There is an obvious
Israeli involvement in
the present conflict
between
Georgia and Russia.
Shraga Elam
There are hundreds of
Israeli military
advisers in
Georgia and this is not
just the claim of the
rather unreliable
DebkaFile
but also the more
respected Ha'aretz
expert Yossi Melman, the
daily Ma'ariv
and also the rather
reliable website "News
First Class" (NFC).
Melman wrote on
25.6.2008 that Georgia
became a real El Dorado
for Israeli
arms dealers and
numerous representatives
of the army and
intelligence
services. Some former
generals like Israel Ziv
and Gal Hirsh (with his
company Defensive Shield)
are very active there.
"Gal Hirsh and Israel
Ziv are mainly training
and consulting Georgian
army
units. They are using
the "chain" method
common among Israeli arm
dealers:
a main contractor wins a
tender and employs then
sub-contractors in
this
case Israeli officers
and former Shin Beth
employees," wrote Melman.
According to him there
was a project to sell
Merkava tanks to
Georgia, but
allegedly the Israeli
foreign ministry
prevented the deal and a
policy was
outlined that only
defensive weapons are
allowed to be sold.
Just the same Russia
protested agains the
Israeli military support
to
Georgia after an Israeli
produced UAV was shot
down. On August 5 Israel
reiterated its official
policy that it allegedly
sells only defensive and
not offensive weapon
systems to Georgia.
This is the version
published
e.g. in the Jerusalem
Post; other sources,
like the Israeli daily
MaOariv
on 8.8, claim that
Israel decided to stop
altogether the military
support
to Georgia. Just the
same Ma¹ariv points out
that the Georgian
defense
minister, David
Kezerashvili, lived for
a while in Israel and
speaks
Hebrew. In a lengthy
article the military
exports to Georgia are
described. Ma¹ariv
estimates them to be of
a value of at least USD
300
million. An Israeli
marketing expert told
MaOariv: "To every
Israeli agent
representing an Israeli
defense company is
attached a cousin of the
defense
minister, who opens the
doors for him."
Also NFC confirms the
massive presence of
Israeli advisers in
Georgia and
writes: "The Israeli
military industries
upgraded in recent years
the
Georgian air force, sold
unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAV), advanced
artillery
systems and trained
infantry units." (9.8)
The NFC claims that
according to
sources in Washington in
Moscow the war started
because Georgia wants to
reverse Israel¹s
decision and achieve the
continuation of the
support.
Israel, according to NFC,
conceded to the Russian
threatening that it
would
otherwise go through
with the sale of its
most advanced
anti-aircraft
missile system S-300 to
Iran and Syria.
Actually the opposite
conclusion is also
possible, namely that
Israel wants
to pressure Russia not
to sell the S-300 and
stop its support to
Iran.
The Israeli website
DebkaFile, that is known
to publish mainly
conspiracy
theories, believes that
up to 1,000 Israeli
advisors are active in
planning
and implementing the
present Georgian
military action (8.8).
This
conclusion sounds
plausible.
Actually it has to be
taken into consideration
that also U.S. "consultants"
are helping the Georgian
army, as according to
Pentagon spokesman Bryan
Whitman, there are 127
U.S. military trainers
there, of whom about 35
are
civilian contractors.
In addition to the
trainers, 1,000 soldiers
from the Vicenza,
Italy-based
Southern European Task
Force (Airborne) and the
Kaiserslautern-based
21st
Theater Sustainment
Command, along with
Marine reservists with
the 3rd
Battalion, 25th Marines
out of Ohio, and the
state of Georgia¹s Army
National Guard¹s 1st
Battalion, 121st
Infantry participated in
"Immediate
Response 2008."
Operation Immediate
Response 2008 was held
from July 15-July 30,
with U.S.
personnel training about
600 troops at a former
Soviet base near Tbilisi,
the largest city and
capital of Georgia. The
goal of this operation
was
allegedly teaching
combat skills for
missions in Iraq. The
Marines left
already the country, but
not the airmen.
It is obvious that there
are numerous Israeli and
U.S. interests in
Georgia
and it is highly likely
that they are behind the
dangerous Georgian move.
Shraga Elam