TURKEY SHOOT DOWN AT LEAST TWO U.S. HELICOPTERS SUPPLYING KURDISH POSITIONS???

Is there a cover-up to protect the NATO Alliance?


It would appear that at least two American helicopters involved in a supply mission over Kurdish held territory may have been shot down by Turkish military jets with the loss of twelve US Marines. Further reports suggest two helicopters were also lost at or about the same time over the sea in the vicinity of Hawaii. 

The latter may of course be a cover story to avoid the embarrassment and outrage likely if it was known a NATO ally had deliberately caused the death of American servicemen on official duties. On the other hand, there may indeed have been two separate incidents many miles apart, with either common or independent causes  or even that the stories are fabricated or the loss caused by forces other than the Turkish Army. 

What is clear is that this story, despite its obvious importance and implications for the whole Syrian policy, has been virtually unreported by American or European media, when if true, it certainly should have been. We shall have to wait and see whether with time it proves reliable and what the consequences are for the relationships between the different parties. It would appear that now both Russia and America might have more in common than they first thought! 


http://beforeitsnews.com/conspiracy-theories/2016/01/turkish-downing-of-us-marine-helicopters-killing-12-american-soldiers-stuns-russia-2473698.html

About the missing 12 American soldiers over Kurdish held territory who were declared dead.

By: Sorcha Faal, and as reported to her Western Subscribers

~~~~~~~~~

http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1986.htm

A grim Security Council (SC) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials were “stunned” last week after a Turkish Air Force fighter jet operating within its own airspace fired upon and downed two CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters being flown by the US Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) over Kurdish held territory in the eastern Syrian “department” of the Levant War Zone killing all 12 of the American military troops on board.

According to this report, on 14 January, these two MARSOC helicopters departed from Ayn al-Asad Airbase in Iraq for a “normal/routine” re-supply mission of US Marine and British Special Forces troopscurrently embedded with Kurdish Peoples Protection Unit (YPG) fighters battling Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL/Daesh) terrorists near the Turkish border in north eastern Syria near the city of Raqqa when this “war crime” occurred.

Immediately upon Federation Aerospace Forces detecting this Turkish “unprovoked” attack upon these two MARSOC helicopters, this report continues, Russian commanders notified the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar advising the American’s of their willingness to assist in search and rescues missions, but which the US commanders stated they did not need as their own TRAP forces (tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel) had already been alerted.

Most outlandishly, this report notes, is that within 5 hours of Turkey shooting down these two MARSOC helicopters in Syria, Aerospace Forces satellites monitoring the Pacific Ocean region detected what they believed at the time to be an unannounced test of a US Navy RIM-8 Talos missile in the waters surrounding the Hawaii Islands—but which within two hours of its firing and exploding the US Navy announced two of its CH-53 helicopters had “crashed”, and just yesterday announced they had ceased attempting to find either these aircraft or its crew members.

As to why the Obama regime would deliberately conceal from the American people this “deliberate war crime”, this report explains, is due to their fears of what the reactions of their citizens would be upon learning that these 12 brave US Marines were killed by their own NATO ally Turkey—who at the exact same time the US is fighting with and assisting the Kurdish peoples in fighting Islamic State terrorists, Turkey is doing everything it can to destroy them.

So bitter have relations deteriorated between the Obama regime and Turkey over America’s support for the Kurdish peoples, this report notes, Turkish officials even openly warned the American’s again yesterday that they won’t even tolerate the inclusion of Kurdish groups at the upcoming peace talks aimed at ending the war in Syria—with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu bluntly telling the US: “We will never accept that YPG is being seen as a legitimate power on the opposition side. We will never allow this to happen because it is a direct threat to Turkey.”

Upon the Security Councils reviewing the MoD information relating to Turkey’s downing of these MARSOC helicopters, and its threat to further destabilize the Levant War Zone, this report concludes, it issued a warning a few hours ago stating that the activities by foreign Special Forces are now one of the main threats to Russia’s security. 

January 20, 2016 © EU and US all rights reserved.  Permission to use this report in its entirety is granted under the condition it is linked back to its original source at WhatDoesItMean.Com. Freebase content licensed under CC-BY and GFDL.

The same article is published here: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index1986.htm 

A rather laboured reading by a blogger Gary Larrabee is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMv4iaaV0SU although it adds little to the report.

RT and 'One American News' carried the story here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6yz0r2quAo  "No stories"??? 

Another mystery here of ISIS bodies 'littering' a hillside strangely without weapons or any signs of blood or injuries posing the question how they were killed? By blast or bio-chemical or even some other secret weapon? Answers on a postcard please. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5YrdH5Qe4o

Then as if to confirm what a 'can of worms' this whole thing has been we have this from: http://awdnews.com/top-news/declassified-documents-obama-ordered-cia-to-train-isis

"Government watchdog Judicial Watch published more than 100 pages of formerly classified documents from the U.S. Department of Defense and the State Department.

"The documents obtained through a federal lawsuit, revealed the agencies earlier views on ISIS, namely that they were a desirable presence in Eastern Syria in 2012 and that they should be “supported” in order to isolate the Syrian regime.

"The U.S. intelligence documents not only confirms suspicions that the United States and some of its coalition allies had actually facilitated the rise of the ISIS in Syria – as a counterweight to the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad- but also that ISIS members were initially trained by members and contractors of the Central Intelligence Agency at facilities in Jordan in 2012."

From "Daily Pickings":

NATO's terrorist wing (ISIS) retreats to Libya

Daily Pickings is a blog on issues and events related to the work of the Critical Thinking project and invariably references videos, articles, books and academic papers. Accumulation of these materials adds to the "Critical Thinking reference library". We welcome comments and interaction on Daily Pickings via Comments for which you need to be logged in as a User. Critical Thinking is a collaborative, educational project relying on contributions from diverse sources.

"Hi Tim,

There is overwhelming evidence that Daesh (Islamic State, ISIS, ISIL etc.) is a NATO/Israeli asset, created to conduct regime change in Syria; that ISIS could flourish in the face of asupposed concerted NATO campaign to destroy it speaks volumes. It is only since Russian intervention in Syria, applying "adult supervision" that ISIS has suffered any real losses.

As a result of Russian action in Syria, the focus shifts to Libya. James and Joanne Moriarty have been working in Libya and give direct updates from the tribes people; Daily Pickingsposted the Moriarty's story of what really happened in Libya in 2012. Since Russia's attacks on ISIS late last year, the NATO sponsored "terrorist group" has retreated and is now regrouping in its country of origin, Libya.

Western media AWOL as 'Islamic State' regroups in Libya: Interview with James & Joanne Moriarty by Niall Bradley

The nightmare is not over for Libya. In fact, it may only have just begun. Sirte, Muammar Gadaffi's birthplace and the last major city to fall to the 'rebels' in 2011, is once again occupied by terrorists. In recent communication with the leadership of Libya's Tribes' Council, US contacts James and Joanne Moriarty were told that the leadership of ISIS (Islamic State), Boko Harim ('ISIS in Nigeria'), Ansar al-Sharia ('ISIS in Libya'), and possibly others, all gathered in Sirte, Libya, for meetings that took place around the 9th and 10th of December 2015.

There are reports of US special forces being sent to Libya to team up with "friendly" terrorists but when landing near Tripoli they found their "friends" had been displaced by hostile forces; a shoot out was avoided and the special forces were allowed to leave unmolested.

Another Fine Mess: NATO’s 'Laurel & Hardy Act' In Libya Not Getting Laughs by Finian Cunningham

A farcical insight into the NATO-induced chaotic nature of Libya is afforded by a report on how a unit of 20 American special forces were flown into an airport in the town of Al Watiya near Tripoli last month. The US troops were expecting a “warm reception” from the militia thought to be in control of the airport because it had received American training and weapons back in 2012. It turned out the US-trained Libyan battalion were no longer the local top dog. They had been displaced by another rival militia, which wasn’t friendly to the Americans.
A shoot-out was apparently avoided, but a tense standoff ensued before the US commandos were finally allowed safe passage from the airfield.

George Orwell wrote in his book, 1984, of the necessity for perpetual war which serves multiple agendas, not least keeping domestic populations in a constant state of fear - the ultimate weapon of control. Understand what's going on and fear gives way to anger - are you angry enough yet to withdraw consent to be manipulated by the Structural Elite?"

To find out more about the Critical Thinking project go to freecriticalthinking.org

If you want to Comment on today's Daily Pickings go to: http://freecriticalthinking.org/daily-pickings

Raise awareness of issues ignored by the mainstream media and share information by forwarding this email to a friend, colleague or family member who can subscribe to the Critical Thinking mailing list to receive Daily Pickings: http://www.freecriticalthinking.org/subscribe

"INEQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW"

The American Experience imported to Britain?

The Mirage of Justice by Pulitzer Prize Winner Chris Hedges 

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_mirage_of_justice_20160117

January 18, 2016 “Information Clearing House” – “Truth Dig” –   If you are poor, you will almost never go to trial—instead you will be forced to accept a plea deal offered by government prosecutors. If you are poor, the word of the police, who are not averse to fabricating or tampering with evidence, manipulating witnesses and planting guns or drugs, will be accepted in a courtroom as if it was the word of God. If you are poor, and especially if you are of color, almost anyone who can verify your innocence will have a police record of some kind and thereby will be invalidated as a witness. If you are poor, you will be railroaded in assembly-line production from a town or city where there are no jobs through the police stations, county jails and courts directly into prison. And if you are poor, because you don’t have money for adequate legal defense, you will serve sentences that are decades longer than those for equivalent crimes anywhere else in the industrialized world.

If you are a poor person of color in America you understand this with a visceral fear. You have no chance. Being poor has become a crime. And this makes mass incarceration the most pressing civil rights issue of our era.

The 10-part online documentary “Making a Murderer,” by writer-directors Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, chronicles the endemic corruption of the judicial system. The film focuses on the case of Steven Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who were given life sentences for murder without any tangible evidence linking them to the crime. As admirable as the documentary was, however, it focused on a case where the main defendant, Avery, had competent defense. He was also white. The blatant corruption of, and probable conspiracy by, the Manitowoc County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin and then-Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz is nothing compared with what goes on in the well-oiled and deeply cynical system in place in inner-city courts. The accused in poor urban centers are lined up daily like sheep in a chute and shipped to prison with a startling alacrity. The attempts by those who put Avery and Dassey behind bars to vilify them further after the release of the film misses the point: The two men, like most of the rest of the poor behind bars in the United States, did not receive a fair trial. Whether they did or did not murder Teresa Halbach—and the film makes a strong case that they did not—is a moot point. 

Once you are charged in America, whether you did the crime or not, you are almost always found guilty. Because of this, as many activists have discovered, the courts already are being used as a fundamental weapon of repression, and this abuse will explode in size should there be widespread unrest and dissent. Our civil liberties have been transformed into privileges—what Matt Taibbi in “The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap” calls “conditional rights and conditional citizenship”—that are, especially in poor communities, routinely revoked. Once rights become privileges, none of us are safe.
 
In any totalitarian society, including an American society ruled by its own species of inverted totalitarianism, the state invests tremendous amounts of energy into making the judicial system appear as if it functions impartially. And the harsher the totalitarian system becomes, the more effort it puts into disclaiming its identity. The Nazis, as did the Soviet Union under Stalin, broke the accused down in grueling and psychologically crippling interrogations—much the same way the hapless and confused Dassey is manipulated and lied to by interrogators in the film—to make them sign false confessions. Totalitarian states need the facade of justice to keep the public passive.

The Guardian newspaper reported: “The Innocence Project has kept detailed records on the 337 cases across the [United States] where prisoners have been exonerated as a result of DNA testing since 1989. The group’s researchers found that false confessions were made in 28 percent of all the DNA-related exonerations, a striking proportion in itself. But when you look only at homicide convictions—by definition the most serious cases—false confessions are the leading cause of miscarriages of justice, accounting for a full 63% of the 113 exonerations.”

“[T]he interrogator-butcher isn’t interested in logic,” Alexander Solzhenitsyn writes in “The Gulag Archipelago,” “he just wants to catch two or three phrases. He knows what he wants. And as for us—we are totally unprepared for anything. From childhood on we are educated and trained—for our own profession; for our civil duties; for military service; to take care of our bodily needs; to behave well; even to appreciate beauty (well, this last not really all that much!). But neither our education, nor our upbringing, nor our experience prepares us in the slightest for the greatest trial of our lives: being arrested for nothing and interrogated about nothing.”

If the illusion of justice is shattered, the credibility and viability of the state are jeopardized. The spectacle of court, its solemnity and stately courthouses, its legal rituals and language, is part of the theater. The press, as was seen in the film, serves as an echo machine for the state, condemning the accused before he or she begins trial. Television shows and movies about crime investigators and the hunt for killers and terrorists feed the fictitious narrative. The reality is that almost no one who is imprisoned in America has gotten a trial. There is rarely an impartial investigation. A staggering 97 percent of all federal cases and 95 percent of all state felony cases are resolved through plea bargaining. Of the 2.2 million people we have incarcerated at the moment—25 percent of the world’s prison population—2 million never had a trial. And significant percentages of them are innocent.

Judge Jed S. Rakoff in an article in The New York Review of Books titled “Why Innocent People Plead Guilty” explains how this secretive plea system works to thwart justice. Close to 40 percent of those eventually exonerated of their crimes originally pleaded guilty, usually in an effort to reduce charges that would have resulted in much longer prison sentences if the cases had gone to trial. The students I teach in prison who have the longest sentences are usually the ones who demanded a trial. Many of them went to trial because they did not commit the crime. But if you go to trial you cannot bargain away any of the charges against you in exchange for a shorter sentence. The public defender—who spends no more than a few minutes reviewing the case and has neither the time nor the inclination to do the work required by a trial—uses the prospect of the harshest sentence possible to frighten the client into taking a plea deal. And, as depicted in “Making a Murderer,” prosecutors and defense attorneys often work as a tag team to force the accused to plead guilty. If all of the accused went to trial, the judicial system, which is designed around plea agreements, would collapse. And this is why trial sentences are horrific. It is why public attorneys routinely urge their clients to accept a plea arrangement. Trials are a flashing red light to the accused: DO NOT DO THIS. It is the inversion of justice.

The wrongly accused and their families, as long as the fiction of justice is maintained, vainly seek redress. They file appeal after appeal. Those convicted devote hundreds of hours of study in the law library in prison. They believe there has been a “mistake.” They think that if they are patient the “mistake” will be rectified. Playing upon such gullibility, authorities allowed prisoners in Stalin’s gulags to write petitions twice a month to officials to proclaim their innocence or decry mistreatment. Those who do not understand the American system, who are not mentally prepared for its cruelty and violence, are largely helpless before authorities intoxicated with the godlike power to destroy lives. These authorities advance themselves or their agendas—Joe Biden when he was in the Senate and Bill Clinton when he was president did this—by being “tough” concerning law and order and national security. Those who administer the legal system wield power largely in secret. They are accountable to no one. Every once in a while—this happened even under the Nazis and Stalin—someone will be exonerated to maintain the fiction that the state is capable of rectifying its “mistakes.” But the longer the system remains in place, the longer the legal process is shrouded from public view, the more the crime by the state accelerates.

The power elites—our corporate rulers and the security and surveillance apparatus—rewrite laws to make their criminal behavior “legal.” It is a two-tiered system. One set of laws for us. Another set of laws for them. Wall Street’s fraud and looting of the U.S. Treasury, the obliteration of our privacy, the ability of the government to assassinate U.S. citizens, the revoking of habeas corpus, the neutralizing of our Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures, the murder of unarmed people in the streets of our cities by militarized police, the use of torture, the criminalizing of dissent, the collapse of our court system, the waging of pre-emptive war are rendered “legal.” Politicians, legislators, lawyers and law enforcement officials, who understand that leniency and justice are damaging to their careers, and whom Karl Marx called the “leeches on the capitalist structure,” have constructed for their corporate masters our system of inverted totalitarianism. They serve this system. They seek to advance within it. They do not blink at the victims destroyed by it. And most of them know it is a sham.

“We have to condemn publicly the very idea that some people have the right to repress others,” Solzhenitsyn warned. “In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousandfold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.”

Chris Hedges spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The New York Times, for which he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.

Tim Veater22 February 2016 at 04:25

The latest example of a dysfunctional and cruel American penal system, that few care about, is to be found in the case of Albert Woodfox, a black American, who has been kept in solitary confinement in a 6 x 9 feet cell, with only one hour out in chains each day, for FORTY THREE YEARS!

The Guardian here: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/19/albert-woodfox-released-louisiana-jail-43-years-solitary-confinement reports.

In a statement released by his lawyers, Woodfox said that he would use his new-found liberty to campaign against the scourge of solitary confinement that at any one moment sees 80,000 American prisoners being held in isolation. “I can now direct all my efforts to ending the barbarous use of solitary confinement and will continue my work on that issue here in the free world.”

A NEW AND CONVINCING FILM ON 9/11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5UyynjxAyw

Published on 27 Nov 2015

Incontrovertible - New 9/11 documentary by Tony Rooke
A film for Coppers & Fire Fighters by Coppers & Fire Fighters.
Buy the standard definition DVD or Blu-ray version of the film from http://www.incontrovertible911evidenc...

REVIEWS:
---------------

"Simply put, this is not just the best film I've seen on 911, it's the best film I have seen all year." - Sergeant John Meaders, 32 year ex Californian police officer

“One of the best 911 movies ever made!” - Kevin Barrett, Truth Jihad Radio

"All family members of a 9/11 victim should watch this film." - Matt Campbell, victim family member

"Incontrovertible is technically brilliant" - Ian Henshall, Author '9/11 Revealed' & '9/11 The New Evidence'

"Moving, powerful & informative" - Niels Harrit, Veteran Truth Campaigner

"Artfully crafted - manages to convince cumulatively that there are still questions to answer" - Joe Gill - Journalist - Middle East Eye

"Absolutely first rate! The film manages to navigate the broad aspects of 9/11, with all the complexity, and even tie it with 7/7 and JFK, while avoiding the pitfalls of discredited speculative theories. I have no hesitation in sharing this with anyone" - David Chandler, retired physics teacher.

---------------

Please support the film maker, Tony Rooke, by purchasing a DVD or Blu-ray DVD of the film from his websitehttp://www.incontrovertible911evidenc...

Please distribute copies of the film to serving police officers, fire fighters and military personnel.

If you live in the UK, stop funding the purposes of terrorism.

Section 15 Article 3 of the Terrorism Act (2000) states:

(3) A person commits an offence if he— (a) provides money or other property, and (b) knows or has REASONABLE CAUSE to suspect that it will or may be used for the purposes of terrorism.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2...

This film gives us more than REASONABLE CAUSE to suspect that in the UK we are ALL guilty of funding the purposes of terrorism through our taxes and funding of the BBC.

Please help fund 9/11 legal action of family member Matt Campbell https://www.gofundme.com/dwcw2rrg

We can't go on like this, can we?

It is fairly clear, things can't continue as they are without fairly disastrous consequences for humans and all living creatures. Political systems have been hijacked by corporate interests that generally represent the few that benefit most, rather than the vast majority. Global resources are seen as there to exploit whatever the environmental cost. Only capital and profit are the drivers and these are short-term goals that give little weight to human suffering or ecological impact.

Government is in hock to financiers not to voters even when it pretends to be. The 'military/industrial complex' that Eisenhower warned about more than six decades ago, has dominated spending whilst causing immeasurable suffering and damage. This simply cannot continue. 

Rather than obsessing with CO2, the greater danger of creating synthetic divisions to support aggression needs to be addressed and reversed. There needs to be international agreement on reducing military spending across the board and redirecting it to basic human need. We need to revisit and adapt age old religious belief systems to the new problems of humans and how they relate to one another and the earth. We do indeed need to be less greedy and selfish and learn to get satisfaction from living simply and well. 

Capital and the concept of debt, which ruins everything, needs to be reformed. We need to know who actually 'owns' it in order to free ourselves from its power. 

All this does indeed require a revolution in philosophical thinking and ethical framework that places caring and kindness above everything. By God! the human race and this wonderful life-support system called 'earth', has never been in greater need of it.

There follows a template that could be used to influence and shape our individual experience, whilst for the short while we call 'life' we are aware of ourselves and the planet we inhabit. The big question is how we translate this into priorities and policies at a nation-state governmental level? How do we ensure money is the servant rather than the master?

"Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.

"Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.

"Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home." by Tecumseh (1768-1813) Shawnee Chief

Source: http://freecriticalthinking.org/daily-pickings

Some thoughts on what anarchy isn't here: http://freecriticalthinking.org/daily-pickings/1633-what-anarchy-isn-t 

Tel Aviv Terror?

On Friday 1st January 2016, a man fired a semi-automatic weapon outside a cafe/bar in the centre of Tel Aviv, Israel, killing, it is claimed two people and injuring more. The outrage was almost immediately blamed by the authorities on a thirty-one year old man Nashaat Melhem, who's family had close links with the Israeli security services. Exactly one week after the event he was located in his north Israel home town of Arara and shot dead. It appears unlikely he was given the opportunity to surrender to arrest. However, a careful examination of the details gives rise to serious concerns regarding the incident and Melhem's part in it. The article below uncovers serious flaws in the evidence against him, as well as many inconsistencies and familiar indicators of contrived 'False Flag Operations'. The question that remains is was this a genuine 'terrorist incident' as Israel wants the world to believe and was Melhem guilty of the act of which he stands accused?

Introduction

On or about 2.20 pm on Friday 1^st January, 2016, as if perhaps to fulfill a new year resolution, a gunman struck at a pub - come cafe - on Dizengoff Street, one of the main thoroughfares of Israel's capital, Tel Aviv. The Times of Israel reports, “Footage from a security camera released Saturday showed Milhem walking calmly along Dizengoff Street minutes before the attack.” As we shall see this creates a very real problem.

The official story suggests the chief suspect Nashaat Melhem (31) walked casually to the scene, entered the adjacent store, pretended to buy items of food and then on his way placed his backpack on some empty trolleys and removed from it a semi-automatic weapon, which he then immediately proceeded to spray bullets (estimate 15) mainly into the street but killing two people and injuring seven or eight.

The two victims killed in the attack were named as Alon Bakal of Karmiel, 26, the manager of the pub where the shooting began, and Shimon Ruime of Ofakim, 30, who was attending a birthday party for a friend at the establishment.

Following this is is said he ran off (the firing itself lasted less than a minute – in fact only seconds) down a nearby alley way and commandeered a taxi in nearby Ibn Gabirol Street. which he took north, shooting the taxi driver Amin Shaaban dead on leaving it outside the Mandarin Hotel near it is said a bus stop! You will have to make your own mind up how convincing this sounds, particularly as the driver was also of Arab descent.

What professional 'terrorist' leaves his escape so much to chance and public transport not to mention such an obvious location to assassinate the driver? See http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-seeks-pas-help-in-hunt-for-suspect-in-ta-shooting/

From CNN we have this:

Subsequently we learn from CNN (http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/02/middleeast/tel-aviv-pub-shooting/) that heavily armed Israeli para-militaries went house-to-house Saturday in Tel Aviv, searching for the man police identified as Nasha'at Melhem, 31, an Arab-Israeli who lives in northern Israel. In fact it seems clear, again following a common recent pattern, the intention was to shoot him dead if found.

“What authorities called "units specializing in locating and neutralizing perpetrators" were on the scene, police said in a statement. All of our emphasis at this moment in time is finding that suspect and all the different organizations -- security organizations here in Israel -- are working together to find that man," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told CNN.

The news outlet 'i24' reported police partially lifted a gag order on Saturday, naming the suspect shooter as Nashat Melhem, 31, from the Arab village of Arara in northern Israel. They distributed his picture and encouraged public vigilance, as a massive manhunt continued. Melhem's family and lawyer described the suspect as "mentally deranged", noting that he had a history of mental illness and drug abuse including extensive use of cocaine and speed.

From i24 http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/97735-160102-tel-aviv-shooter-murdered-cab-driver-who-drove-him-after-attack

Here we see the common feature of undermining the suspects character in any way possible. This is important psychological preparation for subsequent events including capture, incarceration or even death. Who cares about a violent man with mental and drug problems? Except none of it may be true.  Except when it suits public bodies conflicting character assessments can be produced. The official added that the discovery of the mobile device and the investigation of the family "has not helped us or led us to a breakthrough."

In addition to Nashat's father, his brothers and sister have been arrested not only to gain evidence but also clearly to increase pressure on him to give himself up presumably.

From the Israel Times A senior security source told Channel 2 Monday that the terrorist’s mobile phone found by a citizen in the front yard of an apartment building on Ramat Aviv’s Reading Street on Friday, had not given the investigation any leads. A second brother of Milhem was arrested Monday, three days after his brother Juadat was arrested Friday on suspicion of involvement in the crime. The official added that the discovery of the mobile device and the investigation of the family "has not helped us or led us to a breakthrough."

Videos

Three videos of the incident are relevant and the reader is recommended to view them prior to reading this article. In particular you may wish to apply a certain degree of critical assessment to them, not least to see if you later agree or disagree with mine.

The alleged assailant 'approaching the scene' and a clip from the adjacent store from where he emerges: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STLqbF66bgo (Interestingly the second clip is edited to delete the actual shooting phase but another angle of this is caught on the next one)

A view of the shooter in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6mgSopLaxQ

By 4.00 pm in Jerusalem CNN is transmitting a full dramatic account to America here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLNhosEptOQ (Note description “All in black in black balaclava” not supported in above videos. )

A better shop CCTV image is provided in this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viJtujJ-nOA (Rather strangely for this type of equipment there is no time or date imprint. Note in this he appears to be wearing dark glasses but no 'balaclava'. Study the character carefully to compare later with the issued photos of the wanted man.)

This MSNBC American report is timed at 8.45 am (ET) Given that Tel Aviv is seven hours ahead, this means that within an hour and a half of the incident America was getting the basic information. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw1rm2xZYWE This report claims 'one killed and eight injured'. At two minutes in he annouces the local Tel Aviv time as 3.47 pm confirmed by his colleague.

By 9.52 am (ET) 'Mox News' clip which uses a 'MSNBC' feed, has this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Uw70sH4UIE The reporters says just before 3 o'clock local (Tel Aviv) time the attack happened. In fact the time of the event was actually even earlier just before 2.30 pm and the first report by police to journalists was at 2.53 pm. So within about an hour and a half of the incident an individual with I-phone footage (leave aside for the moment what he was aiming at nothing in particular but just enough to capture the critical action) has managed to the news agency and get it transmitted to prime time American breakfast audience. That takes some doing! Also by now the City Mayor has determined this is a terrorist event rather that the earlier police position of not being sure what the underlying cause was. This of course is also just in time for the American breakfast audience the West Coast being two hours behind. What perfect timing and yet again on a Friday, perfect for the weekend.

Now before we leave this particular video, take a look at 9.10 mins into it. There is here the briefest side view of the shooter. There is no shooting before so this must be the moment portrayed in the earlier shop video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viJtujJ-nOA Look carefully from 2.10 mins in. The man in the former is hooded whereas in this one at the very same point at which he starts shooting, he is definitely bare-headed. One or other therefore must be fake!

Initial Observations – Parallels with other Recent Events

As with so many of these events that get world-wide attention by the international media, perhaps in contrast to many much worse events elsewhere, I was struck by the parallels both as to the crime, the way in which information was issued to the press and thence to the public; the way it was treated by police and government in statements; the apparent failures of prevention and detection; and many anomolous and contradictory features common to many of these so-called terrorist events, most recently in Paris.

The features of the Tel Aviv attack, many of which have been replicated elsewhere, may be summarised as follows:

• gunman carries out what appears to be random street shooting
• using semi-automatic weapon
• firing about fifteen (15) shots
• killing two and injuring eight innocent victims
• at a street pub/restaurant in a large city
• caught in part on CCTV but not as to be clear or to reveal other elements
• subsequently taxi driver shot dead, blamed on same man
• happens Friday afternoon (for maximum coverage?)
• police immediately issue the name of chief suspect
• story about how they find out (father recognises and informs) dubious
• suspect is known (controlled?) by police
• suspect has criminal/mental history/possible motivation
• uninvolved wider family/contacts are arrested (as pawns/colateral?)
• reported details conflict
• published identity photographs don't appear to match
• timings don't appear to correlate (in fact appear to prove the opposite!)
• gun details don't match
• ages vary widely, names spelt differently, number injured changes
• unlikely identity failures by perpatrator – in this case a mobile phone and back-pack abandoned with links
• strange absence of police and security allowing attack to take place
• failure to immediately arrest or locate the perpatrator
• immediate evidence of security/intelligence services on site
• strange anomalies with regard to the crime scene
• event used as a reason/excuse to flood the area with heavily armed police/militia, raid homes, arrest targets, introduce elements of marshall law
• use the event for propaganda purposes world wide concentrating on bloodied bodies, tearful faces, children weeping, vivid descriptions, candles and flowers, mass gatherings, religious ceremonies, patriotic references, group blame
• political involvement presence (always photographed suitably solemn, moved, empathetic, determined)
• speeches by same with proposed actions, usually discriminatory, inhibitory, or even aggressive. Legislative changes invarible follow in a predictable direction
• intimation is given that the aim is to kill not arrest the identified attacker (who in fact may not be)
• all of which plays to a strengthens a certain agenda of fear and hatred towards another (usually these days Muslim) group whilst denying this is the intention.

False Flag Event?

The classic false flag terror event appears to have become more common in recent years that suggests an agenda is being played out. It usually consists of an outrageous event employing the use of explosives and/or other weaponry causing multiple deaths and/or destruction. The chosen target appears to have evolved from military to unsuspecting civilians often just engaged in innocent social pursuits. The false flag event is distinguished from the true terrorist operation by tell-tale signs such as parallel emergency exercises taking place, premature announcements, confusion over details and timings, the death by police or others of operatives to ensure secrecy is maintained, inexplicable or highly unlikely coincidences and identity giveaways, the use of suspect video footage, the use of crisis actors and so on. All of this fitting neatly into a current chosen narrative in support of government intentions, domestic or foreign.

So let us, as far as the reported/published information permits, look a little closer at some of these, what might be called, to greater or lesser extent, suspicious indicators of something else at play on the part of unidentified centres of power. This may or may not point to what is termed a False Flag Operation, i.e. an activity intended to bring an opposition party into serious disrepute to influence public opinion and enable the government to take action (often military or social) not otherwise possible. It may also be used as a distraction from other events elsewhere.

The Location and Scene

The attack occurred at about 2.20 pm on Friday 1^st January, 2016 at a bar come cafe called Simta, on the corner of Dizengoff (named after a former Mayor) and Gordon Streets in central Tel Aviv. The two killed in the attack were said to be Alon Bakal, 26, a manager at the pub, and Shimon Ruimi, 30, a resident of Ofakim. They were both laid to rest without delay on the following Sunday. Whether their bodies were subject to medical examination or postmortem is not revealed.

A Haaretz You Tube presentation (complete with fades and dramatic music) can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37IG8gFIkfA If both videos are taken together it is clear that the shooting was very brief and largely onto the street. How the two people were shot fatally is therefore difficult to explain, especially as Bakal was said to be the manager and there is no sign of such outside during the shooting.

At no stage were any shots fired into the premises. That all the shooting is captured is proved by reference to the reaction of the customers who can be seen startled by the first shot and within literally seconds were confident to emerge. This in no way approximates to a genuine 'terrorist attack' as claimed by the government, obviously intent on making it so. This alone is a very suspicious feature.

Of course with the disparity between the two videos I mention above, indicating one or other or both are fake, not too much interpretive reliance can in fact be placed on any of them. Yet again we have to note however, because the government places reliance on them as if they were genuine must mean it is in on the fraud and what must be a plot to deceive.

If the shop video is reliable, his behaviour of buying nuts and plastic bags in the adjacent shop immediately prior to the firing likely. This man has all the indications of amateur following instructions to cause a bit of a panic, than a serious and desperate terrorist.

It is claimed that his father recognised him from the video but which video, because this one looks nothing like an earlier one of him allegedly walking towards the scene nor does his age or stature appear to fit?

This commentator highlights the phone up-load from inside of the building but does not refer to the absence of anyone in the line of fire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqcpotXqO7c

As soon as government latches on to an untenable explanation and uses it for a political purpose – in this case no less a figure than Prime Minister Netanahu insisting Arabs must support Israel – you can be sure you are in murky territory, and that literally nothing coming from the authorities can be taken automaticaly as truthful.

I reproduce some photographs below that I immediately noticed are very similar to those taken after the Paris attacks. It certainly raises the question whether this was an attempt to replicate a 'successful' exercise on Israel territory – except that it wasn't. It's amazing how a few overturned chairs can give the impression of a chaotic event having taken place. Sitting in the midst of what in any jurisdiction would be an important crime scene sits a woman and her dog, which a later image reveals is being interviewed by a policeman. This immediately gives the lie to how seriously forensic parameters were being followed which include the basic one of 'everyone out', 'don't touch anything'.

Incidentally from the video there is no suggestion of overturned tables. Indeed one 'survivor' appears from one. So why in these images are they all overturned? Surely they haven't been subsequntly overturned to give the impression of greater chaos?

I am adding this one just to provide an additional view. The empty stretcher is worth noting.

Timing.

In many other cases I have pointed to the fact that official accounts of terror events, often have seeded in them problems of timing that undermine their reliability, or in extreme cases prove they cannot be true. Once falsehood is proved in any important aspect, the whole official story is cast into doubt, and deceit for whatever reason is suggested. We appear to have such an example in the Tel Aviv shooting.

The Israili authorities were quick to put out a video, which they claimed showed their chief suspect, identified they said by his father, walking towards the crime scene intent on the act that would kill two people and injure 'eight' – reduced to 'seven'. It is reproduced on the CNN programme that can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QouVYKtHE0g  There are many other versions on Youtube.

I hope some one has copied it because it is very significant. It purports to show the alleged shooter, by which his father identified him, walking along a street carrying a back pack. Helpfully whoever is operating the camera follows him until he disappears behind a bollard proving that it is indeed 2016. Therefore if this is him and before the attack it must be on the 1^st – i.e. the day of the attack. The fact that the camera follows him is of course a touch suspicious after all why would they? He presents no obvious danger, is not engaged in any anti-social or suspicious activity and it leads nowhere. This certainly suggests an element of staging or pre-planning.

However much more important is the information embedded on what we must assume is a security camera, of which there must be plenty in the centre of Tel Aviv. (In passing the absence of any other informative footage of the shooting or the shooters escape should be noted. This also is a very familiar feature of suspicious events where all cameras apparently fail when they might have been of greatest use. Perhaps I will list them as a footnote if you are not aware)

As can be seen the video reads “2016.01.01 Camera 3”. However there is one very BIG problem. The video shows clearly the time as 4.23.43 and runs for a further 13 seconds (4.23.56) until he disappears out of view. This of course is some two hours after the shooting. Either the video timing is unreliable, which I would suggest is highly unlikely, or the details have been interfered with in some way or if this is indeed Nashat Milhem the chief and only suspect, he could not have carried out the shooting as described unless he had returned to the street and casually walked down it two hours later!

The thing is if the timing is right there are other anomalies. Remember at this time police operations were at their height yet there is no evidence of this.

So what are we to make of the video so confidently broadcast purporting to show the very man the police were seeking, on his way to the killing, yet containing this damning element?

One possible explanation is that it is a contrived piece of 'evidence' previously prepared and immediately circulated to media outlets to support a time-table that actually went wrong. If the shooting was planned for shall we say for 4.30 pm or there abouts, this video fits perfectly and the timing works. But what if the shooter, who of course is not Nashat Milhem decides for whatever reason to turn up almost two hours early? What then?If the prepared video purporting to show Milhem approaching the scene is already out there or the embedded mistake not noticed, it is too late to correct the damage. Just let's hope no-one notices.

This rather bizarre explanation is not unsupported by reported developments. In an article by Ben Hartman in the Jerusalem Post timed and dated 17.02 on the 3^rd January 2016, (i.e. two days after the event) he raises idiosyncratic timing issues himself, suggesting it pointed to significant communication failures on the part of the police. He observes (quote):

“Friday didn’t witness the greatest display in the history of the Tel Aviv district police spokesman’s branch either. Its first message about shots fired went out to crime reporters on WhatsApp at 2:53 p.m., and then the police went silent until 3:12 p.m., only to report that there were people shot outside a bar/restaurant/ café and some were hurt. They added that paramedics were working the scene, and that it was unclear if the incident was a terrorist attack or criminal.

“The first comprehensive report went out finally at 5:52 p.m., almost three hours later. While it is important in such hectic stories to be careful and know what they are reporting, the police seemed lost, unable or unwilling to answer questions in real-time.

“I don’t know whether to chalk up the police’s failure to the mass confusion and the fact that the attacker hasn’t been caught – unlike in the Panorama attack – but there was something disconcerting about the whole display” END QUOTE.

“Disconcerting” might be an appropriate term in the circumstances but clearly at the time of writing he hadn't seen the video. However if my hunch is correct, and there had been a major disruption to the plan for a 4.30 pm event, the delay and confusion in reporting it becomes easier to explain. If correct one can imagine the consternation in some back-room planning office. It might have gone something like this don't you think?

“What the hell? That fool has done the shooting two hours early. Has it been reported yet? Well tell the police to zip it until we decide what to do. Where's Milhem by the way? Looks Like now he knows he's been set up to take the fall, he's done a runner.”

Confirmation of the 2.20 pm time for the shooting is given in a CNN report here http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/02/middleeast/tel-aviv-pub-shooting/ as follows (quote):

“Attack captured on surveillance video

The surveillance videos aired by Israeli news media appear to show the attacker before and during the 2:40 p.m. shooting, hours before Shabbat, Judaism's day of rest that starts on Friday evening.

Further video of the shooter can be viewed here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6mgSopLaxQ but again as is typical in such cases the clips are very short and view obscured.

Source: http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/151932/father-tel-aviv-shooting-suspect-arrested I am adding this one just to provide an additional view. The empty stretcher is worth noting.

So to recap. The inconsistent information on the timing of the event is as follows:

2.20 pm Shooting takes place. Lasts probably less than a minute. Shooter immediately makes his escape.

2.53 pm First reports by police to local media that there has been an ill-defined shooting.

3.12 pm Next police report to media giving a few extra details of shooting outside cafe and people hurt

3.45 pm (8.45 am EST in US) News was being broadcast to the American TV audience.

4.23pm Chief suspect Milhem recorded on security CCTV walking towards the scene of the crime, purportedly on his way to carry it out.

4.45pm (9.45 am SET in US) Announced this was a 'terrorist event' and home-made I-phone video of the gunman shown constantly in America (and presumably the rest of world).

5.52pm First comprehensive report put out by police who appeared 'lost, unable or unwilling to answer questions in real-time.' In other words, in common with other such events, the political leader (the Mayor) had announced it was a terrorist event well before the police themselves had made up their minds what it was!)

If I am right, and this was a fraudulent event that didn't go according to plan, and Milhem was not responsible, we may speculate that someone other than the accused was persuaded - or forced - to act out his role. Is it possible that whoever it was not only attempted to do as little harm as possible, but set out to positively sabotage the plan he had been entrusted with? Or was this person actually Milhem trying his best to do as little damage as possible but bringing forward the time to allow his escape knowing if he did it at the agreed time he himself would be 'neutralised'. 

I realise this is speculative but if accurate there is little doubt that it would have sealed his fate for undermining the operation. Later it was announced that a taxi driver, Amin Shaaban, had been shot dead by the escaping Milhem, but if the evidence – some of which has been discussed above – points to Milhem being set up and being innocent of the charge – effectively a 'Patsy' – then a different explanation would be required for the taxi drivers death. I will allow you to imagine what that might be.

Amin Shaaban, a taxi driver who's body was found a short while after a shooting spree in central Tel Aviv.

The Alleged Assailant

Almost immediately following the event, confident assertions were being made about the likely suspect based upon it was said information from his father, who recognised him from the video. Given all the contradictions and limitations of the video, and Nashat's father's involvement with the police (and probably Shin Bet) is it likely that he would be taken in or provided the implicating information about son? Isn't it more likely that Nashat was chosen specifically because of his and his father's background and that his father was presented with a non-negotiable option either to comply with the story already worked out, or be implicated with his family in a terrorism plot - or indeed perhaps leaking his earlier complicity in anti Palestinian under-cover work. Mahammad may indeed have been between a rock and a hard place.

Early certainty of the perpetrator is classic 'Patsy' territory and highly suspicious as are the additional claimed circumstances that father and son talked together following the event and that the firearm was stolen from the father, which itself raises many questions. Reference is made to stealing the 'firearm' which rather suggests this was a revolver. However on the video someone says 'Ouzzi'. It is certainly a semi-automatic of some description. We are asked to believe that the father of a son, jailed for attacking a policeman, was allowed to keep an official semi-automatic at home?

Further confusion is provided by this quote: "The father told police that he received an anonymous phone call from someone who told him to check if his licensed firearm, which he uses as a guard in a security firm, was in possession at his home. He checked and found his firearm but then realized that it may have been his son, the suspected shooter, who made the anonymous call." All highly suspect I would say. Wouldn't a father immediately recognise his son? Why would a son ring his father to pass on this bit of information? Would the Israeli authorities let an Arab, not actually in the employ of the state, keep a semi automatic weapon anyway? A side arm possibly but not a semi automatic, particularly as his family included those with serious convictions and therefore a potential threat.

A common theme in such cases is that the alleged perpetrator is well known to the police and security services. Individuals have responsibilities that are used to ensure compliance. Another is real or trumped up charges that are used as bargaining chips to get the co-operation of the individual, effectively as a 'snout' or asset, to provide intelligence. The fact that the whole family has been arrested is a clear sign that these tactics are being employed to make Melhem give himself up. Melhem on the other hand probably knows that would lead to almost certain death or a long prison sentence for a fabricated crime of multiple murder. He is in a very unenviable position needing to protecting himself whilst feeling responsible for his family.

For his part, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who was interviewed Monday on the Knesset’s television channel said Nashat Melhem “was more sophisticated than [people] think. He is not naïve and eccentric.” As an indication of the suspect’s sophistication, Erdan said Melhem deliberately avoided bringing his cellphone to the scene of the crime “to make it harder to locate him,” since law enforcement can trace the whereabouts of mobile phones.
read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.695521

The father’s lawyer, Nechami Feinblatt, said his client had been in touch with his son after he carried out the attacks. The elder Milhem was remanded for two days earlier in the day as a suspected accessory to the killing, and for allegedly obstructing the investigation. Five other suspects, including several other relatives, were also remanded by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Muhammad Milhem (father of the suspect) at the Haifa Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, January 5, 2016 (Channel 2 screenshot)

Speaking to Channel 10 Tuesday evening, Feinblatt — who noted he has been representing Mohammed Milhem for years — said police and the Shin Bet were aware of the phone call.

“I know the father did call a certain number, and told police about it,” his attorney said. “Without elaborating, there was some contact, which the police and Shin Bet are aware of.”

Feinblatt told the TV station that his client had “certainly not” helped the suspected shooter escape. He said Mohammed Milhem’s communication with his son was known to police on Friday, though he was freed before being rearrested Tuesday.

“The truth is, the Shin Bet is desperate,” he said, and “when there is such a crisis in the agency,” they arrest people to gather information. Feinblatt said family members of the suspected killer maintain they are innocent. He said the family was clinging to the hope that Nashat Milhem was hired to kill the bar patrons by Israeli criminals, and that the shooting wasn’t a terror attack. http://www.timesofisrael.com/suspected-tel-aviv-shooter-believed-to-be-up-north-report/

Why we might ask is Shin Bet 'desperate'. Could it be that one of their carefully laid plans to mimic and extend the 'terrorist threat' to Israel from France for reasons probably obvious to all, had gone seriously arigh? The individual who was to be blamed and shot dead in a dramatic stand-off, instead cunningly escaped capture and has still not been located.

The father told police that he received an anonymous phone call from someone who told him to check if his licensed firearm, which he uses as a guard in a security firm, was in possession at his home. He checked and found his firearm but then realized that it may have been his son, the suspected shooter, who made the anonymous call.

Identity Parade

Below are the official photographs of the accused Nashat Milhem. I think the first was taken when he was previously charged with an offense of attacking a policeman. Earlier his bother had been shot dead by police apparently. However compare this with what I assume is a later picture. Can these relate to the same person ? I do not believe so. The shape of the head is quite different, the former longer and thinner than the relatively round one of the latter. I have to say the second photo could fit the the video of the person in the food shop but there is still an issue as to why these different images claiming to be the same person, when they clearly are not, have been put out? 

Clearly one is clean shaven and wearing glasses whereas the former is bearded and doesn't need them. The man in the shop video appears to have just a tuft of a beard on his chin and wears dark glasses, which may or not be optician prescribed. In any event he appears on the short side (5' 8''?) and rather thick set whereas I would wager the former is taller and slimmer of build. What is going on here? They surely can't be both the same man as been suggested by whoever put them out to the media with that assertion? 

Suspected perpetrator of the shooting attack in Tel Aviv on January 1, 2016. (photo credit:screenshot)

This assessment I think is confirmed by the third image circulated below. This I would suggest is the younger image of the man above. However this is clearly quite distinct from the person in the top image. The difference cannot be attributed to age alone, or differences of angle or facial hair. These certainly appear different people although we are assured they are the same. If the same how could his face have changed so much? 

Perhaps it should also be noted that early reports spell his name differently and give him three different ages (19, 29 and 31) This appears somewhat surprising given the fact that he was so well known by the police and security services. It should also be noted that his name was being circulated with confidence in less than 24 hours. This contrasts starkly with the apparent ineffectiveness they have displayed to locate him subsequently, despite the best informer network in the world. Either his disappearance was intentional or he had a very good plan or he has some influential friends or perhaps all three.

The suspect, named on Saturday as Nashat Milhem, 31, is believed to still be armed with the submachine gun he allegedly used in the attack, and to pose a clear and present danger to the public.

The two victims killed in the attack were named as Alon Bakal of Karmiel, 26, the manager of the pub where the shooting began, and Shimon Ruime of Ofakim, 30, who was attending a birthday party for a friend at the establishment.

They added that the investigation is still ongoing, and called on the public to be on alert for the suspect, described by witnesses as a rather short man with somewhat dark skin, who was wearing all black and dark shades during the attack.

Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Saturday, the attorney said the man’s father – Mohammed Milhem, Sami’s cousin, was a volunteer police officer in the past and that the entire family “has enlisted to help the police find him and condemns this attack entirely.”

The attorney said the man is not mentally well, and that he does not believe he was linked to the attack or influenced by Islamic State or other Islamist groups, despite reports stating this in the Israeli press.

“I hope that they find the person who did this, he has brought a disaster upon this entire family,” Milhem said.
The submachine gun used in the attack reportedly belonged to Milhem’s father, a former volunteer police officer who had kept it in a safe at the family home.

Sami Melhem, an Israeli Arab lawyer, said the shooter was a relative of his, whose father, a police volunteer, had come forward to identify him to authorities after the security footage aired. The 28-year-old suspect's name was withheld from publication under a court gag order.

Speaking to Channel 2, Melhem said he had previously represented the suspect in a case where he was jailed for assaulting an Israeli soldier. But Melhem described him as mentally unstable rather than politically militant.

"This man is not sane, to the best of my knowledge since I represented him," Melhem said. "He has received treatment. He is receiving treatment. Recently he has been going around in the street as an insane person." The suspected gunman is known to Israeli security forces since he had been arrested and sent to prison for attempting to steal an IDF soldier's gun. Authorities continue to hunt the suspected gunman, a native of the Israeli Arab village of Arara. Those from the Wadi Ara community who know the gunman told Israeli media that the individual "experienced a number of traumatic events in his life."

One of the fatalities of Friday's shooting attack in central Tel Aviv was identified as Alon Bakal, 26, a shift manager at the 'HaSimta' pub which took the brunt of the gunfire on Dizengoff Street. The other fatality in the attack was Shimon Roemee from Ofakim. In camera footage of the attack, the gunman was seen pulling his weapon from a backpack and aiming the rifle at passersby and at pub patrons.

The father told police that he received an anonymous phone call from someone who told him to check if his licensed firearm, which he uses as a guard in a security firm, was in possession at his home. He checked and found his firearm but then realized that it may have been his son, the suspected shooter, who made the anonymous call.

Channel 10 reported that the suspect's cousin was killed in a police raid some ten years ago when he was found to be storing weapons. The suspect himself also has a criminal past and was known to security authorities. He previously served a four-year jail sentence for fighting with a soldier and trying to steal his weapon.

A copy of the Koran was reportedly found inside the gunman's backpack which he left at the the health food store he visited immediately before he carried out the attack, according to Channel 10. 

The Separate unreported Killing

In a separate incident on Friday afternoon, a taxi driver was shot to death in northern Tel Aviv. The victim was identified as resident of the central Israeli town of Lod. The police were reported to be investigating the circumstances of the killing.

BY 4TH JAN HE HAS BECOME 19!!! AND CARrIED OUT ANOTHER SHOOTING OF

near north Tel Aviv's Mandarin Hotel 

the third victim of 19-year-old Nashat Melhem, the suspected perpetrator of a shooting. Police were initially unsure if the murder of Amin Shaaban, the cab driver, was linked to the shooting. http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.695322

Authorities also arrested on Monday a second, initially unidentified family member of Melhem whose attack on the pub left two Israelis dead and seven others wounded. Juadat Melhem, the brother of Nashat Melhem, was arrested on Friday in connection to the attack.

Amin Shaaban, a taxi driver who's body was found a short while after a shooting spree in central Tel Aviv.

Police and Shin Bet investigators said Sunday Melhem wasn't planning to return alive from the killing spree, and were investigating if he had an accomplice who knew of his plans in advance.

Simta bar, on the corner of Dizengoff and Gordon Streets in central Tel Aviv. The two killed in the attack were Alon Bakal, 26, a manager at the pub, Shimon Ruimi, 30, a resident of Ofakim. They were both laid to rest Sunday.

The BBC says Police have named a 29-year-old Israeli Arab as the suspect. No motive has been established for the shooting. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-35213284

Visiting the bar in Dizengoff Street, Mr Netanyahu praised Israeli Arab leaders for condemning the killings - but said Israel was in danger of becoming "a state of law for most citizens, and a state within a state with Islamist incitement and illegal arms that are often used in weddings, celebrations and criminal incidents", the Jerusalem Post reports.

He said his government would "bolster law enforcement efforts in the Negev, the Galilee, the Triangle, everywhere". This would include building new police stations and recruiting more police officers.

Candles and statements

The two victims have been identified as Alon Bakal, 26, who was a manager at the bar targeted, and Shimon Ruimi, 30.

From the Israel Times A senior security source told Channel 2 Monday that the terrorist's mobile phone, found by a citizen in the front yard of an apartment building on Ramat Aviv’s Reading Street on Friday, had not given the investigation any leads. A second brother of Milhem was arrested Monday, three days after his brother Juadat was arrested Friday on suspicion of involvement in the crime.

Nashat fled the scene of the shooting on Dizengoff Street on foot and hailed Amin Shaaban’s cab on nearby Ibn Gabirol Street. The vehicle drove to north Tel Aviv, where Milhem worked. There, Milhem is alleged to have killed Shaaban outside the Mandarin Hotel. http://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-seeks-pas-help-in-hunt-for-suspect-in-ta-shooting/

He then drove the cab to Namir Road, where he abandoned it near a bus stop. Namir is a major north-south artery in north Tel Aviv, from which Milhem could have caught a public bus or other transportation out of the city.

Footage from a security camera released Saturday showed Milhem walking calmly along Dizengoff Street minutes before the attack.

From i24 http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel/97735-160102-tel-aviv-shooter-murdered-cab-driver-who-drove-him-after-attack
The official added that the discovery of the mobile device and the investigation of the family "has not helped us or led us to a breakthrough." Israel Army Radio, meanwhile reported that another brother of Melhem was arrested on Monday and will be brought before a court in Haifa to extend his detention. On Sunday, Melhem's sister was taken in for questioning by Israeli police as Israeli security forces pressed a manhunt for Melhem himself.

Police partially lifted a gag order on Saturday, naming the suspected shooter as Nashaat Melhem, 31, from the Arab village of Arara in northern Israel. They distributed his picture and encouraged public vigilance, as a massive manhunt continued. Melhem's family and lawyer described the suspect as "mentally deranged", noting that he had a history of mental illness and drug abuse including extensive use of cocaine and speed.

Concluding Summary

So to summarise what are the reasons I have serious reservations about the version of events in this case? I will remind you of them here. Yet again I would argue we have evidence of the manipulation of world-wide opinion using violent outrages as a tool. Perhaps the planners of them are getting sloppy or we are getting wise to them. Either way I believe there are far more sceptics now than were around after 9/11 which is a hopeful development at least.

1. The speed at which the suspect was identified and publicised is suspicious.

2. He is said to be filmed approaching the scene prior to the attack. The video is suspicious in that it follows him for no reason and the time stamp puts it about an hour and a half after the attack either proving his innocence or the unreliability of the 'evidence' of the video.

3. The two available videos of the shooting itself are contradictory as in one the assailant has hood where as in the other his head is clearly uncovered. One at least therefore has to be unreliable and probably staged.

4. However in both he is seen shooting mainly into the street. There is no indication of aiming it at people. How two people were shot dead needs to be clarified in detail which hasn't happened.

5. Neither of the videos support the contention that who ever it was intended serious harm to the individuals who appeared 'sitting ducks' should he have wanted to. If terrorism this was definitely 'gesture terrorism'.

6. The identity of of the alleged assailant is not at all clear. Indeed the images of Nashat Mihem do not appear to match. Pictures of him court do not match in the slightest other identity pictures put out by police.

7. The story surrounding his father do not convince in the slightest nor the way his father, brothers and wider family have been arrested and harassed suggest the contrived story is holding. These are indeed desperate measure to retrieve a desperate situation.

8. Nor does the story of using his father's gun which is full of inconsistencies. The fact that the weapon appears to have disappeared is a further question to be answered.

9. The death of the 'taxi driver' that has been put at the door of Milhem is equally unconvincing. Where is the CCTV of his escape. Where is the evidence of the taxi driver raising the alarm (I am sure they have secret code words for such situations) Why would he shoot his helper and fellow Palestinian Arab? Why in such a public place. From Kennedy on this is also a classic indicator in a plan to frame someone but carried out by someone else.

10. The 'discovered' telephone and back-pack are classic little implicators of a plot. As if a serious terrorist would make these obvious errors. Of course we have had the same giveaways in all the recent outrages.

11. The way the event was subsequently used politically to threaten Israeli arabs by Netanyahu is another. Few surely can be taken in by his respectful visit to the site with the now obligatory candles?

and now as a postscript 12. That he has been hunted down and shot dead on Friday 8th January 2016, precisely, and almost too neatly, a week to the day after the initial incident. 

Epigram

I now discover as I had predicted, that Nashaat Melhem has been located and killed by Israeli forces. Ynet News published 8th Jan., 2016 (See: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4750398,00.html ) has this: 

"It's our only solace, and the happy thing is that none of our own were scratched in the raid. I had no doubt that they'd reach him." So said Dudu Bakal, whose son Alon Bakal was murdered by Nashat Melhem in the Friday attack at the Simta bat in Tel Aviv, after he heard that security forces had killed Melhem."

"Bakal added that he and his family were certain that the terrorist would be killed by security forces quickly. "I didn’t doubt it for a moment," he emphasized. "I was sure that this evil person would be taken down. I was very very happy to hear that none of our own were scratched. All of our guys came home intact and he got the strike he deserved. Everyone needs to learn from this, and know that if they scratch one of Israel's people, their end will be the same. It's good to know that he got his."

http://www.haaretz.com/polopoly_fs/1.696333.1452274007!/image/431631042.jpg_gen/derivatives/headline_609x343/431631042.jpg

"Nashat Melhem, killed in firefight with security forces outside his hideout in hometown Arara, December 8, 2015."

Here is another composite one. The upper one of the two replicates the photo above whereas the lower one differs in a number of important respects. Notice the body is in a different position. In the top one he lies on his back with arms outstretched on either side. In the lower one he lies in what is generally referred to as the 'recovery position' to his left.  A sub-machine gun can be seen to his left and may just be detectable in the upper picture behind vegetation. He is wearing what appears to be dark blue or black clothing, the track suit bottoms have a dramatic white multi-stripe and logo to them which significantly do not match in any way those he (or someone else) was wearing in the health food shop video. 

It is impossible to determine the order the photos were taken in but it is reasonable to assume the lower one was taken first. A head injury is clearly suggested by the colour and blurring of the photograph. The position of the hand with thumb to the RHS in the photo proves this is his right arm twisted so that the palm is uppermost. 

So we may deduce that in the upper photograph the body has been turned onto its back but not only this it has also been dragged latterly perhaps a foot or two. If it had just been turned onto his back where he would have been in the shrubbery but the upper photo shows a gap of perhaps a couple of feet between his body and it, so it must have been dragged sideways a couple of feet. His bare midriff in the upper photo might suggest they used his jacket to facilitate this. 

Slightly strange is the fact that what appears to be a large pot or bucket close to his left arm in the upper photo cannot be detected in the lower one, so it is possible in addition to being turned onto his back, he was also dragged a short distance up the path. 

Although it is difficult to see the weapon in the lower photo, given all these necessary movement of the body it appears likely that his gun was also moved and put down again merely from the fact that it would have been in the way. 

There is clearly no evidence of blood to the body which with the other information referred to above points strongly to a head shot. That is rather unusual and distinctive as a retreating or threatening standing person would always be targeted on the upper torso and never the head. A head shot is far more suggestive of a marksman. 

Finally in the lower photo a number of legs can be observed wearing what appears to be fatigues not the blue of policemen. There appear to be just two but of course there may have been more out of the picture. You do get the feeling these are the huntsmen first on the scene to inspect their 'kill'. Could it be these are indeed be the "units specializing in locating and neutralizing perpetrators" referred to euphemistically at the top of the article? 

From Haaretz we have this quote: "Police also deduce that Melhem had accomplices who supplied him with food and clothing. "Melhem didn't look like someone who was in hiding for a week without contact with anyone," sources in the police said on Friday.  Police sources say that there wasn't an implicit order to shoot Melhem, but when the gunman saw the officers coming he tried to run and opened fire toward them, leaving them no choice but to shoot him dead. A neighbor described Melhem's attempted escape: He left through the back door and ran a few meters, reaching another neighbor's yard before being shot."

read more: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.696403

How much reliance can be placed on the police account that "he tried to run and opened fire towards them" yet they say "he left through the back door and only ran a few meters." Those two accounts are difficult to reconcile. Then we have the statement "there wasn't an implicit order to shoot Melhem". No of course not. He was shot in purely self defence it is plain to see.

It is what may be called a fait accompli. This is the new trend demonstrated in Boston, London and Paris based on what I think is an Israeli model: that the judicial process is dispensed with altogether, and unconvicted individuals are just hunted down and shot but not before the situational PR is properly and thoroughly addressed so that no one will really mind if and when the inevitable happens.

Of course apart from a primitive retribution, it also has the advantage that the target is silenced and can never reveal the truth, including the very real possibility that he might have been innocent and/or set-up. With the target dead there is no need need to test the evidence to see if it stands up. Of course those who have lost loved ones do not question the official version. If the government says he has done it he must have mustn't he? So no one cares if an innocent man might have lost his life. In fact the majority applaud it. 

There is one small reservation however, if he didn't do it, or even was forced into doing it, it means the real killers and culprits remain at large, emboldened and encouraged to act again. Mr Cameron in a recent speech has given notice he too wants to put aside any legal niceties and ethical reservations and go for the kill rather than seek surrender, arrest and legal process. Can anyone doubt that we are entering a new phase of totalitarian brutality that at some secret level has been agreed between Britain, America, France and Israel, and we are seeing the manifestation of it? This is a new era in which the the militarised police will be able to shoot at will and the categories where they are able to so gradually extends. This is a very slippery slope and we have already gone some way down it.END.