Did Israel sabotage Egyptian internet?
Arrested spy tells all: Egyptian confesses to working for, recruiting 'hundreds' for Mossad; says Israeli intelligence agency was involved in sabotage that caused entire country's internet network to collapse
Egyptian press continues attack on Israeli Mossad: Egyptian newspaper al-Masry al-Youm reported Monday that the spy who - according to Egypt - confessed to working for the Mossad, revealed in his interrogation that an additional Egyptian agent was working for Israeli intelligence.
He further claimed that Israel was behind the sabotage that disrupted Egyptian internet connections 18 months ago.
In the report it was claimed that arrested spy Tarek Hassan met with an agent in Beijing where he maintains that he "recruited hundreds of Egyptians for the Mossad". The man who received the nickname "Al Ustaz", which means "the master" or "the lecturer" in Arabic, has worked for Israeli intelligence for over 20 years and has never been arrested.
During his interrogation Hassan also said that he realized from his Mossad handler 'Idi Moshe' that Israeli intelligence was behind the sabotage in the cables that connected Egypt to the World Wide Web through the Mediterranean.
The cables were cut 18 months ago a few kilometers away from Italy's shores, and caused Egypt's entire internet network to collapse, causing major losses for the Egyptian economy and companies that trade through the internet.
Last week the Egyptian prosecution announced that it has presented indictments against an Egyptian citizen and two Israeli citizens who are suspected of being a part of the Egyptian spy ring whose operations included wire-tapping into Egyptian officials' phone lines.
The al-Ahram newspaper reported that the two Israelis involved in the affair escaped from Egypt and will be tried in absentia.
Hassan, who according to the Egyptian press, was the contact between the Israeli handler and a Mossad spy working in Lebanon managed to collect supposedly classified information which is considered to be of critical importance for Syrian security services.
In the last few days it has been claimed that he published internet ads through which he tried to recruit agents for the Mossad among Syrian and Lebanese cellular company employees.
According to the Arab press, the connection between Hassan and Israeli intelligence services began a few years ago – at Hassan's initiative. He approached Mossad through an email in which he included his contact info and stated that he was interested in a job.
In august 2006 he received a telephone call from 'Joseph Dimor', an Israeli intelligence officer who allegedly agreed to meet with him at the Israeli embassy in India. In the meeting that followed he received an advance of $1,500.
Later that year he flew to Thailand and started to visit the Israeli embassy there. He then met with the other wanted Israeli suspect – 'Idi Moshe'. According to the report, Moshe trained him, taught him how to collect documents and transfer information. He even received an encrypted computer which allowed him to keep in contact with his handlers.
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