Wikileaks Embarrassing Palestinian Authority

The JPost reports on this interesting WikiLeak:

Top Fatah members aligned with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas asked Israel to attack Hamas ahead of its violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin told the American ambassador to Israel, according to a US diplomatic cable published on Monday by Wikileaks.

The disclosure could embarrass Abbas and his Fatah movement, which Hamas has accused of working with the Israelis. Abbas’s standing among Palestinians has already been weakened by his failure to make progress in peacemaking with Israel.

PA President Abbas is trying to spin damage control, claiming the "leak" is all an Israeli-masterminded Shin Bet Plot, designed to embarrass the PA.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank strongly denied on Tuesday that its representatives had asked Israel to attack Hamas in 2007.

Fatah claimed that a recent WikiLeaks revelation, to the effect that Fatah had sought Israel’s help to fight Hamas, was a “conspiracy” by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). (JPost)

The PA's claims are about as believable as Egypt's claims that Israel's Mossad spy agency was behind killer shark attacks off of Egypt's Sinai peninsula.

The real reason for the embarrassment is that the PA's Constitution claims that "The principles of Islamic Sharia are a major source for legislation [in Palestine]." It doesn't look that great for the PA and Abbas, when they turn to the Zionist Infidel to knock off other Sharia-fearing Muslims.

Oops. I bet Haaretz would be upset at this leak as well.

Visiting Israel?
Learn to Shoot at Caliber-3 with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Tit for Tat, and then some.

IDF Radio reported today a decision from last week: "As a confidence building measure with the Palestinian Authority, the IDF Central Command is now allowing Israeli tour guides to bring tourists groups into Bethlehem. The IDF Command and civil administration with soon evaluate if to allow Israeli tourism into the PA-controlled city as well."

Following the above report, IDF radio continued: In response to the IDF's outstretched good-will gesture, a Bethlehem Palestinian attempted to stab Israeli civilians at the Gush Etzion junction. The terrorist was apprehended by IDF forces from the combat Kfir Brigade; they confiscated his knife and he was transferred over to Israel's Police. (source, IDF Spokesman)

Regardless, the Palestinian Authority was relieved that they too received a call from the US State Department, that they were also mentioned among the WikiLeaks CableGate files.

"They aren't making a big deal out of it, and they hope we won't either," a senior Palestinian official told Ma'an, speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. "But when they're telling us 'Don't overreact,' that basically translates as 'There's something you're not going to like.'"

According to the message from the US, some of the leaked cables will confirm assumptions about America's support for Israel over the Palestinians in the peace process. They will also articulate Washington's stance against the inter-Palestinian reconciliation talks, the PA has been told.

But as far as the Palestinians are concerned, the expected disclosure will confirm more US policy than it exposes, the source said. "It's already known that the Americans are against reconciliation. It's known that they love [Fatah strongman] Muhammad Dahlan. And it's known that they, frankly, love Israel."

A spokesman for the PA denied knowledge of the conversation.

A spokesman for President Mahmoud Abbas did not return calls.

The US declined to confirm if either the PA or Israel had been briefed. State Department spokeswoman Nicole Thompson told Ma'an that it was not a "far-fetched" possibility, however. "US officials have been reaching out to our global counterparts over the past few days about the possibility of leaked information," she said. (Maan)

You can bet the PA would have been even more annoyed had they not been mentioned, since that would make them even more irrelevant.


Visiting Israel?
Learn to Shoot at Caliber-3 with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

Israel WikiWatch

A Joint Jameel/JoeSettler headline post being updated over the next 12-24 hours.

This post will be updated as new Israel related Wikileaks updates (and related events) appear.

Wikileaks has announced they will begin posting documents today consisting of communications from the US to its embassies regarding its allies. For the past week, the US has been trying to do damage control. The US claims that the release of this information will "place at risk on-going cooperation between countries".

Latest leaks and rumors on top.

11:59 PM One thing is clear. Arab states do not link dealing with Iran to the Arab-Israeli conflict. They all want Iran dealt with on its own.

Jordan is the only exception, but they are directly involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict and have other concerns they are trying to push forward.

11:36 PM Nothing overly exciting in the Wikileaks - yet.

Worst is that US seems out of touch with what the rest of the world wants and needs for safety and stability, and is afraid to act. Israel's positions were already known, so nothing new there. Livni's private statements contradict her public statements.

We haven't found the Muqata listed yet in Wikileaks. We're disappointed.

Biggest story is regarding Gaza war, that Palestinian Authority (Fatah) and Egypt refused to take control of Gaza if Hamas was ousted by Israel during Operation Cast Lead.


10:55 PM Israel's prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu is "elegant and charming" but never keeps his promises.

JS: Why even bother with that leak?


10:49 PM Tzippi Livni exposed as liar. In 2007 Livni said there is no way to reach a permanent settlement with Abu Mazen. Unlike what publicly tells Israel.

10:40 PM US spy activities against Israel and Palestinians: US attempts to acquire data and intelligence on Israeli communications infrastructure.

US tries to assess likelihood of PA officials turning weapons against Israel and US. Actual relationship between Hamas and Fatah. Internal PA support for terrorism.

Biometric info on everyone.

10:26 PM Israel asked Egypt and Fatah (Palestinian Authority) if they would take control of Gaza if Israel removed Hamas during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Both said no.

10:21PM Mossad assessment that Iran was playing US/world for time until weapons developed.

Israel believes Iran used Red Cresent to sneak spies into other countries in 2006.

10:16 PM Iran has missiles that can reach central Europe.

10:13 PM Wikileaks: Israel intelligence suspects Egypt preparing for future war with Israel.

10:07 PM Had to go out for a security issue in the Yishuv. Back now.

Wikileaks reveal that Israel and Arab states pressed the US numerous times to deal with Iran's nuclear program in years past. Ehud Barak said that US must deal with North Korea and Iranian nuclear programs. Lack of US response to North Korea would send message to Iran.
Mossad pushed for covert measures and regime change.
Israel said in 2005 that Iran would have nuclear weapons by 2010.

8:10 PM Israel's Channel 10 TV reports: The Wikileaks show that PM Netanyahu was worried the Iranian nuclear reactors would go on-line within months of 2009, yet the Obama administration scoffed at the idea.

7:52 PM As the WikiLeaks server is under a massive denial of service attack, Der Speigel is rolling out copies of tomorrow's magazine, based on a pre-leak. The cover of tomorrow's magazine is here, with some of the world leaders who will be embarrassed by the leaked cables...


7:45 PM JERUSALEM: Several of the documents set to be published by WikiLeaks this weekend are believed to show the US has been helping Turkey's Kurdish separatist movement the PKK, or Kurdistan Workers Party.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the US, the European Union and Australia.

The claim is reported in the London Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat. (source)

7:21 PM ROME, Nov 28 (Reuters) - The expected release of classified U.S. documents by Wikileaks will be the "9/11 of world diplomacy", Italy's foreign minister said on Sunday, urging Italian prosecutors to investigate the whistle-blowing website.

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, on a trip to Qatar, said he did not know the content of the files to be released but warned they would"blow up the relationship of trust between states", according to Italian news agencies.

"It will be the September 11th of world diplomacy," he said.

7:18 PM UK govt. issues D-notices (don't publish) to media on wikileaks.

7:17 PM El Pais, Le Monde, Speigel, Guardian & NYTimes will publish many US embassy cables tonight, even if WikiLeaks goes down.

7:00 PM Israeli Left claiming IDF general ordered killing of wanted terrorists instead of their capture, based on stolen internal IDF documents.

6:33 PM Wikileaks announces they are under massive Denial of Service attack.

6:29 PM Receiving reports that some people can visit and some can't. Probably overloaded.

6:20 PM Wikileaks site crashed, overloaded or has been taken down.

5:50 PM Ynet reports:

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed expected release of classified State Department documents on WikiLeaks, saying that the United States "didn't specifically indicate what will be exposed. I don't think Israel is the center of attention."

Netanyahu added that "is it customary for there to be an information gap between what is said publicly to what is said privately. When it comes to Israel, the gap isn't too big. As far as other countries are concerned, the gaps are very very big. We shall wait and see."

5:22 PM Britain Braces: "An 'embarrassing' assessment of David Cameron by the the U.S. administration is set to be made public on the WikiLeaks whistleblowers website.

The harsh analysis of the Prime Minister is among thousands of leaked State Department files set to be revealed imminently on the site.

And Gordon Brown's rocky relationship with President Barack Obama is almost certain to mentioned as is Britain's troop withdrawal from Iraq." (Daily Mail)

5:15 PM Germany's Der-Spiegel reports that the WikiLeaks contain information that the USA has an agent operating inside Germany's government, from the liberal FDP party. (source)

5:06 PM Israel on "high alert" -- "Another Israeli official added that the American Embassy in Tel Aviv had been calling Israelis named in the documents in order to warn them in advance. The list includes officials in the Foreign Ministry, as well as aides to prime ministers, this official said." (JPost)

4:49 PM Speculations abound that the WikiLeaks will reveal that Israeli officials have been providing classified information to the USA in exchange for money (rotter.net)

4:42 PM The JPost reports the USA's spin control:

The Obama administration on Sunday told whistle-blower WikiLeaks that its expected imminent release of classified State Department cables will put "countless" lives at risk, threaten global counter-terrorism operations and jeopardize US relations with its allies. [Jameel: by telling us what the State Department really thinks of Israel? We've been writing it on the muqata blog for years...]

In a highly unusual step reflecting the administration's grave concerns about the ramifications of the move, the State Department released a letter from its top lawyer to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his attorney telling them that publication of the documents would be illegal and demanding that they stop it.

The letter from State Department legal adviser Harold Koh was released as US diplomats around the world are scrambling to warn foreign governments about what might be in the secret documents that are believed to contain highly sensitive assessments about world leaders, their policies and America's attempts to lobby them. [Jameel: The USA wants Tzippi Livni as Prime Minister? What a shock.]

In the letter, Koh said the publication of some 250,000 secret diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks, which is expected on Sunday, will "place at risk the lives of countless innocent individuals," ''place at risk on-going military operations," and "place at risk on-going cooperation between countries."

"They were provided in violation of US law and without regard for the grave consequences of this action," he said. Koh said WikiLeaks should not publish the documents, return them to the US government and destroy any copies it may have in its possession or in computer databases.

4:24 PM Washington specifically warns Israel of "potentially embarrassing" leaks (Breitbart) Rotter.net reports that the US has pulled CIA spy operatives out of Israel so that Israel can't retaliate and imprison "Pollards" for spying on Israel for the USA.

4:15 PM Rumors that Wikileaks contain detailed personality profiles of Israeli leaders, details of meetings with Mossad chiefs, and intel from army intel unit "Aman."

2:37 PM Already theories abound surround the latest Wikileaks.

The US has spent the last weekend taking down file-sharing and bit-torrent sites and seizing domain names. A theory behind that is to slow down the proliferation of the Wikileaks documents. A little over the top for my taste.


Others say that local leftwing Israelis are going to be named as sources for much information.

And one particularly interesting theory is that it will reveal what the US knows about secret Israeli operations, and officially link them to Israel (Syria nuclear plant strike, Abu Dhabim Stuxnet, etc.)

Personally, we're expecting at least one remark about the Muqata being an obstacle to peace (and a voice of reason).

As the Wikileaks released we'll let you know of anything important we (or others) find.


Visiting Israel?
Learn to Shoot at Caliber-3 with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד