

Israeli spies in Lebanon

Not such a success

A round-up of Israeli spies

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Mossad has clearly lost its competitive advantage in running effective intelligence operations. Israel's best plan now is to get a peace deal as quickly as possible before its circumstances deteriorate any further. They should quit while they are ahead.


It is interesting and rather a sorry state how no paper can write anything critical of any aspect of Israeli life without being accused of being anti-israel. The reported story here is true. The Lebanese security forces have been very successful in catching Israeli spyrings in the country. They have in part been aided by the technology and techniques introduced by the international investigation team in the assissination of the late prime minister Hariri. In fact, Wissam Eid, a Lebanese intelligence officer, who is said to have advanced these techniques for the benefit of the ongoing investigation was not surprisingly assissinated.

This is not about whether Jewish people are not superior humanbeings and Israel does not have an above normal superior flawless society and organisation, it is simply about technology becoming more available, pervaisive and easier to master.


Judging by the most recent events in Lebanon and Dubai, the laughable attempt in 2006 to destroy Hezbollah entirely from the skies and the war on Gaza that produced official charges of war crimes on an international scale, the Mossad's reputation seems built on PR more than actual beneficial outcomes for Israel.

Graeme A

the Lebanese made extravagant claims about various captures and these are being taken up as is by the media - then and now.
Assuming that all is correct - we know about the ones they caught - but we don't know about the ones they haven't caught!
Another piece of sleuth journalism - the officer who killed himself from 8200. This unit conducts its operations inside Israel, its role is SIGINT and COMINT which has nothing whatsoever to do with running spies in Arab countries.
Israel has never suffered from poor intelligence barring the Yom Kippur war. The 2006 war in Lebanon showed how Israels target intelligence was quite outstanding, let alone other alleged intances such as the Syrian reactor, the arms convoy in Sudan or the arch terrorist Mournieh having his head blown off.
After the next round with Lebanon and/or Syria we will be able to Judge Israel's intelligence.
Will The Economist run an article on the quality of Israeli intelligence then?
I guess we know the answer.


I am skeptical of the large numbers of arrested spies. It seems like many were low level operatives or were framed as agents to settle political scores, especially the army general.

Israel was successful dealing with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. Sheikh Nasralah admitted he would not have launched the rockets if he new the Israeli response. Israel did not do as well as they hoped, but did much better than was admitted with the proof being a significant drop in rocket attacks.

The Dubai assassination was successful because the target is dead. America assassinates people all the time with drone missiles. There are few complaints now that Obama is doing it and more than Bush.

Modern war crimes are victor's justice and a mirage to be used for political advantage. War is brutal and many suffer, but that is the fault of their leaders. Crimes against humanity should be reserved for truly heinous actions and deliberately targeting the innocent. It does not apply when Hamas and the Taliban hide among civilians.


I am constantly surprised (I should be used to it by now) that so many of my jewish friends who i dearly love and are some of the most humane, friendly, funny, intellectual, analytical, and ojective people you could possibly meet, except when it comes to Israel, when they become irrational, hypersensitive to criticism, and singularly lacking in objectivity and rational thought.

A leading jewish intectual the other day described much of the jewish (even secular Jewish) despora's attitude to Israel as akin to fundamentalist attitude to religion - they believe and defend anyway no matter how much objective evidence is put in front of them.

It is only when the world jewish commnity wakes up that when they finally make peace will all the international criticism of Israel will dissappear: peace with Syria, peace with Lebanon, peace with Saudi Arabia, peace with the Palestinians - indeed peace with the whole of the Arab world. That will invlove though returning to the pre-1967 boundaries, pulling back from settlements, and sharing Jerusalem. Once that is done then the international community will gladly fund a huge international peace keeping force and everyone can get on with the job of building long term prosperity. Only then will the region as a whole isolate and neutralise rogue states like Iran.

The Arab world has no interest in Iran obtaining nuclear weapons - why should they? when it is their most bitter traditional enemy.

Graeme A

This story is such old news - from many months ago.
Remanufactured to heap it onto the bandwagon.
And Hitchiker71 the only people who ever mention (or never cease to mention) the supposed superiority of the Jews in any aspect are those that hate them.
By this you have shown your true colors.
The fact is - Israelis are more than comfortable with all aspects of the performance of its various intelligence branches in particular and the IDF in general - what certain individuals in the European media and public rant about is for European entertainment alone.


>mikes_2010 wrote: Mar 1st 2010 2:51 GMT ..... many of my jewish friends who i dearly love and are some of the most humane, friendly, funny, intellectual, analytical, and ojective people you could possibly meet, except when it comes to Israel, when they become irrational, hypersensitive to criticism, and singularly lacking in objectivity and rational thought.

If you watch the American people's behavior during the 9/11, and the Detroit auto workers during the height of Japanese car invasion, the reactions of your Jewish friends about Israel should come as no surprise at all – It is called “National Interests”.
BTW, it is well known that Israel also has nuclear weapons, but yet both the US and Israel refuse to allow Iran to develop it, even went as so far as to threaten war, and the US has being working really hard on sanctioning Iran for what the US perceived as nuclear weapon development. That kind of double-standard will certainly impact the US in its efforts in the middle east as world leader


My friends it seems that every discussion of anything Israel related just devolves into a meaningless argument over Israel's basic legitimacy. Why is this? Can we stay on topic for once?

That being said, as someone who lives in Israel myself these kind of reports from the Arab world are nothing new. If we took everything the Arab media said as true then Egypt would have conquered Tel Aviv several days into the Six Day War, when they lost the entire Sinai Peninsula in several days, and Shin Bet (The Israeli equivalent of the FBI) would have no foothold in Gaza or the West Bank because newly discovered "collaborators" are killed on an almost monthly basis.

Fortunately, none of this is true and I have reason to believe that this may not be either. I am a bit surprised by the Economist's lack of objectivity concerning this matter. Regardless, we may never know for sure. The dark world of Intelligence services, especially in the Middle East, is so secret that I almost feel main stream media reporters should be required to put a disclaimer before all such reports: "This following story is impossible to verify, it may very well be false, and we honestly do not know what we are talking about but feel the need to report on it anyway."

Chag Sameach and Happy Purim to you all, whether you like my country or not!


@ mikes_2010
@ SongTao

The "Palestinians" do not want peace with Israel, and have not ONCE showed a willingness to compromise to achieve it. Had they wanted it, they could have had their own state many times over already.

The only "objective evidence" regarding the "palestinians" always points to the same conclusion:
Their goal is the destruction of all Israel (67 borders are of no interest to them).
Their means are murder (of men, women, and children) when they have the possibility, and playing the victim when they can't.

The same for Iran - unlike Israel, Iran has signed the NPT, which makes their development of nuclear weapons illegal. Iran also repeatedly threatens to use these weapons - something Israel has never done.

But I guess it's all the same to you.


Destruction of "secret" (and completely illegal) Syrian nuclear plant, assassinating at will of "Palestinian" and Lebanese terrorists (such as Mournieh and Mabhouh), destruction of all of Hizbullah's hidden long range rockets within the first 48 hours of the 2006 war....
It seems the one thing Israel does not lack is good intelligence.
Economist, what point are you trying to make?

JC Strauss

It seems that old claims of Israeli spies being caught are treated here as absolute fact. This is poor journalism manufactured to try to give more "incite" into the Mossad, since it is such a hot topic as of late. Also, several readers here seem to look at the U.S. as hypocritical for condemning Iran for trying to develop weapons while staying silent on Israel having weapons. To make such an argument is faulty. Israel has never threatened to destroy any other country and its development of nuclear weapons has not led to the proliferation of nuclear programs. If Iran develops these weapons Egypt along with many other countries will start nuclear programs of their own and I believe we can all agree more countries with the nuclear option and nuclear know how in the world wont increase international security.

Tall Will

Mikes_2010 got it right, concisely.

Tinelva, Arabs DO want peace with Israel, with dignity and justice. You can have the land or you can have peace; you cannot have both. Confront your own religious fanatics on the West Bank, who want Eretz Israel from the Med to the Jordan River, are contemptuous of all Palestinians' claims to the land, and vow never to surrender a single inch of the West Bank, before you deign to say "the Palestinians are not interested in peace with Israel".

You are the occupier, the oppressor. Get out! Now.


@ Brat_Nass

mikes_2010 claims all Israel has to do is "make peace with Syria/Lenbanon/etc".
My point is that such a solution is not possible since these countries, as well as "Palestinians", are not interested in peace with Israel.
My proof is simple - whenever an Arab country had honestly wanted peace with Israel - it got it (Egypt, Jordan, Morrocco, etc)

Just throwing the word "propaganda" in the air is not a valid argument. I prefer basing my claims on facts.


To Graeme A.:

Yes the Jews are neither superior nor flawless so stop attacking journalists/media outlets who highlight Israel's shortcomings and flaws. The rest of your post is useless and just proves my point so I won't comment.

For those who think Israel generates more than it deserves of bad press, my answer is that it is like everything Middle Eastern, it is always in the news and many such news are unfortunately bad news. Had Israel did not assassinate (committing extra-judicial crime on foreign soils) in Dubai, the world media would have been focusing on the Israel's tennis player's wins in Dubai instead.

Instead of lamenting your sorry state in the news and accusing others of being anti this and anti that, perhaps you should begin some real soul searching instead.



the same can be said about supportive articles covering israel - readers acuse them of being pro-israel.

I think its more interesting that there are just so many articles on israel, the magnet of international double standards...


The Mossad is going to have to step up its game, and do so real fast. Their Dubai operation was successful (as the target is dead), but a very high price was paid. They now have a large number of agents whose pictures are known, and thus can't leave Israel. It is hard for me to say how many Mossad officers have been fingered from their admittedly disguised photos, but modern surveilance and recognition technology are almost universally available, and the world is highly networked. If dozens of Lebanese spies were caught from the signals emitted from Israeli devices, it shows that Israel has become complacent and has allowed its edge to deteriorate. From now on they should assume that everyone else in the world is against them, and that the best foreign technology is available to all. In fact, the Obama Administration IS against them, and they should realize this also.


OK, Mossad has many successful assassinatons in the past including hunting down those Palestinians responsible for the Munich Olympic killings of Israeli athletes, and so called “Targeting Killing” – Assassination by any other names, has been carried out by both Mossad and IDF on Palestinian leaders including Yasat Arafat; but it also has very humiliating and outright internationally embarrassing failures such as this.

If Israel continue this approach of “targeting killing”, there will be more of Mossad actions being exposed one way or the other, that has been proven statistically speaking, no secrets can be kept if too many such actions are taken, no matter it is CIA/FBI, KGB or Mossad. That is just a scientific fact.

Now on the after mass impact from those assassinations, well, it sure will backfired as illustrated now from the angry EU and Australia responses. Whether it will have any long term effect? Certainly now in the diplomatic front given the close relationship between Israel and the West, but it sure will have impact on Mossad going forward. I’ll bit Mossad is internally investigating the action, and someone is going to be responsible for the failure of this action.



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