Thread by @SeanDurns

Thread: This year is the 40th anniversary of the death of Ali Hassan Salameh aka The Red Prince. Salameh was arch Palestinian terrorist responsible for murdering scores of Israelis, as well as Americans and others. But he was more than just a terrorist—he was also a CIA asset

Code named MJSTRUST/2 The CIA began their contacts w Salameh in 1969. These contacts continued despite Salameh’s and Fatah’s role in the Munich Olympic Massacre in 1972 in which Israeli athletes were castrated and murdered. & despite Fatahs role in murdering US diplomats in Sudan

The PLO, which includes Fatah at this point, was considered by both Israel and the US to be a terrorist organization. Didn’t bug the CIA.

Salameh even admitted to his handler that he had recruited a Paris theater owner who had sent agents to blow up a hotel in Israel. His handler thought it was “interesting intelligence” and “expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause.” Contacts continued

The Agency even offered to arrange “safe travel” to Europe for Salameh. Helped plan a visit for his master, Yasser Arafat, to NYC. And told Salameh that ‘he has friends in high places and so does his cause.’

This was a period in which the PLO and Fatah, among other Palestinian terror groups, were carrying out terrorist attacks at airports, hijacking school buses, massacring school children, and hijacking planes.

Nonetheless, the Agency’s pursuit of good relations w Fatah/PLO was a “high priority of the entire CIA.” Salameh was even extended an official invitation to visit Langley.

He declined. And *this is truly incredible* suggested—successfully—that the CIA TAKE HIM TO DISNEYLAND INSTEAD. So they did.

The CIA organized a trip to Disneyland for the arch terrorist Salameh and his wife. They rode w him on the rides and paid for the entire thing.

The CIA “even supplies Salameh w encrypted communications equipment to enhance his security, and it considered sending Salameh an armor plated car to protect him from the Israelis..”

In short: They armed and aided a terrorist who worked for an org that not only killed Israelis,but had killed Americans as well.

The Mossad took out Salameh anyways, killing him with explosives in 1979 in Beirut.

But as one Israeli intelligence official observed: “Imagine that we, the Mossad, set up a secret relationship with Osama Bin Laden, not because we recruited him as a spy working for cash, but a friendly relationship, almost like allies swapping info and mutual favors.”

“Imagine that we invited him on a visit to our Tel Aviv HQ, kowtowed to him, expressed understanding and sympathy for the Twin Towers attack, told him that it was ok for him to go on blasting American embassies as long as he didn’t blast ours, gave him and his wife hospitality..

“How would that be seen by America.” Well, Israel never did that. Or anything comparable. But the US did.

I don’t know if the Politico story is true. Israel denies it. But friends do spy on friends. France has a history, as Bob Gates has said, of spying on American businessmen and citizens. That being said, the timing of the story is suspicious and @politico has long been a conduit

For the Iran lobby here in the states. But what i do know:the CIA aided & supplied an arch Palestinian terrorist with blood on his hands.Expressed sympathy w him.And geez, this documented fact is interesting & seeing as how it’s the 40th anniversary of his death,should be noted.

Finally, I should clarify: Salameh was not an agent. He wasn’t an informant for the CIA. No major intelligence of value was taken from him. The entire purpose of the relationship was to establish a back channel to what the US then considered a terror organization, Fatah & the PLO