Roi Tov—Israel Acknowledges Involvment in Kenyan Attack

 

As these lines are being written on September 22, 2013, a standoff between attackers allegedly belonging to al-Shabab and the Kenyan Government is taking place in the Westgate Mall in Nairobi. The complex is owned by Israelis and Israeli media reports that Israeli officials are already in place attempting to manipulate the event. At least two Kenyans claim to have been evacuated from the mall by Israeli security forces. In this case, al-Shabab is a misleading name referring to Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, which is claimed by the West to be a Somali cell of al-Qaeda. Since Israel is involved and al-Shabab is not exactly what the West likes to claim, allow me a short introduction about a related event that took place in the days of the First Intifada. Since I want to keep the identity of my source safe, I won't provide a more exact date or location.

Westgate Mall, Nairobi Kenya

First Intifada and al-Shabab

Who is Who? Westgate Mall, Nairobi Nairobi & Rift Valley

I was speaking with somebody closely related to the secret police, the Shin Beth. He had an external reference on me and thus trusted me, especially because I looked so uninterested on the topics that fascinated him. The headlines at the time dealt with a minor event of violence and the al-Shabab were being blamed. "This is funny," he said and added, "Do you know what al-Shabab is?"

Knowing his identity, I ventured "Aren't they terrorists?"

Laughing at my ignorance, he explained "al-Shabab is Arabic for 'The Youth,' It is like when we say 'hevre' in Hebrew." For my English readers, let me expand that into "the guys," "the friends," "the boy scouts." Seeing that he was making little sense, he added "in every Arab village you will find al-Shabab. Young, unmarried man, passing the time innocently together until they settle down." I kept drinking my coffee silently; back then, I was too innocent to understand the point being made by the secret police.

"How can you drink so much coffee? Don't you see? Blame al-Shabab and you stain all Arabs at once. It was us," he said causing me to burn my throat with the suddenly swallowed coffee. Trusting me, he had just disclosed an Israeli entrapment operation in the West Bank.

"Great coffee," I said apparently ignoring the burning bombshell.

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https://web.archive.org/web/20131009154650/https://www.roitov.com/articles/kenya.htm