Guardian writer blames Czech diplomat's death on Israel

This took longer than I thought. But it didn't come from an Arab journalist but from a freelancer who has written for The Guardian and The Telegraph

From Colin Randall, writing in The National (UAE) on Sunday after the Palestinian Czech diplomat was killed by a bomb in a safe:

[A]s the diplomat’s daughter cast doubt on explanations that her father died in a bizarre accident, the manner of his death – reportedly caused by an old embassy safe exploding – recalled murky days of special operations blamed on Israeli agents in European cities and beyond.

...Then the mystery grew with comments in Ramallah by Al Jamal’s daughter, Rana, 30, alleging that her father had been deliberately killed. “The Palestinian official account is baseless,” she told Associated Press. “The safe box has been in regular use — my mom [who lives there] told me that.”

In another interview, by telephone with Reuters, she added: “We believe my father was killed and that his death was something arranged and not an accident. How? We do not know and that is what we want to know.”

She said the safe had also been in use when her father served at the mission for two decades from the mid-1980s. “The safe was emptied and moved to the house. My father had been putting documents inside it and it was open. The explosion took place while he used it.”

Since the 1950s, the fingerprints of Israel’s national intelligence agency Mossad and the internal security service Shin Bet have been detected in a string of attacks and assassinations ranging from targeted shootings to bombings and kidnappings. Allegations of such activities have become rarer in recent years but nevertheless persist.

Although Israel never formally claims responsibility, such events have been seen by critics as acts of revenge and by official sources in Tel Aviv as measures designed to prevent future incidents they classify as terrorism

The history of espionage provides ample reason for observers to keep an open mind until conclusive proof is available.

In 1972, Mossad agents or special forces were suspected of being responsible for the assassination, using an exploding telephone, of Mahmoud Hamshari, the alleged coordinator of the Palestinian group Black September’s killing of 11 Israeli athletes at that year’s Munich Olympics, at his Paris apartment.

Two other Palestinians believed by Israel to have been implicated in the Munich attack were also killed in Paris, in 1973.

And in 1996, Yehiya Ayyash, described as “the engineer” and reputedly the chief Hamas bombmaker, was killed by an explosive device planted in his mobile phone in Gaza in a plot attributed to Shin Bet.

Mossad is also strongly suspected of carrying out the torture and murder in 2010 of Mahmoud Al Mabhouh, a Hamas commander, in his Dubai hotel room. Dubai police said Israel was responsible for the killing, which involved at least 26 agents travelling on false European and Australian passports.

As long ago as 1956, Mustafa Hafaz, an Egyptian agent in the Gaza, was assassinated when a booby-trapped book delivered by a double agent exploded. Israel reportedly believed he was responsible for sending Palestinian combatants into southern Israel.

So the Mossad went after Jamal by secretly putting explosives in his safe, not knowing who would open it? And by sheer coincidence an arsenal of weapons were found?

Of course, Colin Randall doesn't say explicitly that the Mossad was behind it. He just says that Jamal died in a weird way and the Mossad kills people in weird ways. The reader can put two and two together without Randall having to worry about pesky lawsuits.

Since this article was published, the idea that the safe was tampered with during its move into the new residence has been shot down:

No explosive could get into the safe of the Palestinian embassy in Prague during its transport to a new residence of ambassador Jamal al Jamal who died after the safe had exploded on January 1, transport firm head Martin Sousek told Monday's issue of the Blesk tabloid.

The transport of the safe was under a constant supervision and Jamal was present during it all the time, said Sousek.

Jamal's daughter Rana claimed that her father had been murdered and that the explosive could have got into the safe deposit during the move to the new residence.

Sousek ruled it out as complete nonsense.

"The safe was being constantly watched. It was closed all the time," Sousek told Blesk.

People from the Palestinian embassy decided on the safe's placement directly on the spot. The ambassador alone was there, giving instructions where concrete items should be placed in the residential part of the house, including the safe, Sousek said.

The reflexive instinct to automatically blame everything on Israel is quite strong in British journalists.