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Israeli animal spy conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories about Israel's alleged training of animals to attack, to spread diseases, and to spy for Israel. These theories have been propagated by some Arab and Iranian media and Arabic language websites, although some other Arab sources have criticized the coverage these events have received. Some commentators have noted that these theories are not unprecedented, given the long history of military animals.

Overview of the allegations

Israel has been accused of sending a spy pelican and a spy vulture to Sudan. The birds, wearing a GPS device and a tag with the sign "Tel Aviv University," were captured by local officials. Sudanese authorities refused to return the GPS transmitters.

In October 2008 Iran captured two pigeons, who reportedly showed unusual interest in Iran's nuclear facility in Natanz.

In 2007, Iranian media reported that 14 large squirrels carrying espionage equipment were intercepted near their border. Iranian media reports speculated that the squirrels were on behalf of a western intelligence service.

Israel has also been accused of releasing lethal jellyfish in the waters off Sinai and of infecting mosquitoes with HIV, even though this form of HIV transmission is not considered possible.

Most recently, during latest intifada, Wafa, also known as the Palestine News Agency, issued reports of rats as big as dogs and wild boars that were allegedly released in East Jerusalem by Israel in order to make Palestinians to flee so that Jews could take their homes. The report read: "Rats have become an Israeli weapon to displace and expel Arab residents of the occupied Old City of Jerusalem. Settlers flood the Old City of Jerusalem with rats.

In December 2010, shark attacks in Egypt were attributed to a shark released by the Mossad.

In January 2011, Saudi Arabian authorities arrested what they described as a "Zionist" vulture.

Theories

Shark

This conspiracy theory started to evolve December 2010, with an interview that Captain Mustafa Ismail, introduced as "a famous diver in Sharm El Sheikh", gave on TV program Egypt Today. In the interview Ismail claimed that there are no oceanic whitetip sharks in the Red Sea off Egypt. When asked how the sharks got there, Ismail responded: "no, it's who let them in?" He went on to describe his phone conversation with an Israeli diver who told him that they captured an oceanic whitetip off Eilat, an Israeli town also on the Red Sea coast. Ismail became suspicious when the Israeli told him the shark they captured had a GPS navigation device. Although this is a common method of monitoring shark migrations, Ismail offered his own theory of using GPS device on sharks: "the sharks were monitored to attack in Egypt's waters only".

Prompted in a TV interview to comment on the theory, the governor of South Sinai, Mohammad Abdul Fadhil Shousha, was reported to have said it couldn't be ruled out: "What is being said about the Mossad throwing the deadly shark to hit tourism in Egypt is not out of the question. But it needs time to confirm." He later directly dismissed the theory.

Describing the theory as "sad", Professor Mahmoud Hanafy, a marine biologist at Suez Canal University, pointed out that GPS devices are used by marine biologists to track sharks, not to remote-control them. Egyptian officials suggested that the attacks were due to overfishing, illegal feeding, the dumping overboard of sheep carcasses, or unusually high water temperatures.

Vulture

A griffon vulture with a wingspan of about 8 feet (2.4 m) was seen flying in Saudi Arabia, near the home of a shaikh, near the city of Hayel. When the bird was captured, a GPS device and a leg tag with the sign "Tel Aviv University" were discovered on the bird. The authorities were alerted that the vulture was a part of "Zionist plot". The story was first reported in Saudi Arabia's newspaper Al-Weeam, and was later discussed in Arabic websites and other Saudi Arabia media outlets.

According to Riyadh newspaper Harmony the bird with code number "R56" was well trained and resisted the arrest by emitting a large amount of "a foul smell waste out of his mouth".

According to Arab Nyheter news agency "Al Jazeera has reported that Saudi security authorities arrested a suspect bird, who worked for Israeli intelligence (Mossad) and was flying in Saudi airspace to gather information on the country."

Israeli officials described the accusation as "ludicrous" and said they were "stunned" and were concerned that the bird could meet a severe punishment in the Saudi justice system.

A spokesman for Israel's Park and Nature Authority told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv that Israeli scientists are using GPS devices to determine the migration routes of the birds. He explained that, "The device does nothing more than receive and store basic data about the bird's whereabouts, and about his altitude and speed".

The bird was later released from custody after Saudi wildlife authorities determined that its tracking system was used for scientific purposes.

Rats

The Palestine News Agency Wafa issued report about Israeli "settlers" releasing giant poison-resisting anti-Arab rats to the Old city of Jerusalem in order to scare away the Arab citizens of the city. Wafa, which is an organ controlled by the office of the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, issued a report with headline:"Settlers flood the Old City of Jerusalem with rats." Without naming a single witness the report states: "Over the past two months, dozens of settlers come to the alleyways and streets of the Old City carrying iron cages full of rats. They release the rats, which find shelter in open sewage systems." The report does not clarify how Israelis were able to train the rats to attack only Arab, but not Jewish residents of the old city.

Wild boars

A Palestinian news agency Ma'an reported that Israeli settlers own wild boars and released them on Palestinian farmlands near Salfit. According to the report, wild boars destroyed crops and fruit trees that belong to Palestinians. A witness reported that "One of the attacked fields was planted with peach trees. All were broken and caused a big loss for the field's owner, farmer Abo Ayman Oada"

Ma'an has also reported that wild boars released by settlers have attacked people, causing serious injuries. In 2008, Ma'an reported a claim attributed to Palestinian security forces, according to which several Palestinian Arabs got hurt near the city of Nabulus by wild boars released by Israeli settlers from Ariel.

Ma'an has also linked Ariel settlers to snake attacks; in 2009, Ma'an quoted Salfit "locals, who have often accused Ariel settlers of releasing wild boars into villages and farmland" as stating that one-meter long snake that bit a woman on Salfit farmland "might have escaped from the nearby settlement."

Reaction

In The Wall Street Journal, columnist Bret Stephens commented that the Arab world's proclivity for believing in Zionist conspiracy theories like the Mossad shark to explain their problems points to "the debasement of the Arab mind."

Writing in The Australian, James Hider notes that Israeli spies are believed to be responsible for several recent assassinations in Arab countries, but describes the evidence that they have used animals to do so as "scant".

Gil Yaron from Star-News said that "The Saudi accusation may seem paranoid, but fear of Mossad and its penchant for high-tech methods is a staple of Arab coverage of Israel."

Joshua Muravchik writes in World Affairs about some Arab misconceptions about the Mossad: "This, after all, is the same agency that not only knows how to manipulate rats and sharks to spare Jews like the angel of death who passed over Jewish homes to persuade Pharaoh to let Moses lead the Jews out of Egypt. It is also the agency managed to warn 4,000 Jewish employees at the World Trade Center not to come to work on September 11, 2001, or to pass the warning on to their non-Jewish coworkers — a fact known to tens of millions of people across the Arab world."

Palestinian journalist and documentary filmmaker Khaled Abu Toameh is concerned that "... the Arab masses have become accustomed to hearing such idiotic allegations from their governments and leaders, especially when they are directed against Israel and Jews. What is worrying that these rumors often find their way to mainstream thinking in the Arab world."

Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Secretary-General of the Saudi National Security Council, has criticized the coverage that the vulture incident received in the Saudi media, saying "Some of the Saudi journalists rushed in carrying the news of this bird for the sake of getting a scoop without checking the information...they should have asked the competent authorities about the bird before publishing such news."

American journalist James Bamford, who writes about the American intelligence community, suggests that there is some credibility to suspicions that animals are being used in espionage. He cites CIA attempts to build robotic fish and dragonflies for use in surveillance as evidence that it is possible to use animals in espionage.

See also

• Animal-borne bomb attacks
• Military dolphin
• U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program

External links

• Egyptian Intellectuals Fight Common Arab Misconceptions
• British blamed for Basra badgers
• Hunter lured Israeli vulture with “dead sheep”

References

1. ^ Gil Yaron (January 5, 2011). "Secret agent vulture tale just the latest in animal plots". Star-News.
2. ^ Emirates 24/7 staff (January 9, 2011). "Saudis to free Israeli vulture". Emirates 24/7.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. ^ Robert Siegel (July 20, 2007). "Can Squirrels Spy for People? Iran Thinks So". NPR. Retrieved January 8, 2011.
4. Jackson Diehl (January 5, 2011). "Israel's Spying Vulture – and Killer Shark". Washington Post.
5. Julie Stahl (January 5, 2011). "Saudi Arabia Busts 'Israeli Spy' Vulture". CBN News.
6. ^ Keith Thomson (January 5, 2011). "Could Vulture Captured in Saudi Arabia Have Been Sent by Mossad?". The Huffington Post.
7. ^ James Hider (January 7, 2011). "Vulture held as Mossad spy by Saudi Arabia". The Australian.
8. Can I get infected with HIV from mosquitoes? By Mark Cichocki, R.N., About.com Guide
9. ^ Khaled Abu Toameh (December 14, 2010). "What is Responsible for Miseries of the Arabs?". Hudson New York.
10. ^ Haaretz Service (January 4, 2011). "Saudi Arabia 'nabbed Israeli-tagged vulture for being Mossad spy'". haaretz.
11. ^ "Saudi Arabia 'detains' Israeli vulture for spying". BBC. January 5, 2011.
12. Yasmine Fathi (December 6, 2010). "Expert shoots down conspiracy theory blaming Israel for shark attacks". Ahram.
13. "Shark Attack in Egypt? Must Be the Work of Israeli Agents". Discovery Magazine.
14. "Governor absolves Israel of shark attacks". 20 December 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
15. Yolande Knell (7 December 2010). "Shark attacks not linked to Mossad says Israel". BBC News. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
16. Yasmine Fathi (6 December 2010). "Expert shoots down conspiracy theory blaming Israel for shark attacks". Al Ahram. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
17. "Egypt to reopen beaches after deadly shark attack". Reuters. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 26 December 2010.
18. محيط – جهان مصطفى (07/01/2011). "نسر "آر56" يكشف لغز القرش المفترس بشرم الشيخ". lahona. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)Template:Ar icon
19. . showthread http://www.asir1.com/as/showthread.php?p=1614094. {{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)Template:Ar icon
20. "اطلقوا سراح الجاسوس -النسر جوناثان بولارد". arabnyheter. 06/01/2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)Template:Ar icon
21. Alexander Marquardt (January 10, 2011). "Israeli Vulture Spy Declared Innocent By Saudi Arabia". ABC News.
22. Khaled Abu Toameh (07/20/2008). "Palestinians: Israel uses rats against J'lem Arabs". Jerusalem Post. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
23. ^ Joshua Muravchik. "Epistemology to the Muslim World". World Affairs.
24. "Settler boars destroy Palestinian fields near Salfit". Ma'an News Agency. 25/05/2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
25. "Palestinian man hospitalized for tenth day after attacked by wild boars released by Israeli settlers". Ma'an News Agency. 20/02/2008. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
26. "Salfit: Woman attacked by meter-long snake". Ma'an News Agency. 17/10/2009. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
27. Bret Stephens (JANUARY 4, 2011). "Egypt's Prison of Hate. You know a country is in trouble when it blames shark attacks on the Mossad". The Wall Street Journal. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

• Conspiracy theories involving Jews and Israel
• Military animals