Arnon Grunberg

Attack

Passenger

On Iran, once again – Amos Harel in Haaretz:

‘In Brussels there was an attempt, apparently Iranian, to test the security around an El Al aircraft; in Iran itself a cyberattack caused a major disruption in train traffic, while on the Lebanese border Israel thwarted a weapons-smuggling attempt apparently associated with Hezbollah.
The incident in Brussels seems to have very serious potential. A suspicious bag found near the El Al counter was left there by an Iranian woman passenger who meanwhile departed on a different flight, to Qatar. Passengers waiting for their flight to Israel were evacuated from the site. The plane to Qatar, which had already taken off, was returned to the airport in Brussels and the Iranian woman was taken for interrogation. The suitcase itself was found to contain “innocent” hand sanitizer, but Israeli security officials are sure it was an attempt to test security arrangements around the counter before carrying out a possible attack.’

(…)

‘A cyberwar is also being waged between the two countries which, according to the international media, has included mutual strikes over the past two years. The disruption of train traffic over the weekend in Iran caused, according to the Iranian broadcasting authority, “unprecedented chaos at train stations throughout the country.” Reuters reported that an announcement on the electronic notice boards in the train stations referred travelers to a service phone line, but the number turned out to be that of Iran’s supreme spiritual leader Ali Khamenei.’

(…)

‘In 2012 the Shin Bet security service and the police uncovered a large Hezbollah operation to smuggle explosives from Lebanon, which included dozens of kilograms of standard and lethal C-4, discovered in Nazareth. It turned out that they had been smuggled by drug criminals from Ghajar and Nazareth. The final destination of the drugs was not discovered. As in that affair, there is a possibility now that Hezbollah or its Iranian patrons are establishing and arming cells in Israel that it can operate when needed in future attacks.’

Read the article here.

The (unusual) quiet between Israel and Lebanon (Hezbollah/Iran) is becoming more and more fragile, according to this analysis.

The balance of mutual destruction is till now doing its work, but sooner or later a bit of mutual destruction might turn out to be attractive.

In the meantime, some sorts of comedy are being rehearsed over and over again.

‘Reuters reported that an announcement on the electronic notice boards in the train stations referred travelers to a service phone line, but the number turned out to be that of Iran’s supreme spiritual leader Ali Khamenei.’

Counting on your enemies’ sense of humor might be a dangerous bet.

But perhaps the spiritual leader understands a joke or two.

discuss on facebook