Sotloff’s close links to Israeli counter-intelligence, emergence from same stable as Foley, and equally amazing ability to be ‘on the spot’ to cover Black Arts events in Middle East
That Steven Sotloff is Jewish isn’t exactly a secret. But what many media titles this morning have glossed over is that he studied at Tel Aviv’s Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (IDC) before beginning his career. Located on the same campus at the core of of IDCs philosophy is the International Institute for Counter Terrorism. Its links to Mossad are well known. The Slog tries to join up some dots.
Having watched the second ‘beheading’ video and looked into Mr Sotloff’s background, my aim – as with James Foley’s apparent execution – is to offer key observations that I find significant:
There is no blood at all in this video. This time the ‘assailant’ isn’t even seen attacking his victim. There is no headless body seen at the end. The voice is identical to the first video.
Some excerpts from around the Web so far today: ‘A video has been released today showing the gruesome murder of Steven Sotloff‘ (The Mirror – it shows no such thing). ‘The killing of Sotloff ‘disgusting and despicable’ (David Cameron – this film offers zero evidence that he is dead). ‘A video that shows the beheading of American Steven Sotloff (CNN – it doesn’t show anything). ‘Sotloff family watched grisly video of Sotloff’s death’. (NBC – well then, they didn’t watch the one I did).
Youtube has blocked all copies of the video. Google is not showing any relevant results for ‘watch Sotloff beheading video’. Once again, senior politicians and most news anchors are advising against any viewing, on the grounds of it being ‘gruesome’, ‘gorey’, ‘disgusting’ or ‘disturbing’. Wikipedia already has an entry on him confirming his death.
Assumptions are being routinely presented as facts.
As with the Foley video, Mr Sotloff betrays no signs of fear whatsoever.
He may well simply be a very brave man, but the apparent calm of both ‘victims’ is, to say the least, odd.
As with James Foley (see last Slogpost about him) facts in Sotloff’s background cast doubt on the ‘innocent journalist just doing his job’ line.
He worked in Egypt, Turkey and Bahrain for the Christian Science Monitor….a tiny niche outfit favoured strongly for agent and story placement by the CIA. He then went on to work for Time Magazine – the definitive CIA-linked publication whose close association with the Agency goes back to Allen Dulles in the 1950s.
Before that he worked for The National Interest – a far-right conservative magazine. It’s latest editorial opines that ‘The Obama administration’s dispatch of a few hundred U.S. military personnel [to Iraq] although they will be serving legitimate purposes, is probably best understood as a response to the pressure to do something. It was the minimum military measure the administration could get away with without incurring intense accusations of doing nothing.’
Earlier this year, Time Magazine co-sponsored, and gave extensive coverage to, The National Interest’s highly critical seminar on ‘pussy-footing’ US foreign policy.
Steven Sotloff would appear to have come from the same stable as James Foley, in terms of the commonality of links involved. Like Foley’s TGP employer Charles M. Sennott, he has also been remarkably lucky on being ‘on the spot’ to ‘report’ events that remain in doubt as to the motives and catalysts involved. For example, having gone to Yemen to become fluent in Arabic, Sotloff was in on the start of Egypt’s ‘Arab Spring’. And astonishingly, he just happened to be near the Benghazi compound when the US base there was stormed…resulting in the death of Ambassador Stevens. This last event has been riddled with ‘false flag’ accusations from Day One.
Steven Sotloff isn’t just Jewish – he is connected to right-wing Israeli centres, which are in turn closely linked to Mossad.
Some time before learning Arabic in the Yemen, Mr Sotloff studied at Tel Aviv’s Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya (IDC) before beginning his career. Located on the same campus at the core of of IDCs philosophy is the International Institute for Counter Terrorism (IICT). Its links to Mossad are far from covert.
Efraim Halevy, the former Director of Mossad, is a regular speaker at both the IICT and the IDC. The IICT liaises with Mossad specifically in relation to ‘Targeted Killings’ of jihadists and Hamas leaders.
In his Wikipedia entry, the Interdisciplinary Center at Herzliya is listed as Steven Sotloff’s almer mater.
Here again, as with James Foley, we are left with multiple potential interpretations:
1. As suggested in The Slog’s Foley piece, ISIS is simply letting the CIA/Mossad axis know they are on their case, are identifying their agents….and will wipe them out if necessary.
2. The repeat of last week’s “far too gruesome to watch” smokescreen and virtual blackout on social media suggest that the West is not keen for people to examine the video. The further attempt to ratchet up the jingoism is illustrated by an almost universal reportage of ‘the beheading’ of the victim. Nothing in the video shows or even suggests this, other than the ‘assailant’s’ threat. All this might suggest a black arts op by intelligence agencies.
3. Having been knocked back by the electorates on Syrian involvement, the West is now softening them up in readiness for a new entry into Iraq. (A US poll this morning shows the percentage in favour of military action by the US is up from 43% to 72%).
4. Having failed to tempt the West into further ‘attacks on Islam’, ISIS is upping the ante. (But this wouldn’t explain the news blackout by Western MSM titles and sites).
Stay tuned: the video ends by showing and identifying a British national. I am already researching this person’s background.
You would be well-advised to read this post in the context of the earlier Slogpost on Foley’s career
The Slog 