Prisoner X Suspected of Handing Israeli Agents to Hezbollah; Branded 'Israel's Biggest Traitor'

[Purveyor]

Alleged Mossad agent Ben Zygier, known as Prisoner X before committing suicide while jailed solitary confinement, handed Hezbollah sensitive information that led to the arrest of Lebanese agents in Israel’s service, according to previews of an expose to be released by Der Spiegel on Monday.

The German news weekly alleges that before his death in an isolated Israeli prison cell, Zygier managed to transfer to Hezbollah the names of two Lebanese agents also operating at the Mossad’s behest. The two Lebanese agents, Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awada, were subsequently arrested in May 2009 and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for espionage.

The article, which cites an internal investigative report obtained by Der Spiegel, brands Zygier as “Israel’s biggest traitor” and describes how the “Zionist turned into a defector.”

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/173688/prisoner-x-suspected-of-handing-israeli-agents-to/#ixzz2OV7h9cKx

[oberliner]

1. An Israeli turning sensitive information over to Hezbollah

If he'd been a Palestinian collaborating with Israel he may have been killed and dragged through the streets.

[Purveyor]

2. "committing suicide while jailed in solitary confinement"(in a israeli prison). Not much difference.

[shaayecanaan]

3. The 1940s Jewish Underground regularly killed collaborators...

pretty much every militia did or does.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

5. Oh, tut tut tut. Think of what you are saying!

[shaayecanaan]

10. Actually, the people he outed got off pretty lightly...

http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/42013

Out of jail in three years. Presumably he wanted to be helpful.

[oberliner]

11. The 1940s were a very different time

For some folks at least.

[shaayecanaan]

13. Yes, all sorts of things were permissible back then...

massacres, ethnic cleansing, assassinations of UN peace mediators. All totally justified as long as it happened between 1947 and 1949, in Palestine. Only by Jews of course. If Arabs did it it would be terrorism.

[Scootaloo]

9. Strange, here's what the article says...

Zygier managed to transfer to Hezbollah the names of two Lebanese agents also operating at the Mossad’s behest. The two Lebanese agents, Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awada, were subsequently arrested in May 2009 and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences for espionage.

So here we have two agents - collaborators - with Mossad, whose names and identities were apparently put into the hands of Hezbollah, which I think we can all agree generally aren't the nicest of guys. These collaborators, far from being "killed and dragged through the streets" were arrested, tried, and sentenced for espionage, and have outlived the Israeli Mossad agent who allegedly exposed them.

While I know you're trying to deflect from what happened to Zygier by pointing at what hamas did to collaborators back in November, your attempts at broad characterization are pretty handily refuted by the article at hand.

The "If it had been..." defense is always a flimsy one at best, because it relies entirely on supposition and the assumed biases of the reader, Oberliner. Try to avoid using it.

[oberliner]

12. That is strange

Not trying to deflect and have no biases.

I was just trying to make a point that helping the enemy often leads to serious consequences for people.

[shaayecanaan]

14. chortle chortle...

Not trying to deflect and have no biases.

Ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha....

[oberliner]

17. Not sure what is funny.

If I do have biases, I do try to make an effort to consciously overcome them.

I trust you do the same.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

16. "serious consequences for people"

Like hanging in a monitored guarded cell or having a "heart attack" after a severe beating.

[oberliner]

18. Exactly

Or worse.

[King_David]

19. By "may have been" of course you mean " would of been ". nt

[shaayecanaan]

4. From the Sydney Morning Herald

Zygier, apparently frustrated by his demotion to a desk job, had decided to take matters into his own hands and find a way to rehabilitate his reputation within the organisation.

Under intense questioning from the Shin Bet, Zygier broke down and admitted that sometime in 2008, before he took his leave of absence and moved to Australia, he had flown to eastern Europe to meet with a man he knew to have close links with Hezbollah with the intention of turning that person into a double agent.

Instead, the man reported the recruitment attempt to Beirut, and himself began playing the same game as Zygier, except in reverse. Without Zygier's knowledge, the man was reporting every detail of his contact with Zygier back to the Hezbollah leadership in Beirut. Israeli officials believe that even Nasrallah himself was being kept informed.

The contact between Zygier and his Hezbollah-affiliated contact went on for months.

When the man asked Zygier for proof that he was a real Mossad agent, Zygier readily complied and began supplying him with real intelligence from Tel Aviv, including the names of Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh, Mossad's two top informants in Lebanon.

Israeli officials with access to the investigation say that when Zygier was arrested, he was also found carrying a compact disc with additional classified information from the Tsomet department, which they believe he was also preparing to hand over to the other side.

At a meeting in Tel Aviv, earlier this month, a black limousine with darkened windows drove into a public parking lot, bringing a reporter to a meeting with an Israeli government official. "Zygier wanted to achieve something that he didn't end up getting," says the official, who is familiar with the investigation.

"And then he ended up on a precipitous path. He crossed paths with someone who was much more professional than he was."

At some point, he says, Zygier crossed a red line and went to the dark side. His fate, the official points out, was largely a matter of psychology.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/how-life-of-spy-ben-zygier-unravelled-20130325-2goj0.html#ixzz2OVDmR595

[bemildred]

6. Babes in Toyland.

Assuming that is not all utter bullshit.

Thanks for that.

[shaayecanaan]

7. No contest, really...

A starry-eyed middle class Australian boy, hungry for adventure and eager to prove himself, and a Lebanese Hezbollah operative who has lived with intrigue every day of his life.

Assuming, as you say, that it is not complete bullshit.

[azurnoir]

15. asuming it's not BS is a mighty big first step here

but this single line sort of sums it up

"Our job is to isolate him, not to keep him alive", said one of the guards who attended the scene

.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/how-life-of-spy-ben-zygier-unravelled-20130325-2goj0.html#ixzz2OaJe2msy

[delrem]

8. It's probably BS

According to "very high level" anonymous sources in Israel...

This is one case where I separate out those very few facts that I do know. He died - but how? why? what was he imprisoned for? I dunno except for speculation and more or less "high level leaks" (haha).

One thing I know for sure, so-called "high level anonymous leaks" are always deliberate and intended to plant a narrative, and the closer they are to dealing with military/intelligence infos, the more deliberate and strategic they are. Concepts like "truth" don't enter the picture.