Israel’s former minister of military affairs Moshe Ya’alon has admitted to a tacit alliance with Daesh, saying the Takfiri group had "immediately apologized" to Tel Aviv after firing "once" into Israel.
International media outlets have already reported extensively on Israeli commandos' missions inside Syria to rescue wounded militants but a senior regime official's acknowledgement of a link with Daesh is unprecedented.
Ya'alon's explosive revelation came during an interview reported Saturday on Israeli Channel 10’s website, Israeli content portal Mako, which acts as a gateway to Israeli media outlets and websites.
Mako also incorporated footage of the event in the northern Israel city of Afula, during which the former military affairs chief was seen describing an occasion in which Syria-based Daesh terrorists had fired into Golan Heights.
Golan is a Syrian territory, which Tel Aviv has been occupying since 1967 and lays claim on it as its own property. Save some rare alleged rocket attacks from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, for which Daesh has reportedly claimed responsibility and have not resulted in any human injury or losses, the group has generally refused to target either Israel or the territories under its occupation.
However, Ya’alon said after opening fire on Golan, Daesh served Tel Aviv with a quick apology, pointing to the alliance between the two, and also suggesting that the group had agreed not to target Israeli interests in line with the rapport.
“On most occasions, firing comes from regions under the control of the (Syrian) regime. But once the firing came from ISIS (Daesh) positions–and it immediately apologized,” he said.
Israeli media outlets, meanwhile, refused to report on the Daesh strike, probably because of either a media blackout or military censorship, reported Tikun Olam, a Seattle-based liberal blog dedicated to outing “the excesses of the Israeli national security state," which also reported Ya’alon’s remarks.
“In the midst of complaining about the Islamist threat to Israel and the world, Bibi (Benjamin) Netanyahu (Israel’s prime minister) conveniently forgets that his own country enjoys a tacit alliance with ISIS in Syria,” said New York-born Dr. Richard Silverstein, who runs the blog. “It is an alliance of convenience to be sure,” he added.
According to him, Ya’alon has been speaking more candidly about the inner workings of the regime since falling out with Netanyahu and being replaced by successor Avigdor Lieberman.
“But he did reveal how closely tied Israel is to ISIS in Syria,” wrote the blogger, who has also documented Israeli collaboration with al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda’s Syria branch, which has rebranded itself.
In June 2015, the blog published a story reporting on Israel’s interventions in the foreign-backed militancy in Syria in favor of anti-Damascus militants.
It said Tel Aviv and al-Nusra had forged an alliance, featuring the former’s building camps for terrorists and their families in Israel-held territory, holding regular meetings with terrorist commanders, and providing military and other critical supplies to them.
The report incorporated a video showing Israel’s provision of medical assistance to the terrorists who had been wounded in Syria.
It also cited an incident in which locals had intercepted one Israeli ambulance carrying wounded two Takfiris, forcing the medics to flea and beating up one of the terrorists to death. The other was also seriously injured before Israeli forces intervened to save him.
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