By Iqbal Jassat – Johannesburg

Revelations made in South Africa’s weekend newspaper City Press during the end of September 2013, places Israel’s notorious Mossad at the center of alarmist reports raised on the so-called “White Widow”.

The expose by Jacques Pauw claims that Samantha Lewthwaite – dubbed the “White Widow” – was seen in Pretoria as recently as this year conducting “surveillance” on foreign embassies there.

“Between January and February this year, British citizen Lewthwaite (29) was caught on closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in Arcadia, Pretoria, watching several foreign embassies. City Press understands the British High Commission was one”.

Startling details further reveal that a Jewish Community Security Organization (CSO) was warned by Israel’s Mossad that Lewthwaite was “here” and posed a threat to “their” community.

City Press describes CSO as a “controversial and clandestine” security organization that “protects” Jewish South Africans against crime, terrorism and anti-Semitism.

The expose goes on to claim that the CSO is closely aligned to the country’s “largest private law enforcement agency”, SSG Specialised Services Group, which operates across Africa.

“The company has close links to several intelligence agencies, including Mossad and the police’s crime intelligence unit”.

An intriguing part of the report reveals how these two groups feed off each other and also that their intimate ties to a foreign intelligence outfit Mossad enables them to peddle unverified allegations about Lewthwaite.

SSG executives who spoke to City Press while admitting that their intelligence was “not yet verified”, go on to add another shocking detail. They are reported as saying that the information emanated from an intelligence agency that received it from an embassy.

A summarized version of this narrative will read as follows: An “embassy” leaks info to Mossad who warns CSO who in turn reports it to SSG.

Though the identity of the “embassy” is not disclosed, speculating that it in all likelihood is Israel, will not be far-fetched.

If we reflect back to a week or longer when the Gateway siege in Kenya dominated news, many South African media quoted self-styled “terror expert” Hussein Solomon as their source on  allegations related to the “White Widow”.

When challenged by Reuters to back-up his claims with evidence, Solomon was unable to do so. In fact he admitted on the record, not to have any “factual underpinnings” to these claims.

What is clear though is that notwithstanding complete absence of any evidence, Solomon has at regular intervals been raising alarming warnings about so-called terror threat from “Islamists” whom he further denigrates as “Islamo-fascists” in typical Israeli-terms.

What role has he played by advancing a typical neocon agenda in South Africa?

The answer to this question will best be formulated once his position on the Israeli terror chess board is explored.

His latest diatribe carrying a provocative title “Jihad – a South African Perspective” identifies Solomon as a senior research associate with an Israeli-based right-wing group known as “Research for the Study of Islam and Muslims in Africa” (RIMA).

Singing from the same hymn-page is quite an extraordinary coincidence for the group of 5: Israeli embassy, Mossad, CSO, SSG and Solomon.

The thread running through this group extends to a few journalists who are known for their sympathetic views on Israel.

Now that the dust has settled in Kenya and the full horror of the Westgate tragedy becomes clearer, it remains to be seen whether media in Africa and South Africa in particular, will rise above the prejudice inherent in the operations of Mossad and its point-men.

– Iqbal Jassat is an Exec Member of the Media Review Network – Johannesburg – South Africa. He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com.