Ari Ben-Menashe

Ari Ben-Menashe is a former arms dealer and the author of Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network, a book purporting to describe his involvement in Iran-Contra and other intelligence operations. An Iranian Jew who was educated in Israel, he is a former Israeli government employee, and has said that he worked for the intelligence services. He has also said he was an advisor to former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir. He now runs Albury Grain Sales, a commodities brokerage registered in Montreal, Canada, where he lives.

Related Topics:
Arms dealer - Iran-Contra - Iranian - Jew - Israel - Israeli government - Yitzhak Shamir - Montreal - Canada

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Ben-Menashe came to the attention of the international media in 2002, when he alleged that Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of Zimbabwe's opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, had approached him for help to "eliminate" President Robert Mugabe. Ben-Menashe produced a videotape of conversations he had had with Tsvangirai in London, England, and Montreal, where the latter appeared to ask for Ben-Menashe's help as a political consultant. Unbeknownst to Tsvangirai, Ben-Menashe's Montreal consultancy firm, Dickens and Madson, now bankrupt, was working in an advisory capacity for Mugabe, and the tapes were handed over to the Zimbabwean authorities, who charged Tsvangirai with treason, which is punishable by death in that country. Tsvangarai was acquitted in 2003 when a court in Harare accepted he had not used the word "eliminate" to mean that he wanted Mugabe to be assassinated. Judge Paddington Garwe described Ben-Menashe, who was the prosecution's star witness, as "rude, unreliable, and contemptuous."

Related Topics:
Morgan Tsvangirai - Zimbabwe - Movement for Democratic Change - Eliminate - Robert Mugabe - London - England - Treason - Punishable by death - Harare - Assassinated - Prosecution - Witness

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The Jerusalem Post, quoting an "authoritative" source, wrote on March 27, 1990 that Ben-Menashe had not worked for the Israeli government in any capacity, and that the Israeli defense establishment had had "no contact" with him. Documents subsequently obtained by American journalists showed that Ben-Menashe had, in fact, worked for the External Relations Department of Israeli military intelligence from 1977-87, though his critics say he was a low-level translator. http://www.aijac.org.au/review/2002/273/mm273.html Documents obtained in 2002 by Canadian journalists under Canada's freedom of information legislation indicate that Ben-Menashe has supplied consultancy services to the Canadian government. Time Magazine has called him a "spinner of tangled yarns."

Related Topics:
Jerusalem Post - March 27 - 1990 - 2002 - Canadian - Freedom of information legislation - Canadian government

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