Prisoner X 6: The View from 'The Australian'

Although the Fairfax press has had the running with the case of Prisoner X, Murdoch's Australian has also managed some useful reporting.

There's the testimony of Zygier's Israeli lawyer, Avigdor Feldman, for example:

"Mr Feldman, one of the last people to Zygier alive, would not detail the specific charge but said last night it was 'not on the high level of gravity.' Asked about reports in Israel that Zygier was accused of 'treason', Mr Feldman said: 'I can't go into specifics but treason doesn't have to be somebody who is in coalition with Hezbollah or any other enemy of Israel... Mr Feldman visited the high security cell at the prison in Israel in the days before his death to discuss whether he should accept a plea bargain and face a shorter prison sentence or contest the charges and risk a longer sentence. He described the treatment of Zygier as 'stupid, inhumane and repulsive'... Mr Feldman said his client 'claimed before me he had done nothing wrong'... Mr Feldman would not detail the specific charge against Zygier or any security details, citing a secrecy agreement he had signed. But he said his impression of Zygier was that he was 'someone who was not a traitor by nature or ideology. He was involved in something that I cannot go into but this concern does not threaten the security or the government of Israel,' he said." (Zygier's family never knew charges, Paul Maley & John Lyons, 15/2/13)

Feldman's words add weight to the theory that Zygier had been (or was about to) talking to an Australian agency about Mossad's misuse of Australian passports, a matter that would normally place him in the category of whistleblower. If so, it would appear that, despite all his years of Zionist indoctrination from Bialik College on, Zygier still had sufficient independence of mind to speak out when confronted with real evidence of Israeli hands in Australian pockets. In a normal country that would be seen as an act of personal courage and integrity, but in a paranoid and security conscious apartheid state, it is bound to be construed as a hanging offence.

Further light is shed on the strangely passive attitude of Zygier's family to his detention and death:

"The Australian understands Zygier's family received very little information about his case... It is understood Zygier's family are satisfied that his rights were attended to at all times by Israeli authorities. They do not harbour any doubt about the verdict of an Israeli investigation into Zygier's death, which found the former lawyer had hanged himself in a cell supposed to be under constant surveillance... [family friend of Zygier] Mr Greener said the family had been devastated by Zygier's death. Zygier's father had retired from his role at the Jewish Community Council of Victoria soon after the funeral and had returned to work as executive director of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission only in the past 6 months." (ibid) [NB, I assume that these references to Zygier's 'family' are to his Melbourne family. As to his Israeli wife and children, so far no one's said a word.]

Then came this from the Weekend Australian :

"Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday that the Zygier family had recently signed a deal with Israel to accept 'several million shekels' in compensation. The paper quoted one of Zygier's lawyers as saying Israeli authorities had threatened the Australian, while he was in solitary confinement, that unless he pleaded guilty, he was likely to be sentenced to a long prison term and would be shunned by his family and the Jewish community. Zygier's family has not commented since ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent broke the story on Tuesday." (ASIO knew all about spy Zygier, John Lyons, 16/2/13)

And this:

"The fathers of two Australians whose passports were used by Mossad agents have declined to comment on the Zygier case, with one denying any connection between the events. Lawyer Harvey Bruce... is the father of Joshua Bruce, who had been studying in Jerusalem for seven years his passport was used in the assassination of Mabhouh. Mr Bruce said he was 'not at all' happy to discuss the case. 'There's no connection as far as I'm concerned,' he said. The office of Joe Krycer, father of Tel Aviv speech therapist Joshua Aaron Krycer, whose passport was also used in 2010, said he would not be commenting. Mr Krycer works in the same Caulfield South building as Zygier's father, Geoffrey, Mr Krycer is Victorian bequest director for the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which raises money for land conservation projects in Israel, while Mr Zygier is executive director of the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission." (ibid)

Finally, there's the suggestion, from 'an Israeli official' admittedly, that the Australian authorities know more than they're letting on:

"Australia has not made a single request for information about the Ben Zygier case since news of the alleged spy's incarceration and death in an Israeli prison broke this this week. Amid a storm of speculation about the reason for the suspected Mossad spy's jailing, including the claim he may have been about to divulge information about Australian passport fraud, a senior Israeli official said Canberra was unlikely to make a request because the Gillard government already had detailed knowledge of the case. 'Every day that goes by you see how deeply involved they were,' the official told The Weekend Australian. 'They interrogated him, they suspected him, they knew many things. It is clear they were in the know long before he died. Then when the coffin was returned to Australia, they knew he was not some backpacker who got lost trekking'... Israel's Channel 10 said in 2009, Australian intelligence officers interrogated Zygier about trips he took to Iran, Lebanon and Syria. The report alleged that the case was leaked to an Australian reporter who phoned Zygier and questioned him about his alleged links to the Mossad. The reporter, Jason Koutsoukis, told Israel's Channel 2 TV that Zygier strongly denied the allegations. Zygier was arrested shortly after they spoke... Zygier was caught between two intelligence services, Israeli sources said. Mossad believed he was on the 'verge' of passing information to the Australians. Soon after his return to Israel, Mossad's domestic counterpart, Shin Bet, swooped and Zygier was arrested..." (ibid)

In stark contrast with the Australian's Prisoner X reportage, the editorialist, whose frequent foaming fulminations on behalf of Israel over the years deserve to be the subject of media legend, has been strangely silent. Equally so has been the swarm of Zionist letter writers who normally never miss an opportunity to land one on the letters page. These pests appear, thus far at any rate, to be waiting this one out.

The paper's most public Zionist voice, foreign editor Greg (Jerusalem Prize) Sheridan, only recently baaack in print after a mysterious absence, weighed in on the subject on 14 February, titillating us all with a tribute to the Mossad "mystique":

"I have met a number of former Mossad personnel who seem to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the Arab world. They can tell you which cities to visit, almost which restaurant to go to, across the Middle East... If a former Mossad agent has ended up in an Israeli prison, this can only indicate that something has gone terribly wrong. Apart from the inherent sensitivity of any information involved in the case, the Israelis would hate to admit publicly a problem with one of their agents. This would undermine the mystique of super motivated, super capable Mossad agents combing all over the world, working their magical craft to serve Israel's interests." (Mystique of Mossad its greatest weapon)

Fortunately, he's had nothing to say on the subject since!