British Suspect disappears from his Kibbutz

The Israeli newspaper “Yediot Ahronot” reports on the disappearance of one of the individuals whose name appears on the list of those thought to have perpetrated the assassination of the Hamas leader Mahmoud Mabhouh…

A correspondent from the newspaper visited the Kibbutz Givat Ha’shlosha where the man named James Clark lives in an attempt to locate him or just to perhaps catch a glimpse of him in the flow of people. However, according to the correspondent, some residents of the Kibbutz refused to cooperate with him in his enquiries and he was advised to leave the area while others referred to the disappeared man as a ‘hero’ hinting at his participation in the assassination.

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The Yediot Ahronot reporter emphasised that the man in question had simply disappeared from his place of residence in Givat Ha’shlosha and that other inhabitants of the Kibbutz had been instructed not to interact or cooperate with the media. He also states that Mr. Clark “is not answering either phone calls or text messages” and confirms that “his house is completely closed and the curtains are shut.”

After several failed attempts to contact Mr.Clark, the reporter wondered around the streets of the Kibbutz “trying to find symbols or signs leading me to the person; it may be that he has shaved his beard and removed his glasses. Nevertheless, the man has evaporated – simply disappeared.” He adds that when he walked into a shop in the Kibbutz to buy something, “everyone went silent around him” and the shopkeeper told him: “You must understand that if we talk to you, we will be in trouble.” The shopkeeper went on to say: “I can tell you that he is no longer here. He left, and you will not find him here. But I cannot say any more because this is dangerous for us. People here know him. We do not want to get involved. “

In describing the atmosphere in the Kibbutz, the correspondent reported that “the feeling of fear and panic is spreading everywhere. It seems that someone has explained to them that a single word could cause complications, and they would prefer to keep quiet for the time being.”

One of the Kibbutz children playing outside told the reporter: “He has not been here for the past day; he is a very nice man, greeting me when he passes me, but I have not seen him in recent times and they told me that he left and will not be back.”

The correspondent says “Anyone who knows I am a journalist stares at me angrily. There are those who asked me to take my car and leave the Kibbutz. There are those who evaded the questions impolitely.”

A female resident of the Kibbutz said that Mr. Clark “has a normal job like all the rest of us” then added “is he a secret agent? You make me laugh. This family has lived here for many years. They are not secretive. They eat with us in the dining hall, and believe me if he was a secret agent, I would notice. I have an alert eye.”

The reporter ends his piece by saying that when he I knocked on the door of the family home, a neighbour said to me: “Leave it. Since morning, the entire media has been trying to find him. They have left for the family home until things calm down. In all truth, I always thought they were hiding something, but I didn’t know that he was a hero in this way. All respect to him. If this is true, then he is the hero of Givat Ha’shlosha”

Source: Yediot Ahronot;
Author: Dani Spector

According to Times online, James Leonard Clarke, 49, known as Jim, moved to Israel several years ago and now lives in the Kibbutz Givat Ha’shlosha in central Israel. He is originally from East Sussex. Details on the passport used in Dubai appear to match his. A spokesperson for the Kibbutz said, “It’s all nonsense.”

Dubai assassins left behind their “eye fingerprints”

A security analyst believes that those who carried out the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh will soon be unable to pass through any airport in the world because their iris images were recorded on entry to the emirate through Dubai International Airport. It is expected that Dubai Police Department will soon circulate the details to airports around the world via Interpol.

Dubai is considered to be one of the world’s most advanced countries in the use of technology for security and surveillance. Among the equipment available to immigration officers at the airport is the latest in iris identification cameras through which a person’s unique identity can be stored regardless of how much they have tried to change their outward physical appearance. The system is the most trusted of identity verification techniques. Police investigators have confirmed that all passengers entering Dubai, including the so-called “hit-squad”, have full-face photographs taken as well as their iris images.

With 80 percent of its residents coming from overseas, Dubai has long been at the forefront of security systems to monitor those using the airport. Since the installation of the iris imaging equipment to record the “eye fingerprints”, it is estimated that 25,000 would-be illegal immigrants have been stopped and returned to their countries of origin.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.