If it’s a Sunday Times of London piece that declares Israel is about to attack Iran, and the byline contains Uzi Mahnaimi, it must be a bunch of garbage. Filled yet again with anonymous sources—because of course, our old pal Uzi can’t possibly be bothered to find someone who will go on record to back up his incredible claims—we have, once again, a story that is absolutely false. And yet, the Times continues to publish this man. Witness the bullshit:
The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Amazing! What a story! And to whom can we credit this fantastic story?
“The Saudis have tacitly agreed to the Israeli air force flying through their airspace on a mission which is supposed to be in the common interests of both Israel and Saudi Arabia,†a diplomatic source said last week.
Although the countries have no formal diplomatic relations, an Israeli defence source confirmed that Mossad maintained “working relations†with the Saudis.
John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the United Nations who recently visited the Gulf, said it was “entirely logical†for the Israelis to use Saudi airspace.
Uh-huh. Notice that he did not actually quote anyone but his anonymous source as saying this is true. Rumors, lies, bullshit—call it what you will, but here’s what the Prime Minister of Israel had to say about it:
The Prime Minister’s office issued a statement in response Sunday morning, saying that “the Sunday Times report is fundamentally false and completely baseless.”
There you go. It’s about as reliable as the lies he published years ago about the “genetic weapon” that Israel was supposedly developing that would kill Arabs and leave Jews alive (both a lie and an impossible weapon to build) that is still being used as a modern blood libel against Israel, and also, he had several articles published about “imminent” attacks that, well, never happened.
My suggestion: If Uzi Mahnaimi tells you it’s sunny out, bring an umbrella. Shame on the Times of London, again, for publishing this serial liar.
“Uzi Mahnaimi” is the Sephardic pronunciation of “Seymour Hersh”