Revelations by Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) progamme Foreign Correspondent on 12 February, 2013 have fired up Australian onliners. The mysterious Prisoner X who allegedly committed suicide in an Israeli gaol in 2010 was not only a dual citizen of Australia and Israel, but also a Mossad agent.

He was proud of his time in the military, despite our endless teasing about the wound we never asked to see.

I remember passionately debating the finer points of the Israel-Palestine conflict with Ben, who was obviously deeply engaged with the issue.

BY MICHAEL ROSS

I also served as a deep-cover combatant in the Mossad, and though I never knew Zygier, I think I have some insight as to what happened.

„He had everything to live for and that‘s why the death being noted as suicide comes as a great surprise to us all,“ he said.

„He would be the last person on earth that I would guess would take his own life, especially being in a high security prison where there‘s nothing to hang from.“

The committee also chose the members of its subcommittee on the secret services: Lieberman himself, who is suspected of obtaining confidential information from an ambassador; Aryeh Deri (Shas), whose conviction on corruption charges would deny him a security classification, but is absolved of this requirement as an elected parliamentarian; Naftali Bennett (Habayit Hayehudi); Zeev Elkin (Likud Yisrael Beiteinu); and Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor).

Without naming Mr Zygier or identifying him as an Australian, the statement said: “For security reasons, the prisoner was held under a pseudonym, but his family was notified of the arrest immediately. The prisoner was held by proxy of an arrest warrant issued by the court. The proceedings were overseen by senior officials in the Justice Ministry“

„The issue must be looked into. It is not within the jurisdiction of the Justice Ministry and I don’t have any answers on the matter.“

https://t.co/r3YJ36iM

The firm was founded in 1972 by three prominent lawyers:

– Chaim Herzog, later to become Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, member of the Israeli Knesset and finally the sixth President of the State of Israel;

– Michael Fox, who established a successful London law firm before immigrating to Israel,[4] known for his corporate work and his legal contributions to the development of the infrastructure, energy and natural resources of Israel;

– Dr. Ya‘akov Ne’eman, author of numerous publications on tax law and respected tax advisor to the government and major local and foreign corporations, later serving as Israeli Minister of Finance and Minister of Justice.

In another curious wrinkle in the case, Israeli TV reported that Zygier had worked as a clerk in the international business department of 1 of Israel‘s most prestigious law firms, Herzog Fox & Neeman. The firm is partially owned by Israel‘s Justice Minister, Yaakov Neeman.

Also Israeli TV, suggesting ‚co-incidence,‘ has reported he had worked in the international business departments of the law firm, Herzog, Fox & Neeman, a firm partially owned by Israel‘s Justice Minister, Yaakov Neeman.

In an unusual twist to the case, Israeli TV reported Zygier had worked for Israel’s Justice Minister, Yaakov Neeman’s law firm, Herzog, Fox & Neeman.

During his years in Israel, Zygier, a lawyer by profession, also worked at the Herzog, Fox, Neeman law firm of Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman, Channel 2 reported.

„The Mossad liaison I was in touch with informed me that, unfortunately, my client was no longer alive,“ Feldman told Kol Barama Radio. Israel has neither denied nor confirmed that „Prisoner X“ was a Mossad officer.

Republicans will need to rally forces against the Obama national-security and foreign-policy agendas again. Big outside groups and big outside money won’t like going this far on Hagel only to back down on the biggest fight.

Complicating the situation still further was Reid’s announcement that the current holder of the job, Leon Panetta, would clock out later today.

“We do not have, at 12 o’clock today, a secretary of Defense,” Reid said.

They’ve threatened to “hold” the nomination – a practice Mr. Reid said he wouldn’t honor – and filibuster it. In light of those threats, Mr. Reid filed cloture on Wednesday, a procedural move that heads off a filibuster and means Mr. Hagel will need 60 votes to win confirmation instead of a simple majority.

Sollten die Konservativen weiter keine reguläre Abstimmung zulassen, kann der 66-Jährige nicht mit einer einfachen Mehrheit gewählt werden. Die Demokraten bräuchten dann 60 der 100 Senatorenstimmen, um die Blockade zu überwinden. Da sie nur über 55 Stimmen verfügen, müssten fünf Republikaner für Hagel votieren. Diese „erzwungene“ Wahl könnte frühestens Freitag stattfinden.

Cuts can be made in so many areas:

– grouping together of municipalities with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants (immediately)
– modernisation and computerisation of the machinery of central government with a 30% cut in costs (in 5 years)
– put an end to every foreign peace mission, that in fact is a true military mission (immediately)
– elimination of Provinces (immediately)
– put a stop to the construction of useless infrastructure like the TAV in the Val di Susa, the Gronda in Genoa, the Pedemontana motorway in Lombardy (immediately)
– elimination of public financing of the publishing industry (immediately)
…

Die Kritik der Freimaurer ist bemerkenswert, weil sie ihrerseits in den Skandal um die Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS) verstrickt sein könnten. Der gefeuerte Chef der Bank, Giuseppe Mussari, soll selbst Logenmitglied sein, wie der Vorsitzende der Loge Großer demokratischer Orient, Gioele Magaldi, der Tageszeitung Il Fatto Quotidiano erklärte. Logen haben in der Toskana eine lange Tradition. Zahlreiche Sozialisten gehören der Vereiningung an.