Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense

Israel intel chief hints at role in Syrian nuclear facility bombing

November 3, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Amos Yadlin

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
Israel’s outgoing senior military intelligence chief has implied that Israel had a role in a mystery 2007 bombing of an undisclosed Syrian government facility, which is widely believed to have been a nuclear reactor. Speaking on Tuesday before the Knesset’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Amos Yadlin, who heads Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, referred to having overseen intelligence operations against two nuclear programs during his tenure. Delivering a public statement before the Committee, Yadlin noted that he had “been through two wars and […] contended with two nuclear programs of enemy states”. Security observers consider this an indirect reference to Operation ORCHARD, the 2007 attack carried out by Israeli fighter jets in the night of September 6, 2007. The target location was Al-Kibar, a site deep in the Syro-Arabian Desert, twenty miles from Deir al-Zour. Neither Syria nor Israel have directly commented on the attack, which is widely thought to have targeted a Syrian nuclear reactor. Read more of this post

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with Al-Kibar (Syria), Al-Kibar nuclear reactor (Syria), Amos Yadlin, Deir al-Zour (Syria), Israel, Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Meir Dagan, Middle East, Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel), Mossad, News, operation ORCHARD, Syria, Syrian nuclear program

News you may have missed #378

June 28, 2010 by intelNews Leave a comment

Knesset thanks Hamas leader’s son for spying for Israel. The Israeli Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee has sent a letter of thanks to Mosab Hassan Yousef, son of Hamas West Bank leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, who from 1998 to 2007 spied for Israel’s Shin Bet security service.
Analysis: Will McChrystal’s intel staff survive his exit? In the shock wave following General Stanley McChrystal’s abrupt summons from Kabul, there were rumors in special operations circles that his senior staff had been relieved of duty, too. But the fevered buzz appears to have been false, or at least premature.
Iran embassy dismisses Czech report on weapons smuggling. The Iranian embassy in Prague has criticized the Czech counterintelligence’s (BIS) 2009 annual report, which says that Iran strove to gain access to component parts that can be used in the production of mass destruction weapons.

Filed under A specialized intelligence website written by experts, since 2008 Tagged with 0 Analysis: Will McChrystal's intel staff survive his exit?, 0 Iran embassy dismisses Czech report on weapons smuggling, 0 Knesset thanks Hamas leader's son for spying for Israel, Czech Republic, Czech Security Information Service (BIS), espionage, Hamas, Iran, Iranian embassy in the Czech Republic, Israel, Knesset Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense, Mosab Hassan Yousef, News, news you may have missed, Palestine, Prague (Czech Republic), Shin Bet, Stanley McChrystal, United States, weapons smuggling, West Bank

Israel becoming a burden to the US, says Mossad chief

June 2, 2010 by intelNews 1 Comment

Meir Dagan

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS | intelNews.org |
The director of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad has publicly stated the agency’s concerns that Israel is gradually turning from an asset to a burden for American foreign policy. Speaking before the Israeli Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Meir Dagan said it was obvious to him that “Israel is gradually turning from an asset to the United States to a burden”. The former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) commander, who has led the Mossad since 2002, remarked that every year since the end of the Cold War there are progressively “fewer Israeli assets in the US”. The importance of Israel in US foreign policy was “greater when there was conflict between the blocs”, said the Mossad chief, “while this year there has [again] been a decrease” in Israel’s significance. He went on to lament the 2008 election success of US President Barack Obama, which was “a declaration that [the US] was adopting a softer approach and did not want to use force to solve conflicts”. Read more of this post