Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 02, 2012

How to misuse statistics: Israel accused of jailing too many journalists (updated x3)

From Justin Martin at Columbia Journalism Review:

At the end of each year, the Committee to Protect Journalists counts the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide and lists the countries in which they’re locked up.

These data are very helpful, but I think we can consider them under a new lamp by taking into account each country’s size. China and Eritrea, for example, have about the same number of journalists rotting in prison, 27 and 28 respectively. But the population of China is over 250 times that of the small dictatorship.

Any country that unjustly arrests or imprisons a single journalist is democratically suspect, of course, and that includes you, America. Ratings of press freedom in the United States tanked after 2011, as counts of arrested journalists in this country soared. Still, though police in the United States tend to arrest journalists filming or otherwise documenting unrest, their bosses usually get embarrassed at the media blowback and drop the charges. Imprisoning journalists for months or years at a time is another matter and, other than the outright murder of journalists in places like Russia and Syria, the long-term jailing of reporters is the offense with which the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is most concerned.

For a new take on this scourge, I quickly calculated the highest twelve ratios of jailed journalists to a country’s population size.

So we see that according to this criterion, Israel jails more journalists per capita than any other nation except for Eritea.

Sounds damning, right?

Except that it is a meaningless statistic. The size of the country's population has nothing to do with how many journalists are in the country. Israel has far more journalists than most countries that are much larger, because there is such intense interest in Israel. Moreover, Israel is liberal in allowing journalists to have access to the nation, as opposed to, say, practically every other nation in the Middle East.

If you want to see which nations jail the most reporters per-something, you must compare it to the total number of reporters - not the total population of the nation. To restate the question - if you are a reporter in Country X, what are the odds that you will be arrested? Comparing the number of jailed journalists to the total population of the nation doesn't tell you anything meaningful.

This is not to blame Justin Martin at CJR - at first blush his metric sounds like it might be meaningful - but his initial assumption is completely wrong.

Unfortunately, I cannot find immediately how many journalists are in Israel. Here's a list of journalists per million in North America and here's one with newspaper journalists per million for many other countries, but not Israel. I would be willing to bet that if you find out those numbers, and look at number of jailed reporters per thousand reporters, you will see Israel going way, way down that list.

This is all besides the fact of the circumstances of the imprisonment, which is a whole other topic. Given that Arab media openly says that their journalists are part of the war against Israel, it is but a small step for some of them to step over that line. But even without going into that, this is a perfect example of a statistic that sounds like it is illuminating some truth - and in fact it is obscuring it.

UPDATE: I was too charitable. Martin really dislikes Israel and chances are pretty good that he gleefully published this metric just to castigate the Jewish state. (h/t Soccer Dad)

UPDATE 2: Comments from an email correspondent about the underlying CPJ study:

The CPJ report says that Hamas has jailed three journalists. Divide 3 by 1.5 million (the population of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip according to the Palestinian Authority) and you have a jail-rate that dwarfs Israel. Does the CJR (Columbia Journalism Review) article’s failure to mention this indicate anything about the author’s (Justin Martin) agenda? Does Martin’s statement that “Israel, though, wants to be called a modern democracy and gets cranky when critics point out that it is not” tell us anything about his agenda?

The CPJ report tells us nothing about its methodology: how it conducted its “census,” how it decided who to classify as a “journalist,” etc. Even if it had a reliable methodology for figuring out what journalists were arrested where, the CRJ would still not pretend to be comprehensive; it claims only to be “a snapshot of those incarcerated at midnight on December 1, 2011” that does “not include the many journalists imprisoned and released throughout the year.”

The CPJ report tells us nothing about how it examined the charges; there is nothing to indicate that all the persons who were arrested were in fact arrested due to journalistic activity, rather than say, contempt of court or activities on behalf of a terrorist organization. For instance, the CJR report lists Raed al-Sharif as a jailed journalist, while also telling us that Israel has stated that he was detained due to “involvement in terrorist activity.” It is worth noting that international law sometimes requires the jailing of journalists. For instance, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda convicted several Rwandans for genocide, incitement to genocide, and crimes against humanity committed by broadcasts on Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines. This is surely relevant to the detention of, for example, Walid Khalid Harb, director of the Hamas newspaper Falastin.

I noted last night in Twitter that the US arrested scores of journalists during the Occupy demonstrations. Also, I mentioned that just last month India arrested a journalist - an Iranian implicated in the terrorist bombing against Israeli embassy personnel. Being a journalist doesn't make one immune from being imprisoned when one does a crime.

UPDATE 3: Ahlam Tamimi helped plan and execute the Sbarro's massacre - and then came home to deliver the news on a PA TV show. Is she one of those "journalists" who must be protected according to the CJP? (h/t Arnold and Frimet Roth, parents of one of the victims)

A new book was published in Arabic that is getting some publicity in the Jordanian media, called "Jewish Hostility Towards Christ and Christians," by Assad Azzouni.

According to these articles, the book includes risible charges such as saying that Jews are trying to destroy Christianity and convert all Christians to Judaism. It also devotes much space to how the Talmud is dedicated to starting wars, and of course has complete faith in the autheticity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as well as Jews being behind all Masonic activities.

None of the articles about this book show the slightest bit of skepticism about Azzouni's claims.

Beyond that, Azzouni wrote his own article in Al Watan Voice about the same theme. In that article, almost as an aside, he writes:

Do not forget the need to kill Christian children and use to knead their blood in a dough on their festival.

Then he goes beyond the standard blood libel to add a specifically Islamic twist:

According to Rabbi Moses Abu Alhafiyah, the Talmud analyzes two types of blood for the pure blood of the Passover. If Christian blood is not available, Muslim blood is acceptable, because they believe that many Christians converted to Islam.

No comments on the article, no one protesting this throwback to the anti-semitism of the Middle Ages in Europe. It is simply accepted as a fact in the Arab world. In English, they will stress how much they love Jews but in mainstream Arabic media opinions like these are accepted wholeheartedly.

And this is just from a quick search for the word "Jew" in Arabic newspapers published today.

Toulouse killer's neighbors say "he was one of us"

From Reuters:

In the neighborhood where Mohamed Merah grew up, and was last seen joking with friends days after he had killed three French soldiers in a pair of shootings, the message to outsiders is clear: he was one of our own, no matter what he did.

The self-styled Islamist militant tore a wound in France's fragile sense of community when he gunned down the soldiers, sons of North African immigrant families like his own, and then a rabbi and three Jewish children - all in the name of al Qaeda.

in Les Izards, the 1960s housing project where Merah, 23, felt most at home, the reaction to his rampage has been one of anxious defiance of outsiders trying to peer into what seems like a closed world, cut off from elegant downtown Toulouse by its poverty, by crime and, locals say, by racial discrimination.

"I'm going to tell you one thing: he was a kid from this neighborhood and we support his family no matter what people say on TV," said one middle-aged mother of Algerian origin who said she had known Merah when he was a child in Les Izards.

Typical of others in the area of low-rise blocks and tidy squares a 15-minute metro ride north of the city centre, she did not want to be named when speaking up for the man who was, briefly, public enemy No. 1: "He was one of ours," she said. "And we will never be sure of what really happened."

By one local account of a confrontation between youths and the authorities in the neighborhood, after Merah was killed trying to escape a siege of his apartment, one young man was arrested after yelling at the police ranks: "My friend Mohamed is a real man - too bad he wasn't able to finish the job!"

Hatem Ben Ismail, who runs several community centers in the area and describes himself as the "go-to guy on Les Izards", says he simply hesitates to discuss in public the mood among the youngsters he tries to help: "The situation with the young people," he concluded, "is just too explosive."

By the bakery where Les Izards residents said they last saw Merah hanging out, two days before his last attack, on a Jewish primary school on March 19, a group of surly young men in tracksuits and dark glasses glowered at oncoming cars.

When, on a reporting assignment this week, a Reuters photographer approached the youths, all in their late teens and early 20s, she was warned, with a stream of expletives, to leave - or have her car smashed up.

True to Reuters' philosophy, the article goes heavy on "understanding" Merah and the seething neighborhood he is a part of, emphasizing poverty and alienation and downplaying Islamic fundamentalism.

But even that is too much for news editors worldwide. Any article that might show Muslim youths as being supportive of a murderer is anathema. it doesn't fit the meme and must be suppressed. While typically Reuters articles can get posted at hundreds of newspapers and other media sites, this two-day old story was only picked up by two newspapers according to Google News search: The Chicago Tribune and the Jerusalem Post.

(h/t Jeffer)

Egyptians have learned the wrong lessons from the revolution

After months of insisting that they will not field a presidential candidate, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood nominated their deputy supreme guide Khairat al-Shater to be Egypt's president.

Liberals who were trounced in the parliamentary elections are upset. So what are they doing?

Facebook.

The number fans of a Facebook page against the Muslim Brotherhood’s nomination of its former deputy supreme guide, Khairat al-Shater, surpassed that of Shater’s official fan page on Monday.

Shater’s official campaign page has attracted 62,300 fans, while the page against him, “I will not vote for Shater,” has gained 76,500.

The official page supporting Shater for president was first created on Saturday after the Brotherhood announced his nomination. Hours later, an opposing Facebook campaign also emerged.

“The number of our fans surpassed that of Khairat al-Shater’s official page in less than 24 hours,” the opposing campaign said in one of its posts on Monday. The response is considered a strong message of disapproval for the Brotherhood.

An even stronger message, the page’s organizers said, would be if the number of fans doubles that of Shater’s official page.

Hey, Egypt: Facebook isn't what brought down Mubarak. It was merely a tool to help organize rallies, and once the ball got rolling the newspapers and other media took over. Putting up a Facebook page against Shater is literally meaningless if you don't have an alternate candidate.

And you don't. There are hundreds of potential candidates for president. If all the MB supporters vote for Shater, and liberal votes get split among the remainder, then Shater wins. The only credible non-Islamist candidate seems to be Amr Moussa, and even if there was a runoff, the Islamists win anyway. (Before Shater entered the race, the Salafist candidate had a very good chance of at least making it to a runoff vote.)

Egyptian liberals seem to think that if they don't like the new leader, they just need another couple of big rallies in Tahrir Square and they can get another chance. They are not organized nearly as well as the Islamists.

Egypt is doomed to become an Islamist state. The liberals have learned nothing from their huge loss in the parliamentary elections. In the end, the liberals will flee to the West rather than fight for Egypt, where they can congratulate themselves on their ability to create Twitter trending topics and do absolutely nothing real.

Gaza fuel crisis update

Last week, Hamas, in reaction to its artificially created crisis where it refuses to accept fuel from Israel, started offering carpools for people to use Hamas state vehicles to get to work.

Now, Gazans are wondering - how do these Hamas vehicles have fuel themselves? Diesel is completely unavailable in Gaza, ambulances can no longer be used, but Hamas government officials still have fuel for their own cars! They are saying that Hamas confiscated the fuel it needed from petrol stations and are using it exclusively for their own purposes, and trying to pretend to be the "good guys" as they exploit the fake crisis.

Meanwhile, the three children who were killed yesterday in a Gaza house fire caused by candles igniting stored fuel were declared "martyrs" by Mahmoud Abbas, with the implication that they died as part of a war. It is unclear if he considers it as if they were killed by Hamas or Israel. Either way, he is using that status to pay the families martyr money, which of course comes from Western aid.

The PFLP called on both Hamas and Fatah to put aside their differences and find a solution to the crisis.

There are also shortages of cooking gas. Israel does transfer these through Kerem Shalom but it only ships what Gaza accepts, and Hamas has been limiting that amount as well. But that's not the only problem - now there are problems with transporting the gas that is being shipped inside Gaza because of the shortage of diesel for the distribution trucks.

Israel is shipping some 150,000 liters of diesel through Kerem Shalom today. The Red Cross is bringing it in and paying for it for Gaza hospitals to be able to use their generators.

Al Dameer, a pseudo-human rights body, called for both the PA and Hamas to work together to find a solution to the problem, but hinted that Hamas' refusal to accept fuel from Israel might be legitimate. It said "Al Dameer calls upon the Gaza Government to work immediately with all in order to develop plans that contribute in finding temporary solutions for this continual crisis until achieving the final solution. It should be taken into consideration, the economical and social conditions of Gaza Population before developing these plans." As if Gazans would riot if fuel came from Israel, so their sky-high black market prices are reduced to merely the going market rate after PA taxes. (As usual, they find a way to blame Israel as well, calling it the "occupying power" of Gaza.)

It has now been nearly two months since Egypt cracked down on illegal fuel smuggling to Gaza, the only method of obtaining power plant fuel that the far-thinking Gaza government allowed for over a year.

"Moses led Muslims out of Egypt to liberate Palestine"

Lying as natural as breathing.

Interview with Dr. Omar Ja'ara, lecturer at Al-Najah University in Nablus, and specialist in Israeli affairs on PA TV:

"We must make clear to the world that David in the Hebrew Bible is not connected to David in the Quran, Solomon in the Hebrew Bible is not connected to Solomon in the Quran, and neither is Saul or Joshua son of Nun [of the Bible]. We have a great leader, Saul, [in the Quran] who defeated the nation of giants and killed Goliath. This is a great Muslim victory. The Muslims of the Children of Israel went out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and unfortunately, many researchers deny the Exodus of those oppressed people who were liberated by a great leader, like Moses the Muslim, the believing leader, the great Muslim, who was succeeded by Saul, the leader of these Muslims in liberating Palestine. This was the first Palestinian liberation through armed struggle to liberate Palestine from the nation of giants led by Goliath. This is our logic and this is our culture."
[PA TV (Fatah), Feb. 15, 2012]

Palestinian Media Watch finally put up the story on their main site.

(h/t Mike)

Hamas leader: "Half of Palestinians are Egyptian, the other half Saudi"

Oh, this is too good. From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an address by Hamas Minister of the Interior and of National Security Fathi Hammad, aired by Al-Hekma TV on March 23, 2012.

Fathi Hammad : Is Egypt incapable of supplying fuel for 1.5 to 2 million people in the Gaza Strip?
[...]
If you do not point your compass toward Palestine, Al-Aqsa, and Jerusalem, in order to uproot the Zionist enemy, the US will trample you underfoot. It will besiege you with its conspiracies and will finish you off. Therefore, you must hoist the banner of Jihad, the banner of "there is no god but Allah."
[...]
Brothers, there are 1.8 million of us in Gaza. In Egypt, there are about 90 million people. We equal merely two percent of the Egyptian population. [Supplying us with fuel] would not burden you at all.
[...]
At Al-Aqsa and on the land of Palestine, all the conspiracies, throughout history, have been shattered - the conspiracies of the Crusaders, and the conspiracies of the Tatars. At Al-Aqsa and on the land of Palestine, the Battle of Hattin was waged. The [West] does not want this noble history to repeat itself, because the Jews and their allies would be annihilated - the Zionists, the Americans, and the imperialists.

Thus, the conspiracy is very clear. Al-Aqsa and the land of Palestine represent the spearhead for Islam and for the Muslims. Therefore, when we seek the help of our Arab brothers, we are not seeking their help in order to eat, to live, to drink, to dress, or to live a life of luxury. No. When we seek their help, it is in order to continue to wage Jihad.
[...]
Allah be praised, we all have Arab roots, and every Palestinian, in Gaza and throughout Palestine, can prove his Arab roots - whether from Saudi Arabia, from Yemen, or anywhere. We have blood ties. So where is your affection and mercy?
[...]
Personally, half my family is Egyptian. We are all like that. More than 30 families in the Gaza Strip are called Al-Masri ["Egyptian"]. Brothers, half of the Palestinians are Egyptians and the other half are Saudis.

Who are the Palestinians? We have many families called Al-Masri, whose roots are Egyptian. Egyptian! They may be from Alexandria, from Cairo, from Dumietta, from the North, from Aswan, from Upper Egypt. We are Egyptians. We are Arabs. We are Muslims. We are a part of you.

Allah Akbar. All praise to Allah. Allah Akbar. How can you keep silent, oh Muslims, when the people of Gaza are dying? You watch from the sidelines without providing them with the simplest thing, which you give to the West for the most meager price.
[...]

Ah, but when it comes to becoming citizens of those Arab countries that they came from, then they are all "Palestinian" and must be treated like lepers - in order to protect their own nation, of course.

Palestinian Arab nationalism does not reflect any inherent peoplehood but rather it is a political fiction created only in the twentieth century, and only to destroy Zionism. And Fathi Hammad knows the truth, as do many other Arabs. They just won't be caught dead saying it to Westerners.

The logical conclusion from Hammad's statements is that Palestinian Arabs should be allowed, if they want to, to become citizens of any Arab country they desire - just as other Arabs can. Human rights groups should be in the forefront of that movement. The Arab nations who refuse to do so are engaging in worse discrimination against Palestinian Arabs than anyone else.

Yet Human Rights Watch is against this simple human right, and for that reason alone it deserves to be exposed as a hypocritical sham. Not to mention the Arab states who self-righteously pretend to support Palestinian Arab while they are in the forefront of keeping them stateless and miserable.

Freedom of the press, PA-style: Insult Fatah and get arrested

If you are a member of Fatah, and someone says something that offends you, you can make a quick call to PA security and demand that person be arrested. They'll be happy to do it for you. After all, what are friends for?

From Ma'an:

The recent detention of three Palestinian journalists in the West Bank are not based on security complaints but legal charges filed by individuals, the spokesman on the West Bank security services said Sunday.

Reporter Yousef al-Shayeb was detained a week ago, and on Wednesday a Palestinian court extended his remand for 15 days. He is being held while under investigation for "libel" and "defamation" over Jordanian newspaper article in January.

Ismat Abdul Khaliq was also detained this week after posting a number of comments on Facebook, and Tareq Khamis of Zaman press was briefly held on Sunday.

"The Palestinian Authority’s security services have no security-related problem with any journalist," Adnan Dmeiri told Ma’an.

Abdul Khaliq and al-Shayeb were detained "upon orders by the Attorney General and judiciary over legal charges filed by other people," Dmeiri said. He said three charges have been filed against Abdul Khaliq, without elaborating on the petitioners.

Earlier on Sunday, Palestinian Attorney General Ahmad al-Maghni said the preventive security had filed a complaint against Ismat Abdul Khaliq.

She posted a number of insulting comments which accused President Mahmoud Abbas of betrayal and called for disbanding the Palestinian Authority. The exact charges were not clear.

Meanwhile Tariq Khamis was interrogated over "something related to Ismat Abdul-Khaliq," Dmeiri said, also without providing details. Khamis was detained Sunday from offices of Arab Cultural Forum in Al-Bireh near Ramallah, and later released.

Al-Shayeb was jailed after a complaint filed by Foreign Minister Riyad Malki and Hael al-Fahoum, the envoy in Paris. His report in Al-Ghad newspaper documented corruption allegations against the Palestinian diplomatic delegation in France, the Palestinian National Fund and the foreign minister.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki on Thursday defended his role in the reporter's arrest, after the Palestinian journalists union held protests and called for members to boycott a press freedom prize announced by the PA days earlier.

"I'm surprised some journalists reacted emotionally on behalf of their colleague without hearing the other side's case, or considering for a moment if Yousef al-Shayeb is the oppressor or the oppressed," Al-Malki told Ma'an.

PA politicians are notoriously thin-skinned.

In the end, this shows that despite all the talk of democracy and liberalism and reform in the PA, it remains a Fatah terror gang who use the government to do what they please.

Hijacking Holocaust Remembrance at Northeastern University (video)

Must see:

Background here.

Some commenters urged me to make a poster after that article, but I was reluctant because I thought it might accidentally offend gays. But when I sent it to a prominent gay Zionist activist for comment the response was "I f***ing love it."

PLO mission in US honors Helen Thomas

From Palestine Press Agency:

The High Commission for the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington honored the American journalist and writer of Lebanese descent, Helen Thomas.

The award ceremony was held at the home of President of the Commission General of the PLO in Washington, Ambassador Maen Rashid Ereikat, in recognition of the long path of Thomas in the field of journalism and writing, which has long defended the Palestinian cause.

The ceremony was attended by a group of ambassadors, diplomats and representatives of the Arab embassies, journalists and human rights associations and American Arab leaders in the United States, with the participation of a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization Hanan Ashrawi.

Ashrawi gave Thomas a medal on behalf of President Mahmoud Abbas, and forwarded her greetings and appreciation of the president and the Palestinian leadership, for all she did to help the Palestinian cause in the West.

Ambassador Ereikat gave a certificate of appreciation to Thomas on behalf of the Commissioner General of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington, praised her achievements that she always talked about our people's right to liberty and self-determination.

He also expressed his thanks to Thomas on behalf of all Palestinians in the homeland and diaspora, emphasizing the importance of all that put forward for the rights of our people deprived of the American political landscape.

Hey, the PLO honors terrorists, child killers and someone who helped the Nazis with their genocide against Jews.

What's wrong with honoring a mere anti-semite as well?

(h/t @ChallahHuAkbar)

Gazans continue to suffer from Hamas' fuel crisis

Three children died in a house fire in Gaza when their portable heater exploded. A fourth is in critical condition.

Qatar is said to be shipping 25,000 tons of diesel for Gaza's power plant; the fuel is on its way to El Arish and is expected to arrive in a couple of days. No word on how Egypt would transfer it to Gaza, however.

Otherwise, nothing's changed. Hamas has clamped down on any complaints about the crisis so no one is blaming Hamas. Even AFP has gone back to reporting on the crisis without mentioning its origins in Hamas' political decisions.

Ambulances have no fuel.

Hamas is playing a waiting game with its citizens, and so far, it is winning - because no one in the Arab world has the guts to publicly castigate them for their role in this crisis.

Israel, Greece in joint naval drill

Found on Hezbollah's Al Manar website:

Israel, the United States and Greece are in the midst of a naval exercise in the Mediterranean Sea, in what Greek media outlets are saying is a message to Turkey following frayed ties with both the Zionist entity and Greece, Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

The exercise, called "Noble Dina," involves simulations of combat against submarines, air battles and protection of offshore natural gas platforms. The U.S. Sixth Fleet is also participating in the exercise, which the Greek media, which first reported on it, has described as being meant to send a message to Turkey.

Israeli occupation military sources confirmed that the exercise was taking place, but refused to convey additional details.

The exercise began on March 26 and is scheduled to end on April 5. According to reports in the Greek media, the exercise began at an American military base in Crete. Reportedly participating in the exercise are a Greek navy destroyer and submarine, an Israeli Navy sailing vessel and several U.S. Sixth Fleet battleships, along with Israeli, Greek and American fighter jets and helicopters.

According to a report published on the Greek website Defencenet.gr, part of the exercise will take place off the coast of Turkey, near the Greek island Mais. The exercise will continue off the southern coast of Cyprus before concluding in Haifa port.

Ha'aretz adds some detail:

Until 2009, Israel's Navy and the U.S. Sixth Fleet conducted a large yearly exercise with the Turkish navy called "Reliant Mermaid." Following the deterioration in Israel-Turkey relations in recent years and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's decisionto freeze military cooperation with Israel, the exercise was cancelled.

Last April, Israel and the U.S. decided to renew the exercise, but changed its name to Noble Dina. Greece, which was invited to participate instead of Turkey, jumped at the offer, which it saw as a political achievement vis-à-vis Turkey. Relations between the two countries are currently tense due to Turkish threats to act against Cyprus' natural gas platforms, in which Greece has interests.

Al Manar clearly got the story from Ha'aretz, but it is always fun to see what they keep and what they take out.

Israel, High Tech Superpower (video)

Nice to see this making it to the mainstream media.

(h/t Yoel)

Sky News: "Advanced" Iranian plans to attack Jewish, Western targets in Turkey

From Sky News:

Intelligence agencies are searching for members of a secret Iranian network of assassins under orders to attack Jewish, Israeli and Western targets in Turkey.

According to intelligence sources, the organisation behind the attack is known as Unit 400, a secret part of the al Quds Brigade, which falls under the direct command of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader.

"Unit 400 of the Qods Force has been developing in the last few months a standing operating procedure for carrying out an attack in Turkey against western targets as well as Israeli and Jewish. It is our firm assessment that these procedures are in a very advanced stage, and that the intention is to act on the plans very soon," an intelligence source told Sky News.

There is also evidence that Unit 400 has been given instructions to carry out more frequent and more daring 'terror' attacks around the world as a demonstration of 'Iran's asymmetric power' - in the face of the growing threat of Israeli or American air strikes on its alleged nuclear weapons programme, the sources said.

The sources named a senior officer in Unit 400 as being a key Iranian agent who "has been working up plans for potential attacks in European countries".

"Unit 400 is a top-secret "special ops" unit within the elite overseas wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force (IRGC-QF). It plans and carries out terror attacks on external targets, and provides material support to foreign militia groups, at the direct behest of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This is in accordance with the regime's core strategic considerations about how best to challenge perceived enemies in Israel and the west - through asymmetric warfare - and to cope with mounting international pressure over its nuclear programme," a secret study by a foreign intelligence agency said.

Several international intelligence sources confirmed that Ali Khamenei controlled the Quds Force through his close ally Qassem Suleiman.

"He runs the whole thing - directly. [Mahmoud] Ahmedinajad [the Iranian president] makes all the noise and gets the attention but it's the Supreme Leader who is in charge of what is going on especially when it comes to international operations," said a senior intelligence official.

Turkey has been the scene of at least two attempts against Israeli targets in recent years - in 2009, 2010, and in 2011 when six Turkish civilians were injured during an attack blamed on Unit 400 on the Israeli consul in Istanbul.

Unit 400 is also identified in the document as being behind the failed plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to Washington using Mexican drug mafia last year.

The commanders of Unit 400 have been identified as Hamed Abdellahi and Majid Alavi who is a former deputy minister in Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

"[The] Supreme Leader makes a decision to conduct an attack, the Unit activates a cell to perform it and recruits foreign agents as required… Training is sometimes given in Iran, as was the case prior to an attempted attack on the Israeli consul in Istanbul in 2011, and additional countries in the Middle East and Europe are used in order to blur Iran's connection to the attack," an intelligence document obtained by Sky says.

"The overall picture is one of an organisation which reaches out across the globe to commit carefully planned terror attacks of its own accord, as well as to arm proxy groups that will do so on its behest."