Harpoon
Page 33
Mossad Director Yossi Cohen eulogized Dagan by saying that “he taught us to take chances and to take responsibility.”12
Dagan did so much more than that. He spent a lifetime in his country’s service, going above and beyond to fight for Israel’s security and for its future. He continuously planned new and innovative tactics that could be used to defeat the enemies of Israel, conventional and other, that threatened the country he loved and fought for. Dagan understood that military might would never defeat the armies that surrounded Israel, and that diplomatic negotiations would never change the minds of those dedicated to marching into the fires of a holy war. But by going after the money that funded terror, by making it difficult for terrorist armies to launch suicidal campaigns, Dagan established a new dimension to the asymmetrical battlefield that revolutionized how Israel—and the west—would combat terror.
The terror, of course, would continue.
In the autumn of 2015, Israeli security forces encountered a new and disturbing wave of what appeared to be Palestinian terror attacks targeting civilians, police officers, and soldiers. Palestinian men and women approached people on the street, removed knives from their bags or jackets, and then proceeded to hack away, hoping to kill and wound as many people as possible before being killed by security forces. In other attacks, Palestinian motorists used vehicles as battering rams to run over pedestrians. The attacks were random and bloody. Dozens of Israelis were killed in these strikes, and scores more were injured.
Even so, Israeli intelligence chiefs were relieved that, for the most part, the suicide bombings hadn’t returned. Counterterrorist efforts against Hamas and the PIJ had been very successful; the follow-the-money campaign against the terrorist groups had deprived them of the funds vital to carrying out the catastrophic bombing campaigns from the second intifada. Perhaps, the spymasters and generals believed, the Palestinians were inspired by the bloody knife and beheading videos that ISIS broadcast on the Internet? There was one heinous common denominator linking all of the bloodshed: Video footage from the stabbing and ramming attacks was quickly broadcast online and in social media. In many cases, on such platforms as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, the perpetrators discussed their intentions on social media before perpetrating their attacks.
The modified asymmetrical battlefield had changed once again. Social media, Harpoon veterans and Shurat HaDin realized, was a new form of currency with a unique and ominous value that had none of the counterterrorist preventive controls of the banking world. “Why is it illegal for a major bank to block a known terrorist, on a black list, from opening and maintaining an account,” Shai asked, “but it’s permitted for that same person, that same organization, to maintain active accounts on social media?”13 Social media, like money, had become a new form of oxygen keeping terrorism alive.
Lawsuits against social media platform giants such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google have been filed by Shurat HaDin’s lawyers and others in federal courts across the United States. The plaintiffs in the cases, the families of victims of recent terror attacks such as Tel Aviv, Brussels, Paris, Istanbul, Orlando, and San Bernardino, contend that the Anti-Terrorism Act prohibits the provision of any material support or resources, including services, to any designated terrorist or organization, and imposes civil and criminal liability. The Internet and specifically social media have become a necessary and vital component in international terrorist operations, no less so than weapons, explosives, training, safe houses, and funding. Terrorist use social media to recruit volunteers, disseminate their messages, raise funds for their activities, publish training manuals, and organize their deadly operations.
How then do the wealthy social media platforms in Palo Alto justify providing Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, and YouTube channels to designated terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and ISIS? How is it that designated individuals such as Ismail Haniyeh and Hassan Nasrallah—along with Iranian and Syrian outlaws, who could not receive visas to visit the United States and are prohibited from any contact with American businesses or citizens—are provided social media services by American high-tech companies? How do commercial ads on YouTube’s sites accompany videos of ISIS beheadings?
Today, the Internet stands at the center of virtually all human endeavors and has become a necessary societal component that provides limitless opportunities, continuous advancements, and uncharted technological possibilities across all global borders.
It has also become the next battlefield to conquer.
A money changer in the Old City of Jerusalem, circa 1974. Such unofficial but traditional means of money transfers remain common inside the Palestinian areas.
(Moshe Milner, Israel Government Press Office/Photo Archives)
Captain Meir Dagan (left), the commander of the Sayeret Rimon undercover commandos, masquerading as a Palestinian fisherman, during operations with his unit off the Gaza coast, 1971.
(Courtesy Bina Dagan)
A photo taken during a lull in his reconnaissance unit’s operations in Gaza, Meir Dagan poses with his pistol.
(Courtesy Bina Dagan)
With a military rabbi officiating, Meir Dagan marries his wife, Bina. After four years of dating, the future Mrs. Dagan gave Meir a nuptial ultimatum that prompted him to race to a market in Gaza and purchase his wedding suit.
(Courtesy Bina Dagan)
Colonel Meir Dagan, commander of the 188th Barak Armored Brigade, smiles at his command post at the outskirts of Beirut, July 1982. The bitter fighting and carnage in Lebanon would forever change him and his outlook on war.
(Courtesy Bina Dagan)
Sitting in his wheelchair, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, is flanked by two IDF military policemen at his 1990 trial for the murder and kidnapping of Israeli servicemen and civilians.
(SVEN NACKSTRAD/AFP/Getty Images)
The tourists from the Windy City: Mohammed al-Hamid Khalil Salah, and Mohammed Jarad, the two Palestinian-Americans from Chicago arrested by the Shin Bet for bringing suitcases full of cash to Hamas from the United States in early 1993.
(Ya’acov Sa’ar/Israel Government Press Office/Photo Archives)
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasir Arafat shake hands on the White House lawn on September 13, 1993, ushering in new hopes for peace in the Middle East that would rapidly deteriorate into vicious terrorist bloodshed.
(Avi Ohayon/Israel Government Press Office/Photo Archives)
FBI wanted poster for Ramadan Abdallah Shalah, former professor at the University of Southern Florida at Tampa and head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
(FBI)
Rescue workers and first responders sift through the eviscerated remnants of the No. 18 bus in downtown Jerusalem, hit by a Hamas suicide bomber on March 3, 1996, killing 19 people. A week earlier, a Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up on the same exact bus route in an attack that killed 26 people and wounded scores more.
(David Rubinger/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images)
Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli troops near a burning van in the West Bank town of Bethlehem on September 30, 2000, at the outbreak of the second intifada.
(MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)
The bombed-out remnants of the Sbarro pizzeria on the corner of King George Street and the Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, decimated by a Hamas suicide bomber on August 9, 2001. Fifteen people were killed in the attack and close to 100 wounded. The money that funded the attack had been funneled through banking institutions in the West Bank.
(Avi Ohayon/Israel Government Press Office/Photo Archives)
The FBI wanted poster for Ahlam Tamimi, an accomplice to the Sbarro pizzeria suicide bombing attack, seeking her arrest for the killing of American citizens. Tamimi was captured by Israeli forces but freed in the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange with Hamas in 2011, then exiled to Jordan. The U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against Tamimi in 2013 for conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against
American nationals outside the continental United States.
(FBI)
Counterfeit Israeli shekels found by Israeli forces inside Yasir Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters on March 30, 2002.
(IDF)
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon (right) toasts Meir Dagan with a Le’Hayim, “To Life,” as he appoints his old friend to head the Mossad on October 30, 2002—it was a job that Dagan had wanted his entire life.
(Sa’ar Ya’acov/Israel Government Press Office Photo Archives)
The photo of Meir Dagan’s grandfather, moments before being murdered by the Nazis, was one of the most important fixtures inside Dagan’s office at Mossad HQ. Agents about to embark on dangerous assignments overseas were briefed on the image’s symbolic importance to the intelligence agency and its mission in protecting Israelis—and Jews—around the world.
(Courtesy Bina Dagan)
Operation Green Lantern: An Israeli Border Guard counterterrorist operator stands in front of the Cairo Amman Bank in the West Bank city of Ramallah on February 25, 2004. Israeli forces raided banks in Ramallah and other West Bank cities to locate and seize money and accounts used by Hamas and other terrorist factions.
(ABBAS MOMANI/AFP/Getty Images)
The “U2s,” Shai U. (left) and Uri L. (right) pose with Nitsana Darshan-Leitner at a Shurat HaDin conference in Jerusalem.
(Aviel Leitner)
U.S. President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert embrace Meir Dagan (center) during a top-level meeting in Washington, D.C. Dagan helped to foster an alliance with the CIA in the global war on terror, as well as with other facets of the U.S. government. President Bush was a big admirer of Dagan’s courage and imaginative dare.
(Courtesy Bina Dagan)
Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah appears at a rally with armed guards. Under Nasrallah’s ruthless leadership, Hezbollah became the most powerful military force in Lebanon and helped to turn the southern portion of the country into a de facto Israeli border with Iran.
(Yannis KONTOS/SYGMA via Getty Images)
Israeli warplanes pound the tarmac at Beirut International Airport during the opening days of the Second Lebanon War. Israel was determined to isolate Hezbollah inside the country and to dismantle the state-within-a-state that the Party of God had built.
(JOSEPH BARRAK/AFP/Getty Images)
Salah Ezzedine, the self-made small-town boy who became a millionaire a hundred times over, is seen here waving at the cameras during a philanthropic event in southern Lebanon. Ezzedine would later be called the “Lebanese Madoff” after defrauding countless Shiites throughout Lebanon, including virtually all of the Hezbollah hierarchy.
(AFP)
IDF soldiers cross the Israel–Lebanon border on August 15, 2006, at the end of the Second Lebanon War.
(GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images)
Palestinian terrorists prepare to fire Qassam rockets into Israel from a concealed location on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip, December 20, 2008.
(AP Photo/ASHRAF AMRA)
An image grab taken from a video released by Dubai police on February 24, 2010, allegedly shows two suspects sought in the January 2010 murder of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh at Dubai International Airport.
(AFP PHOTO/DUBAI POLICE)
Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas movement poster plastered on a wall in the Gaza Strip on January 29, 2010, mourning Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, allegedly killed by Israeli intelligence in Dubai.
(MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/ Getty Images)
During a press conference on February 15, 2010, Dubai police chief Dhafi Khalfan holds up identity pictures of 11 suspects, all with European passports belonging to the alleged hit team that killed Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh on January 20, 2010.
(AFP PHOTO/DUBAI POLICE)
Firefighters clear the wreckage of the car that carried Hamas finance chief Mohammed el-Ghoul and several million dollars, after it was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza.
(Naaman Omar—Anadolu Agency)
Courtroom sketch of lead trial attorney Kent Yalowitz giving his closing arguments on February 20, 2015, in the case of Sokolow vs. Palestine Liberation Organization in federal court in lower Manhattan.
(Courtesy Elizabeth Williams)
Coalition aircraft strike an ISIS financial center and cash warehouse in Mosul, Iraq, on January 13, 2016.
(U.S. Department of Defense)
Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Kent Yalowitz address the media in the wake of the landmark jury verdict in the case of Sokolow vs. Palestine Liberation Organization outside the federal courthouse in New York.
(Aviel Leitner)
The authors with Meir Dagan, Tel Aviv, September 2015.
(Aviel Leitner)
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Seldom in life does one have a chance to faithfully realize the hopes and dreams of their early years. Often, intervening events, unanticipated obstacles, and the riptides of destiny pull us far away from the course we had once imagined we’d travel. As a young law student, I envisioned a career representing society’s underdogs, battling for important causes and pursuing the path of justice wherever it would lead. I was fortunate to meet up with wise mentors, talented colleagues, and innovative co-conspirators on my journey who allowed me to realize much of the dream. Somehow it all worked out.
Embarking upon the writing of this book provided me a long overdue opportunity and deep breath from the whirlwind of legal practice, distant travels, and public speaking I’d been engaged in for almost two decades. It gave me pause to review many of the dramatic challenges and activist street fights my colleagues and I navigated as young lawyers, as well as some reflection upon the wild successes and sometimes heartbreaking setbacks we garnered. The research allowed me to revisit with some long-ago colleagues. Most important, writing this story furnished me with an important reminder of why we had set out together years back to fight so fiercely on behalf of the State of Israel and the world Jewish community.
First and foremost I’d like to express my appreciation to my family who supported and encouraged me throughout the many long days and late nights of the work on this book. My husband, Aviel, who toiled tirelessly with us on the manuscript, watched over every word. To my children Yarden, Elia, Bar Yochai, Ateret, Zimrat, and Shaked, I’m sorry that Imma wasn’t around so often. Thank you for your understanding and support. Please always know that I love you all very dearly. My parents, Esther and Rachamim Darshan, allowed me never to have to choose between my career and my family. They kept the home front secure whenever I was away. My mother-in-law, Adina Leitner, provided much encouragement and wisdom for our work.
My bestselling co-author, Samuel Katz, provided superhuman energy, virtuoso skill, and calm counsel as he undertook so much of the heavy lifting of the research and writing (and rewriting) of the manuscript. Sam, you indeed are a trouper.
We were fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct an extensive interview with the late, great Meir Dagan in his apartment in Tel Aviv. Sam and I were moved by his still-buoyant enthusiasm and lucid insights about the work of Harpoon and the vitality of the financial war on terrorism. A Jew of charm, courage, commitment, and daring, he provided depth to his legendary warrior philosophy and filled in many of the gaps in our story. Our deep appreciation also goes to his lovely wife, Bina Dagan, and their daughter, Noa, who graciously provided us their friendship, encouragement, and insights, along with much personal material for the book.
We were told that we cannot mention by name the officers and spies of the Harpoon unit that we had the good fortune to meet and work with over the years. These dedicated patriots were our jungle guides through the dark world of the terrorist organizations and rogue regimes that armed and trained them. From the agents we received instructions in the krav maga of combating terror financing and learned how bold creativity can always triumph over evil. They personified the old-school ethos of Zionist sacrifice and are living examples of soldiers who place the interests of the country and
the Jewish community before their own, frequently at a heavy personal cost. The heroic Harpoon veterans provided us so much of their personal time and acumen, sitting for interviews and encouraging us to write this story. Could not have done without you guys!
My top-tier agent Jim Hornfischer offered his leadership and advice, and was a guiding beacon throughout the project. My editor Paul Whitlatch and the expert team at Hachette provided unparalleled support, critical review, and uncommon patience. Paul was a fantastic champion for the project, contributing his counsel and experience—everything a first-time author needs.
Many of the attorneys with whom I have had the privilege to work with over the years succeeded in pioneering the practice of terror-victim litigation in courtrooms around the world. Their faith, innovation, and skills have inflicted damage on the terrorist groups and sent a shock wave throughout the international banking system. The world is safer place because of them. My special thanks to Mordechai Haller, Robert Tolchin, David Strachman, Roy Kochavi, Meir Katz, Nathan Tarnor, Kent Yalowitz, Abbe Lowell, Mark Abelson, Gary Osen, Naomi Weinberg, Asher Perlin, Asaf Nebentzal, Avi Segal, Asaf Chen, Jeff Miller, David Schoen, Alberto Mansur, Maurice Hirsch, Ed Morgan, the late Eddie Greenspan, and Alessio Vianello.