The latest Israeli spy saga was reported by REUTERS on 07/26/2013. Turkish authorities detained a bird on suspicion it was spying for Israel, but freed it after X-rays showed it was not embedded with surveillance equipment. The kestrel aroused suspicion because of a metal ring on its foot carrying the words "24311 Tel Avivunia Israel", prompting residents in the village of Altinayva to hand it over to the local governor. The bird was put in an X-ray machine at a university hospital to check for microchips or bugging devices, according to the Milliyet newspaper, which carried a front-page image of the radiogram with the title "Israeli agent".
Turkey is a frequent target of animals spying for Israel. Just a year ago, BBC reported on vigilant peasants from south-eastern Turkey who captured yet another Mossad operative (dead, unfortunately). Who, you ask? A common European bee-eater, whose corpse was found in a field with a metal ring around its leg stamped "Israel". This migratory bird had caused alarm after locals mistook it for an Israeli spy. Villagers called the police after deciding its nostrils were unusually large and may have carried a microchip fitted by Israeli intelligence for spying. It was taken to government experts for examination and declared safe. At one point a counterterrorism unit became involved in the case.
And just 6 months before that, multiple outlets carried a story reported by Al Weeam, a Saudi newspaper, about the suspected secret agent - a vulture - equipped with a GPS locator and a ring tracing it back to Tel Aviv University for a study on bird migration. Scientific practice notwithstanding, Al Weeam and bloggers all over the Arab world were certain: This vulture had been spying for the “Zionist cabal.”
A month before that, South Sinai Governor Muhammad Abdel Fadil Shousha blamed the Mossad for recruiting a shark and using it to ruin tourism in Egypt.
And a little earlier, Ma’an News Agency closely associated with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority reported that Israeli settlers in the West Bank were engineering wild pig attacks to prevent Arabs from making use of their harvest.
And before that, there was Iranian police smashing squirrel spy ring, poison-resistant giant rats released by Israel to drive Arab residents of Jerusalem out of their homes, and many more blood-curdling stories of severe animal abuse and endangerment.
You say “Insanity”, I say…
