Ex-Likud MK claims Mossad agents detained wrong man in Ron Arad op

A former Likud MK claims that, during a recent operation to unearth information on the fate of the captured Israeli airman Ron Arad, Mossad agents accidentally detained the wrong person.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett revealed the operation during a Knesset speech last week, though he did not go into any details.

After defense officials criticized him for divulging the existence of the operation and said the operation itself was unsuccessful, Bennett insisted its objectives had been met.

But Ayoob Kara, in a tweet, says the Mossad agents participating in the operation “made a mistake and arrested a small fry who had no connection and no information about Arad,” who has long been presumed dead.

Kara compares the operation to the notorious 1973 Lillehammer Affair, which was sparked when Mossad agents killed a young man in a case of mistaken identity in Norway. Several agents were arrested by local authorities and imprisoned in the wake of the incident.

Kara continues, “The military establishment was indeed correct in saying there was no justification for releasing” news of the operation.

He accuses Bennett of exploiting the incident for political gain, “in light of his dismal public situation.”

According to one Arab report, during the operation the Israeli agents kidnapped an Iranian general from Syria, took him to another country, and tried to extract information from him that could help determine the whereabouts of Arad’s remains and the circumstances of his death.