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Germany’s most spectacular espionage cases – DW – 08/10/2023

The Russian war against Ukraine “also means a turning point for internal security,” German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in June 2023, warning of a new wave of disinformation campaigns, cyberattacks, and espionage by foreign intelligence services.

At the beginning of August, there was another case in point: Thomas H.* was arrested Wednesday (August 9) in the western city of Koblenz, when the federal prosecutor’s office accused the Bundeswehr officer of having betrayed information about military details to Russian intelligence.

The Berlin daily Tagesspiegel reported that Thomas H. had already come to the attention of his colleagues because of his sympathy for the far-right populist Alternative for Germany (AfD). Some parts of the party is considered far-right extremist and very critical of the NATO alliance’s attempts to help Ukraine against Russian aggression.

Carsten L.

At the end of 2022, a similar case made headlines. Carsten L., head of a unit of Germany’s foreign intelligence service Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), where he was responsible for “personnel security,” was accused of working as a double agent for the Russian secret service FSB and of having betrayed state secrets.

According to media reports, the FSB is said to have been particularly interested in data on air defense positions supplied to Ukraine by Western states. However, it is unclear whether Carsten L. had access to this information. He was arrested on December 21, 2022, and is being tried for treason along with a suspected accomplice.

Mr & Mrs Anschlag

But it is not only since the Russian invasion of Ukraine that spies in Germany have been reporting to Moscow. Beginning sometime in the 1980s, two Russian agents led a middle-class life under the names of Andreas and Heidrun Anschlag, he posing as an engineer, she as a housewife.

They spied on NATO and the European Union first for the Soviet Union, then for the Russian secret service, receiving their orders via encrypted radio messages on shortwave, at a time when espionage was not yet a predominantly digital business. It was not until 2011 that their cover was blown — probably thanks to a tip-off from US intelligence services. In 2013, they were sentenced to several years in prison and eventually deported to Russia.

Gabriele Gast

The communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) referred to their agents as “scouts of peace.” An estimated 12,000 of them are believed to have been deployed by the East German secret service, the Staatssicherheitsdienst or Stasi, to West Germany during the Cold War.

Among them was Gabriele Gast, a West German who was recruited by a Stasi officer in 1968 while on a research trip to East Germany for her dissertation entitled: “The Political Role of Women in the GDR.” From then on, Gast reported to the intelligence service in East Germany — while also making a career for herself at the Western intelligence service BND under a false name. She was only exposed after the collapse of the GDR in 1989, shortly before the reunification of Germany. She is still considered to have been one of the GDR’s top spies in the West.

left to right: Klaus von Raussendorf, Hagen Blau, Gabriele Gast, Dieter Popp before a press conferenceGabriele Gast was one of the GDR’s most high profile spies (photo from 1995)Image: Michael Jung/dpa/picture alliance

Alfred Spuhler

Alfred Spuhler may have been a similarly good source for the Stasi. As a high-ranking BND official, he unmasked hundreds of Western agents working in the GDR. He was arrested in November 1989.

Heinz Felfe

Heinz Felfe, the longtime head of the BND’s “Counterintelligence Soviet Union” unit, was also a double agent. He was a member of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler’s police unit, Schutzstaffel (SS), then reported to the KGB in Moscow until 1961. Over the years, Felfe is believed to have worked for seven different intelligence services, including the British MI6.

Günter Guillaume

Probably the most sensational espionage case from the Cold War period in Germany is that of Günter Guillaume.

Posing as refugees from East Germany, he and his wife Christel came to West Germany in 1956. Their mission was to provide the Stasi with internal information about the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Guillaume worked his way up, eventually becoming personal advisor to Chancellor Willy Brandt when the SPD came to power.

When Guillaume’s cover was blown, Brandt was forced to resign as chancellor on May 6, 1974. Guillaume was sentenced to 13 years in prison and his wife to eight years. Both were released in 1981 in exchange for West German agents.

Willy Brandt and Günter Guillaume in 1974Günter Guillaume (r.) was the assistant of Chancellor Willy Brandt (l.)Image: picture-alliance / akg-images

Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz

A particularly large number of Stasi spies were exposed after the fall of the Wall. Not much is known about Western agents in the GDR, with the notable exception of Elli Barczatis and Karl Laurenz, who smuggled GDR documents to the West at the beginning of the Cold War in the early 1950s.

Barczatis worked as chief secretary to GDR Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl. She obtained rather banal government papers that she passed to her lover Karl Laurenz, who handed them over to West German authorities. When this was discovered, both Barczatis and Laurenz were sentenced to death in East Germany and executed by guillotine in 1955.

This article was originally written in German.

*Editor’s note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

While you’re here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.

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Questionable Haaretz Reporting Used to Sully Israel

 

@mikenov: Brooklyn’s Coney Island Kicks Off First-Ever Winter Season
Brooklyn’s Coney Island Kicks Off First-Ever Winter Season – https://t.co/CHWJaRltne pic.twitter.com/E3gMYuOfxj— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) November 27, 2023
 

@mikenov: Questionable Haaretz Reporting Used to Sully Israel
Questionable Haaretz Reporting Used to Sully Israel | HonestReporting https://t.co/tQsFZFzJdb— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) November 27, 2023
 

@mikenov: It may sound strange but I will say it: It is very foolish of Hamas to be so willing and ready to serve as the COVER, Smokescreen, and the VICTIMS for the Putin – Wagner aggression against Israel. And it would be very foolish of Israel to refuse to see the Truth and not to dig it… https://t.co/a00xzrWMbQ
It may sound strange but I will say it: It is very foolish of Hamas to be so willing and ready to serve as the COVER, Smokescreen, and the VICTIMS for the Putin – Wagner aggression against Israel. And it would be very foolish of Israel to refuse to see the Truth and not to dig it… pic.twitter.com/a00xzrWMbQ— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) November 27,…
 

@mikenov: Friendly Fires in Hamas – Wagner Attack 2023 were DELIBERATELY provoked by the Wagner Group. It was a revenge for their own friendly fire losses in the Ukraine war, which they blamed on the Israeli secret electronic warfare help – Google Search … The Golden Handcuffs of Gay… https://t.co/Ipxt0ZlL55
Friendly Fires in Hamas – Wagner Attack 2023 were DELIBERATELY provoked by the Wagner Group. It was a revenge for their own friendly fire losses in the Ukraine war, which they blamed on the Israeli secret electronic warfare help – Google Search … The Golden Handcuffs of Gay… pic.twitter.com/Ipxt0ZlL55— Michael Novakhov (@mikenov) November 27, 2023…
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@mikenov: Brooklyn’s Coney Island Kicks Off First-Ever Winter Season

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@mikenov: Questionable Haaretz Reporting Used to Sully Israel

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Palestinian Authority denies Hamas music festival massacre

The Palestinian Authority denied in an official statement on Sunday that Hamas terrorists carried out the massacre at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7. The statement, sent to foreign ministries worldwide and the UN, claimed that “Israeli helicopters” caused the deaths of at least 350 participants at the party. Hamas joined in a statement as well, saying that an “Israeli fighter jet” bombed the area near the Gaza border, leading to the deaths of hundreds.
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Both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas backed their claims through a “police investigation published in Israeli media,” After Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported that, according to a police source, the investigation into the incident allegedly indicated that an IDF helicopter fired at terrorists in the area and likely hit some of the Israelis who were there. However, contrary to the Palestinian claims, Haaretz did not state that all casualties were a result of an “Israeli bombing,” only a few individuals.

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אבו מאזןאבו מאזן

Mahmoud Abbas

(Photo: AP)

According to the Palestinian Foreign Ministry’s statement, “The Israel Police’s preliminary investigation proved that Israeli helicopters bombed Israeli citizens who participated in the music festival on October 7, meaning that Israeli fighter jets caused extensive destruction in the area.”

“Following this event, the ‘Hannibal Protocol’ was activated, allowing the occupation’s police and military to kill everyone. Therefore, the ministry believes that the revelations of this investigation cast doubt on the Israeli reports regarding the destruction and killings that occurred in the area,” the statement added.

According to the police’s investigation into the massacre, the first Israeli helicopter reached the compound only at 11:12 a.m., hours after the massacre began. The police also addressed the publications in Haaretz and said: “The preliminary investigation focused on the bravery of the policemen who operated on the scene and the functioning of the Israeli police to stop the massacre carried out by Hamas.”

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הכחשה של הרשות הפלסטינית שחמאס ביצע את הטבח במסיבה ברעים ב-7 באוקטוברהכחשה של הרשות הפלסטינית שחמאס ביצע את הטבח במסיבה ברעים ב-7 באוקטובר

Statement issued by the Palestinian Authority

“Contrary to the publication, the police investigation does not refer to the activity of IDF forces and does not provide any indication of civilian casualties as a result of Israeli aerial operations in the area. At this time, we specifically call on the media to take responsibility in their reporting and rely only on official sources,” the statement added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Abbas’ words, saying, “Today, the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah said something utterly preposterous. It denied that it was Hamas that carried out the horrible massacre at the nature festival near Gaza. It actually accused Israel of carrying out that massacre. This is a complete reversal of truth.”

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מסיבת עיתונאים של ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו, שר הביטחון יואב גלנט ובני גנץ יו"ר המחנה הממלכתימסיבת עיתונאים של ראש הממשלה בנימין נתניהו, שר הביטחון יואב גלנט ובני גנץ יו"ר המחנה הממלכתי

Benjamin Netanyahu

(Photo: Dana Kopel)

Netanyahu added, “Abbas, who in the past has denied the existence of the Holocaust, today is denying the existence of the Hamas massacre and that’s unacceptable.”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said that he “joins Prime Minister Netanyahu’s harsh condemnation of the Palestinian Foreign Ministry’s abhorrent and false statement. Anyone who denies the massacre makes himself an accomplice to the most terrible crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”

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Palestinian Authority quietly removes official denial of Re’im massacre

The Palestinian Authority removed from its official website the false statement it published Sunday, which said that the massacre at the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7 was caused by “an Israeli helicopter attack.” However, the PA did not publish a public announcement correcting the false claims, which caused significant damage to Israeli propaganda around the world.

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Although no public announcement was made on behalf of the Palestinians, the U.S. National Security Council spokesman said that the PA has since clarified that this is not its official position – and even removed the document in question from the PA’s official website.

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הכחשה של הרשות הפלסטינית שחמאס ביצע את הטבח במסיבה ברעים ב-7 באוקטוברהכחשה של הרשות הפלסטינית שחמאס ביצע את הטבח במסיבה ברעים ב-7 באוקטובר

Statement issued by the Palestinian Authority denying Hamas responsibility for massacre at Re’im music festival on October 7

This is a statement “that does not respect the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in the horrific terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7,” the spokesman said. He added that “we understand that the Palestinian Authority has removed the statement from its website, and we are happy that they have since clarified that this is not their official position.”

On Sunday, Hamas rushed to join the PA’s claim, and distributed the document in which it denied the massacre to various parties in the world, including foreign ministries and the United Nations. The PA Foreign Ministry’s announcement stated that: “The Israel Police’s preliminary investigation proved that Israeli helicopters bombed Israeli citizens who participated in the music festival on October 7, meaning that Israeli fighter jets caused extensive destruction in the area.

2 View gallery

אבו מאזןאבו מאזן

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas

(Photo: AP)

“Following this event, the ‘Hannibal Protocol’ was activated, allowing the occupation’s police and military to kill everyone. Therefore, the ministry believes that the revelations of this investigation cast doubt on the Israeli reports regarding the destruction and killings that occurred in the area,” the statement added.

The Palestinian Authority’s statement relied on the “police investigation published in the Hebrew media” after Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported that, according to a police source, the investigation into the incident allegedly indicated that an IDF helicopter fired at terrorists in the area and likely hit some of the Israelis who were there. However, contrary to the Palestinian claims, Haaretz did not state that all casualties were a result of an “Israeli bombing,” only a few individuals.

According to the police investigation , the first helicopter was launched into the compound only at 11:12 – many hours after the massacre began.

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Tether gives FBI peek behind the curtain

Protos-Artwork-TetherReveals-SIMG.jpg

On November 21, Tether published a new blog post detailing how it has collaborated with the United States Department of Justice (DoJ) to assist in freezing tethers tied to alleged crimes. 

The post also details how it has “recently onboarded the United States Secret Service into its platform and will be working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to do the same.”

Paolo Ardoino, who is the chief executive officer at Tether, chief technology officer of Bitfinex, and chief strategy officer at Keet, stated that “Tether remains steadfast in its commitment to supporting law enforcement efforts and aiding victims in their recovery. We condemn the misuse of USDT or any cryptocurrency for illicit purposes and are fully committed to collaborating with global law enforcement agencies.”

Read more: Tether says it makes money but can’t ditch loans

Tether is just one of the firms the US law enforcement apparatus has peered into recently, with Binance agreeing to an independent monitor as part of its deal with the DoJ. 

Additionally, despite Tether’s condemnation of the “misuse of USDT,” Sam Bankman-Fried, the former owner of one of Tether’s largest clients, Alameda Research, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering

Protos has reached out to Tether to clarify what types of information will be shared with the Secret Service and the FBI as part of their onboarding to this platform and will update if we hear back. 

Got a tip? Send us an email or ProtonMail. For more informed news, follow us on XInstagramBluesky, and Google News, or subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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What It’s Like to Be Gay in Gaza: Meeting Israelis on Dating Apps, Evading Hamas and Plotting Escape

873484405.jpg?precrop=2156,1252,x44,y143

In a society where homosexuality could be punishable by death, gay Gazans keep their identity secret

Liza Rozovsky

Feb 21, 2018

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Liza Rozovsky

Feb 21, 2018

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Feb 21, 2018

On his avatar on an instant message app, Jamil looks like a happy young man, with glasses and a trendy haircut. But Jamil (not his real name) says he lives in a state of constant fear, and his most cherished dream is to leave his homeland and break free from his family. The 21-year-old student from the Gaza Strip is gay and lives a double life: an open one, as a diligent student, the youngest child in his family, busy helping his elderly parents with everyday tasks (shopping, making sure the electrical generator works and there’s water in the house) – and a secret one, a large chunk of which is spent on dating apps and fake accounts on social networks.

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@mikenov: It may sound strange but I will say it: It is very foolish of Hamas to be so willing and ready to serve as the COVER, Smokescreen, and the VICTIMS for the Putin – Wagner aggression against Israel. And it would be very foolish of Israel to refuse to see the Truth and not to dig it… https://t.co/a00xzrWMbQ

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It may sound strange but I will say it: It is very foolish of Hamas to be so willing and ready to serve as the COVER, Smokescreen, and the VICTIMS for the Putin – Wagner aggression against Israel. And it would be very foolish of Israel to refuse to see the Truth and not to dig it deeper.

 Michael Novakhov

It may sound strange but I will say it: It is very foolish of Hamas to be so willing and ready to serve as the COVER, Smokescreen, and the VICTIMS for the Putin – Wagner aggression against Israel. And it would be very foolish of Israel to refuse to see the Truth and not to dig it deeper. After the US, there no more natural and closer potential Allies than Israel and Arabs. The Saudis realized this and were on the cusp of the concluding and signing the epochal, historical Peace Treaty.
Putin derailed it: It is not in his interests.
It may sound very strange but I will say it, on behalf of the Tribe of Nova (Noa): Gay relations (although often effervescent) do transcend the geographical boundaries, ethnicities, and religions; they contribute to the social understanding and acceptance and to peace between the nations, including Israel and Arabs.
Putin and other nationalists, both Arab and Jewish, and the cheap, primitive religious hypocrites of various kinds are mortally afraid of it and they fight it with all their might.
They’ve lost. When the dust settles, the inevitable processes of the Reconciliation and the Consolidation will start again.
8:28 AM 11/27/2023