Guttmann notes. Her disapproval is evident throughout, though not explicitly stated or argued. This is a pity because the opposite case – whether it can be justifiable to murder those seeking to murder you – is nowadays too prevalent to be dismissed without argument. We witness its effects daily on our screens. She concedes, however, that all participants benefitted from the exchange and that Israel was itself a significant contributor. But in claiming that the various agencies 'did not need to respect the same normative considerations as official foreign policy lines' she implies that they acted independently or against their own governments' policies. On this side of the Channel at least, actions by the intelligence agencies, including exchanges with liaison services, require government approval. MI5 does not simply do what it likes. It is not the case that relying on 'foreign intelligence shows… weakness and dependency', as Guttmann says of Mossad. Nor are attributing information to 'friendly services within the region', or claiming a source has 'direct access', forms of boasting; they and other formulae are necessary and conventional guides to assessing reports. She is on firmer ground in questioning the effectiveness of targeted killings, as assassinations are now often called. In the short term they can be highly disruptive and satisfy an understandable thirst for revenge; but in the longer term leaders may be succeeded by those with renewed determination and security. Half a century on, the causes that prompted Wrath of God are with us still.
Times
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Israel's Operation Wrath of God: do targeted assassinations work?
'The massacre that happened in Israel on October 7, 2023, is sometimes referred to as Israel's 9/11,' Aviva Guttmann writes, 'but, arguably, Israel already had a watershed terrorist moment deeply ingrained in its national consciousness: the Munich Olympics massacre in 1972.' Neither Mossad nor Shin Bet, the domestic security agency, foresaw the Hamas attack or the killing of 11 Israeli Olympic team members. There are other similarities between the two terror attacks: they were both broadcast globally, the Munich massacre on television and the October 7 attack on social media; both sets of terrorists took hostages; and each attack provoked strong Israeli demands for revenge. The parallels with the Hamas massacre of October 7 are not perfect, but Guttmann's book Operation Wrath of God, about Israel's covert assassination campaign after the Munich massacre, is a timely and worthy contribution to intelligence history. That covert campaign — ten missions to kill Palestinians linked with terrorism — has great relevance for today's counterterrorism operations. For instance, is there such a thing as 'surgical justice'?
Telegraph
03-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
What drinking alcohol when you're on statins really does to your body
As we reach a certain age, many of us begin reaching for our pill bottles, as well as a nice glass of red. With more than 10 million people in England now eligible for statins, the cholesterol lowering drugs (which are prescribed to reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases and prevent further damage for people who have already had a heart attack) it's inevitable that some will want to keep enjoying the odd drink while taking their medications (although perhaps not simultaneously). This is particularly true after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) watchdog adjusted their guidelines in 2023 to lower the age of eligibility for statins down to 25, meaning that younger patients – especially those with underlying genetic risk factors – deemed to be at a higher short-term risk of heart problems can now be offered the drugs. But can statins and alcohol really be combined? Are some worse than others? Or are they quite simply, a marriage made in hell? How does drinking alcohol affect the body when on statins? Dr Raul Santos, a Brazilian cardiologist who serves as editor-in-chief for the World Heart Federation's Global Heart Journal, is keen to emphasise that statins are, overall, extremely safe medications. 'They've been used by millions of people for decades to reduce cholesterol, and prevent myocardial infarctions [the medical term for heart attacks] and stroke,' says Dr Santos. However, people can sometimes run into issues when combining them with alcohol, because the way in which statins lower LDL or 'bad' cholesterol is through acting on a series of biological pathways in the liver. In particular, statins inhibit an enzyme which actively decreases the continuing production of cholesterol, as well as enhancing the uptake and breakdown of existing LDL cholesterol in the blood. How does this affect our livers? The problem, as pointed out by Dr Oliver Guttmann, a consultant cardiologist at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London, is that alcohol also acts on various enzymes in the liver. 'They're both going down the same waterway, so to speak,' says Dr Guttmann. 'So the main concern is that there's going to be some kind of congestion.' With statins altering the liver's natural function, and alcohol needing to be metabolised, Dr Guttmann says that having too much booze in your system risks impeding the liver's ability to carry out its vital functions such as breaking down and detoxifying toxins. 'When statins and alcohol are combined at a high level, there's an increased risk of liver inflammation or damage,' he adds. It's also not great news for those who are taking statins for the long-term. Some research indicates that excessive alcohol might impair the long-term health benefits of taking statins. As well as reducing LDL cholesterol, these drugs also improve cardiovascular health by lowering the amounts of another subtype of fat in the blood called triglycerides. But because alcohol is surprisingly calorific, consuming too much of it can send triglycerides straight back up again. 'The whole point of taking statins is to lower cholesterol and triglycerides and decrease the furring up the blood vessels in the body, especially the coronary arteries around the heart, and in the neck leading up to the brain,' explains Dr Guttmann. 'But alcohol, if not taken in moderation, can actively increase the formation of plaques and high concentrations of it can cause narrowing of blood vessels. So through too much alcohol, you're driving the things you're trying to prevent.' What are the risks of taking statins and drinking? According to Guttmann, people taking statins with underlying liver problems such as fatty liver disease or hepatitis, are more likely to be at risk of developing issues through consuming too much alcohol. Certain statins may also carry a higher risk of adverse effects. Dr Roy Jogiya, the chief medical adviser at Heart Research UK and a consultant cardiologist at Kingston and St Thomas Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, says side effects are more likely with simvastatin and atorvastatin in particular, such as fatigue or gastrointestinal issues. 'These statins are processed by a liver enzyme (called CYP3A4) which can also be affected by alcohol,' says Dr Jogiya. 'This means there may be a slightly higher risk of liver-related side effects in the context of heavy drinking. That said, for most people drinking in moderation, the difference is unlikely to be clinically significant, but we take these factors into account when prescribing.' Does alcohol worsen statin side effects? The risk of worsening muscle aches and pains has sometimes been described as one of the main factors which puts people off taking statins, and according to cardiologists, there is a chance that alcohol may exacerbate this. One of the reasons for this is that excess alcohol can not only drive muscle inflammation but disable certain liver enzymes which break down and clear statins from the body, meaning that the liver is being exposed to higher levels of the drugs. 'It's as if you're taking a higher dose of the statin,' says Dr Guttmann. Dr Santos agrees that this is a possibility. 'Alcohol can cause or exacerbate muscle pains and digestive issues in people taking statins, and one should be aware of that,' he warns. 'The right thing to do is stop or reduce drinking, rather than stopping statins or other cholesterol-lowering medications.' At the same time, Dr Santos points out that while muscle aches are typically attributed to statins, clinical trials suggest that pains directly caused by a statin are quite rare, only occurring in 1-3 per cent of users. 'Muscle aches are sometimes reported by people on statins, but in many cases, they're caused by other factors, not the statin itself,' says Dr Jogiya. 'That said, alcohol can contribute to dehydration and may affect muscle function, which could make symptoms more noticeable.' One of the most serious statin concerns is a very rare side effect called rhabdomyolysis, or the complete breakdown of muscle cells, which occurs in 0.01 per cent of users. Dr Guttmann says that too much alcohol could also exacerbate this effect, but the overall chances of this happening are still very unlikely. Are there newer statins which have different affects with alcohol? Dr Guttmann says that if anyone is particularly concerned about statin-alcohol interactions, he would recommend taking either newer forms of the drugs such as pravastatin or rosuvastatin. 'While they're metabolised by the liver as well, it's not by the same enzymes, and therefore, there's a lower risk of liver-related effects,' he explains. How much booze is too much? So how much alcohol should you stick to? Dr Santos suggests that all statin users should aim to stay within the guidelines of seven units per week for women and 14 units for men, while Dr Guttmann says that drinking advice should take into account whether the patient has any other underlying liver conditions. 'It depends on other conditions: does the patient have fatty liver, or cirrhosis which is a very significant liver problem?' he says. 'Do they have hepatitis or any underlying muscle or kidney problems? Do they take any other medications, as lots of drugs also work on the liver, and sometimes a combination of things can be quite toxic. So all of this needs to be discussed with their doctor.' But overall, if a patient really wants to have the option to continue drinking alongside statins, Dr Guttmann says that the equivalent of one standard glass of wine per day is what he suggests as a general rule. 'This is usually what I would recommend,' he says. 'And you shouldn't drink every day, maybe have some gaps, but that should be OK.' Dr Jogiya says: 'In short – yes, but with care. Moderate alcohol consumption is unlikely to cause issues for most people taking statins, but it's important to look at the bigger picture. 'Statins are prescribed to protect long-term heart health, and drinking habits should ideally align with that goal. Occasional, moderate drinking, particularly when enjoyed with food and within recommended weekly limits, can usually be managed safely. I'd always recommend discussing it with a GP or pharmacist, especially if there are any concerns about side effects or liver function.' Dr Guttmann adds: 'Generally, if you have a little bit of alcohol, no more than a glass of wine a day, it's generally safe. I don't really come across people who have been advised not to have any alcohol at all with statins. But the bottom line is that moderation is really important. Heavy or chronic drinking will significantly increase your risk of statin-related problems.'
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Yahoo
Random Lake students accused of child sex assault; 1 makes court appearance
The Brief 17-year-old Cole Guttmann is charged as an adult in both Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties for child sexual assault. Both the defense and state say they are meeting this week to try to come to a resolution or a plea agreement. Prosecutors say a victim who was 10 at the time "described a number of occasions she was abused by Cole Guttmann." RANDOM LAKE, Wis. - One of the Sheboygan County teens charged with child sex assault and incest was in court on Monday, Feb. 17. He faces additional sexual assault charges in Ozaukee County. What we know 17-year-old Cole Guttmann is charged as an adult in both Sheboygan and Ozaukee counties. He and another teen, 16-year-old Spencer Dietrich, are facing multiple felonies after investigators say the teens forced two brothers to perform sexual acts on one another. Guttmann is facing the following charges: First-degree child sexual assault - sexual intercourse with a child under age 13 - as a party to a crime Second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16 years of age - as a party to a crime Incest - as a party to a crime (2 counts) Sexual exploitation of a child - filming - by person under 18 years of age Possession of child pornography Exhibition of child pornography by a person under the age of 18 SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News Dietrich is facing the following charges: First-degree child sexual assault - sexual intercourse with a child under age 13 - as a party to a crime Second-degree sexual assault of a child under 16 years of age - as a party to a crime Incest - as a party to a crime (2 counts) Physical abuse of child - intentionally cause bodily harm False imprisonment (2 counts) Felony intimidation of a victim (2 counts) The backstory Prosecutors say the assault happened in April 2023. The investigation started after prosecutors say an explicit video was going around the Random Lake School District in 2024. Prosecutors say the boy told his mom while he was playing at Guttman's house and Guttman and Dietrich "forced" one of the victims "to give oral sex to his brother" with the threat of violence. Investigators say one of the victims was punched, and the incident was videotaped. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android Prosecutors say both Guttmann and Dietrich told police the video was shared with "multiple people," which is what prompted a tense school board meeting last March. Also back in March, a parent sent a video of one of the teens arrested on school grounds at Random Lake High School. Dig deeper Guttmann is charged in an unrelated case in Ozaukee County from an incident prosecutors say happened in the summer of 2020. He's charged with two counts of first-degree child sexual assault with a person under the age of 13. Prosecutors say a victim who was 10 at the time "described a number of occasions she was abused by Cole Guttmann." What's next He'll be in court March 6 for that case. Both the defense and state say they are meeting this week to try to come to a resolution or a plea agreement. Then Guttmann will be back in court for the Sheboygan case on Thursday, Feb. 20. Meanwhile, Dietrich will be in court March 31 for a final pre-trial. The Source Information in this report is from the Sheboygan County District Attorney's Office, Wisconsin Circuit Court and FOX6 News coverage.
