February 17, 2012 / by emptywheel

 

Israel: All Magnet Bombs Must Have the Same Culprit

Israel has successfully gotten most major news outlets in the last few days to repeat their argument that because the bombs in Tbilisi, Delhi, and Bangkok are almost the same kind of bomb, they must have the same culprit.

Israeli officials said Wednesday that magnetic explosive devices found after a series of explosions in Bangkok on Tuesday were similar to bombs used a day earlier to target Israeli diplomats in New Delhi and in Tbilisi, Georgia.

[snip]

But an Israeli official familiar with the probes of the incidents, in which Israelis are working with local investigators in New Delhi, Bangkok and Tbilisi, said their findings showed a strong similarity among the bombs in the three locations, …

“It looks like it’s exactly the same kind of device,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the subject.

[snip]

The Israeli ambassador to Thailand, Itzhak Shoham, told the Associated Press that Thai police had found two magnetic bombs that could be stuck on vehicles. “They are similar to the ones used in Delhi and Tbilisi,” Shoham said.

Of course, they go on to argue that because the bombs are all the same they must have the same culprit. And therefore that culprit must be Iran.

There’s a logical problem here, of course, given that Israel has not exactly denied that it was behind the magnet bomb attacks–technically undertaken by Iranian nationals–that killed a number of Iran’s scientists. So according to Israel’s logic, doesn’t mean they must be the culprit for these bombs? They’ve been engaging in magnet bomb attacks perpetrated by Iranian national for years.

Not that I necessarily think that’s what’s going on, but if Israel insists on using loud accusations to pretend Iran would be doing anything more than retaliating for Israel’s own terror attacks, then it ought to have to have readers apply its logic consistently.

Copyright © 2012 emptywheel. All rights reserved.
Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/2012/02/17/israel-all-magnet-bombs-must-have-the-same-culprit/