206 Germany & Israel hold a joint cabinet meeting - and talk about Iran

(1) American press silent on Israeli security firm's role in Underpants-bomb flight
(2) Gaza flooded after Israel opens dam gates
(3) Jewish power derives from bookish culture, and from discrimination - Philip Weiss
(4) IRS to investigate illegal Jewish settlement funding
(5) Settlers arrested for torching mosque
(6) Germany & Israel hold a joint cabinet meeting - and talk about Iran
(7) "Vatican teaching Hezbollah how to kill Jews" -  IDF pamphlet (reported in Haaretz)

(1) American press silent on Israeli security firm's role in Underpants-bomb flight

From: Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics Earth Sciences) <sadanand@mail.ccsu.edu> Date: 20.01.2010 02:11 PM

Why is the American press silent on the Israeli role in NW Flight 253?

By Patrick Martin        16 January 2010

Nearly a week ago, on January 10, the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz carried a news article by correspondent Yossi Melman pointing out the role of an Israeli security firm, International Consultants on Targeted Security (ICTS), in the failed attempt to detonate a bomb on board Northwest Airlines Flight 253.

ICTS subsidiaries I-SEC and PI are responsible for security screening of passengers at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, where accused suicide bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab boarded the Detroit-bound jet. The company uses screening technology to profile passengers and identify security risks, based on the experience of the Israeli intelligence services. Former El Al Airlines and Shin Bet security personnel established ICTS in 1982 to market their expertise, and many US airlines use their services or technology.

According to Ha’aretz, Abdulmutallab was screened by ICTS, but the security agents failed to identify him as a threat, despite ample evidence.

“Even if US intelligence failed and the name of the Nigerian passenger was not pinpointed as a suspect for the airline, he should have stirred the suspicion of the security officers,” the newspaper wrote. “His age, name, illogical travel route, high-priced ticket purchased at the last minute, his boarding without luggage (only a carry on) and many other signs should have been sufficient to alert the security officers and warrant further examination of the suspect. However, the security supervisor representing I-SEC and PI allowed him to get on the flight.”

The Israeli connection has been widely reported in the Israeli and European press. In addition to Ha’aretz, the Jerusalem Post noted the role of ICTS in Amsterdam in an article December 27, and Israeli television interviewed a company director, who confirmed that Abdulmutallab had been given a security screening.

Reports subsequently appeared in newspapers and Web news sources in Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. But there has been nothing in the main American media outlets—nothing in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal or any other major daily newspaper, and nothing on any of the television or cable news networks.

The contrast between the press treatment in Europe and in America is an indication that the role of ICTS is not merely an unimportant detail. Clearly, the word is being passed to keep quiet on the subject, either in the form of a direct order from the US security services, or indirectly through the system of media self-censorship that operates no less effectively for being “voluntary.”

What reason could there be to conceal the role of ICTS?

First, some relevant facts: ICTS handled security at the Charles de Gaulle Airport outside Paris when “shoe bomber” Richard Reid boarded a US-bound plane on December 22, 2001. The company also handled security for London’s bus system during the July 7, 2005, suicide bomb attacks. And ICTS shared security duties on September 11, 2001, at Boston’s Logan Airport, where two of the four suicide hijackings originated.

At the very least, these are curious coincidences, particularly given the supposed expertise of the Israeli security services in identifying and forestalling terrorist attacks. ICTS has had its personnel on the scene in four of the most notorious terrorist attacks of the past decade, and on each occasion, they failed to take action to stop the terrorists.

In its 28 years of operation, ICTS has expanded to 22 countries, servicing airports in France, Britain, Spain, Hungary, Romania and Russia, and employing more than 11,000 security agents. It held contracts at several US airports until after 9/11, when passenger screening was taken out of private hands and assigned to the newly created federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The silence on the role of ICTS is only the most curious aspect of a more general shift by the media away from any reporting on the background to the attempted bombing of Northwest Flight 253. There was a noticeable turn away from an examination of the Christmas Day incident even before the Haitian earthquake became—legitimately—the main focus of media attention.

The official story of Northwest Flight 253, as presented by the Obama White House and the intelligence agencies, is so incredible that it seems there has been a concerted effort to drop the subject and divert public attention in other directions. In that context, the total silence on the role of the Israeli security company raises even more questions about the role that US and other intelligence agencies played in the period leading up to the Christmas Day incident, which nearly cost the lives of some 300 people. ==

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=1141434&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1

Israeli firm blasted for letting would-be plane bomber slip through

By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent 

The Israeli firm ICTS International (not to be confused with ICTS Europe, which is a different company), and two of its subsidiaries are at the crux of an international investigation in recent days, as experts try to pinpoint the reasons for the security failure that enabled Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board Northwest flight 253 and attempt to set alight explosives hidden in his underwear.

A Haaretz investigation has learned that the security officers and their supervisor should have suspected the passenger, even without having early intelligence available to them.

At this time, ICTS and the Dutch security firm G4S are hurling recriminations at each other, as are the authorities at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Federal Aviation Authority and U.S. intelligence officials.

The failure was a twin flop: An intelligence failure, which U.S. President Barack Obama has already stated, in the poor handling of information that arrived at the State Department and probably also the CIA from both the father of the would-be bomber and the British security service; and a failure within the security system, including that of the Israeli firm ICTS.

The ICTS daughter company, I-SEC, has another daughter company - called PI (Pro-Check International). The firms provide security services to airports: consultation, instruction, training, inspection and supervision.

Two decades ago, ICTS adopted the system used in Israel, namely of profiling and assessing the degree to which a passenger is a potential threat on the basis of a number indicators (including age, name, origin and behavior during questioning). At the same time, a decade ago, the company developed a technological system called APS (Advanced Passenger Screening).

This system is based on a computerized algorithm, and is fed passenger information from the airline company. The system was offered to the Israel Airports Authority and the Shin Bet in the past, but rejected. According to the company's Web site, most of the large airlines in the United States use the system.

However - in real time - the system of ICTS failed. Even if U.S. intelligence failed and the name of the Nigerian passenger was not pinpointed as a suspect for the airline, he should have stirred the suspicion of the security officers. His age, name, illogical travel route, high-priced ticket purchased at the last minute, his boarding without luggage (only a carry on) and many other signs should have been sufficient to alert the security officers and warrant further examination of the suspect.

However, the security supervisor representing I-SEC and PI allowed him to get on the flight.

ICTS was established in 1982 by former members of the Shin Bet and El Al security. Menachem Atzmon, who has been chairman of the board of directors since 2004, holds the controlling shares in the firm.

The ICTS headquarters are in the Netherlands and the company is traded in the New York Stock Exchange. Some senior managers are Israeli, including the joint managing director Ran Langer.

Another important figure is Doron Zicher, general manager of I-SEC. Zicher has been in charge of operations in the Netherlands for more than two decades and has served as adviser to the Dutch Justice Ministry, which is responsible for setting guidelines for airport security. The company prides itself on employing 1,300 persons and providing security services to airports in 11 countries including France, Britain, Spain, Hungary, Romania and Russia.

(2) Gaza flooded after Israel opens dam gates

From: WVNS <ummyakoub@yahoo.com> Date: 21.01.2010 11:01 AM

Mon, 18 Jan 2010
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116482&sectionid=351020202

Israel has opened the floodgates of one of its dams in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip, flooding Palestinian houses and causing severe damage.

The Israeli authorities opened the dam's floodgates without any prior warning or coordination with local authorities in Gaza, stunning the residents of the area, the Press TV correspondent in Gaza reported late on Monday.

There has been heavy rain in the region over the past 24 hours. It seems the Israeli authorities could not handle the huge amount of rainwater and decided to open the floodgates without prior warning.

Because Gaza is located in a low-lying area and the elevation decreases on the way to the Mediterranean Sea, water gushed into the area, flooding two Palestinian villages and displacing a hundred Gazan families.

The locals say Israel intentionally caused the floods, the Press TV correspondent said.

The waters from the dam, called the Valley of Gaza, flooded houses in Johr al-Deek village, which is southeast of Gaza City, and Nusirat in the eastern part of the territory, where the Al-Nusirat refugee camp is also located.

The Valley of Gaza is about 8 kilometers long. It starts on the eastern Gaza border with Israel and ends in the Mediterranean.

The houses of many Palestinians have been flooded and a number of people are trapped inside or on their roofs, while many have also gone missing, the Press TV correspondent said.

Rescue teams are using small boats to evacuate the trapped people.

Hamas has condemned the act as a war crime and has called on all concerned parties to intervene and offer assistance to the locals.

The flooding has made life more difficult for the Gazans, especially for those still living in tents because their homes were destroyed in the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip.

In the war, more than 1,400 people were killed, mostly women and children, and over 10,000 houses were destroyed or damaged, forcing at least 500 families to live in tents.

Very little progress is seen in reconstruction of the devastated areas in the Gaza Strip, mostly due to the Israeli blockade, which has prevented the delivery of building materials to the coastal enclave.

FTP/HGL

(3) Jewish power derives from bookish culture, and from discrimination - Philip Weiss
From: WVNS <ummyakoub@yahoo.com> Date: 21.01.2010 10:56 AM

Meritocracy and Jewish kinship networks

By Philip Weiss | January 13, 2010

http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/meritocracy-and-jewish-kinship-networks/

A lot of people are talking about David Brooks’s distastefully-smug column in the Times yesterday about Jewish achievement, in which he says that we are 2 percent of the U.S. population and 25 percent of this and that. And that we get all the patents in the Middle East while the Arabs smoke hookahs.

He asks how this can be, and talks about our incredible culture. I agree: it’s a helluva bookish culture. Though that same intellectual culture is going out the window now that the chief occupation of Jewish leadership is saying, Repeat after us, apartheid is democracy.

But I’d like to inject a realistic note here. How much of Jewish achievement reflects the fact that Jews look out for one another? When I had to get a partner on this website to keep it going, I was most comfortable getting another Jew. Years ago when I was at the Harvard Crimson newspaper, my Irish-Catholic friend Mary Ridge informed me that it was a “Jewish club”–we selected for our own kind; and the Crimson produced a lot of professional journalism talent. I have gotten most of my journalism work from Jewish bosses.

Jews have kinship networks as strong as other people’s, maybe more strong. All that Hollywood talent– producers are always aware of who is a Jew, and I am sure they feel more comfortable hiring Jews. Landsman. My parents liked the idea of my marrying a Jew because Jews are gemutlich, as my mom always says– family, kin. We know all the social cues, can finish one another’s sentences, etc.

And look at the New York Times, where Brooks works. Is it an expression of Jewish genius that most of the political columnists are Jewish? Tom Friedman, Nick Kristof, Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, David Brooks et al. Or does it maybe reflect the fact that a Jewish family has majority ownership of the newspaper and that most of the big editors have been Jewish and at some level, unconscious or otherwise, they favor Jews?

So I think some of the amazing record of Jewish achievement reflects discrimination; and Jews are powerful enough in this society that we ought to be conscious of that. Brooks has often praised the late sociologist E. Digby Baltzell, and Baltzell said as much about the last establishment; he said that WASPs favor other WASPs, and that it was hurting the American establishment.

I venture that the same thing is happening today in the Jewish portion of the establishment. We discriminate in favor of our own; and it’s doing a number on foreign policy.

What should be done about this? Jews in powerful positions should be aware of this, and seek greater diversity in their hiring.

(4) IRS to investigate illegal Jewish settlement funding

From: Sadanand, Nanjundiah (Physics Earth Sciences) <sadanand@mail.ccsu.edu> Date: 20.01.2010 06:22 PM

ADC Commends IRS Decision to Investigate Settlement Funding

Washington, D.C. | January 19, 2010 | www.adc.org |The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) commends the decision by Commissioner Douglas Shulman to publicly commit the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in tackling the issue of US charities that launder tax exempt US donations into illegal Israeli West Bank settlement activities.  The construction of settlements in Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) is illegal under international humanitarian law.  The use of tax-exempt status to raise funds for these types of activities is against American public policy.

Commissioner Shulman’s statements came during a live on-air interview over National Public Radio (NPR), which can be heard by clicking here.  According to the US Newswire, Commissioner Shulman stated “…if a charity is breaking the tax law, is engaged in activities that they are not supposed to be engaged in, we certainly will go after them.”  The answer was in response to a question of whether the IRS would go after charities that are helping fund settlement development in the West Bank. 

In 2009, ADC filed multiple administrative complaints (click here to read copy of ADC complaint) with the US Department of the Treasury, including the IRS, requesting investigations into the activities of organizations claiming tax-exempt status under section 501(c)(3) of the US Tax Code and using funds for the development of illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Click here to read ADC press release pertaining to original filing of complaints. You may also read more about ADC's work on this matter by clicking here.

ADC Legal Advisor Abed Ayoub, said, “ADC commends Commissioner Shulman and the IRS for their commitment to ending the funding of illegal Israeli settlements with tax payer dollars.  ADC has been at the forefront of addressing this crucial issue and will continue advocating for the cessation and dismantlement of illegal Israeli settlements.”

By investigating organizations that use tax exempt contributions to fund the construction of illegal settlements, the IRS could revoke these organizations tax exempt status.  Each year billions of dollars are donated to non-profit organizations, and some of these funds ultimately end up being used for settlement development.  ADC has identified hundreds of these organizations and continues to investigate and file complaints against such organizations.  ==
Contact:Abed Ayoub, Legal Advisor, aayoub@adc.org, 202-244-2990

(5) Settlers arrested for torching mosque

Kristoffer Larsson <kristoffer.larsson@sobernet.nu> Date: 20.01.2010 04:49 PM

http://jta.org/news/article/2010/01/18/1010206/settlers-arrested-for-torching-mosque

January 18, 2010

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israeli security forces arrested residents of a West Bank settlement in connection with last month's torching of a Palestinian mosque.

Ten settlers were arrested at two yeshivas in the northern West Bank community of Yitzhar in a late Sunday night raid.

Five are accused of burning down a mosque in the nearby village of Yasuf, allegedly in retaliation for an Israeli government-imposed freeze on building in the settlements. Two of the five reportedly are minors.

More than 100 security officers were involved in the raid and arrests, according to reports. Yitzhar residents told Israeli media that the police and security services officers used excessive force.

In the December mosque attack, arsonists struck before dawn on a Friday, burning furniture, prayer rugs and holy texts, and defacing the mosque's walls. The attack led to retaliatory violence, including the stabbing of an Israeli woman at a bus stop. The arson attack was internationally condemned.

(6) Germany & Israel hold a joint cabinet meeting - and talk about Iran
From: Josef Schwanzer <donauschwob@optusnet.com.au> Date: 19.01.2010 06:23 AM

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1143608.html

Iran tops agenda as Germany, Israel hold joint cabinet meeting

By Assaf Uni

BERLIN - For the first time ever, the Israeli cabinet yesterday held a joint meeting with its German counterpart in Berlin, in what both parties called a "historic" move.

The joint meeting, one of the results of the upgrade in diplomatic relations between Berlin and Jerusalem two years ago, was held at noon at the chancellery, Chancellor Angela Merkel's offices in the German capital.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was accompanied on his visit to Berlin by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau and Science and Technology Minister Daniel Hershkowitz.

After the meeting, Israel and Germany signed cooperation agreements in the areas of science and environmental protection.

Prior to the joint cabinet meeting, both groups visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum in downtown Berlin, which was cordoned off due to security concerns. Both Merkel and Netanyahu signed the museum's guest book.

Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon met with the German minister for economic cooperation and development, Dirk Niebel, and said the two signed an agreement to extend humanitarian aid to Africa.

"It is very symbolic that both nations, with such a difficult history between them, are today cooperating on humanitarian assistance," Ayalon said.

Earlier in the day, Netanyahu and Barak met with Merkel and her defense minister, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg. In their joint press conference after the meeting, the two leaders spoke about Iran's nuclear program.

"We have made it clear that if the reaction of Iran does not change, we will cooperate in the preparation of wide-ranging sanctions ... preferably within the framework of a UN Security Council resolution," Merkel said.

She added that in the coming weeks, her government would consult with other nations prepared to push for sanctions against Tehran.

"We have repeatedly made the offer to Iran for transparent cooperation," she said. "Unfortunately, they have not taken it."

The German chancellor stressed that in addition to Germany's commitment to Israel's security, it is also important to advance cultural and scientific ties between the states.

Netanyahu's remarks focused on the Iranian nuclear threat and called for sanctions against Iran. He thanked Merkel for her courage and determination in leading the German people to face its Nazi past and praised the friendship between the two countries.

In March 2008, Merkel led a ministerial delegation to Israel and addressed the Knesset. The joint cabinet meeting is slated to become an annual event.

With regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Netanyahu and Merkel both said, in response to a reporter's question, that the United States is capable of getting the peace process started again.

The Israeli delegation flew back to Israel yesterday afternoon.

(7) "Vatican teaching Hezbollah how to kill Jews" -  IDF pamphlet (reported in Haaretz)
http://www.roytov.com/articles/haaretz.htm

Is the Vatican Training Hezbollah?

Haaretz | Extortion in the Name of the State of Israel

On Israeli Newspapers

In business administration courses, the reality of Israeli newspapers is described as an “oligopoly.” That means a few players control the market. The three largest Hebrew newspapers are family owned; “Yedihot Aharonot” is the largest, “Maariv” was the largest and is owned by a family that made a fortune in the international weapons market, and “Haaretz” is the smallest, but widely recognized as the most serious one, the local version of the “Washington Post” or the “New York Times.” The “Jerusalem Post” should be added to this list as the main English newspaper.

All of them are de facto controlled by the government. The government does not own them, but they would publish nothing of a sensitive nature without the government approval. This de facto censorship is controlled through the editors. They decide which material would be published and which won’t.

Under such reality, seeing open criticism on Israel in these newspapers is difficult. If it appears, usually is of innocent or irrelevant nature. Thus, if seeing embarrassing material against the government, one should ask himself if the article is not a bogus serving other goals.

Recently, a good friend draw my attention to such an article published in Haaretz. At first I couldn’t believe. The article was given to me in an email. It looked so impossible that I went to the Haaretz website and checked out that it really was published there. At first, it looked strange that such a material was published by the most serious newspaper in Israel.

The Article

Too incredible to be truth, I fear the article would be taken out of Haaretz site. Thus, I provide here the link, a snapshot of the page and the original text.

The original can be seen here; it was published by Ofri Ilani and last modified on July 19, 2009. Here is the text:

Vatican teaching Hezbollah how to kill Jews, says pamphlet for IDF troops

The Pope and the cardinals of the Vatican help organize tours of Auschwitz for Hezbollah members to teach them how to wipe out Jews, according to a booklet being distributed to Israel Defense Forces soldiers.

Officials encouraging the booklet's distribution include senior officers, such as Lt. Col. Tamir Shalom, the commander of the Nahshon Battalion of the Kfir Brigade.

The booklet was published by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, in cooperation with the chief rabbi of Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, and has been distributed for the past few months.

The booklet, titled "On Either Side of the Border," purports to be the testimony of "a Hezbollah officer who spied for Israel."

"The book is distributed regularly and everyone reads it and believes it," said one soldier. "It's filled with made-up details but is presented as a true story. A whole company of soldiers, adults, told me: 'Read this and you'll understand who the Arabs are.'"

The copy obtained by Haaretz included a Pesach greeting from Shalom, "in the name of the Nahshon Brigade."

The story is narrated by a man named Avi, who says he changed his name from Ibrahim after he left Hezbollah and converted to Judaism. Avi says he was once close to Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, and describes Hezbollah's purported close relationships with the Vatican and European leaders.

The IDF Spokesman's Office said in a statement: "The book was received as a donation and distributed in good faith to the soldiers. After we were alerted to the sensitivity of its content, distribution was immediately halted."

According to the book, Nasrallah was invited to join a delegation to tour France, Poland and Italy, including the Vatican. Nasrallah could not refuse an invitation from the Vatican, Avi explained: "We knew [the Pope] identified with Hezbollah's struggle."

The book describes the alleged visit of Hezbollah officials to Auschwitz, led by the Vatican: "We came to the camps. We saw the trains, the platforms, the piles of eyeglasses and clothes ... We came to learn ... Our escort spoke as he was taught. We quickly explained to him: Every real Arab, deep inside, is kind of a fan of the Nazis."

The booklet also describes how European politicians and journalists ostensibly work against Israel.

"Our escort introduced us to important figures who identify with our causes. Rich people, people with authority ... They allocate big budgets to all sorts of Israeli organizations that erode the standing of the IDF ... We have a special budget for encouraging politicians and journalists who serve our purposes. Every opinion piece that conforms to our position is rewarded generously."

Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, the son of former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliahu, is known for his extremist views, and was once charged with incitement to racism after calling for the expulsion of all Arab students from Safed College after a terror attack in the area.

The younger Eliahu was also behind an online video in which he described the "miracle of our matriarch Rachel," whom he claims appeared before Israeli soldiers in Gaza to warn them of booby-trapped buildings during Operation Cast Lead.

"In some of the places we went in Gaza there was a woman who warned them ... 'Did they tell you who I am,' she said, 'I am the matriarch Rachel," Eliahu says in the video. He claims his father confirmed the veracity of the story, and told him that he had prayed to Rachel: "I told her: Rachel, there's a war... Go to God, Blessed Be He, pray over the soldiers who sacrifice themselves for the People of Israel, so that they will strike and not be struck."

David Menahemov, an aide to Eliahu, claims the book is not fiction. "Avi is a real person and everything in the book is absolutely true," insists Menahemov. "It's a totally true story, I know the guy personaly. He's an Arab, who even though he converted still acts like an Arab. We helped him to write and to translate it. We changed a few details to protect him and his family."

Mishmash

The article include a mishmash of information: from quotations of a mysterious booklet to mystical apparitions of Rachel. Being designed for internal consumption of the IDF, probably it would never be made public.

Most of the facts in the booklet and the article are completely irrelevant. Moreover, visiting Auschwitz cannot be claimed to be any type of “military training” as it is implied in the title of the article. The soldiers that got the booklet are already convinced that anybody who is not a Jew is an enemy (and that Jews supporting leftist parties are the enemy, and that converted Jews are the enemy, and that... ad nauseum) and thus the information appearing there is of no influence.

Do You really Think So?

For a moment I fell into the designed trap. It was easy to classify it as nonsense for internal consumption of gullible young soldiers, in an attempt to make them more loyal to the State of Israel and more scared of Christians, Muslims and anybody identified as not belonging to the “gang.”

However, if that was the intention, why did the article get published on the international, English version of the most serious Israeli newspaper? This publication was approved by an editor, and thus – obliquely – approved by the Censor (an IDF high-ranking officer in charge of the Israeli media censorship).

That could only mean the article was intended for someone outside Israel. Who could it be?

The title provides the first clue. “Vatican teaching Hezbollah how to kill Jews” begins the title. On whom is this title throwing mud? The Vatican, the Holy See is the only victim of this vicious article.

The text claims the Vatican – a peaceful entity by all means – is actively training the Hezbollah on war techniques. It is difficult to imagine a more ridiculous claim. Would Mother Teresa be classified as a “Terror Expert” by the Israeli government if she wasn’t already in the presence of God?

The piece is so clumsy that it is difficult even to think of one international reader taking it seriously. The text fails to support the title’s claim. So, what’s the point?

Was this designed to be a piece of disinformation? If that’s the case, then it is difficult to see the point. I can’t see future Hezbollah soldiers asking to be recruited by the Vatican for training as a result of their reading this article. Moreover, as pointed out, the Israeli soldiers are already convinced that the Vatican, the Hezbollah and any foreigner are part of the enemy. “Everybody is against us,” claims the Israeli mantra-turned-into-mythos.

Thus? No disinformation. To me, it looks as a sophisticated extortion attempt by the State of Israel toward the Vatican. “Behave; otherwise we will publish more embarrassing lies on serious international newspapers we control.”