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Israeli ’False Flag’ Terror Operations Exposed

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Noted author Mark Perry has published a devastating exposé of yet another criminal Mossad operation in the Jan. 13 issue of the online journal Foreign Policy. What Perry revealed, based on CIA memos from the latter years of the Bush-Cheney Administration, is that the Israeli Mossad agents were recruiting terrorists from the Baluchistan region of Pakistan to carry out attacks inside Iran, and were claiming to be with the CIA. Such an operation is called a "false flag," and it can be a source of tremendous damage to all parties. In the case exposed by Perry, Mossad agents, using American passports, and paying in U.S. dollars, recruited members of the Jundallah, a Sunni radical organization that has carried out dozens of attacks inside Iranian territory, particularly in the area of Iran that borders the Baluchistan province of Pakistan.

According to Perry’s CIA and Pentagon sources, in 2007 and 2008, Mossad agents operating in Britain were caught running the false CIA recruitment of Jundallah members. Details of the "false flag" operation were reported to the then-CIA Director of Operations, Stephen Kappes, and ultimately, President Bush was personally briefed on the incident. Although Bush was reportedly furious at the Israelis, he took no action.

One of the CIA officers aware of the Mossad recruiting in London, told Perry, "It’s amazing what the Israelis thought they could get away with. Their recruitment activities were nearly in the open. They apparently didn’t give a damn what we thought."

Gen. Joseph Hoar (USMC, ret.), the former head of the Central Command, commented on the Jundallah "false flag" program to Perry. "This certainly isn’t the first time this has happened, though it’s the worst case I’ve heard of. But while false-flag operations are hardly new, they’re extremely dangerous. You’re basically using your friendship with an ally for your own purposes. Israel is playing with fire. It gets us involved in their covert war, whether we want to be involved or not."

The timing of the Perry revalations is very relevant, given the imminent threat of war in the Persian Gulf, the spate of assassinations of Iranian nuclear physicists, and persistent Israeli threats to launch a preventive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Last year ABC News and other news outlets published stories, claiming the U.S. was giving covert support to Jundallah, claims that were strongly denied by the U.S. State Department. In November 2010, Jundallah was placed on the State Department’s list of international terrorist organizations.

It should be recalled that Israel has a long history of engaging in state-sponsored terrorism, both through direct Mossad operations, and through recruitment of terrorists. For years there were rumors that Abu Nidal was a Mossad asset. Rafi Eytan, who headed the Lekem scientific espionage bureau that recruited and ran Jonathan Jay Pollard, had earlier been the head of a unit in the Prime Minister’s Office called Terror Against Terror, a state-sanctioned hit squad that assassinated targeted enemies of Israel.