For one wonk, idea that Israel is targeting its own is not so far-fetched

When the spokesman of Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the attack on an Israeli diplomat’s wife in New Delhi on Monday was Israel’s own doing, and claimed the Zionists sought to “tarnish Iran’s friendly ties” with India by engaging in “psychological warfare” against Tehran, nobody in the West took him seriously.

Well almost nobody. And the person who did take him seriously is certainly not a nobody. Geneive Abdo, a veteran American journalist and Iran analyst, seemed to think the Iranian official had made a good point. In an interview with Australia’s ABC radio, Abdo — a former Tehran correspondent for the Guardian — suggested the theory was certainly feasible.

‘Well I think that’s entirely possible. I mean, if you consider what the Israelis did for many years in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East, that theory is not so far-fetched’

When the interviewer asked her about Iran’s claim that the Israelis had planted the bomb themselves to discredit Iran, Abdo responded:

“Well, I think that’s entirely possible. I mean, if you consider what the Israelis did for many years in Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East, that theory is not so far-fetched.”

The interviewer noted the similarity of the New Delhi attack to the recent assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists — which also featured explosive devices attached to cars — and suggested that the New Delhi attack could be a message of retaliation to Israel, which the Iranians blame for the killings.

“Well, you know, there are many theories,” Abdo responded. “I mean, theory one is that the Iranians did it in retaliation for attacks on their own nuclear scientists. Theory two is that the Israelis have carried out this attack as a pretext to attack Iran. I mean, the Israelis are seriously considering now launching a war against Iran. So that also has to be taken as a possible motivation for these assassinations.”

A respected journalist, with countless stories published in The Economist, the International Herald Tribune, Foreign Policy, and other news outlets, Abdo raised more than eyebrows with her response.

“These are not the mutterings of a conspiracy-loving, tin-foil-hat wearing basement dweller that can be easily dismissed; Geneive Abdo is a well-placed, mainstream journalist,” Nathaniel Botwinick wrote in the National Review. “There’s a reason many don’t trust the media anymore, and it’s because of the deranged views of people like Geneive Abdo.”

But reached by The Times of Israel on Thursday in the US, Abdo — formerly the liaison officer for the Alliance of Civilizations, a UN initiative under secretary-general Kofi Annan — seemed keen on damage control.

“As the interview indicates, I suggested that there were several theories and I think that no one knows. Just as no one really knows who is behind the attacks on Iranian scientists, no one know who’s behind these recent attacks,” she said.

“I do not believe Israel is killing its own diplomats,” she emphasized. “We just don’t know who is behind any assassination.”

Abdo is scheduled to speak at next month’s conference of J-Street, the self-declared “pro-Israel, pro peace” lobby.