Richard Silverstein: a voice of conscience from Israel

BREAKING: Israel Bombed 

Beirut

Richard Silverstein

Tikan Olam,

4 August, 2020

A confidential highly-informed Israeli source has told me that Israel caused the massive explosion at the Beirut port earlier today which killed over 100 and injured thousands. The bombing also virtually leveled the port itself and caused massive damage throughout the city. The source received this information from an Israeli official having special knowledge concerning the matter.

Israel targeted a Hezbollah weapons depot at the port and planned to destroy it with an explosive device. Tragically, Israeli intelligence did not perform due diligence on its target. Thus they did not know (or if they did know, they didn’t care) that there were 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate stored in a next-door warehouse. The explosion at the arms depot ignited the fertilizer, causing the catastrophe that resulted.

It is, of course, unconscionable that Israeli agents did not determine everything about their target including what was in its immediate vicinity. The tragedy Israel has wreaked is a war crime of immense magnitude.

The ICC has already been investigating Israel for war crimes in Gaza since the 2014 Operation Protective Edge. Now, I imagine it will expand the scope to incorporate today’s criminally negligent massacre.

Though Israel has regularly attacked Hezbollah and Iranian weapons depots and convoys in Syria, it rarely undertakes such brazen attacks inside Lebanon. This attack in the country’s capital marks an even greater escalation. The sheer recklessness of this operation is astonishing.

Not surprising, though. A plan of this sort can only be contemplated amidst internal political dysfunction. Bibi is on the ropes and desperate to change the subject. When his intelligence officers brought the plan to him he likely rubbed his hands with glee and said: “Go to it!” Israeli intelligence was naturally out to please the boss and probably cut corners in order to make the attack happen. When no one is at the wheel saying “Stop!” the boat hits an iceberg and sinks. That’s possibly what happened here.

The Israeli bombing brings to mind similar bombings orchestrated by its agents in Beirut in the period before and after its 1982 invasion. Ronen Bergman’s book on Mossad assassinations and Remy Brulin have documented multiple Israeli bombings during this period which wreaked widespread death and destruction on the city’s civilian population.

In this case, the damage done was accidental. But that will be little comfort to the thousands of Beirutis whose lives have become a living hell as a result of this Israeli crime.

As an aside, former Likud MK Moshe Feiglin tweeted a quotation from the Mishnah “celebrating” the disaster: “There never have been such great days in Israel as the 15th of Av [the day of the bombing] and Yom Kippur.”

Of course, it pains me to admit that Pres. Trump was correct in his earlier statement that the explosion was a “terrible attack,” and that the information was conveyed to him by “his generals.” In this case, he and they were right:

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Wednesday defended President Trump’s description of a massive explosion a day earlier in the capital of Lebanon as an “attack”…

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he was briefed by generals who felt the explosion at a major port in Beirut was an “attack” and “a bomb of some kind.

“I can tell you the initial report was exactly what the president shared with all of you. I happen to know that he was briefed on that. The initial reports looked at an explosion,” he added. “We still have not totally ruled that out.”

“Without sharing anything classified, I’ve been able to see a lot of what has taken place there. We’ll continue to evaluate that,” Meadows continued. “Obviously, there’s no group that has claimed any responsibility but what the president shared with the American people is what he was briefed on.”

This would be highly classified information, which would mean that Trump once again exposed U.S. intelligence secrets and methods, which no president should do. It is reminiscent of previous episodes in which he shared such highly sensitive information with Russian officials. And it’s the reason why U.S. intelligence officials do everything in their power to keep such information from him.

There could (and should) be Israeli domestic political repercussions for this disaster. As Netanyahu approved the attack, he is responsible for the consequences. In 1982, a commission of inquiry found Ariel Sharon culpable for the invasion of Lebanon and the massacre at Sabra and Shatilla. He was sent into political exile for a decade. At the very least, this should disqualify Bibi from leading the country. This would be the outcome in any democratic nation in which the leader was held accountable for his failures.

But alas, Israel is not such a nation, and Bibi always seems to weasel out of responsibility for his blunders. The difference here is that the Israeli leader is already under pressure due to his government’s disastrous response to Covid19 and the looming corruption trial on three counts of bribery. This could be the tipping point.

Normally, Israelis would not bat an eye at such a massacre. They have become inured to the suffering they inflict on their Arab neighbors. But given Netanyahu’s collapsing popularity, this could hasten his end.

Israel couldn’t have picked a worse time to inflict such suffering on Lebanon. The country is in deep economic crisis. Businesses are going bankrupt, people have nothing to eat, politicians quarrel and blame while doing nothing. Lebanon is a basket case. Suffering is everywhere. There is little appetite from its Arab brethren like Saudi Arabia to come to its aid. If any country did not need this added tragedy it is Lebanon.

But there you go–Israel doesn’t seem to have any sense of shame or restraint when it comes to inflicting pain on its neighbors. And it has done so endlessly in Lebanon: from the bombings in the lead-up to the 1982 invasion, the 20-year occupation of Southern Lebanon, and two wars in this century. All of this inflicted massive, ongoing damage on the country. These interventions exacerbated existing ethnic and religious divisions in the country (indeed that is Israel’s modus operandi regarding its Arab neighbors), and amplified the suffering further.

Of course, there will be doubters. Those who disbelieve my source. But to them, I point out two pieces of circumstantial evidence which are telling. Normally, if Israel has undertaken a successful terror attack (such as those against Iran) it will either refuse to comment or a senior military or political figure will say something like: While we refuse to comment, whoever did it did the world a favor.

In this case, Israel immediately denied responsibility. Even Hezbollah supposedly said Israel hadn’t caused the damage (likely protecting itself from the inevitable blame that will fall upon it for storing its weapons next to a building filled with explosive material).

The second tell-tale sign is that Israel never offers humanitarian aid to its Arab neighbors. During the Syrian Civil War, the only group to whom Israel offered humanitarian assistance was its Islamist anti-Assad allies. Israel has never offered such aid to Lebanon, until today. Lebanon is officially considered an enemy state in Israel. So to have the Lebanese flag flying over Tel Aviv city hall is also extraordinary. But the cynic in me says that it is an outrage for Israelis to all of a sudden develop pity on Lebanese after their leaders caused this debacle. Israel has rained down death and destruction on the country for decades. For it to feign empathy now is the height of chutzpah.

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Haaretz’s Gideon Levy expressed shock and indignation at the prospect that Israel might have had anything to do with the tragedy. Also, in this column he links to this blog and notes pointedly that I ascribed the Beirut blast to Israel:

The “Jewish state” has never caused such disasters, and the fall of its enemies its heart has never rejoiced. So too the IDF, the army of the Jews has never caused such devastation [as the Beirut blast], certainly never in Lebanon, even less so in Beirut! Why would the IDF destroy such infrastructure? And why bomb the Beirut port? Why would the most moral army in the world bomb such a population center? That’s why the leaders of the nation rushed to offer aid to the stricken Land of the Cedars in a Jewish-Israeli tribute that is so typically humane, lofty and full of heartfelt tears.

[But] was it not defense minister [Benny Gantz] who only last week threatened that same Lebanon with destruction of infrastructure? Didn’t the prime minister also threaten Lebanon? And how does destruction of infrastructure look in Lebanon? Just like what was seen in Lebanon on Tuesday. The sound of thunder shook the city, black smoke billowed over it, destruction and devastation, civilian blood spilled, 4,000 injured at hospital doors…

Half of Israel and the entire IDF General Staff know how to recite the acclaimed Dahiya Doctrine. Every second politician has threatened to carry it out…And what is this sophisticated doctrine? It’s the use of disproportionate, unbridled force against infrastructure, the sowing of destruction and shedding of as much blood as possible. “Flattening” – to teach the enemy a lesson “once and for all.” The IDF has tried this more than once in the past, in Lebanon and in Gaza, and it was a dizzying success. It looks just like what was seen in Beirut on Tuesday.

…Would you accept humanitarian aid from such a country? Is there a more sickening show of hypocrisy?

Ex-CIA Analyst Confirms 

Beirut Blast Initiated by 

“Military Munitions,” 

Lebanese President to 

Examine Role of “External 

Actors”

By Richard Silverstein 

Tikan Olam,

6 August, 2020

For Arabic speakers, above is an interview I did today for Al Jadeed (Lebanon) about my reporting on the Israeli attack on Beirut. You can find the segment devoted to my story at 24:45.

Robert Baer, one of the CIA’s most distinguished Middle East analysts, did an interview with CNN about the Beirut attack. In it, he confirmed an essential piece of the story I’ve been reporting. While others have speculated that the first blast which triggered the following devastating explosion in the ammonium nitrate warehouse consisted of fireworks, Baer closely reviewed the video and says it clearly was “munitions:”

Baer said he thinks that there were military munitions and propellants present. He speculated it could have been a weapons cache, but it’s unclear who it belongs to.

“It was clearly a military explosive,” he said. “It was not fertilizer like ammonium nitrate. I’m quite sure of that. You look at that orange ball (of fire), and it’s clearly…a military explosive.”

Baer noted that white powder seen in the videos of the incident before the major blast are likely an indicator that ammonium nitrate was present and burning. He also noticed a lot of munitions going off ahead of the larger explosion…

“It almost looks like an accident,” he said. “It was incompetence, and maybe it was corruption, but the question is whether it was military explosives, who was it going to or why was it stored there?”

Baer isn’t confident we’ll ever know the truth.

“I’ve worked in Lebanon for years, and no one is going to want to admit they kept military explosives at the port. It’s a stupid thing to do.”

There are several critical elements to Baer’s interview: first, he confirms that the initial spark that set off the most deadly explosion was caused by the ignition of military explosives. Second, he concedes that an unknown party was storing such munitions at the port. Third, he explains why Hezbollah, the party I contend was responsible, would vehemently deny it was responsible in any way for the catastrophe.

I spoke yesterday to a Lebanese journalist and asked him if it was possible Hezbollah had a presence at the port. He said certainly they did and at the airport as well. But he said that if there had been such a weapons cache at the port, the militant group would have done a forensic clean-up to eliminate any traces of what had been there before the attack. It was clear to him that as it is to me that Hezbollah would be mortified that it’s carelessness wrought such devastation on the city; and deathly afraid of exposure.

In another major development, Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun announced that the state would be examining the possible role of “external actors” in the explosion:

“The cause has not been determined yet. There is a possibility of external interference through a rocket or bomb or other act,” Aoun said in comments carried by local media and confirmed by his office.

He said he had asked French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Beirut on Thursday, “to secure aerial images to determine what happened and if the French do not have them, we will request them from another source.”

…Aoun said the probe would be conducted in three parts: “First, how the explosive material entered and was stored … second whether the explosion was a result of negligence or an accident … and third the possibility that there was external interference.”

…The source familiar with the initial investigation said a fire had started at port warehouse 9 on Tuesday and spread to warehouse 12, where the ammonium nitrate was stored.

Of course, it is critical to determine what was in warehouse 9 and who had control of it. Despite the massive destruction there, forensic investigators–were they permitted to visit the site–could determine this. But Hezbollah, if it were involved in the manner my source has claimed, would do its utmost to prevent this.

This is a critical new piece of evidence indicating that the country’s leadership is now prepared to abandon former claims that the tragedy was an accident or that an accidental explosion in a fireworks factory caused it. That was always a flimsy reed on which to hang this entire catastrophe.

None of this offers a smoking gun which decisively proves the accuracy of yesterday’s report. But it becomes part of a network of circumstantial evidence which buttresses the case. I referred to another critical piece in that post which I want to emphasize: Gideon Levy, one of Haaretz’s most courageous columnists not only linked to my post in his column yesterday, he went as far as he could without violating military censorship in pointing out that Israel had motive, means and opportunity to commit this vile crime.

Most skeptics regarding this story are hung up on the grant of confidentiality I gave my source. Many do not understand the danger that such an individual faces in a national security state. It is not my right to put such a person in danger in any fashion. And if I reveal more than I have, I would certainly be doing that. For those who may not be aware, a decade ago an FBI translator, Shamai Leibowitz, became my secret source for classified information he leaked to me about Israel’s campaign for Iran regime change in the U.S. The Justice Department later exposed him and he went to prison. No journalist wants such a terrible fate on their conscience.

What I can say beyond what I already have, is that my source is a professional with access to Israeli officials. One of the latter gave thisinformation to him.

Others doubting Israeli involvement claim that because the Beirut port is in a Christian neighborhood, Hezbollah would not maintain a warehouse there. Certainly, the port is in a Christian neighborhood. But the port is a facility serving the entire country and, as I’ve written here, a Lebanese journalist confirmed to me that the militant group has a presence at the port. Keep in mind that Hezbollah is the most powerful political and military force in the country. If it wants to maintain a weapons storage facility somewhere, it will do so, wherever that location may be.

The claim regarding fireworks causing the initial explosion or that they were in the warehouse with the ammonium nitrate is not significant. As Pres. Aoun said, the initial explosion occurred in warehouse 9 not the building containing the ammonium nitrate, stored in warehouse 12. Fireworks may have exploded at some point along with the fertilizer. But as Robert Baer said, “military munitions” caused the initial blast, not fireworks.

The response to my Beirut bombing post has been both heartening and disheartening. There have been 225,000 unique visitors in the past 48 hours. That’s many orders of magnitude higher than any daily site-visitation I’ve ever had. There are 40,000 Facebook likes and hundreds of Twitter RTs and comments.

On social media, progressive Jews and Israelis with whom I [thought I] shared allyship have turned and derided my reporting. It makes you realize who your friends really are. And who is a false ally who’s betrayed your trust. I’ve been excoriated by erstwhile progressive Jews as in league with anti-Semites and white supremacists. Others on the left have labeled the piece “bullshit” and unfriended me. Yet others, see malevolent motives and allude to unspecified character flaws they’ve detected in me. The screenshot below gives a taste of some of the less-guarded responses.

To anyone in the above categories, I could care less. In fact, there is a certain cleansing benefit in shedding them. And those who’ve engaged in that sort of personal gutter sniping, I’m banishing from my platforms. That stuff distracts from what’s important and I don’t want it to interfere. The work is what’s important. Not me or what you think of me or your theories about who I am or why I haven’t met your personal standards. The work will stand the test of time. The derision will fall by the wayside.

I want to thank those who’ve reposted my piece and who’ve stood by it and me