{"id":98757,"date":"2017-09-18T12:00:09","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=98757"},"modified":"2017-09-17T11:55:21","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T10:55:21","slug":"israeli-website-claims-isis-commander-revealed-as-mossad-agent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/09\/israeli-website-claims-isis-commander-revealed-as-mossad-agent\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Website Claims ISIS Commander Revealed as Mossad Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Libyan security forces arrested a Daesh commander in the city of Benghazi \u2014 only to find out soon after that the man they had captured, Ephraim Benjamin, was also an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. Was he working to defeat Daesh or to strengthen it?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

An alleged photo of Ephraim Benjamin, a Mossad agent. (Photo: Masralarabia)<\/p><\/div>\n

12 Sep 2017 – <\/em>There has long been speculation regarding ties between the Israeli government and the terror group Daesh, otherwise known as the Islamic State. Such speculation has been fueled by Israel\u2019s reference to Daesh as a \u201cuseful tool<\/a>\u201d and its acknowledgment that it views a Syria under complete Daesh control as preferable<\/a> to the continuation of the current Syrian government. It is supported as well by the extensive aid and even medical treatments that Daesh militants have received<\/a> from Israel. However, allegations have recently emerged that could suggest that the connection is even deeper than previously believed.<\/p>\n

According to a report from the Israeli website Inian Merkazi<\/a> and Abna news agency<\/a>, Libyan security forces arrested a Daesh commander in the city of Benghazi \u2014 only to find out soon after that the man they had captured, Ephraim Benjamin, was also an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. Benjamin, who was known in Libya as Abu Hafs, had begun work in Libya after the 2011 NATO-led invasion of Libya that ousted former leader Muammar Gaddafi.<\/p>\n

Middle East Monitor reported<\/a> that Hafs\/Benjamin was said to have become a prominent imam in a Benghazi mosque, before becoming a Daesh leader who commanded more than 200 fighters. Middle East Monitor has since removed the report from its site.<\/p>\n

Libyan authorities have allegedly accused Benjamin of gathering intelligence information on Daesh for Mossad and Middle East Monitor noted that some Libyan news outlets took to calling him the \u201cMossad shiekh.\u201d Inian Merkazi suggested that Benjamin\u2019s arrest showed that Mossad was influential in the rise of Daesh in the region, given that Benjamin began work in Libya in 2011 while Daesh did not begin operation in Libya until 2015.<\/p>\n

However, MintPress News was unable to independently verify the claims of Inian Merkaz linking the Daesh commander to the Israeli Mossad.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/strong> Israel Launches \u2018Humanitarian\u2019 Strikes on Syria, Assad Plays Waiting Game<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Other regional media outlets, such as Masr Alarabia, have described Benjamin as being one of Mossad\u2019s \u201cArabists\u201d \u2014 Mossad agents with Arab features who fluently speak Arabic and use local dialects. Such \u201cArabists\u201d have gained a reputation for infiltrating Palestinian protests and activist organizations, as well as assassinating prominent Palestinians who are vocally against the Israeli occupation.<\/p>\n

However, now it appears that Mossad \u201cArabists\u201d may be involved in more than the suppressing Palestinian dissent. Given that Israel has repeatedly stated it does not want Daesh to be defeated, it is clear that Benjamin, who allegedly commanded hundreds of men in Daesh, was not \u201cgathering intelligence\u201d in order to defeat Daesh but rather to strengthen it.<\/p>\n

Given the reports of Benjamin\u2019s arrest, last year\u2019s strange-seeming statement by Israel\u2019s military intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevy, makes more sense. Halevy had stated<\/a> that Israel does not want to see Daesh defeated and also had expressed concern about the recent offensives against Daesh territory, lamenting the \u201cmost difficult\u201d situation the group had found itself in at the time. He further added that Israel would do \u201call we can so as to not find ourselves in such a situation\u201d where Daesh faces defeat.<\/p>\n

In light of Benjamin\u2019s arrest, part of Halevy\u2019s concern for Daesh may have been born out of the fear that a Daesh defeat could put the lives of Mossad agents, as well as years of their work within Daesh, at risk.<\/p>\n

Related:<\/em><\/strong> The Strange, Sad Saga of the Taylor Force Act<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Daesh has long been regarded by Israeli think tanks and politicians as a \u201cstrategic tool<\/a>\u201d for furthering Western and Israeli goals in the region. In the case of Syria, Daesh was seen as a covert means of overthrowing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, an event that Israeli intelligence believed would result<\/a> in Iran\u2019s loss of \u201cits only ally\u201d in the region.<\/p>\n

On a larger scale, however, Daesh ultimately serves to help divide whole nations \u2014 like Iraq, Syria and others \u2014 into pieces. This is a key component<\/a> of the Israeli strategic plan, otherwise known as the Yinon plan, to dominate the Middle East by dividing and then conquering its neighbors.<\/p>\n

With allegations of Israel\u2019s direct involvement in facilitating the terror group\u2019s activities continuing to grow, it\u2019s become increasingly difficult to defend the long-standing assertion that Israel has been a \u201cneutral\u201d<\/a> figure in the Syrian conflict and the rise of Daesh.<\/p>\n

________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Whitney Webb is a<\/em> MintPress contributor who has written for several news organizations in both English and Spanish; her stories have been featured on<\/em> ZeroHedge, the Anti-Media, 21st Century Wire, and<\/em> True Activist among others – she currently resides in Southern Chile.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 mintpressnews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Join the<\/em><\/strong> BDS-BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS <\/em><\/strong>campaign<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to protest the Israeli barbaric siege of Gaza, illegal occupation of the Palestine nation\u2019s territory, the apartheid wall, its inhuman and degrading treatment of the Palestinian people, and the more than 7,000 Palestinian men, women, elderly and children arbitrarily locked up in Israeli prisons.<\/p>\n

DON’T BUY<\/strong> PRODUCTS WHOSE<\/strong> BARCODE<\/strong> STARTS WITH<\/strong> 729<\/strong>, which indicates that it is produced in Israel. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0DO YOUR PART! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

7 2 9: BOYCOTT FOR JUSTICE!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Libyan security forces arrested a Daesh commander in the city of Benghazi \u2014 only to find out soon after that the man they had captured, Ephraim Benjamin, was also an agent of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. Was he working to defeat Daesh or to strengthen it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-north-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98757\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}