Israel appears intent on maintaining its image as a pariah state that flouts international law in carrying out political assassinations using what many Israelis now see as a revived Mossad -- an intelligence agency that provides the same type of national self-esteem for Israelis as the Waffen SS did for German Nazis.
Israel is now suspected to using two Israel Defense Force (IDF) Gulfstream V intelligence aircraft in the skies over Budapest to assassinate Bassam Trache, a Hungarian-Syrian citizen. Trache was shot in his car by a single assassin on foot while he was stopped at a traffic light in the suburbs of Budapest. Trache's assassin, who has not been identified, also removed a briefcase from his car. The United States and the rest of NATO failed to respond to the Israeli aggression by using the collective defense clause that states that and attack on one NATO nation -- in this case, Hungary, is an attack against every NATO country. In fact, there is now evidence that three NATO nations -- Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania conspired with the Israelis in allowing the IDF planes to overfly their territories to complete their deadly mission in Budapest. The Turkish General Staff and Air Force Command admitted that it had granted "conditional" overflight rights to the Israelis. The conditions stated by the air force were that the aircraft had to stay within set air corridors, could not refuel in mid-air, and not be "equipped with electronic apparatuses intended for photography, exploration and intelligence."
The Israeli aggression against Hungary follows the Mossad's assassination in a Dubai hotel of Hamas official Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. The assassins used cloned passports from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, and Australia to enter the United Arab Emirates. The actions resulted in Britain expelling from the Israeli embassy in London the Mossad station chief and Dubai restricting the entry of Israelis into the city-state.
The Israeli incursion into Hungarian airspace took place on March 17 and Hungary's security services claimed they were not informed that the planes were flying into Hungary. The political toll in Hungary over the incident has already resulted in the suspension of the chief of the air transport division of Hungary's National Transport Authority (NKH) and members of his staff. Hungarian Defense Minister Imre Szekeres countered the Hungarian security services by saying the Defense Ministry had previously been informed of the Israeli aircraft "training exercise" over Budapest. However, Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai appeared to have been caught surprise by the Israeli action and he ordered a full investigation.
Israeli ambassador to Budapest Aliza Bin-Noun denied the Israeli planes conducted an intelligence mission even though Israel Radio reported the planes were equipped with the IDF's most sophisticated intelligence systems. After the Dubai incident and Israel's surprise announcement of further settlements building in east Jerusalem during Vice President Joe Biden's visit, a number of governments are inclined to disregard Israeli diplomatic statements as lies and distortions.
There were also reports that Hungary's Defense Ministry had not been informed of the Israeli aircraft mission. Defense Ministry spokesman Istvan Bocskai denied his ministry had been informed about the flights while Szekeres said the Israeli flights had been cleared with NATO and the European civil aviation administration, EUROCONTROL.
According to the4 Hungarian MTI news agency, Peter Honig, the Transport Minister, said the Israeli aircraft flight was not in full compliance with Hungarian law, while Gyorgy Keleti, a Socialist MP, said the planes represented a "national security risk" to Hungary.
Bajnai, a Socialist, faces a parliamentary election on April 11 and Jewish propaganda outlets in Israel and Hungary suggested that the opposition conservative Fidesz Party was hyping the Israeli aircraft incident to cater to anti-Semitic voters. However, polls conducted before the Israeli action showed Fidesz would trounce the Socialists without any grandstanding to anti-Semitic voters.
The overflight of several eastern European countries by two Israeli F-16s on the same day the Gulfstream Vs flew over Budapest was also reported by some eastern European media outlets.
On March 24, the Hungarian newspaper Nepszabadsag reported in an editorial that the Israeli aircraft were merely flying missions to collect radar signature data on the Russian-supplied advanced radar system at Slovak Nyitra in Slovakia and other Russian-manufactured radar systems used in Bulgaria and Romania. The paper, which generally leans to a pro-George Soros and Zionist line, suggested that the Israelis were collecting radar electronic signature data on the systems because they are also used by Iran. The editorial also suggested that Israel's operation was carried out with the knowledge of the United States.
