No mercy or quarter was shown, and all of the radicals were killed. At the same moment, other teams hit the satellite operations all over Central and South America.
By the time all of the operations were completed, the Canadian and US government agencies responsible for drug interdiction were completely awed by the amounts of cash and drugs either seized or destroyed. The DEA confiscated $24 billion USD and another €12 billion. Over fifteen thousand tons of cocaine and five thousand tons of oxycontin and methamphetamine were also seized.
Notwithstanding the blistering editorials in The New York Times and the Guardian and the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC decrying the use of “disproportionate responses” and the “slaughter of unarmed combatants,” the majority of ordinary citizens in North America and Western Europe wholeheartedly endorsed the operations.
CHAPTER 71
Within many countries — France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands — the native citizens demanded that their governments take similar action on the radicals in their midst. In some countries, especially Sweden, some of the most violent radical quarters in cities such as Malmö were paid a visit by strange-speaking hard men from 9. After these visits, those inciting the murder of civilians were assassinated with no questions asked.
It did not take long for the world to appreciate the serious effort to end terror. The Left howled, calling for emergency debates and enquiries to any organization that would listen to them. Their narrative had been eliminated. No one was going to pay attention to their demands for political correctness and spurious rights. The only rights being addressed were those that allowed every country and its citizens to live free of terror.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah was totally defanged and removed from their control of the Lebanese government. Israel made peace overtures to the Lebanese and offered a formal peace treaty and cessation of the state of war that had existed since 1980. This was joyously accepted by the Lebanese people. The Hezbollah cadres and terrorists were all rounded up and placed in detention camps until they could be interviewed by the UN under Israeli supervision. The majority were found guilty of war crimes and exploitation of government resources. As much as there was a loud exclamation from the liberal Western media and countries like France and Sweden, many were sentenced to death.
The United States was ecstatic by the sudden success of this daring plan that 9, led by Macha, Eli, Ari, and Dov had created. For too long, political posturing and self-aggrandizement in Washington had held back the power of US agencies such as the DEA and CIA, enlisting the overwhelming power of the military to eliminate drug and terror organizations. The US State Department, historically anti-Israel, had no avenue to call for their usual punishment for disobeying Uncle Sam. Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the two leading Sunni Arab Muslim nations in the Middle East, celebrated the success of the Israeli mission. Not wanting to be left on the sidelines after Israel had seized the initiative, Russia and the United States together carpet-bombed the remnants of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The United States and NATO, with overwhelming support from the UN, went after the various strongholds of Al Qaeda in Yemen and Al Shabbab in Somalia, destroying their infrastructure and camps. It became very clear that without the backing and support of Iran, these entities were rendered ineffective.
One major revelation of Iran’s vicious involvement in the world was the Iranian Hezbollah roots and involvement in Venezuela, where a diabolical regime had taken over the country. The long-term objective there was to unleash Hezbollah and Iran-financed terrorists on the United States and Canada.
The Turkish strongman, Erdoğan, suddenly realized the fact that he wasn’t important anymore. After a brief period of bluster and empty threats about liberating Jerusalem from the Jews, he was surprised and chastened when an elite Israeli Special Forces team entered Turkey and rounded up some key members of his party, took them back to Israel, and gave them a tour of the “occupied cities” of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. This was of course broadly televised so that the Turkish people could see for themselves. It especially hurt that Israeli forces had easily entered Turkey and captured key leaders, and Erdoğan’s vaunted security forces had no clue until they learned of it at the same time as the rest of the world.
Erdoğan, understanding that he was now an emperor with no clothes, began to negotiate properly with the Kurds and Israel. A gentle but not so subtle message from the UN and the United States had him release all of the political prisoners he had rounded up several years ago. He was also forced into holding tamper-free elections, which was something not seen in Turkey since his rise to power. All of his grandiose plans for a new Turkish Empire with him as the new Sultan were dashed. Very quietly, the Israelis and Saudis delivered a message to him that any attempts to reestablish a Turkish Caliphate would be met with swift retribution.
Erdoğan also failed to take into account that the British had long memories and even more than a hundred years later still harboured bad feelings toward Turkey on several accounts; their defeat at Gallipoli still stung and the sacrifices made there and in Palestine during the First World War to bring down and defeat the Ottoman Empire were well remembered; the Armenian Genocide carried out by the Turks in the early years after WWI, which Erdoğan categorically denied, was a real source of outrage for the British, since it happened under their watch in Turkey. Further, the belligerence shown toward the British by Turkey in general was not appreciated. Unfortunately for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the British were only too happy to engage with the Israelis and Saudis in reinforcing the message.
The EU led by the French also attempted to salvage some pride out of the sudden change in dynamics and concluded that the best thing they could do was to close down all their NGOs in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. At last, the descendants of Monsieur Picot would disengage from the region.
One of the most inspiring results of the change in dynamics in the Middle East was the relationship between Egypt and Israel. For years there had been a cold peace between the two neighbours. Egypt’s economy was weak and without aid from abroad; the country could not sustain itself. Common Egyptians had long been led to believe that their problems were because the Jews controlled Palestine and the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The leadership of Israel and Egypt determined to break that destabilizing myth once and for all. The Egyptian government had finally eliminated the strength of the Muslim Brotherhood, who had for almost a century promulgated this myth. They had many times issued draconian orders to police and internal security forces that imams or sheikhs preaching vitriolic lies and sermons would be arrested, tried, and if found guilty, executed and their mosques destroyed.
Ever since Egypt and Israel joined forces to thwart Iranian expansion in Gaza and Sinai, which was using Hamas and Islamic Jihad as pseudonyms for the Muslim Brotherhood, both countries had implemented coordinated attacks on these terrorist organizations. Egypt’s secret services, Mossad, and 9 identified the terrorists and simply assassinated them.
The two governments also encouraged Egyptian and Israeli businesses to joint venture in establishing the types of high-tech agribusinesses that were so successful in Israel. This initiative would help thousands of small farmers develop and sell their crops into world markets, instead of living at a subsistence level for lack of investment. The intent was to show the ordinary Egyptian that Jews were their friends and allies, not a mortal enemy. The Egyptian military had already experienced this since the two countries allied to fight against Hamas and ISIS in the Sinai. With Israel’s assistance, Egypt had been able to finally destroy the two terrorist entities, but not without terrible losses to their armed forces. The returning soldiers spoke highly of the cooperation and resolved to help their Jewish neighbour.
Since the downfall of the Kim regime, China had been imposing a rule of law on North Korea. Recognizing that the eyes of the world were watching, the Chinese government cleverly enlisted aid from Australia, Canada, and Israel to develop the country’s agriculture. At the same time, they
recognized that the North Korean population had been programmed to believe Americans were the worst people on earth, so they requested the United States to keep a very low profile in the initial rebuilding of the country.
The Koreans were equally wary of the Chinese. Beijing recalled the aftermath of the Hiroshima atomic bombing at the end of World War II. The first Allied troops into Hiroshima were the Australians, who had brought immediate aid and succour to the civilian population. They were regarded as being neutral and less feared than the Americans. The Chinese also enlisted help from the Australians in establishing health clinics and transportation infrastructure in the early days of the transition.
CHAPTER 72
9 Headquarters, Tel Aviv, March the following year
Macha sat in his office and reflected on the events of the past few months. He was waiting for Ari and Dov to meet with him, to sign off on their successful mission. As with all 9 operations, there would be no singular recognition outside 9 for their success. As far as Israelis and the world knew, Israel had launched preemptive strikes on Iranian and North Korean facilities to end the nuclear threat as they had done against Iraq and Syria in years past. The fact that their tiny country had eliminated one of the greatest threats to world peace with a series of daring and stunning raids was beside the point. The usual cast of spin-masters on the BBC, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC all jockeyed for interviews with Israeli ministers and military spokespeople. All to no avail. 9 operations did not exist. A blanket of silence settled over the nation beyond a general celebration that the Iranian and North Korean nuclear threats were over.
CNN in particular spent days trying to ferret out information. Their news anchors tried valiantly to put a US flavour on the story because their friends in the White House looked so inadequate when the news first broke. They were unsuccessful.
Dov and Ari arrived separately and were welcomed into Macha’s office. Eli Naftalin joined them shortly after. They shared coffee, brioche, and an assortment of fruit as they discussed and reviewed the mission. Soon they were joined by Sarah, Colonel Lieberman, Captain Einhorn, and Major Avigold.
They were elated by their success, but also terribly saddened by the loss of Alli Landa. They had all attended the military funeral accorded to her and shared the sorrow of loss equally with her family. Alli’s husband, parents, grandparents, and two small children had all been at the graveside. The grief etched in their faces was something Ari and Sarah would never forget.
Alli’s bravery under fire was exemplary, but all the words and eulogies would not replace a lost mother, wife, daughter, and granddaughter. As if to add to Ari’s despondency, it turned out that Alli’s grandparents had arrived in Israel after the Shoah in the same group as his. Nothing would ever erase the memories of the grief at Alli’s funeral. It confirmed in his mind that as long as terror was on the march, wherever in the world, he would continue in the services of 9, prepared to carry out orders as designated by Macha.
After the news of the operation’s success had become public knowledge, Prime Minister Gershon Mendelsohn visited the offices of 9 to congratulate Macha and his team. At first, Macha was apprehensive about the visit because of his concern that the media would accidently be able to question where the PM was going and what he was doing. Understanding this, the prime minister was driven from his office to the offices of Defense Minister Melnik, ostensibly for lunch. After briefly meeting with Melnik, he joined a group of lower-level assistants leaving the offices and took a taxi driven by a 9 operator to the 9 building, completely unobserved. There, seated in the simple conference room, Macha introduced all of his team that the PM had not previously met. Looking out from his hooded eyes, the PM addressed Dov Horowitz, Eli Naftalin, and Ari Lazarus. “You must realize that in my wildest dreams I never expected you to succeed so brilliantly. A century from now, military colleges will study your operations and refer to them as the benchmark for boldness, decisiveness, and courage.”
CHAPTER 73
Washington DC, later that year
Prime Minister Mendelsohn was just reelected in a landslide victory. He was making an obligatory trip to the United States, to repair his testy relationship with the US president. The president was nearing the end of his second term and another US election was soon to be held. Gershon Mendelsohn wanted to set the record straight with the president face-to-face. His closest advisers had begged him not to, as one phrased it, poke the bear.
Not one to back down from a confrontation, especially when he knew in his heart of hearts that he had right on his side, Prime Minister Mendelsohn met with the US president one on one in the Oval Office.
The PM quickly set aside pleasantries and faced the president directly. “Mr. President, why did you ever believe we would allow those bastards in Iran to even get close to eliminating us from the face of the earth? You sold us down the river at the UN and the EU; you concluded that ridiculous treaty with them; you gave them billions in gold and cash, which they used to fund Hezbollah and Hamas to attack us. You allowed those Iranian thugs to take over Syria and threaten our very existence. I am here today to ask for… no, to demand an answer.”
The president was rocked back in his chair opposite PM Mendelsohn. No one had ever sat in his office and been so abrasive.
Barely containing his anger, he replied, “My dear Gershon, you wouldn’t understand…”
“Don’t you dare dear Gershon me! You have had an obvious anti-Israel perspective ever since you took office. You and that pissant of a secretary of state backstabbed us at every opportunity…”
“I am the President of the United States…!”
“You know I couldn’t give a shit about who you are! To me you are a double-dealing anti-Semite and thank God you will be out of office soon enough! I needed to tell you this to your face and to let you know that anyone who incites the murder of Jews or engages in terrorism will get the same ticket to the seventy-two virgins that Ali Muhammad ibn Saya received last month.”
On that note, PM Mendelsohn stood and bid the president a good morning, then let himself out of the Oval Office.
EPILOGUE
Paris, one year later
Ari, Leah, and Esther strolled through the Tuileries gardens admiring the magnificent architecture of the Louvre and the Quai d′Orsay. Leah was happy to have her husband back, unencumbered by the security concerns of their beloved Israel, at least for the moment.
Arm in arm with Ari, she asked him, “Isn’t Paris the most beautiful city you have ever been in?”
“Leah, my love, yes Paris is beautiful, but it will never be as beautiful for me as Jerusalem. Paris has magnificent galleries and palaces and wide boulevards, and of course the fine French cuisine, but there are too many terrible ghosts surrounding Paris, particularly for the Jewish people.”
Esther chimed in and asked Ari for an explanation. “What do you mean by ghosts, Abba?”
“Dear daughter, have you heard of the Dreyfus affair? It started in 1894 and it would go on until 1906. The French government and military tried a Jewish artillery officer, Captain Alfred Dreyfus, for treason, and he was imprisoned for life. The charges were bogus and eventually he was exonerated, but the blatant anti-Semitism always below the surface in France was there for the world to see. Sweetheart, the French have never been our friends politically, although I have some very fine French business associates. As a matter of fact, some of them are meeting us for lunch tomorrow. My associate, Laurent Tremblay, is as fine a man as any and we had many good times at McGill when we studied there. Over the years since then, he and I have concluded some very, very successful deals.”
Ari continued, “Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies of the Second World War was when the Parisian Gendarmes rounded up 13,000 Jews living in Paris in July 1942 and held them in horrendous conditions for several days in the Vel′ D′Hiv cycling stadium. They were held under a blazing hot sun in confined spaces with little or no food and water, with no toilet or bathing facilities, before being driven off
to the concentration camps of Drancy, and then they were turned over to the Gestapo and SS for transport to Auschwitz.”
“It was only in 1996 that President Jacques Chirac of France fully apologized to the Jewish communities of France for the French government’s involvement in the deaths of over 76,000 French and foreign Jews sent to the death camps. Even during our little countries’ wars, we could never trust the French. They were with us at Suez in 1956 because it suited their need for oil. Later, to curry favour with the Arabs, they denied us planes and armaments we had already contracted and paid for.
“In the Yom Kippur War in 1973, in which your Zaide Eli fought so bravely on the Golan, they would not let the US Air Force fly over French territory to resupply us. In one high-powered diplomatic conference discussing Israel and the Palestinian Intifadas, a senior French diplomat said, ‘All the current troubles in the world are because of that shitty little country Israel.’ Yes! my dear daughter and wife, Paris is a city of beauty, but there is too much unpleasant history for me here, both modern and ancient.”
The three Israeli tourists strolled on in contemplative silence for several minutes. Finally, Esther broke the silence. “Abba, why have people all over the world, for centuries hated us? Why do they want to destroy us?” She was visibly distraught, with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Listen, my darling, there has been a worldwide hatred of Jews for over two thousand years,” Leah explained.
The End of Terror Page 23
