ANT KATZ

Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has been publishing thousands of pages of leaked spy cables from secret service agencies around the world, together with UK newspaper The Guardian. But the most unexpected have been those leaked from SA’s spooks at the State Security Agency (SSA). While the SSA tries to hunt down who leaked the spy cables – the more important question may be: Why?

Of the leaked SA cables to date, almost all refer to the relationship between SA’s ‘spooks’ and Israel on the one hand, and Iran on the other.

This is prompting pundits to speculate whether there was a political agenda behind the SA leaks.

RIGHT: CLICK HERE to view a 55-page leaked SSA document (RIGHT) on Al-Jazeera titled: Geopolitical Country and Intelligence Assessment on Israel

One such leaked Top Secret SA spy cable obtained by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit provides insights into the tradecraft of Israel’s secret service, Mossad.

This has turned these previously Top Secret documents into a matter of public record.

SSA agents have, in part, compiled the information through counter-espionage surveillance of one of the Mossad’s individual agents operating in SA.

But, says Al-Jazeera, the compilers of this particular SSA secret document, “appear to have also drawn a lot of their information from a well-known book by author Gordon Thomas.”

Also, according to Al-Jazeera, the SSA compilers have relied on “information printed in Gideon’s Spies: The Inside Story of Israel’s Legendary Secret Service The Mossad” which, they say, “is liberally quoted throughout.”

Among the findings of the SSA’s 2009 “intelligence assessment,” were claims that Mossad:

• “Often employs actual prostitutes” and photographs them with Palestinian sources “for potential blackmail leverage”;
• Sends agents abroad to seduce “an international array of embassy secretaries and airline stewardesses, for they can provide much valuable information about the diplomats, airports and cities of the Arab world”; and
• Stepped up its assassination programme under former Director General Meir Dagan.

The report also shows the SSA so distrusted Mossad that it assigned counter-espionage agents to watch one of its operatives at work in South Africa.

Surveillance

They followed the Israeli as he carried out day-to-day activities, met with sources, and travelled to Cape Town with his supervisor.

They noted in the 55-page secret report that was leaked to Al-Jazeera that the Mossad agent:

• Maintains numerous sources within the South African government and police;
• Has “constant contact” with Jewish community members, possibly “to assist… in intelligence activities”; and
• Takes basic counter-surveillance steps, including slicing rubbish bags and varying regular travel routes.

South Africa’s surveillance of an individual Mossad agent in the country reveals he is, as expected, a deeply cautious and security-conscious individual.

Life as a Mossad spy

“When attending liaison meetings,” the document describes the Mossad operative performing counter-surveillance. He “varied his driving speed between 30km/h and 90km/h” and “would also pull over and waited next to the road for approximately four minutes for no specific reason”.

RIGHT: A Mokopa air-to-ground missiles being fired from a Rooivalk attack helicopter. Both are SA designed and manufactured. Mossad bought stolen blueprints for the weapon systems and then returned them. Leaked SA spy cables reveal a Top Secret Mossad reply to an SA request for Israel’s intelligence service to return the purloined blueprints – and Mossad’s conditions. READ THE FULL STORY on Jewish Report Online

The Mossad agent “also changed his access routes to his house every time he used his vehicle,” said the report.

He also “cut his rubbish bags in such a manner that it could not be lifted from the dustbin without spilling the content.” This presumably makes it hard to rifle through his waste paper without being detected.

The SSA briefing says the Mossad operative had very close links with the Jewish community in South Africa, including the Jewish Board of Deputies.

The Mossad agent was also “in regular contact with a member of the South African Police Service” and the cooperation between them “revolved around Islamic Militancy issues in South Africa.”

Well-connected but tailed

The counter-espionage officers say the Mossad agent “also had contacts within government departments which included the Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Health and other institutions that deal with research.

“Most of his contacts within these departments were contacting him on his cel phone precisely because he might have been aware that it was not easy to monitor a cel phone,” says the 2009 report.

SA’s State Security Agency even followed the Mossad man as he travelled to Cape Town with his supervisor. They noted that he “had a possible ‘brush’ meeting with two persons in a public toilet, one of them of Muslim origin.”

When he checked out of his hotel, the Israeli agent also paid for another guest, a US citizen. The South Africans say this was “yet another point of concern.”

Plagiarised details from books

Clearly, the report shows, South African intelligence are worried about Israel agents’ activities in the country. They go to considerable lengths, at significant cost, to ascertain just what the Israelis are doing.

Even if they fall back on the details contained in popular books when it comes to writing reports on the subject, says Al-Jazeera.

Related reads on sajr.co.za

• ARROGANT MOSSSAD MAN MADE SA INTELLIGENCE MAD by Ant Katz
• MOSSAD BOUGHT STOLEN SA MISSILE, CHOPPER PLANS by Ant Katz
• MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, SA’S WIKILEAKSby Howard Feldman
• INTELLIGENC E CABLES REVEAL MURKY EVENTSby Sue Belling
• READ IT ALL FIRST-HAND ON AL-JAZEERA.com
  

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