There is a growing suspicion amongst Israeli security officials that Elhanan Tennenbaum, the Israeli who was supposedly abducted in Lebanon by Hizbullah, and was released as part of a prisoner exchange deal, was in reality a Hizbullah agent.
Israeli security forces are increasingly convinced that businessman and ex-colonel Elhanan Tennenbaum went to Lebanon voluntarily and may have even committed treason. In view of these conclusions, the special interrogation team on the “Lebanese Fir Tree” case (“tennenbaum” is “fir” in German), have gotten tougher in their methods. “We don’t believe a single word that comes out of his mouth”, said one security official. “This is a sophisticated, brilliant guy and every word he says is well thought-out”.
According to a high-ranking security official, Tennenbaum may have been a Hezbollah agent before he was abducted in Lebanon. “It will take a lot of time to assess the national-strategic damage which has been caused. We are looking at damage above and beyond all imagination“, he said.
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Committee members are pushing to give the Tennenbaum investigators whatever they need to complete the investigation. They are calling this one of the most serious and disturbing affairs in the history of the State of Israel, which is why they say it’s vital to learn the truth.
Tennenbaum’s character and personal circumstances make him a likely candidate for spying on Israel.
In the late 1990s Tannenbaum forged ties with several elements of the Israeli and Palestinian underworld, Nasrallah’s chief Israel adviser Kais Obeid among them, and was reportedly warned of these connections in meetings with senior security officials.
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Away from the army, he suffered a series of business failures. He fell further into debt due to a reported gambling addiction. His family life suffered following extramarital affairs and calamitous trysts, at least one of which resulted in him fathering a son ñ who is now 11 ñ out of wedlock.
Tannenbaum’s lover, who last saw him five days before he left for Brussels, described him as a man who “loved money more than anything or anyone. He liked to drive fancy cars, and eat in pricey restaurants. He was constantly working on schemes to swindle money. God knows what he was capable of doing.”
He also failed a lie detector test. Nevertheless, no proof has yet been found for the allegations.
At the time of the prisoner deal, I was one of a chorus of voices critical of the deal, and the perceived disparity between what Israel was receiving and what Hizbullah was receiving. This new information puts the deal in a whole new light.
Another high-placed security official told Maariv that in his opinion, PM Ariel Sharon was in such a hurry to carry out the prisoner exchange not because of Tennenbaumís safety, but rather to minimize any damage caused by Tennenbaum possibly betraying State secrets.
And here is why we should be worried.
Until he left Israel for Brussels on October 3, 2000, Tannenbaum had worked as a consultant for a hi-tech Israeli arms firm that produces some of the Defense Ministry’s most sensitive technologies, a source in the company told The Jerusalem Post.
As someone living in Israel, I can only hope that Tannenbaum has not done any irreparable damage to our security. At least, no further damage. Although, there are other Israelis who wish the opposite.