Israeli Vulture Suspected of Spying Returned

New submitter red crab writes: BBC reports that a griffon vulture with GPS tracking device attached to its leg that was part of conservation program at Tel Aviv University was captured in Lebanon after it was suspected to be a Israeli spy. UN Liaison forces helped secure the release of the bird after holding talks with Lebanese and Israeli officials.

Comments

Well d'oh!

[Anonymous Coward]

In the Arab and Muslim worlds, if anything is in any way associated with Israel, it's perfectly obvious that it's nefarious - I'm surprised they didn't think it was the "vulture of doom, spreading biological weapons" or some such.

The Arab POV on Israel is so one sided as to be cartoonish.

Re:Well d'oh!

[Anonymous Coward]

Animals could certainly be, and have been, used to carry small packages for spying purposes. The derisive tone of the media blasts on this story clearly are meant to ridicule these fears and make those who are jumpy about Israel appear ridiculous, but these facts combined with the state of mistrust that residents of its neighbors feel towards high tech and aggressive Israel make the reaction more than understandable. The fact that some villagers found a bird carrying strange Israeli electronics and reported it to their government, which performed an investigation and returned the animal once the equipment had been vetted serves, perhaps, to underline the pervasive mistrust that decades of occupation and war have created, but it ought not be used, as it is being, as an excuse to ridicule those who distrust such a violent, well-heeled, and determinedly colonialist society.

Re:Well d'oh!

[quenda]

The sarin/taurin rockets, mustard shells - they're real. And horrifying. But 'WMD' ?

More relevant, these were very old stockpiles, leftovers from the Iran-Iraq war. Probably useless.
As the line goes, the West already had proof of those older weapons because they'd kept the receipts.
They were not evidence of any renewed domestic weapons program, as claimed by the Neocons.

If it was Lebonese and captured in Isreal

[fred911]

Surely it would be equipped with explosives, not GPS.

Paranoid conspiracy theory

[Anonymous Coward]

The Arab press is filled with fairy tale stories about israel and about Jews. I remember a few years ago one story was circulating that israel was dropping poisoned candy to children on gaza. Then there was the story that aids was created by Jewish doctors to afflict the Palestinians. Then there was the one the israel was organ trafficking palestinians. Etc. Etc. Etc. The vulture story is frankly rather mild, if amusing. Much of the paranoid conspiracy theory about israel's and Jews on the Arab world could be rooted right off the pages of Nazi propaganda rags. Why this kind of trash is actually believed in the Arab world is another story entirely, but illustrates wht it's so hard for the two parties to come to compromises - if one side believes the other is capable of such inhuman Acts, it's no surprise they won't compromise.

Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory

[JaredOfEuropa]

Such stories are common in any dictatorship or conflict. Look at Russia, Turkey, Venezuela. Bizarre, improbably stories of "foreign agitators". As they say, the first victim of any war is the truth.

Re:Paranoid conspiracy theory

[gibbsjoh]

Except that wasn't the case:
http://ukmediawatch.org/2016/01/25/report-refutes-guardian-indy-claims-ethiopian-jews-given-birth-control-wo-consent/

Re:Israel-related animal conspiracy theories

[techno-vampire]

Honestly, I'm almost surprised to learn that the Arabs haven't accused the Israelis of tying lit torches to the tails of foxes and let them loose to set fire to the Arab's crops. After all, there is a historic account of this being done at least once in the past.