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Another Israeli False Flag? - by Stephen Lendman
Mossad and Shin Bet (Israel's Security Agency) have long, odious histories of committing them. More on that below.
At issue now is whether the August 18 bus and other attacks inside Israel were committed by external elements or Israel, and if so, why?
Also at issue always is cui bono? In fact, Hamas and various Palestinian resistance groups have nothing to gain. Clearly Israel benefits greatly at least two ways:
(1) The upcoming September UN General Assembly vote on Palestinian self-determination Israel very much wants to derail.
(2) Weeks of nationwide internal social justice protests Netanyahu also wants to diffuse and end.
Both are compelling reasons for employing tried and true tactics - change the subject by diverting public attention.
In this case, scaring people enough to put safety above pocket book issues, as well as getting UN member states perhaps to rethink the wisdom of supporting Palestinian sovereignty at this time, with Israel allegedly under attack.
Whether it works will be known when the UN General Assembly meets in September. What's clear is that last March, Israel informed all Security Council members and prominent EU countries that if Palestinian self-determination efforts within 1967 borders persisted, unilateral Israeli steps would follow, implying harsh ones.
In addition, diffusing social justice protests temporarily worked based on an August 18 Reuters report, saying:
Campaigners "called off planned weekend demonstrations against the high cost of living after a series of terror attacks in the south left seven people dead."
Of concern is how to reignite protest energy after it wanes, even for a short time. Resumption often lacks initial levels of passion, mass support, and commitment to stay the course, especially when people have other daily priorities, besides worrying whether their country is under attack.
Add it up and it suggests classic false flag reasons, perhaps with planned follow-up attacks for reinforcement. They're likely if Israel also has another objective in mind - using the attacks as pretext for Cast Lead II.
Israel blamed the Gaza-based Popular Resistance Committees (PRC - a coalition of resistance factions) for launching internal attacks.
PRC spokesman Abu Mujahid told AFP:
"We salute (the operation) and we are proud of it, but we do not claim it. The occupation wants to pin (it) on us in order to escape its own internal problems."
