Imperialism likes to foster a number of images of itself, all of which supply subliminal messages to the public about the way we are governed and ‘protected’. One that is perpetually doing the rounds in TV and film propaganda is that imperialism’s secret security operatives dally with danger, facing almost insurmountable odds, as individual agents heroically defend freedom (democracy) by battling vast networks of evil (these evil forces are usually Russian, Korean, Chinese, middle-eastern – or thinly-disguised intergalactic versions of one of the former).
But the Hollywood adventure is a long way from the CCTV reality. In February, Israel sent upwards of 26 well-paid professional killers to suffocate one unarmed man in his hotel room. The murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai has once again exposed Israel as a terrorist state; ruthless in its approach and careless of reprisals in the way it seeks to expand its borders and wipe out the Palestinian people and their resistance to occupation.
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was widely acclaimed to be the man responsible for the success of Hamas’s armed resistance against Israeli aggression.
Newspapers after his murder were quick to report on his importance as the senior commander responsible for procuring rockets and weapons for the Palestinians in the defence of their homeland. He had been at the top of Israel’s wanted list for nearly twenty years.
The Daily Mail reported that he was in Dubai to put the finishing touches to an arms deal, although all that Hamas have confirmed is that he was ‘on a mission’. When he arrived in Dubai and checked into his hotel, at least 17 assassins were on hand, dressed up as hotel porters, tennis-playing tourists and golfers, and all using fake passports, which stole the identities of a number of British, Canadian and Irish nationals.
Al-Mabhouh was travelling alone and, after being followed to his hotel room, was apparently drugged and suffocated. His killers left the country within hours.
Imperialist-zionist alliance
As 11 of the agents had been using false EU passports, the EU has had no choice but to respond with a show of outrage, including the almost unprecedented expulsion of a senior Israeli ‘diplomat’ from London, but the fact of the matter is that EU countries like Britain, Germany and Italy maintain close relations with Israel, will certainly continue to do so, and would even like to bind Israel in more formalised structures than are already the case to the EU!
There is little chance of any real, as opposed to theatrical or cosmetic, diplomatic tension between these imperialist powers and their most important stooge and attack dog in the Middle East. Indeed, some will remember how Mossad left a number of British passports in a German telephone box after one operation in the 1980s, with Britain expressing little more than agitation (or embarrassment).
In reality, all the recent fuss over ‘identity theft’ is a smokescreen designed to hide from the eyes of the public the brutal, corrupt and thoroughly illegal way Israel has dealt with the suffering Palestinian masses and their legitimate political representatives. Indeed, as far as issues of ‘identity theft’ are concerned, if the truth is known British imperialism in all likelihood helped to provide the Israelis with these identities, such is the cosy relationship between two of the world’s most aggressive terrorist states.
Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, played down fears of a diplomatic rift with Britain: “I think Britain recognises that Israel is a responsible country and that our security activity is conducted according to very clear, cautious and responsible rules of the game. Therefore we have no cause for concern.”
Britain certainly knows all the “rules of the game”, and has never been afraid to make them up as it goes along, be it in Fallujah or Belfast! As Tony Blair himself infamously said: “The rules of the game have changed.” Indeed, the only rule imperialism understands is the rule of force, and the diplomacy of the gun.
In the US, Workers World correctly labelled Mossad as gangsters and gave an accurate assessment of its operations in an article published 28 February:
“The Mossad operates under the Israeli flag, a flag tied up completely with the brutal suppression of an entire people. Thus these gangsters have become specialists in suppression and repression of popular rebellion. Mossad agents are sent all over the globe, providing advice and training to repressive states, for example, to Colombia and other pro-US countries in Latin America where a large US presence in this role might awaken mass anger.
“The Israelis offer this training as part of their contribution to maintaining imperialist domination over the world and in return for other support. The imperialists and their Israeli clients stick together in jointly suppressing liberation struggles.”
The murder of al-Mabhouh is part of the wider onslaught of imperialism, and al-Mabhouh’s resistance is part of a much wider resistance to imperialism. The world anti-imperialist front stretches across the globe, and the Middle East is on the front line, as are the socialist countries and the progressive governments in Latin America. Notwithstanding setbacks suffered from time to time, the anti-imperialist struggle cannot but be victorious:
Success of murderous campaign doubtful
In an article in the Financial Times of 26 February, David Gardner lamented that Israel’s policy of dealing with political issues by murdering opponents invariably does more harm than good. For example, he mentioned that “by assassinating PLO leader Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in Tunis in 1988”, Israel removed “a weighty restraint on Yasser Arafat”, and it “scored an own goal by killing Hizbollah chief Abbas Mussavi in 1992; his successor, the wily and charismatic Hassan Nasrallah, has become Israel’s deadliest enemy. Israel even managed to network its enemies shortly afterwards, summarily expelling 400 Hamas and intifada activists and depositing them on the Lebanese border. As an aide to the late Yitzhak Rabin would ruefully observe, ‘we might as well have sent them to Hizbollah’s university’.”
The article went on to say that the 1982 invasion of Lebanon that drove the PLO out of that country also created Hizbollah. Gardner was forced to admit that “it does Israel’s cause no good to encourage the perception that it is a rogue state”.
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