Mastermind of US-Israeli Master Spy (Jonathan Pollard) Murdered?

[gandalf]

The news is some days old: Former Israeli army chief Rafael Eitan drowns (Nov 23, 2004).

Eitan, who became an outspoken rightist politician who once said Arabs should be placed in a bottle like drugged cockroaches, was swept into stormy seas at the Ashdod port on Tuesday where he was working as an adviser to a construction company.

A veteran of all of Israel's wars, Eitan commanded the Jewish state's armed forces during the invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

But he served out his term in disgrace after an official commission of inquiry faulted him for failing to prevent the massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by Israeli-allied Christian militiamen at Lebanon's Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in 1982.

The same inquiry found Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, defence minister at the time, indirectly responsible and he was forced to resign.

Eitan later entered politics where he formed two right-wing parties called Tehiya and Tzomet, which joined the coalition governments of former prime ministers Yitzhak Shamir and Benjamin Netanyahu in 1988 and 1996.

Nicknamed "Raful", Eitan earned notoriety for outspoken comments about Arabs and opposed interim peace deals with the Palestinians in the mid-1990s.

Eitan served as Agriculture Minister and Environment Minister in the Netanyahu government and was appointed to the post of deputy prime minister. His party failed to win support in a general election in 1999 and he left political life.

What is not mentioned in this news item, but what is much more interesting:

Rafi Eitan was Mossad's director of operations for 25 years. He was the commander of the operation that captured Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Eitan was also the man who recruited Jonathan Pollard, a U.S. naval analyst caught passing classified information to Israel. When that was uncovered, Eitan was forced to resign. Prior to that, he worked in the Jewish underground during the British mandate in Palestine.

Writes Gordon Thomas, Author of Gideon's Spies: the Secret History of Mossad:
Pollard is now serving a life sentence in a federal prison for stealing "every worthwhile intelligence secret this country had," CIA Director George Tenet has said. Eitan's most spectacular operation in the United States was the theft of the highly sophisticated software known as Promis from Inslaw, the specialist computer company based in Washington.

But did “Raful” really drown? If you see the picture of his crashed car and the calm see, you ask yourself, where are the killer waves that caught him? Look here and read here.

edited for spelling.

[papau]

1. Fell off the seawall while inspecting is now a car crash w/waves?

or do we have fell off via a rogue wave

or do we have tossed off with coverup?

Fellow was in his mid-70's - so I was OK with fell off - based on my own stability or lack thereof.

But I wonder why he was there without his driver - or was his driver there - and why would he go to the wall for an official inspection of prior storm damage if the storm was still raging?

curious

[gandalf]

2. Really don't know, just wondering

As he was still working outside, he must have been quite tough.

I'm just reading a book by Gordon Thomas (Robert Maxwell, Israel's Superspy). In this book, Eitan plays an important role, and Maxwell drowns under mysterious circumstances (Thomas assumes he was murdered).

I found that interesting.

[teryang]

3. Tough break for a swell guy

A killer get murdered. Who'd a thunk it?

[gandalf]

4. kick