Posted on 06/20/2019 7:53:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Last month, when Trump dispatched the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the Persian Gulf region, it was reportedly the Israeli Mossad that tipped off the U.S. on an Iranian plan to attack either a US or a US-allied target.
If so, the warning has already been borne out as just a week later Irantrying to bully and threaten its way out of the Trump administrations economic chokeholdattacked Norwegian, Emirati, and Saudi oil tankers, and last week attacked a Japanese and a Norwegian oil tanker.
Its not the first time Israeli intelligence has warned of impending attacks by Iran or by terror groups.
One of the most notable cases in recent years came when, in 2017, the Israeli armys Unit 8200 tipped off Australia on an ISIS plot to down a civilian plane.
Unit 8200 is a signals-intelligence outfit similar to the U.S. National Security Agency. In this case, after receiving exclusive intelligence from Unit 8200, Australian security forces arrested [in August] two men suspected of trying to place an improvised explosive device on an Etihad Airways flight out of Sydney in a plot directed by Islamic State.
An Australian police official called it one of the most sophisticated plots that has ever been attempted on Australian soil and said it could have led to a catastrophic event.
The next exploit came in June 2018 when the Mossad [gave] authorities in France, Germany, and Belgium crucial intelligence that led to arrests of a cell headed by an Iranian diplomat at the Austrian embassy in Vienna.
The terror cell also included two Belgian nationals and an alleged French accomplice who planned to bomb a June 30 conference organized by an Iranian dissident group. Here too the killing could have been large-scale as [a]bout 25,000 people [eventually] attended the rally in the Paris suburb of Villepinte.
Iran, of course, has a long history of terror attacks or attempted terror attacks on European soil. Later that year, Tehran was at it again with a plot to kill three Iranians in Denmark thought to belong to another antiregime dissident group.
This time, too, the Mossad stepped in and provided its Danish counterpart with information on the plot. The intelligence prompted the arrest of a Norwegian national of Iranian origin, and Denmark recalled its ambassador to Iran over the incident.
Now it turns out that, back in 2015, the Mossad also informed London of a huge bomb plot by Irans proxy Hizballahbut this rather interesting development was covered up.
Acting on the Mossad tipoff, UK security forces raided four properties in North West London, discovering thousands of disposable ice packs containing three tons of ammonium nitrate, a common ingredient in homemade bombs.
Britains Daily Telegraph, which broke the story, said the raid came just months after the UK joined the US and other world powers in signing the Iran nuclear deal, and speculated that it was hushed up to avoid derailing the agreement with Tehran, which is the main patron of Hezbollah.
The crucial role of Israeli intelligence in thwarting terror attacks, including large-scale catastrophic ones, does not mean, of course, that Israel wins popularity contests.
For instance, a BBC international poll of 26,000 people in 2013 found that, among 16 countries listed, the four least-liked were North Korea, Pakistan, Iran and Israel.
That mindset could be spreadingto some extentto young Americans. A 2016 Pew poll found 27 percent of millennialsup from 9 percent in 2006sympathizing with the Palestinians and only 43 percent sympathizing with Israel.
This despite the fact that Israel is a leader in fighting terror while the Palestinians, going back decades, have been innovators of terrorright up to the recent incendiary kites and balloons that burn forests and fields to a crisp.
Popular or not, though, Israeli intelligence will keep uncovering terror plots and other planned aggressions, and all of usIsraelis and non-Israelis alikeare the safer for it.
attacked Norwegian, Emirati, and Saudi oil tankers, and last week attacked a Japanese and a Norwegian oil tanker.
It sounds like Norway, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and the Emirates should impose sanctions on Iran.
/sarc - honestly? They should blow up a few of the Iranian Coast Guard/Navy vessels. Several, in fact.
WE however, should not do a damn thing about that; now, the drone? That’s a different ball of wax.
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I notice you left out all the setbacks they have been hit with like Stuxnet, scientist defections, western-assisted ‘accidents’ in Iran and its allied collaborators Syria and NK, and dead scientists... without which they would have their bomb just as Pakistan obtained theirs in the absence of action.
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