GILAD SHALIT IS DEAD, WE HAVE TO FACE IT!

GILAD SHALIT IS DEAD, WE HAVE TO FACE IT!
by Barry Chamish

I was filmed on May 25 by an Israeli TV show, BuzzTV. Producer Ronit Melamed was very persistent that I do a Skype-linked tv interview but I told her on several occasions that I didn't have the equipment. Nonetheless, she urged me to find it, and in the end my webmaster Steven set up a little tv studio in my living room. After 6 years I was back on Israeli tv.
Ronit prepared me for the show a week in advance. She asked me if I had ever written about Elhanan Tannenbaum. As it happened, I had. Before I tell you how, let's get some of my background research:

> The desperation fueling this energy reached a new peak this week when our government handed 435 highly motivated terrorists to Hizbullah for the bodies of three soldiers murdered by the same Hizbullah and one live Mossad agent. Of the living Elhanan Tannenbaum, a lieutenant colonel in the IDF, we know from the Jerusalem Post that he, "worked as a consultant for a major arms firm which deals with the Defence Ministry's most sensitive technology...The firm's records were destroyed in a fire that gutted its basement in July, 2001...They have maintained that Elhanan served his country more than anyone imagines and more than they can publicly say."
> Or in other words, he was not just the crooked businessman the public has been fed to believe. The government released 435 of the enemy, and has reportedly promised to release another 3000 or so for one of its own agents. In return, Israel received three bodies and conducted a vulgar and tasteless televised ceremony on their behalf, and not a few people wondered if they even were the real bodies. The doubts stem from the fact that body parts snatcher Dr. Yehuda Hiss, the same pathologist who changed Yitzhak Rabin's wounds in his tainted autopsy report, was the one chosen to verify the veracity of the corpses through DNA testing. And who trusts him to tell the truth?
> "An IDF delegation has set off for Germany to confirm that the three bodies Hizbullah is sending to Germany are indeed those of the three soldiers killed by the terrorist organization 40 months ago. The delegation, headed by IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Yehuda Weiss and Abu Kabir Forensic Institute head Prof. Yehuda Hiss, is bringing DNA samples of the family members of the fallen soldiers Adi Avitan, Benny Avraham and Omar Souad."

In November 2000, I was invited to present by knowledge of the Tannenbaum kidnapping at a hush-hush meeting of mid-level IDF officers who were prepared to oust Ehud Barak from the prime minister's office if he didn't take action to rescue Tannenbaum. They were talking coup:

Certain officers now understood that Barak was under international orders not to utililize the IDF to defend the nation or avenge the murders
of its citizens. The first grumblings of "coup" were heard. The final straw was Hizbullah's kidnapping of Colonel Tannenbaum.
The officers knew that he was being tortured and forced to reveal the names, addresses and all details of IDF staff, strategy, equipment and
facilities. They summoned Barak to mount an operation inside Lebanon involving mass hostage taking to secure the release of Tannenbaum but were again rebuffed
by Barak. Not knowing which demoralizing IDF fiasco was next and fearing that Israelis would take to the streets to secure the protection their army was
forbidden to provide, high level but still informal discussions to plan a Barak overthrow gained momentum.

Ronit surmised accurately that I did not buy into the final conclusion that Tannenbaum wasn't working for the Mossad when he was kidnapped. He was just a lowly drug dealer:

Elhanan Tannenbaum, the Israeli businessman who was kidnapped by Hizbullah operatives in 2001, told a Tel Aviv court on Wednesday that he had sought to seal a drugs deal worth USD 200,000 with the organization.
Tannenbaum told the court that upon his return to Israel he didn't tell interrogators that he had traveled to Dubai to finalize a drugs deal.
Elhanan Tannenbaum was captured after being lured under the false pretenses of a drug deal. He was traveling on a forged passport. Tannenbaum's capture was announced on 16 October 2000.
His capture is believed to have been conducted by Imad Mugniyah, a senior member of Hezbollah. The capture was uted by Sheik Kais Obeid, an Israeli Arab, a grandson of former Knesset member Diyab Obeid, who crossed the lines to become senior officer for Hezbollah. Obeid was a close friend of Tannenbaum.
Tannenbaum was released in January 2004 as part of a prisoner swap with Hezbollah. The swap, mediated by Germany, resulted in the exchange of 435 prisoners held by Israel in return for Tannenbaum's release and the return of the bodies of three soldiers killed during an ambush along the Israeli-Lebanese border.[1] Following his release, Tannenbaum was placed under arrest for his illegal actions that led up to his capture. He agreed to a plea-bargain and admitted to the reasons behind his travel to Dubai and described the details of his capture. In exchange, he was not tried for any crime and served no jail time.[2] Among the 435 people released were Mustafa Dirani and Sheikh Abdul-Karim Obeid. These two individuals were kidnapped, in 1994 and 1989 respectively, for use as bargaining chips in the effort to secure the release of the most famous of the Israeli MIAs, Ron Arad. Fearing the release of these men would end any hope of finding Arad, his family attempted to take legal action to prevent their release. Nothing came of this effort.In December 2006, Tannenbaum, for the first time, admitted that he went to Dubai to complete a drug deal. He had expected to make $200,000 (€152,000) on the deal.[3]

I suspiciously asked her why she was doing a feature on Tennenbaum, a minor scandal compared to the coverups of the murder and murder in name of Rabin and Sharon. She replied that perhaps a similar deal as Tannenbaum's could be used to rescue the kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. I told her, "There's one huge difference. Tannenbaum was alive and could be rescued, while Shalit is dead and can't."
She was shocked. "Who says?" she asked.
"Anyone with an ounce of reality."
"Have you researched Shalit?"
"Enough to speak about it," I replied. Shalit's kidnapping had been sufficiently scandalous to bear examination:

From DEBKA, a report that proven accurate:
Maj.-Gen (Ret) Giora Eiland traced the breakdown which allowed a Hamas-led squad overrun an Israeli army post on the Israeli side of the southern Gaza border, kill two soldiers and snatch Corporal Gilad Shalit on June 25, to an “operational” breakdown. He did not lay it at the door of commanders and their conduct.
“None of them lied or failed to perform their duties,” said Gen. Eiland, former national security adviser, in the report on the inquiry the chief of staff entrusted him to carry into the causes of the incident at the Kerem Shalom post. Most damningly, Eilat affirmed that the corporal’s abduction could have been aborted. The kidnappers and their hostage were clearly visible on the unit’s electronic screens as they crossed the border into the Gaza Strip, but the tank commander delayed by first asking his superior for permission to open fire and abort their flight...What more logical than to put IDF ambushes squads behind enemy lines to trap the assailants when they return to their base in Gaza? Knowing they might be there, the Hamas-led kidnap team would have realized its escape route with Shalit was blocked and might have been deterred from the abduction.

My interview was with Ziv Ben-Tsvi. He first asked me to say that I knew I was being filmed and I was handing them the right to edit me as they choose. I jokingly repeated the vow until the end which I changed to, "and you can exploit me with my permission." He looked stunned by my agreement but I knew what to expect from the Israeli media. Somewhere there was going to be a trap. The media is largely leftist and they are arrogant enough to believe their reality IS reality. Very quickly I understood my role: I would play the radical conspiracy nut and they would tear me apart intellectually, thus proving for all time that Tannenbaum was a drug dealer and not an intelligence agent like the nutty conspiracy nuts nutttily think.
But they didn't get that angle. I was calm, friendly and accurate. Here are a few quotes from me:
"Tannenbaum was an advisor for an arms firm whose records were destroyed just before Tannenbaum's trial in 2001. What are the odds? He admits he was a major drug dealer in court and is not sentenced to prison time. He cut a deal to stay out of jail by making up an alternative story to keep the public's interest off the fiasco of the real operation."
"Do you think the Israeli government would trade 435 prisoners to rescue a drug dealer?"
"The bodies the dead soldiers were fluffy icing on the cake. They were another diversion to keep the population comatose."

Ben-Tsvi answered me in simplistic terms. "Tannenbaum admitted he was in Beirut to seal a big drug deal. Why can't you believe him?"
"Because," I replied, "A colonel in the IDF is not permitted to visit an enemy country. That crime alone would have landed in prison for a long time."
Ben-Tsvi finally relented a lot. "Let's say you're right and Tannenbaum was working for the Mossad, (which I never actually said), then what was the security harm of his rescue?"
I replied, "All the prisoners promised not to return to terrorism and most did as soon as they got back to Lebanon. Scores of Israelis became their victims again."

Then came the issue of Gilad Shalit whose 1800th day in captivity was commemorated this week. Ronit told me to present my findings, but Ben-Tsvi wanted nothing to do with them.
"Listen, " I said. "Before he became a 'drug dealer', the media was reporting that Tannenbaum was in Beirut to rescue Ron Arad. (A long deceased captured airman). And that story makes more sense than him being a major drug seller. And just like Arad, Shalit is dead and it's dangerous politics to say so."
Ben-Tsvi looked interested and let me continue.
"We know the nature of our enemy but Israelis are ignoring that, for reasons I can't fathom. Barely two years ago Israel attacked Gaza in a massive operation. Shalit's recovery should have been a condition of withdrawal. Instead, Israel walked out without Shalit. Either the IDF cares nothing about its captured soldiers or in the highest ranks, they knew Shalit was dead.
If you kidnap someone and intend to keep him alive, you agree to let outsiders, Germany, the Red Cross, see him and bring back proof of his safety. It's been years without word from Shalit and you know why that is."
As does everyone reading this. We have to face it.

end

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