by Nathan Ronen
As a seasoned intelligence operative, he already felt that his calls were being marginalized and screened. Geula Mordoch, the office manager, promised he would be called back immediately since the prime minister was busy, but no one got back to him. Arik had yet to take part in a war of this type. He was a rookie in a world of politicians and their considerations in their war for survival. He left WhatsApp and text messages for Military Secretary Brig-Gen Ami Oren, but these were ignored.
Arik knew the mystery would be solved soon and turned on Network B, one of Israel’s official state radio stations. The four o’clock newscast opened with the breaking news that Raya Ron, General Manager of the Office of Intelligence, Strategy and Regional Cooperation, had been appointed as the next director of the Mossad, “based on the minister of defense’s recommendation.” According to the radio newscast, her appointment had been submitted to the Security Cabinet and approved by a majority vote.
No one mentioned his candidacy, or the agreement documented in writing by the military secretary in the prime minister’s car.
At midnight, Arik received a succinct WhatsApp message from Ami Oren: “Sorry for what you’ve been through. Apologize for not getting back to you. I was almost fired because of you. I’m ashamed.”
Arik called him and immediately heard him whispering, “This happened despite my objections. It was the prime minister’s wife who convinced her husband Ehud Tzur that Raya Ron was the better candidate, since she would be as loyal to the two of them as a poodle and wouldn’t confront him with any objections or surprises. The prime minister’s wife also convinced him it would benefit his reputation to present the appointment as an expression of his feminist views regarding promoting women to prominent roles in his government. I know the prime minister’s wife and her hangers-on badmouthed you to the prime minister, saying you were a type of Cornfield, a stubborn, opinionated man who isn’t reliable.”
“So, what was that crap on the radio, that that woman was appointed at the recommendation of the minister of defense?”
“That was just a trial balloon,” Oren explained. “The prime minister didn’t want to reveal the fact that his wife, who was never elected to any public position, constantly interferes with his work and appointment considerations as a personal advisor. The minister of defense was also surprised to have his name dragged into the press release for no reason.
“I’m sure you intend to submit your resignation tomorrow morning, right?” the military secretary continued, empathetic. “I can’t blame you. This is a blatant stab in the back.”
Arik surprised himself when he heard his own voice declaring, “Not exactly. I’m going to stay on in order to protect the Office from further politicization. I’m sure you remember the appointment of the previous Mossad director, that pilot who was a friend of Tzur’s. The only reason for his appointment was personal loyalty and not ability or talent. Tell Ehud Tzur to start watching his back, and to start watching out for me.”
When the conversation ended, Arik went out to the balcony. He was upset. The airbase’s spotlights were illuminating the coastline. He looked at the waves breaking over the slopes of the sandstone hills, sculpting them into unique shapes. Confusing thoughts ran through his mind. Should he consult Eva about his future? In light of the changed circumstances, was it important for him to have her join him in Israel? Perhaps he now needed time for himself? And would it be better if she stayed home in Heidelberg until she recovered completely?
Mostly, however, he felt the rage bubbling up within him. It’s said that revenge is best served cold. But Arik felt that he preferred to serve it boiling hot.
He returned to the kitchen, where he took a cold bottle of beer from the fridge and sat down in his wicker rocking chair in the balcony overlooking the sea. Arik breathed in a lungful of the moist sea air coming in with the western breeze and tried to calm himself down.
Never treat a professional topic as a personal topic, he reminded himself, recalling the mantra he had offered to the cadets in the intelligence operative course at the Isser Harel College of Intelligence Studies. He repeated the sentence in his mind again and again until he almost believed in it. But only almost.
From the depths of his consciousness, something his father used to say to him floated up: “Sometimes, you find yourself in the middle of nowhere; and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere, you suddenly find yourself. Give it a chance and go with the flow. No one knows what the day will bring.”
He wondered what his mother would have said about all of it. She probably would have enfolded him in one of her consoling hugs and repeated, in Yiddish, the immortal saying, “When God closes a door to one possibility, He opens a window to another possibility.” He couldn’t remember how to say it in her language.
He tried to think what Eva would say to him at that moment, and remembered a sentence that his physician, Dr. Alice Ben-David, head of the hematological-oncological center at Sheba Hospital, had said to him: “Life isn’t measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.”
Chapter 27
Revolutionary Guard Headquarters, Teheran
Several days after the Israeli prime minister’s press conference, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the former commander of the Revolutionary Guard’s ground forces, assumed the role of commander-in-chief of the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution, commonly referred to as “Pasdaran.” He was promoted to the rank of field marshal.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Revolutionary Guard in current-day Iran. It is the largest financial concern in the country. The National Iranian Oil Company is an “agency” of the Revolutionary Guard, which is also involved in various infrastructures and other projects and smuggles assorted merchandise into Iran, including alcohol, officially prohibited in the Islamic Republic, in order to bypass the financial sanctions applied to the country. Paradoxically, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is also the police force running the airports, as well as the thieves smuggling in contraband.
Jafari, displaying his new ranks, entered Pasadran HQ to the ceremonious tune of the military orchestra’s trumpets. The honor guard stood at attention. He passed between the rows of the honor guard, and the force commander greeted him by saluting him with his scimitar. The honor guard was comprised of a variety of Revolutionary Guard soldiers in their assorted uniforms and colors.
The soldiers of the prestigious Quds Force, in their striped uniform, berets, and white gloves rhythmically called out the unit’s motto, taken from the Quran: “Prepare against them whatever you are able of power.” The military orchestra played patriotic marches. The green flags of Islam, combined with the flags of the Islamic Republic of Iran, waved proudly everywhere. Everything looked truly festive.
In the main conference room, all Pasadran force commanders were already waiting, eager and excited for their first staff meeting with their new commander. He was a hero of the Iran-Iraq war, which had ended in 1988, a war that had lasted eight years without resulting in any territorial gains for either country, while still costing the lives of approximately a million soldiers and civilians on both sides. Jafari’s charisma was not merely a result of his battle experience but stemmed from the fact that under Iran’s leadership hierarchy, he was directly subordinate to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, from whom he garnered his power.
Ali Jafari sipped from the strong tea served to him in a delicate glass cup shaped like a teardrop and said, “My brothers, I have been to see the Supreme Leader this morning. He asked me to personally tell you that the Zionists have crossed the line. Lately, they have increased their attacks on us on all fronts, all supported by the Great Satan, America. As you know, ‘exporting’ the Islamic revolution was the personal vision of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, may Allah rest his soul and his righteous memory live on, and is a basic principle of the Iranian revolution since its founding.”
All o
f the force commanders nodded as one.
“My brothers, we must provide an appropriate response to the campaign being waged against us, and, practically speaking, we cannot just continue with business as usual without reacting to the Zionist prime minister’s boast regarding the theft of our uranium in Chad and their Mossad’s infiltration of our nuclear archive here at home in Teheran. We must avenge the killing of our Iranian nuclear scientists in their homes in Iran, in blatant violation of our sovereignty. The Zionists boast that they have damaged the centrifuges in our nuclear program by smuggling in a computer ‘worm’ that caused severe damage. The Zionists have established an aerial base in Azerbaijan on our northern border, as well as a surveillance station of their intelligence services. It’s time we pay them back, fair and square, and establish our bases in the Golan Heights, on their border. We must transition from restraint to revenge. I don’t know how many of you know that I’m a great admirer of military history books. I have particular admiration for Winston Churchill, who gave an unforgettable speech in June 1940. And just as Churchill promised his people to strike at the Nazi enemy by land, by sea, and by air, and to never surrender, so we must teach the Jews a lesson and strike them down everywhere.”
He assessed the impact of his speech in the attendees’ eyes, then continued. “I’m asking you to present me with suggestions intended to deter Israel from taking further action, making it clear to the Zionist dogs what Iranian reactive capability is. Bring me creative, special ideas. Think outside the box.” He banged his large hand angrily against the podium and looked around, assessing the impression his words had created. His audience was gazing at him in admiration.
Jafari poured himself another large cup of tea, drinking it avidly and noisily in order to convey the extent of the pleasure he took from it.
“Let’s start with the sea,” the Iranian chief of staff said, turning to Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, commander of the Revolutionary Guard Navy.
Admiral Sayyari rose from his seat, assessed the attendees with his eyes, and said, “I’m pleased to inform you that our offensive and defensive naval capabilities have matured. We now possess capabilities we did not have in the past. For your information, only last week, we sent out a weapons ship carrying munitions, explosives, and military equipment to the Houthi Shiite rebels30 in Yemen. We are present everywhere where we can strike down the Zionist entity or Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf countries, the emissaries of the Great Satan America. Houthi rebel forces have already taken over the coastal areas near the Bab-el-Mandab Strait, including taking over the islands of Perim and Hanish in the Red Sea, at the entrance to the Gulf of Suez. This provides us with strategic leverage, allowing us to threaten the main water strait through which most tankers carrying Saudi oil and refined oil products pass through to Europe via the Suez Canal. We can also threaten the Egyptian economy and their sea lane to the Suez Canal if they give us any trouble with the smuggling routes to the Sinai Peninsula.”
A smile of satisfaction surfaced upon his face.
“During the last few months, a spy vessel and commando combat ship we’ve sent to the Red Sea has been a constant presence there. The ship, named Saviz, is camouflaged as an ordinary merchant ship, equipped with innocuous-looking shipping containers intended to conceal its designation and activity. Its paperwork lists it as belonging to the Iranian shipping company IRISL. It cruises the Red Sea, opposite the coasts of Eritrea and Yemen, near the Dahlak Archipelago. The ship is a threat to the activity of Saudi, American, and Egyptian forces in the Red Sea sector, particularly in regard to the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, which is an Achilles’ heel and a weak point with regard to oil deliveries from neighboring countries.
“The ship is operated by our navy’s officers and sailors, belonging to the Revolutionary Guard and Quds Force. It’s a command and control ship, commanding the activity of our naval forces in the area as well as three additional Iranian vessels regularly active in the area.
“I can tell you in confidence that the vessel also serves as a floating base of operations for collecting naval data and intelligence, which allows the Houthi tribes in Yemen to attack American and Saudi vessels that are active on the scene. On the ship’s deck, inside the shipping containers, we’ve concealed speedboats or miniature submarines, which allow us to carry out commando activity.
“The Red Sea sector is teeming with the activity of Israeli merchant ships, and occasionally Israeli Navy submarines and warships sail through as well. Saviz can identify the Israeli vessels and their activity, with an emphasis on their navy. Such identification can give us an advantage when attacking Israeli vessels if the situation in the region escalates.”
The navy commander paused briefly, his voice rising dramatically as he added, “My dear commander and brothers, in the name of Allah the Great, for your ears only, my dear brothers, recently, we have founded a private shipping company in Turkey sailing the flag of Panama, and we have five leased ships staffed with international crews. These ships are carrying Fajr missiles or M302 missiles with a range of 200 kilometers (125 miles). They depart from our port at Bandar Abbas in the Strait of Hormuz, through the Gulf of Aden to Port Sudan. From there, the missiles are smuggled in trucks through our Bedouin friends in the Sinai Peninsula into the hands of Hamas via tunnels. Our Sinai Bedouin friends make a nice profit, and we pay them with fake designer brands, drugs, and superdollars: high-level counterfeit currency.”
“You’ve done good work,” Jafri complimented him.
General Qasem Soleimani, commander of Quds Force, who was in charge of exporting the revolution abroad, took the stage. “My brother, master, and commander, congratulations on your appointment to this senior position. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not one to talk circuitously. I don’t beat around the bush. I prefer direct, blunt conversation. Unfortunately, we don’t have military ground forces that can directly take on the Zionist arrogance, nor do we have a shared border. Therefore, we must incorporate what I call the Eastern Shiite Crescent. We will use the proxy of Chechen, Afghani, and Iraqi Shiite Arab brigades, Pashtun warriors from Pakistan, and Shiite Taliban fighters, who, in return for money and with the help of the extensive battle experience they’ve accumulated in Afghanistan, will come fight the Israelis, opening another front in the Golan Heights, Israel’s northern front. They have nothing to do in their own country, and they’re starving to death. We’ve talked to the Syrian president, who’s willing to let them settle in the Golan Heights with their families. This is a force of a hundred thousand, which could also overturn the demographic problem in Syria and help the Syrian president, a member of the Alawi sect, which is a minority in its country.”
Soleimani walked over to the large map of the Middle East that hung on the wall, picked up a laser pointer, and directed a red dot at the Golan Heights, on the border between Israel and Syria.
“It’s time to deploy the Shiite Crescent,” he continued. “We’re already set up in Yemen. The Shiite Houthi rebels already control the capital city of Sanaa. We have de facto control of crumbling Iraq and constantly attack the Americans there. We’ve got good control of Lebanon through Hezbollah, and we’ve now come across the opportunity to take advantage of the vacuum created by the civil war in Syria and the distressed Syrian president’s need for military assistance, to gain a foothold opposite the Zionist enemy on his border, rather than at a distance of nearly 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles). Both the Iraqis and the Syrians need our help to eliminate ISIS in the border areas between them, and therefore, they’ll be in our debt.
“In this manner, we’ll intimidate the Zionists and create a pincer-maneuver threat upon them through Hamas in the south on the border with Egypt, as well as from the north through Hezbollah in Lebanon. We’ll now discreetly deploy our militia soldiers in the Golan Heights; some of them will blend in as soldiers in the Syrian Army’s territorial brigades, providing Israel with no provocation to attack them. Such intimidation creates a ti
e-breaker strategic threat that I believe will deter the Zionists from any thoughts of attacking our beloved homeland.”
Enthusiasm and self-satisfied smiles accompanied this presentation by the Revolutionary Guard’s wunderkind, General Qasem Soleimani, Quds Force commander.
“Thank you. Sit down,” Jafari commanded, well aware of the fact that Qasem Soleimani, nicknamed ‘the living shahid’31 was Supreme Leader Khamenei’s protégé.
“I have one more idea whose details still need to be worked out, but it will certainly cause them much pain,” Soleimani added.
“I suggest you focus!” Ali Jafari instructed.
“You’re right, of course, commander, sir,” the commander of Quds Force said. “In light of the ignoble attack upon us, I think we need to escalate the war against these infidels and target them where it most hurts the Jews—their wallet. With Jews, money is more important than their Torah and their values, perhaps even more than their children.”
“What are you suggesting, practically speaking?” Jafari projected impatience in response to the prominent charisma of his potential rival.
“The Zionist state is a shaky house of cards,” Soleimani explained. “Without the American support of about five billion dollars in defense aid and about another ten billion dollars in international bank guarantees every year, this cobweb country won’t survive. I suggest we flood their economy with counterfeit money that will create a disparity between the amount of merchandise and services in the market and the amount of money the public holds. This disparity will bring about a public discrediting of cash, and everyone will want to exchange the local currency for dollars. Then we flood them with fake dollars, which will undermine public trust in their government and the Bank of Israel.”
“Submit your plan to me in writing, and I ask that you don’t drag us into a financial war with the Great Satan, the United States.”
