Mossad Chief Confirms Netanyahu’s Warning of London Bombing

The controversy continues over an Associated Press story detailing the remarks of a “senior Israeli official” who claimed that Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in London for an economic conference, was warned by Scotland Yard “minutes” in advance of the terrorist bombings. According to the original story, Netanyahu’s prior knowledge was the cause of his not showing up at the conference, which took place at a hotel near the Liverpool Underground station. A subsequent AP report contained the Israeli’s government’s denial of a prior warning, and claimed that Netanyahu received a warning after the blasts.

Although the first AP story was never retracted, that didn’t prevent Israel’s American amen corner from claiming that it had been withdrawn, nor did it stop Stratfor.com from coming out with an analysis claiming that Israel knew “days” in advance, and that it wasn’t Scotland Yard that informed Netanyahu. Former intelligence analyst Tommy Preston, of Preston Global, concurred.

My own column drawing on these sources drew fire, not only from the usual suspects, but also from dailykos.com, the Democratic party website spawned by the Dean campaign. “Antiwar.com is not a legitimate source,” declared one poster.

This from a website that headlined “Did BushCo Tip Off London Bombers?”!

An author who goes by the name “DHinMI” manufactured a quote, purportedly from me, that was nothing more than a crude fabrication: it had quote marks around it, as if I had written it, when in reality I had written no such thing. DhinMI’s point: that to even suggest that Netanyahu had advance notice of the London bombings is so obviously an “anti-Semitic conspiracy theory” that no discussion is required, regardless of what the Associated Press reports.

The Kossacks, as they call themselves, are trying to clean their act up so that they can be more closely associated with the Democratic party apparatus. However, why limit themselves to condemning my column: why not condemn AP as an “illegitimate source” for publishing the news of Netanyahu’s foreknowledge to begin with? And while they’re at it, they need to add a few more media source to the list, including some of the Israeli media. Israel Insider cites Mossad chief Meir Dagan, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag:

“The Mossad office in London received advance notice about the attacks, but only six minutes before the first blast, the paper reports, confirming an earlier AP report. As a result, it was impossible to take any action to prevent the blasts.”

Here is the Bild am Sonntag story in German, and a Google translation.

Is this just empty boasting on the part of the Mossad chief, or is there some truth to the initial AP report? Is Meir Dagan spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories?

We report. You decide.

I might add that some of the DailyKos folks are shocked – shocked! – that Antiwar.com opposed the Kosovo war. We, in turn, are shocked at the hypocrisy of those who support a war of aggression against a country, Yugoslavia, that had never attacked us, and that was never sanctioned by the United Nations. They only oppose wars started by Republicans: we at Antiwar.com, on the other hand, oppose all wars of aggression, regardless of the partisan affiliation of those in power at the time.