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Btw Sept 17 & October 2, 1981, over 300 people were killed in a series of car bombs in Lebanon
Palestinians were the victims, not the perpetrators
Israelis were the perpetrators, not the victims
This "terrorist" campaign has been fully forgotten
It has been erased
THREAD
Palestinians were the victims, not the perpetrators
Israelis were the perpetrators, not the victims
This "terrorist" campaign has been fully forgotten
It has been erased
THREAD
September 19, NY: a car bomb kills 3. John Kifner reports that a mysterious group, the Front for the Liberation of Lebanon from Aliens (or from Foreigners, FLLF) claimed responsibility. Palestinians insist that Israel is behind this & other bombings 
Kifner also notes that the FLLF claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt against US Ambassador to Lebanon John Gunther Dean in August 1980. The attackers used TOW missiles that, an investigation revealed, the US had sold to Israel years earlier
For years, Dean would insist that Israel was behind the assassination attempt. He argued, in his autobiography, that Israel acted through a right-wing militia. I did a very long thread about these accusations here: Dean passed a way in June 2019
Sept 21, NYT: a bomb in a movie theater kills 4. nytimes.com/1981/09/21/wor… The FLLF claims responsibility. Kifner mentions the Dean attack once again, as well as other major bombings claimed by the mysterious group, & Palestinian claims that Israel is behind the attacks
October 2, 1981: Front Page, NYT: Bomb at PLO Office Kills 50. The explosion took place in a crowded street. It was "the sixth & worst of its kind in 2 weeks." Once again, the FLLF claims responsibility. nytimes.com/1981/10/02/wor…
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Chafik Wazzan, accuses Israel of being behind the attacks, either directly or through agents. Kifner explains that the true identity of the FLLF remains a mystery.
Also on October 2, 1981: 2 articles from UPI cover this & other bombings claimed by the FLLF.
First, a bombing that took place on the day before & killed 92, with over 200 people injured
upi.com/Archives/1981/…
First, a bombing that took place on the day before & killed 92, with over 200 people injured
upi.com/Archives/1981/…
UPI reports that Palestinian and Lebanese officials accused Israel of being behind these attacks. UPI calls the perpetrators "terrorists" & notes that other car bombs were founded before they could explode
Also on October 2, UPI's Fred Schiff reports on the bombing of a schoolhouse. The bomb exploded just before students & teachers arrived. Once again, the FLLF claims responsibility.
Palestinians once again accuse Israel of being behind the attacks. Schiff writes that over the previous 2 weeks the FLLF bombs have killed 308 people, and injured hundreds more.
In February 2018, Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman published "Rise & Kill First." This book was very positively received in the US. In it, Bergman reveals that the FLLF WAS indeed a creation of Israel. The Palestinians had been right all along...
More specifically, Bergman writes that the bombings that took place in Sept & Oct 1981 were ordered by Ariel Sharon in order to provoke the PLO into resorting to "terrorism," which would have given Israel an excuse to invade Lebanon in the name of fighting..... "terrorism"
Bergman's book has been reviewed everywhere. It is a best-seller. Yet, as I wrote at length in May 2018, these revelations about Israel's role in the FLLF's "terrorist" campaign have NOT BEEN MENTIONED ONCE in the US media mondoweiss.net/2018/05/remark…
As I document here, the FLLF "terrorist" campaign was also thoroughly erased from accounts & analyses of the war in Lebanon produced by so-called "terrorism experts" & has simply never been mentioned in the main "terrorism journals" over last 40 years: academia.edu/40448415/The_F…
As I have noted before, in 1983 Thomas Friedman covered the FLLF bombings on Front Page of @nytimes . Bergman now writes for the NYT. And yet Friedman has remained SILENT (for over a year now) about revelations that Israeli officials created &ran the FLLF!
@nytimes I Tweeted this on December 31, 2018. 9 months later, the silence of the US media (and of so-called "terrorism experts") about Bergman's revelations remains ABSOLUTE.
Maybe this Thread will change things?
I am not holding my breath....
Maybe this Thread will change things?
I am not holding my breath....
The Prime Minister of Lebanon, Chafik Wazzan, accuses Israel of being behind the attacks, either directly or through agents. Kifner explains that the true identity of the FLLF remains a mystery
Also on October 2, 1981: 2 articles from UPI cover this & other bombings claimed by the FLLF.
First, a bombing that took place on the day before & killed 92, with over 200 people injured upi.com/Archives/1981/…
First, a bombing that took place on the day before & killed 92, with over 200 people injured upi.com/Archives/1981/…
UPI reports that Palestinian and Lebanese officials accused Israel of being behind these attacks. UPI calls the perpetrators "terrorists" & notes that other car bombs were founded before they could explode
Also on October 2, UPI's Fred Schiff reports on the bombing of a schoolhouse. The bomb exploded just before students & teachers arrived. Once again, the FLLF claims responsibility. upi.com/Archives/1981/…
Palestinians once again accuse Israel of being behind the attacks. Schiff writes that over the previous 2 weeks the FLLF bombs have killed 308 people, and injured hundreds more.
In February 2018, Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman published "Rise & Kill First." This book was very positively received in the US. In it, Bergman reveals that the FLLF WAS indeed a creation of Israel. The Palestinians had been right all along.....
In 1979, Bergman explains, very senior Israeli officials (Ben Gal, Dagan and Eitan) created the FLLF in order to "sow chaos" in Lebanon while hiding their country's hand. The (fictitious) would be active until late 1983, and kill hundreds of civilians, wounding countless more
These revelations come from senior Israeli officials interviewed by Bergman and who were involved in the secret FLLF operation, or became aware of the operation at the time. The evidence appears crystal clear. Unimpeachable.
More specifically, Bergman explains that the Sept & Oct 1981 bombings were ordered by Defense Minister Ariel Sharon in order to provoke the PLO into resorting to "terrorism," which would have given Israel an excuse to invade Lebanon in the name of fighting ... "terrorism"
Bergman's book has been reviewed everywhere. It is a best-seller. Yet, as I wrote at length in May 2018, these revelations about Israel's role in the FLLF's "terrorist" campaign have NOT BEEN MENTIONED ONCE in the US media
mondoweiss.net/2018/05/remark…
mondoweiss.net/2018/05/remark…
As I document here, the FLLF "terrorist" campaign was also thoroughly erased from accounts & analyses of the war in Lebanon produced by so-called "terrorism experts" & has NEVER been mentioned in the main "terrorism journals" over last 40 years: academia.edu/40448415/The_F…
As I have noted before, in 1983 Thomas Friedman covered the FLLF bombings on Front Page of the NYT. Bergman now writes for the NYT. And yet Friedman has remained SILENT (for over a year now) about revelations that Israeli officials created &ran the FLLF!
I Tweeted this on December 31, 2018. 9 months later, silence of US media (and of so-called "terrorism experts") about Bergman's revelations remains ABSOLUTE.
Maybe this Thread will change things?
I am not holding my breath
END
Maybe this Thread will change things?
I am not holding my breath
END
A note: Ambassador Dean passed away in June 2019. Most newspapers wrote obituaries. Very few mentioned his claims that Israel was behind the attempt on his life in 1980. The NYT did. But ....... nytimes.com/2019/06/11/obi…
But the NYT does not give details as to why Dean made such claims. Instead, NYT simply states that accusation was "never proved." They do NOT note that the FLLF claimed the attack. And that Bergman (who writes for the NYT!) revealed that the FLLF was created by Israeli officials!
One final note: in April 1983 the RAND Corporation published a report on "terrorism" around the world. According to RAND, in 1981 & 1982 combined Palestinian "terrorists" killed 16 people. If we accept Fred Schiff's claim, in just 2 weeks in 1981 the FLLF killed 308 !!!
And yet it is precisely in those years (the early 1980s, Reagan's first term) that elected officials & "terrorism experts" constructed discourse that framed Palestinians as main PERPETRATORS of "terrorism," & Israelis as its main VICTIMS
The discourse is a construction
And a sham
The discourse is a construction
And a sham
Real Final Note: one of the first media accounts of the FLLF was published by @helenacobban for the Christian Science Monitor. It is an excellent piece. There, Cobban gives voice to a Palestinian scholar. In hindsight, his words are chilling. csmonitor.com/1980/0626/0626…
@helenacobban This Palestinian scholar's (sadly) prophetic words:
@helenacobban For those reading French, I have published on the topic en francais here orientxxi.info/lu-vu-entendu/… and here orientxxi.info/magazine/le-re… In France as well, the media & "terrorism experts" have been very unwilling to discuss the issue
(I meant LAWs, of course, which stands for Light Anti-tank Weapon)
