Hager compares the Urim base's capabilities to those of the U.S. National Security Agency, Britain's Government Communications Headquarters and a similar organization in France. "However, there is one difference," he says at the end of the report. While those units were uncovered long ago, "the unit at Urim remained unknown until this report."
I dunno. On the one hand, it's nice to know we're the biggest and bestest. On the other hand, the base is clearly visible not only from the public road that runs along its perimeter, but for miles away. When you build very large radar domes and receivers on flat terrain, they do tend to be rather obvious; it's also rather hard to pretend they're just the new-fangled hi-tech whizz-bang dairy farm of the kibbutz next door. Even tomato-packing sheds don't really look like that. And you know what? I just checked in Google Earth. Lo and behold: you can see the contraptions there, too.
Yaacov - you don't get ;-)
ReplyDeletewhat you see on Google Earth is just a Potemkin-style contraption - the real thing is safely hidden away in Haaretz basement (with Blau and Kam in charge?)
Silke
I usually pretend to be an austrarlian when our useless idiots escape from their cage & embarass my good country, but it is interesting that Nicky Hagar found a willing Eurpepan audience for his tired freakshow. He's been annoying us for years, Hagar is of the "Uncle Sam is watching us all" conspiracy nutter variety and few of us here pay much heed to him. The question of why a French 'paper would take notice of an insignificant nobody like Hagar has only one answer really. Israel.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting because he's another of the leftist has-beens who has hit middle age, lost his mana, and picked up on the anti-Israel bandwagon as a convenient path to resurrecting some sort of stature among his peers. Print something about Israel and you're bound to get noticed. Seems to be a trend on the far left doesn't it, says a lot about their true character.
Gavin
I was thinking that same thing when I read the ending to the article. I have seen those dish array numerous times while in the area, and outside of the trees on the side of the road, it is pretty hard to miss them. I am sure that numerous blogs will have headlines similar to "Massive Israeli Spying Operation Uncovered."
ReplyDeleteAnonymous and Gavin: totally agree! I think I saw Uri Blau marching with the Al Qods bunch,yesterday in Park Lane. He's grown a straggly little beard!
ReplyDeletehttp://ima-vox.blogspot.com/2010/09/english-defence-league-targets-al-quds.html
What's with the left? The left always talks about fairness and equality, but that said, why's the left only expose Israeli and American intel sites and military units? Why don't leftist 'reporters' go and expose some secret chicom spook site such as the replacements for Lourdes which the soviets vacated in Cuba?
ReplyDeleteNo matter. Makes for good reading just as did leftist 'exposes' in Ramparts Magazine in 1972, which dealt with the NSA. There's also a great 'expose' book, "Men Who Play God", which tells us all about the Fail Safe command & control systems involved in launching nuclear missiles.
Thank you leftists, though your cause is dreadful, we do appreciate your exposes. Now, how 'bout some scintillating dope on that new jihado-commie base that showed up on Google earth? Oh, you haven't heard of it?
Paul Vincent Zecchino
Manasoviet Key, Florida
05 September, 2010
For reasons I have never understood,there seem to be a lot of Kiwis on the other side of the world obsessed with Israel, when you might think they would focus on matters closer to home - and there's not really much that is close to home there. Ex-PM Helen Clark seems to have had a lot to say about Israel, for example, not much of it positive.
ReplyDelete"The author of the article, Nick Hager, is a New Zealand investigative reporter specializing in intelligence and technology related stories involving signals intelligence. In 1996 he wrote a book on the role of New Zealand in international intelligence gathering, and discussed cooperation between New Zealand, the U.S., Britain, Australia and Canada. "
New Zealand's role in international intelligence gathering?
He must be joking.
Reminds me of the "secret" missile silos in my town that literally everyone who lives here knows about. (Our school mascot? The Rockets. Seriously.)
ReplyDeleteIt's no great mystery AKUS. Helen Clarke as PM disregarded security agreements with our traditional allies and plumped for the UN and International law as the new world order that was going to protect us all. Israel is the natural enemy of people like Clarke, it didn't help that Israel made such a hash of trying to steal Kiwi passports under her watch either.
ReplyDeleteThen there's the anti-apartheid movement, NZ had one of the biggest contingents of that mob and they'e taken up the Palestinians as the new cause celebre. Clarke was in that camp. As I said prior, the old activists are hitting middle age & want to relive the glory days of basking in the glow of warmth & fuzziness that doing a good deed brings. They're well out of their depth but no-one can ever tell them anything. Once a pillock... always a pillock.
Then there's the smaller group who understand the causal effect of anti-Israel = anti=Zionism = anti-semticism. We have to invest time we'd rather spend on other things keeping up to date with the facts so we can confront the growing anti- Jewish sentiment here. It's not our fight & frankly I'd be very happy if Israel never made the news here again. Unlike the uncivilised inbreds of Europe Kiwis owe Jews nothing, this country has a clean conscience where the Jews are concerned.
Gavin
I agree, Gavin. Alas, I fear we're going to stay in the news for a bit yet.
ReplyDelete