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4. Intelligence Veteran: Al-Mabhouh Hit Team was Aware of Camerasby Gil Ronen
The security camera footage of the assassins who eliminated Hamas terrorist Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh did not surprise the operation's planners, according to Menachem Landau, a former senior officer in the Israel Security Agency (also known as Shin Bet).
Speaking to Arutz Sheva's Hebrew news magazine, Landau was careful to note that he does not know who carried out the assassination, but said that “there is no doubt that whoever did it is a professional.”
"He did a good job,” he added. The speculation that Mossad was behind the operation improved Mossad's status, Landau estimated: “Ambiguousness is power,” he said. “It undoubtedly raises the level of deterrence.”
"All the people who yammer, I would say, about the matter, saying there was a foul-up – are talking nonsense,” he said. “When you prepare for an operation of this sort – any organization that prepares for this kind of operation, it is not as if someone gets up in the morning and gets on a plane and does what he does.”
'A very nice success'
Landau said that preparations for an operation such as this include checking out the territory, collecting information and determining which paths of arrival and escape are optimal. Regarding the security footage and passport photos which allegedly embarrassed Mossad, Landau opined that the photos had been altered in advance: “I have no doubt that whoever did this knew that there are cameras, and I have no doubt that all of the people and photographs that we see are not look alikes of the original subjects...you definitely do not have the real names.”
The operation, he summed up, was “a very nice success.”
Landau served in the ISA for 32 years and reached a rank comparable to that of a major general in the IDF. The ISA operates primarily within Israel, including Judea and Samaria, while Mossad operates in other countries.
Arutz Sheva
Labels: Israel, Middle East, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, March 02, 2010
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