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Observer
4 days ago
- Politics
- Observer
The Mossad inside Iran: where were the nine bullets?
The recent Israeli-American strikes on Iran have reignited debates about a troubling reality: the Mossad's successful infiltration of Iranian territory and its ability to carry out precise and damaging operations deep inside the country. High-profile assassinations, targeted bombings, and the compromise of nuclear facilities raise serious questions about how Israeli intelligence has manoeuvred so freely, and why Iranian security agencies failed to detect and stop such breaches. Che Guevara once said, 'If you want to liberate a nation, load your gun with ten bullets — nine for the traitors within, and one for the external enemy. If not for the traitors, the enemy would never dare attack.' Guevara's statement encapsulates the Iranian dilemma. Tehran seems to have waited too long to aim those metaphorical nine bullets inward. Despite numerous arrests and even executions of alleged collaborators, the real players — those in influential positions — appear untouched. In a striking moment in 2021, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad revealed in a televised interview that Iran's top counterintelligence official was himself an Israeli spy. He highlighted how Mossad agents managed to steal truckloads of sensitive documents, questioning how such an operation passed through checkpoints unnoticed. The operation in question took place in January 2018, as confirmed by former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen in an interview with Israeli Channel 12. The stolen files related to Iran's nuclear and space programmes were later revealed by Israel as a major intelligence triumph. But rather than shake the Iranian establishment into a deep internal reckoning, these revelations were met with limited action. Assassinations of scientists continued. Explosions struck military sites. Israeli agents reportedly reached the very heart of Iran's Revolutionary Guard command. Following the most recent Israeli air strikes, Iranian authorities announced the arrest of 18 alleged Mossad operatives in Mashhad, accused of manufacturing suicide and reconnaissance drones. Reports suggest the plan had been to eliminate senior Iranian figures on the ground while Israel launched air strikes from above. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf later admitted that 'a large part of the enemy's operations are carried out through infiltrators from within.' While Tehran has now launched a campaign against espionage—with more than 700 arrests reported in 12 days — the sheer scale of infiltration points to a longstanding and well-entrenched network. The critical question now is: why do citizens become willing tools of foreign intelligence services? Iranian media argue that Mossad exploits economic hardship and social marginalisation, particularly among minorities. The use of encrypted apps and cryptocurrency helps facilitate the secure transfer of intelligence. Recruits, reportedly trained in countries like Georgia and Nepal, are equipped with tools and knowledge to operate covertly. And while poverty may explain the motivations of some, the more unsettling reality is the presence of wealthy and influential collaborators — those whose betrayals are not born of desperation but opportunism. Israel's deep interest in Iran is hardly a secret. According to Ronen Bergman's book 'Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations', Mossad's former chief Meir Dagan prioritised the Iranian nuclear threat when he assumed leadership in 2002. Dagan restructured the agency around two goals: preventing Iran's acquisition of nuclear capabilities and countering armed movements like Hezbollah and Hamas. His 2003 strategy included a combination of sabotage, assassinations, cyber warfare, support for opposition groups, and economic pressure. The story is all there in Bergman's book — published in 2018, well before the recent strikes. This brings us to a troubling question: with so much information already public, why wasn't Iran prepared? The conversation has now widened to include concerns across the region. Gulf nations are questioning their own security vulnerabilities, especially in light of reports that some Asian companies working in the Gulf have connections with Mossad. These revelations, surfacing after the Israeli strikes, raise alarm over potential breaches across multiple sectors, particularly as many Gulf states rely heavily on foreign contractors. The Iranian breach — despite the country's strong military and intelligence capabilities—sends a sobering message to the Gulf. It's not just the strength of your military that ensures security, but your vigilance against traitors within. Gulf citizens have voiced growing concerns online about 'fifth column' elements operating under the guise of expatriate labour or business partnerships. The fear is not just espionage, but betrayal from those benefiting from the country's wealth while working for its enemies. Ultimately, no foreign adversary can inflict such damage without help from within. It's not just the enemy at your door — it's the one already inside your house. Translated by Badr al Dhafri. The original version of this article was published in Arabic in the print edition of the Oman Daily newspaper on July 14. Zahir al Mahrouqi, Al Mahrouqi is an Omani writer and the author of 'The Road to Jerusalem'
Politico
7 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Trump envoy says hostage deal with Hamas is close
'They continue to hold out. Israel continues to kick their ass, and yet they still think they have leverage,' Boehler said. The special envoy also said that were a deal to fall through, it would be because of that hard headedness. Boehler also voiced optimism about the prospect of expanding the Abraham Accords — a series of agreements which saw several Arab countries formally recognize Israel for the first time. Even with Israel's wars across the Middle East in recent years, he said the agreements are holding up, adding that the administration is focused on expanding the agreements. 'The accords that we drove in President Trump's administration the first time, they held strong,' Boehler said. 'It was a totally different Middle East than if we had been in the war years before.' Boehler is the only member of the Trump administration speaking at the annual national security conference this year. Boehler's colleague, Ambassador to Turkey and Syria special envoy Tom Barrack, pulled out of his Friday speaking engagement at the conference at the last minute on Wednesday in light of Israeli strikes against the Syrian capital. More dramatically, the Pentagon on Monday pulled a series of senior military commanders and other Pentagon officials, arguing the conference does not align with the Defense Department's values. A Pentagon spokesperson, Kingsley Wilson, called the officially nonpartisan conference an 'evil den of globalism.' Boehler was not asked about the administration's near-boycott of the event, and he did not bring up the Pentagon's decision to pull its speakers. Asked by a reporter in the audience if the Biden administration should have begun directly negotiating with Hamas earlier in the conflict, he declined to comment. In his response, Boehler also pushed back on the suggestion that the U.S. made 'unilateral' deals with Hamas, saying: 'We always were working with the Israeli side.' Boehler was criticized by supporters of the Israeli government earlier this year for circumventing the Israeli government and negotiating directly with the militant group to secure the release of Edan Alexander, a dual Israeli-American citizen who was taken hostage during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.
Chicago Tribune
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: Grant Park Music Festival is lifted by an artist-in-residence and a poignant ‘Enigma Variations'
Everyone, it seems, needs to have an 'artist-in-residence' these days. Though lofty, the title, as interpreted in recent seasons by the Grant Park Music Festival and the Chicago Symphony, tends to overpromise. It's becoming industry parlance for 'has at least two bookings with us a season' — significant for the artist and presenter, maybe, but mostly a blip for audiences. Cellist Inbal Segev's residency with the Grant Park Music Festival, which concluded on Wednesday, felt closer to a fair billing. The Israeli-American cellist was here for just a week, but it was a packed one: a Pavilion concert on July 9 (playing Mark Adamo's 'Last Year,' a latter-day 'Four Seasons' inflected by climate change), a recital on July 13 which included some of her own music, and a masterclass on July 15, before concluding with another concert in the Pavilion on July 16. In grand-finale spirit, Segev dusted off Anna Clyne's 'Dance,' a calling card of hers, for the occasion. Not that she needed to do much dusting: Guest conductor Courtney Lewis noted in comments to the audience that, since Segev premiered the concerto in 2019, she has performed about half of its 80 performances since. That deep experience was manifest in Wednesday's performance. Like 'Masquerade,' another widely programmed piece by Clyne, 'Dance' dresses up centuries-old musical forms in 21st-century clothing — the placid round of the third movement, the striding ground bass of the fourth. But even amid more fervid movements like the second and fifth, Segev radiated calm confidence through their percussive chords and fingerboard-spanning dexterity. She often smiled encouragingly at Lewis, or, in the finale, at concertmaster Jeremy Black, with whom she swapped knotty, bluesy solos. Her coolheaded virtuosity soothed, even when the music didn't. As an encore, Segev brought the same tranquil command to the Sarabande from Bach's Cello Suite No. 3. Her sound was magisterial and rich, a full-bodied account — until the very end. On that final resolution, she quieted to a mere, otherworldly wisp, like a final wave from a distance. Lewis and the Grant Parkers were every bit as unflappable in their accompaniment. Voices in the orchestra step forth to double the cello here and there — a tricky alignment in any acoustic. But from my vantage in the Pavilion seating area, these all converged impeccably, most especially the ghostly bowed vibraphone supporting Segev's harmonics. Against 'Dance,' a frazzled 'Fledermaus' overture sounded like it might have gotten the short end of the rehearsal stick. Lewis's sudden, tensile beats left the orchestra guessing at subdivisions, nor did they give Strauss's beloved Viennese waltzes much freedom to bounce. Other gestures — scrunched shoulders, a finger to the lips to hush the orchestra — seemed patently superfluous for a group of Grant Park's caliber. But if Lewis spent Grant Park's blink-and-you-miss-it rehearsal time preparing his poignant 'Enigma Variations,' that was a worthy tradeoff. Lewis cultivated an entrancingly variegated ensemble sound, adding new dimension to even Elgar's most familiar strains. The yin-and-yang themes of 'R.P.A.' seemed somehow connected at the hip, rather than starkly juxtaposed. Later, the seafaring variation which Elgar laconically titled '***' — spurring avid speculation about whose initials, exactly, he was redacting — gained might the same way an ocean storm does: gradually at first, then all at once. Then, of course, there's 'Nimrod,' the piece's most famous excerpt. Strings played the opening with no vibrato, sounding for all the world like the stillness before daybreak. When the sun rose through mounting crescendos, the orchestra was bright but not blaring, the Grant Park brass offering sculpted support. The final variation, named for Elgar himself, likewise refused to be weighted down. The opening scampered with tricksterish levity; later on, when the movement cycles through vignettes from earlier in the piece, Lewis balanced the orchestra so that they sounded like flotsam bobbing in '***'s' surf. Now that's how you play the 'Enigma Variations.' A postscript: Inbal Segev's Grant Park week would have been even more packed, were it not for a day-of cancellation of her Monday recital repeat at the Columbus Park Refectory. Festival spokespeople explained the performance, co-presented by the Chicago Park District's 'Night Out in the Parks,' was canceled due to noise-bleed concerns from a 'Bike Night' hosted on the adjacent parking lot, an event they say the festival learned about that morning. In truth, Columbus Park has hosted hundreds for Bike Night every Monday all summer, complete with food-truck vendors, signage and traffic cops. The most generous read of the snafu suggests this was just an awkward breakdown in communication between the festival and the Parks District. It's worth noting, too, the Refectory building itself, where the concert was supposed to happen, was not double-booked, and was thus available on paper. But the broader cluelessness here from Grant Park strikes at a deeper issue, one certainly not unique to this festival. What, exactly, are arts organizations hoping to achieve through neighborhood events if they don't know all that much about the neighborhoods in question? The festival should take the fumble as a learning opportunity as its 'Night Out' partnership continues: July 17 at Olympia Park, July 24 at Indian Boundary Park, July 31 at Lake Shore Park, Aug. 7 at Jefferson Memorial Park and Aug. 14 at Lincoln Park Cultural Center. The Grant Park Music Festival continues July 18-19 with Augustin Hadelich playing Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion, 201 E. Randolph St. Free; more information and ticketed Pavilion seating at
Al-Ahram Weekly
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Al-Ahram Weekly
Turbulence in the Mashreq - World - Al-Ahram Weekly
It is not just the Occupied Palestinian Territories that are up for a major reshuffle — most of the Mashreq is also threatened with major shifts, reports Dina Ezzat Fewer than two days after his return from a visit to Washington, where he held three successive meetings with US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered intensified strikes by the Israeli occupation army on Gaza. On Sunday, the daily toll of Israeli strikes on Gaza saw the deaths of 100 Palestinians, including those hit in shelters and those eliminated while trying to get basic food aid. At the same time, the negotiations hosted in Doha between Hamas and Israel were moving from the phase of cautious hope to that of growing despair. Egyptian sources informed about the negotiations unfolding in the Qatari capital said this week that the chances of a prompt agreement on a temporary and partial truce in the war on Gaza are not imminent due to the 'typical' intransigence of the Israeli negotiating team. According to one source, 'the Israeli team did not go to Doha to negotiate but to put on the table a set of conditions, assuming that a weakened Hamas would succumb. This is not working and nor is the US pressure on both Qatar and Egypt to get Hamas to accept a deal that does not have as its basis a roadmap for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.' Another source said that what Israel is offering in Doha is 'close to nothing'. He explained that while Israel, 'under much international pressure', had agreed to allow the UN and humanitarian organisations to take over the distribution of aid after catastrophic violations against civilians, it has been suggesting lumping the Palestinians in the southernmost part of Gaza 'in isolated blocks with no connective axis or corridors'. The source said that the maps that Israel had put forward were not even subject to the consideration of Hamas. He added that the Egyptian delegation in Doha had shared its concern over these proposed maps, given that they clearly plan to cluster the Gaza population right next to the Egyptian border. 'Some may think that the Israeli-American plans to displace the Gazans have been dropped, but this is not true. The plan is still very much there,' a third source said. 'We know that it is there, and we know that it is not the only plan to change the realities on the ground in the Mashreq,' he added. According to this source, the talks that Netanyahu held in Washington from Monday to Friday last week did not produce any serious commitment to move towards the 60-day truce that Trump has been and is still promising. However, he added, the talks had included 'new understandings' with regards to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iran. On Iran, he said, 'it is clear' that Netanyahu had managed to convince the US president that there should be no interdiction of a new round of Israeli, and possibly American, strikes against Iran. Netanyahu's message in Washington, he added, was that the strikes that Israel and the US had conducted against Iran's nuclear and military facilities had not fully eliminated the chances of Iran restarting an ambitious nuclear programme and that it might be necessary for Israel 'to finish the job'. On Syria, the same source said that Netanyahu had received American assurances to support direct Israeli-Syrian talks to reach a new security agreement to replace the 1974 disengagement deal that Israel violated in December last year on the fall of the regime of former Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. The Israeli-Syrian meeting in Baku on Sunday this week, according to a regional diplomatic source, saw some significant progress on the path that has already been unfolding for a few weeks. 'I don't think that we are very far from a new security deal between Syria and Israel. It could happen this summer,' he said. This deal, he added, would take some of the pressure off the back of the new Syrian regime of Interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa, who is faced with considerable internal problems, including the major issue of the Syrian Kurds who are still in control of considerable segments of northern and eastern Syria. Last week, Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and envoy to Syria and Lebanon, said that the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US-backed Kurdish militant group, are not close to a deal that would allow for the government of Syria to regain the territories that had been under the control of the SDF prior to the fall of Al-Assad and for the SDF to be integrated within the national Syrian army. In Cairo, where communication with the new regime in Damascus has been ultra-cautious, there is concern that with or without a deal with the SDF Damascus is bound to go through a significant transformation. None of the sources who spoke on the issue shared the details of this concern. However, one suggested a possible 'federation situation' that would eventually make Syria subject to conflicting regional influences, not excluding that of Israel which has some close contacts with the SDF. In Cairo there is also concern about the chances for stability in Lebanon with the failure of the talks between Hizbullah and the government in Beirut to reach a deal on the disarmament of Hizbullah north of the Litani River and the continued Israeli threats against and strikes on the country. According to a Beirut-based diplomatic source, Hizbullah has demonstrated considerable flexibility in the talks that have been conducted during the past few weeks, especially during the past week 'where it agreed to things that would have been considered red lines before, including being subject to the scrutiny of the Lebanese army.' However, the source added that in return for the flexibility it has demonstrated on the disarmament question, Hizbullah has insisted that the US should provide clear-cut guarantees to end the Israeli occupation of villages in south Lebanon and to end all Israeli strikes against targets south and north of the Litani River. 'So far, the US has failed to provide such guarantees, and it is possible that these will not come about because Netanyahu has no plans to pull out troops from the five posts where his army is still stationed in the south of the country,' the source said. He added that instead the US has been putting pressure on Hizbullah to agree to disarm without securing the Israeli withdrawal. In a highly controversial statement this week, Barrack said that if the government of Lebanon failed to manage the Hizbullah disarmament it might face the threat of falling under the reign of the Bilad Al-Sham (the historic Greater Syrian Region). In Lebanon, there was no appreciation for the explanation Barrack offered of this comment, when he said that he had only meant to praise Syria for its realpolitik choices that released it from US sanctions. Lebanese commentators argued that Barrack knew very well what he was saying and that he had meant to threaten the Lebanese government. They noted that the remarks of the US envoy had come shortly after his visit to Beirut, where he shared a plan to disarm Hizbullah. 'The fact of the matter is that Syria, under the new regime, has not been responsive to repeated Lebanese demands for a proper demarcation process,' said the Beirut-based diplomatic source. Meanwhile, in Amman there is growing anxiety about an Israeli plan to dismantle three refugee camps in the West Bank to allow for more territories for Israeli illegal settlement construction and to force the displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank into Jordan. According to a Middle East-based European diplomat, this issue is not a secret. He said that it is something that the Americans had discussed with the Jordanians. He added that it is also something that the Israelis had discussed with the Jordanians. 'Obviously, for the Jordanian monarchy this is a nightmare,' he said. 'Jordan has been pushing back, but it is not very clear how far it can do so,' he added. * A version of this article appears in print in the 17 July, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly Follow us on: Facebook Instagram Whatsapp Short link:
Days of Palestine
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
Euro-Med Demands Prosecution of Trump, Shutdown of GHF Over Aid Massacres
DayofPal– Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor is calling for the immediate closure of the Israeli-American Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and the prosecution of U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing both of complicity in acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip. In a sharply worded statement, the rights group accused Israel, the United States, and complicit governments of systematic war crimes and crimes against humanity, particularly at aid distribution points that have become deadly zones for desperate Palestinian civilians. According to Euro-Med, these sites, managed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation with the support of Israeli forces and American private security contractors, have been turned into 'arenas of mass slaughter.' The group said the foundation has replaced a United Nations-administered aid mechanism and now operates under Israeli military authority, which it says is illegitimate under international law. The organization insists these distribution points are no longer humanitarian spaces but 'deliberately designed' killing zones. Euro-Med cited a deadly incident in the Al-Shakoush area north of Rafah city, where on a recent Saturday morning, 30 civilians were killed and over 180 wounded near one such distribution point. This occurred after Israel reportedly shut down three other aid centres, forcing tens of thousands of starving people into a single area. The group says the event is part of a broader 'systematic starvation policy' by Israel. Field testimonies gathered by Euro-Med indicate that private American security personnel working for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation opened fire and launched tear gas at gathered civilians, acting in coordination with Israeli soldiers. Video footage reviewed by the organization shows foundation-affiliated guards throwing grenades directly at unarmed civilians. 'There is a large pit roughly 1,000 metres before the entrance to the aid point, which civilians use to hide before the gate opens. Today, we were surprised to see three sand mounds opposite the pit, but as usual, people entered the pit. Once it was full of civilians, we were shocked to see three tanks mount the mounds, each armed with machine guns and accompanied by around 30 heavily armed infantry soldiers and snipers,' a survivor described the events to Euro-Med investigators. He continued: 'They began by firing several stun grenades over the people in the pit. When people tried to flee, anyone who attempted to get out was shot at directly. Crowds poured out of the pit, and the tanks opened heavy fire directly at them. Some bullets passed through multiple people at once due to the density of the crowd and proximity of the tanks. All of this happened between 8:30 and 9:30 this morning.' Euro-Med states that in just under two months, Israeli forces and American private security operatives have killed at least 829 Palestinians and injured approximately 5,500 near these distribution points. The foundation, presented publicly as a humanitarian aid organization, is accused of acting as a front for policies of siege, starvation, and military control. The statement further accused President Trump, through direct support of this aid model and provision of military, financial, and political backing, is criminally complicit in the alleged genocide. Euro-Med is urging international and national courts to hold Trump and other involved U.S. and Israeli officials accountable. 'Even in cases where a threat is alleged,' the group noted, 'international law does not legally justify the use of lethal force. Security forces are bound by international legal standards to follow the principle of proportionality and gradual escalation in the use of force.' Euro-Med argues that Israel is using starvation as a method of warfare and that its control over humanitarian aid distribution is a violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law. The organization added that these violations rise to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, and that they meet the legal definition of genocide under Article II of the Genocide Convention. 'Israel, which is using starvation as a central tool in carrying out the crime of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza… cannot, under any circumstance, be regarded as a legitimate party in any humanitarian operation,' the statement continued. The group is also calling for independent international investigations into the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, including potential prosecutions of its founders, directors, logistics coordinators, and contracted security firms. It called on countries with universal jurisdiction to launch immediate criminal investigations into individuals associated with the Foundation. Euro-Med further recommends civil litigation in national courts to secure compensation for victims and their families. 'This includes deaths, physical and psychological injuries, and the forced deprivation of the right to life, food, and dignity,' the statement said. The Monitor urged the international community to apply maximum diplomatic, economic, and military pressure on Israel to stop its military involvement in humanitarian aid distribution and to lift the blockade on Gaza. It also called for the implementation of International Criminal Court arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, a comprehensive weapons embargo, and the suspension of financial, trade, and security cooperation with Israeli entities and officials. In closing, the group demanded urgent international intervention to restore humanitarian access to Gaza under neutral, independent oversight, stressing the need for immediate protection of civilians and adherence to international legal standards. Shortlink for this post:
