An Argument against Ronen Bergman’s 'The Secret War with Iran' – 26

Iranian journalist and expert Abbas Salimi Namin has disproved the claims and opinions of Israeli analyst Ronen Bergman in the book ‘The Secret War with Iran’. ‘The Secret War with Iran’, written by renowned Zionist journalist Ronen Bergman, was published in 2008 by Simon & Schuster publishing company in the United States.

Born in 1972, Bergman is a graduate of Tel Aviv University in the Middle East political relations. He is a famous Zionist journalist and analyst in the military and security fields who has worked with Israeli newspapers ‘Haaretz’ and ‘Yedioth Ahronoth’, American dailies and weeklies such as ‘The New York Times’, ‘Newsweek’, ‘The Wall street Journal’, and British media groups including ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Times’.

Bergman has been interested in topics relating to the enemies of the Zionist regime (particularly Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinian resistance groups), as well as subjects on the history of the Israeli regime’s assassination operations, which are cited in his recent book ‘Rise and Kill First’.

In an interview with Persian TV channel ‘Iran International’, Bergman has pointed to the Iranian nuclear program and the issues surrounding it -particularly the Zionist regime’s secret attempts to halt the process of nuclear activities in Iran and assassinate Iranian scientists. He has also cited ex-CIA chief Michael Hayden as saying that the assassination of nuclear scientists is the best way to impede Iran’s growing process in that field, and has implicitly held Israel responsible for it.

In the book ‘The Secret War with Iran’, Bergman has written a history of encounters between Iran and the Zionist regime, while the bulk of the book relates to the Lebanese Hezbollah -Iran’s main ally in the battle against the Zionist regime since its formation until the 33-day War- focusing on the role of Martyr Imad Mughniyeh.

His book also includes sections about the final years of the Pahlavi regime and victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, short periods of the war imposed by the Ba’thist party of Iraq on Iran (focusing on the McFarlane affair), Iran’s role in supporting the Palestinian groups, and the Iranian nuclear program.

Bergman’s multiple undocumented and untrue comments as well as personal and purposeful analyses (with the main purpose of displaying Israel’s power, especially in a competition with the US) that have repeatedly come in his book make a critical review of the book necessary for Iranian readers.

Director of the Iran History Studies and Compilation Bureau, Abbas Salimi Namin, has written an extensive criticism in a book about ‘The Secret War with Iran’. Born in 1954, Salimi Namin is an experienced journalist and a renowned Iranian researcher in history and political sciences who has published many articles and books.

About ‘The Secret War with Iran’

Part 26:

Therefore, Palestine’s return to its own religious identity was a development which occupiers had long sought to prevent by spreading moral, economic and intellectual corruption. Bergman puts it as follows: “Asked why it was so difficult to recruit spies from the ranks of Hezbollah, Colonel Tidhar explained: “It’s easy to recruit a man without a national identity, and for many years there was no such identity in Lebanon, especially among the Shiites, who always felt rejected and screwed. Suddenly, Hezbollah provides them with a religious and communal home. Suddenly, they have a framework to identify with, to straighten their backs. For people like this it is much more difficult to betray their community.” (Ibid)

These passages are aimed at convincing the US. In an attempt to cover up their structural corruption, the Zionists acknowledge that the movement of return to Islam has upgraded the status and dignity of Muslims in Lebanon. The occupiers of Palestine had long meted out the worst and the most humiliating treatment to the Lebanese, particularly Shiites who constitute the most impoverished class in the country. Therefore, they imagined that with the occupation of Lebanon, their excessive demands would face no more resistance. However, Israeli intelligence services have openly acknowledged that Hezbollah, inspired by the principles of the Islamic Revolution of Iran, granted identity to a humiliated society, enabling it to frustrate Western Capitalist base in the region very shortly; a base endowed with the latest military equipment supplied by its Western allies and financed by billions of dollars annually. Of course with such confession, the relationship allegedly sketched in the Zionist propaganda between Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Iran is called into question.

In some chapters, Bergman even tries to present Hezbollah as an Iranian-founded entity executing orders of Iranian rulers, just like the relationship that existed between Israel and the Phalange movement. By full obedience to the occupiers of Palestine, the Phalange movement not only failed to win any position in Lebanon, but also it was hated by supporters of all religions, ethnic groups and political parties. But Hezbollah, as acknowledged by Bergman, has achieved a commendable identity and even granted Lebanon and its southern residents undeniable dignity and status. How can Hezbollah be considered an external factor in the following passage? “Hezbollah’s success enabled the Shiites to stand tall in Lebanon. To an oppressed and wretched majority, living in a divided country full of conflicts, Hezbollah gave its Shiite followers a reason to be proud, and a compass pointing to good and evil.” (Chapter 6, p. 112)

Before the reader reaches the conclusion about why such confessions are made, the author raises new accusations against Hezbollah, in full contrast with the realities on the ground. Allegations of Hezbollah’s involvement in drug trafficking or other criminal acts like selling stolen luxury cars may not be considered as too dirty in the eyes of those who excel in such corruption. But among Muslims, anyone involved in such criminal acts as drug dealing (banned by Sharia law) could never be a source of honor and would even be detested due to being unjust to humanity. Bergman follows a targeted propagandistic policy to separate these issues. From time immemorial, in the eyes of Jewish aristocracy and in the contemporary history in the eyes of Zionists, any criminal act with big yield is allowed. Except for this community knowing no boundaries with regard to fortune-making, all followers of divine religions reject any encroachment upon people’s property or harming of human life, let alone see it as a source of honor and identity.

The author mixes the truth with lies in a bid to make everyone believe such anti-Hezbollah allegations. “As Hezbollah’s domination of events in Lebanon grew, so did its involvement in the drug trade. There’s no indication that the militia’s men use drugs themselves, or benefit personally from the profits of the traffic. Hezbollah, like Hamas and other fundamentalist Islamic organizations, seems devoid of personal corruption. Most of its members are loyal to its principles and ideology, and few are out for material gain. But as an organization, Hezbollah apparently has no qualms about profiting from the drug business.” (Chapter 6, p. 114)

It is unlikely that members of a mischievous group steer clear of acts of mischief. However, Hezbollah members are said to be uncorrupted in a bid to make the accusations believable. In another passage, the author brings about unfounded accusations: “Hezbollah has also been involved in criminal activity apart from the drug business. It collects a tithe from Lebanese involved in the commerce in luxury automobiles and other goods stolen in Europe that are brought to the Bekaa or “resold” to their owners for large sums of money. There were several reports in Europe toward the end of the 1990s saying that Hezbollah members were collaborating with European and international criminals in the transfer of stolen cars to Lebanon by sea, en route to other Middle Eastern countries to be sold.” (Chapter 6, p. 115)

Then, he continues to raise other accusations without offering any source again. “In November 2001, the Spanish police reported the arrest of criminals connected with Hezbollah who had committed large-scale fraud connected with vacation apartments in the Caribbean, including forgery, extortion, money laundering, and other offenses.” (Ibid)

In order to understand the Zionists’ propagandistic contradictions, the important issue is to know that on the one hand they have no option but to acknowledge the undefeatable will of Hezbollah in order to justify their humiliating defeat from Hezbollah and convince their Western supporters with a view to blunting criticism of the self-declared “invincible propaganda base” and safeguarding billions of dollars in annual aid, while on the other hand they level unsubstantiated allegations against Hezbollah in a bid to demand more from pro-Zionist governments. The Zionists are describing Hezbollah as a body gaining billions of dollars in annual revenue from its mischievous acts in Lebanon and beyond. But this childish propagandistic behavior raised many questions: 1. How is it possible that a group is engaged in various criminal activities across the globe while its members are recognized as the purest in their own nation? 2. How is it possible for Hezbollah to conduct the most mischievous acts against humanity while its members have been trained to be examples of sacrifice? 3. Even if true, how come countries like the US and Britain – so hostile to Hezbollah – have so far failed to present minimum evidence? 4. Inside Lebanon, a pro-West and pro-Saudi current is watching to find a weakness within Hezbollah, but it never found any pretext to defame the resistance movement.

All lies attributed by Bergman to Hezbollah sound right with regard to the Zionists. That is why it was defeated shamefully by a bounded current in a small country. Drug trafficking and arms smuggling are issues which the author cannot ignore when it analyzes the weakness of the Zionist base.      

“After that, Shin Bet personnel began to accuse Unit 504 of filing false reports and of corrupt conduct. They claimed that 504 officers were smuggling electrical appliances and other goods from Lebanon into Israel. One Shin Bet operative told of being invited to a party given by a South Lebanese collaborator for his 504 controllers, and some local friends. It turned out to be a full-fledged orgy. Captain Jean-Pierre Elraz of Unit 504, for one, was later convicted of smuggling. He was also arrested on charges of murdering one of his agents, but not enough evidence was found to indict him…. In May 2001, he was charged with far more serious crimes: the murder of the security officer of a kibbutz, as well as the stealing of dozens of rifles and other materiel from the kibbutz armory and selling it to terrorist organizations that used it to kill Israelis. He was convicted and sentenced to life plus twenty years. Elraz is an extreme example of misbehavior among Military Intelligence officers, but according to Shin Bet’s accusations, he was not the only problem”. (Chapter 6, pp. 103-104)

Therefore, the Zionists’ intelligence octopus – Shin Bet, Mossad, Unit 504, military police intelligence, combat engineering unit Yahalom, police intelligence and domestic intelligence agency – had no problem with arrangement; rather it was corrupt and involved in various crimes. Even nomination of Uri Lubrani at the head of the intelligence service did not pay off. Lubrani, a top intelligence agent, had served as Israel’s ambassador to Iran for long years. He failed to engage this octopus, bogged down in dirt, effectively against a limited popular resistance determined to end the occupation.