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The new book by Israeli journalist Ronnen Bergman, «Rise and Kill First : The Secret History of Israel(s Targeted Assassinations», published earlier this year in the United States, has revealed an all-inclusive list of the targeted assassinations carried out by Israel since 1948, said Jeune Afrique.
And while Palestinians were Israel’s main targets, other nationals have also been assassinated. Moroccan politician Mehdi Ben Barka was one of them. In his book, Bergman revisits the primordial role played at the time by the Jewish State when King Hassan II's biggest opponent was assassinated on the 29th of October, 1965 in Paris.
The writer claims that the operation to kill the head of the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces was in exchange for services rendered by Morocco to the Israeli’s national intelligence agency (Mossad) during the Arab League summit, held in Casablanca from the 13th to the 18th of September 1965.
The account of the Mossad’s chief
In March 2015, Yediot Ahronot, an Israeli daily newspaper, announced that military officials decided to declassify documents that include the account of Meit Amir, the Mossad former chief, on an operation conducted by the Israeli counterintelligence in Morocco during the sixties. This also revealed a classified part on the Arab League summit hosted at the time by the Kingdom.
In exchange for Hassan II services, Rabat asked Tel-Aviv to spot Mehdi Ben Barka, bring him to Paris and murder him. This request was submitted to the Israelis by Colonel Ahmed Dlimi. «Mehdi Ben Barka, sentenced to death by us, must be executed. We cannot trap him. Find him and kill him. Do us a favor …», reports Jeune Afrique.
In Israel, targeted killings were governed by a political framework. They require the signature of the Prime Minister. Once the operation was endorsed by Levi Eschkol, the Mossad took their first step executing their plan.
And the rest is history. On October 29th, 1965, Ben Barka disappeared. The author of «Rise and Kill First» claims that the Moroccan agents got their hands on the politician, thanks to the help of a French policeman. They took him to «a house provided by the Israeli services, humiliated, tortured, and plunged his head repeatedly in very dirty water until he died of asphyxiation or strangulation», wrote Jeune Afrique.
It was also the Israelis who took care of getting rid of the corpse. Thus, they carried «the remains to Saint-Germain forest. They put it in a deep hole, covered it with dirt and a chemical product intended to dissolve the body».
The dissolution must have taken four weeks. On November 25th of the same year, the Mossad chief announced to his Prime Minister that it was «over, everything went well».
Three years after the assassination of Mehdi Ben Barka, the French built a road in the same spot where he was buried, said Yediot Ahronot in March 2015, based on the account of Meir Amit.
