Bungled Israeli killing revealed

[newyorican]

Papers released at the National Archives in London have revealed the details of a political murder by Israeli secret services 30 years ago.

A Moroccan catering worker was killed in Lillehammer, Norway, by two Israelis who had got out of a car beside him.

They thought they were killing Ali Hassan Salame, the Palestinian behind the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

<snip>

The man who was killed, Ahmed Bouchikhi, had been living in Lillehammer for nine years and his wife, Torill Larsen, a local woman, was expecting their child.

<snip>

The real Ali Hassan Salame was killed five years later in Beirut.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4138021.stm

It appears the successive governments of Israel have provided over 30 years of refuge for a murderous gang-that-couldn't-shoot-straight. But at least they got the right guy...eventually.

[madaboutharry]

1. This was revealed years ago.

This isn't new, the Israelis admitted this screw up at the time. Tragic.

[drdon326]

2. uh-huh......

thanks for .....for.....posting.

[newyorican]

3. You...are...welcome...

why...are...we...talking...like...this :shrug:

[pelsar]

4. the lesson to be learned...

yep...its just not a good idea to go out and kill israelis...it just isnt, were not fair game anymore, we may be related (directly) to those jews of past who passively went to their deaths, who had their villages burned, who were ostricisized, etc..but were not made of the same stuff.

though they keep on trying.....eventually hopefully it will stop. And despite the rumors that our mossad is all powerful, our military is superior to all else, the reality is (and this is where is gets tricky) we're just humans like everyone else, and we make mistakes too.

heres an idea....stop trying to kill us....

[The Magistrate]

5. That Is True, Mr. Pelsar

Mistakes are made. But it is hard to quarrel with the basic policy.

Once the Sage wrote: "What others teach, I teach also. 'A violent man will die a violent death.'"

[TheKingfish]

21. translation

The Germans tried to kill us all so the Palestinians must pay!

[newyorican]

6. Gee...

Too bad this dark, swarthy guy found himself in the crosshairs. I would hope the lesson would be that if you are going to carry out assassinations, at least hit the right target.

I am surprised to see that any old Arab will do. Revenge is a dish best served cold...if delivered to the right address.

[pelsar]

7. comeon newyorican.....

that was uncalled for.....and has no reasonable explanation other than simply hate....which I find "beneath you"

[eyl]

8. If they were just going after

"any old Arab", they could have found some much closer to home, don't you think?

[Englander]

9. So,to recap;

Mossad decides to send a "death-squad" after a PLO member; tries to kill said PLO member in another sovereign state,in this case,Norway. Doesn't inform,or warn,or send a "heads-up" to Norwegian police or intelligence services, & then fucks-up the assassination,and half-a-dozen of the squad are caught,convicted & jailed.

From the archives;

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,193475,00.html
Norway solves riddle of Mossad killing

Doug Mellgren in Oslo
Thursday March 2, 2000
The Guardian

Israel's intelligence service, Mossad, acted without Norwegian help in a botched 1973 assassination in the ski resort of Lillehammer, a national commission concluded yesterday.

Norwegians have long speculated about involvement by their own police or intelligence service in the killing, which has been shrouded in secrecy for 27 years, and which has been a sore point in otherwise warm relations between Norway and Israel.

On July 21 1973, a team of Israeli hitmen shot dead a Moroccan waiter, Ahmed Bouchikhi, as he walked home from the cinema with his pregnant wife in the resort, 110 miles north of Oslo.

The assassins apparently mistook Bouchikhi for Hassan Salameh, a PLO intelligence chief suspected of masterminding the killing of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics.

"This was much more than a murder," said Gullow Gjeseth, head of the six-member government commission. "This was a violation of Norwegian sovereignty. It is a completely special case."

[bemildred]

10. Does sort of tarnish the image of the Mossad a bit, does it not?

One of the reasons I find the "Mossad is behind everything" theories
amusing is because of the regular occurrence of these sorts of
incidents. Of course, the same can be said of the CIA. "By their
fruits shall ye know them."

[pelsar]

11. yep...thats what happened...

but isnt it amazing terrorists kidnap and later kill athletics tending an international event, designed for to stand for peace and brotherhood, and when its all over....no nation seems concerned with finding the the planners and bringing them to justice...its as if those israelis just served to "bother" an international event. As if we should have apologised for staining the airport with our "blood."

well, we dont look "the other way", and if it means going to argentina, norway, cyprus or lebanon...whatever it takes......

(btw, i dont believe it "works" if you tell the police force of a sovereign country that you plan on assisinating someone who lives there....kind of a strange accusation, sort of like, what else can we blame israel for....)

[Englander]

12. "Terrorism=extra-judicial killing"....

Israeli "death-squads"=extra-judicial killing.

Is there a shortage of judges & jails in Israel,that these "terrorists" could not be detained & put on trial?

[The Magistrate]

13. Nonesense, Mr. Englander

Why do you imagine the civil and criminal laws of Israel are binding on any of these people? Are they citizens of Israel? Are they residents of Israel?

The fact is, they are combatant members of armed bodies of a people at war with the people of Israel. Thus they are liable to be killed at any instant, without any notice or warning, like any other combatant in a war.

[Englander]

14. War,what war?

"Why do you imagine the civil and criminal laws of Israel are binding on any of these people?"

Well,because they killed Israeli citizens? Hasn't Israel heard of international arrest warrants,or extraditions?
Assassinations are a godawful way to prosecute an anti-terror operation; they're illegal,& liable to be self-defeating. As was the case in Lillehammer.

[The Magistrate]

15. Interesting, Mr. Englander

Do you not consider the people of Arab Palestine and the people of Israel to be at war?

Has peace broken out between them without my having noticed in the morning papers?

[Englander]

17. Did I miss the Declaration of War?

When did that happen? "Conflict";yes, "war";no.

[pelsar]

18. declaration of war?...here?-wrong culture

seems your confusing your western culture with that of the middle east-very ethnocentric of you....

cant recall anybody "declared war" in 48, 67, 73.....so those werent "official wars" according to your western viewpoint

well just as those werent wars, so too is the "non war" going on right now.

guess us israeli and palestenians dont agree, as we quite busy killing each other based on nationalities.

[The Magistrate]

19. A Distinction Without A Difference, Sir

Formal declarations of war, for better or worse, seem to have passed out of fashion past the middle of the twentieth century....

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pelsar]

16. reality check......

you mean go through the international community? and have them "agree" that these people were involved? revel intelligence sources to countries like France, Tunisia etc about who was involved ......

The same intl community representated by the UN that couldnt even condem the murders?

this intl community your talking about?

[eyl]

22. Not to mention

That IIRC most of them were in Arab countries, which would hardly surrender them to Israel.

It also serves to demonstrate the difference between intelligence work and law enforcement. The standards of confidence and (especially in this case) legal admissability are inherently less than that of law enforcement (at least in democracies); but in international matters, law-enforcement-grade information is often unobtainable.