Khashoggi’s death was an ‘Operation Eichmann’ Gone Bad

According to sources, Khashoggi was not choked, but stopped breathing after he was drugged to get him from Turkey back to his home country.

Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in his palace in Saudia Arabia (photo credit: ROYAL PALACE)
Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in his palace in Saudia Arabia
(photo credit: ROYAL PALACE)
According to some sources, Khashoggi was not choked; instead he stopped breathing after he was drugged in order to get him from Turkey back to home to Saudi Arabia.
Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi Arabian Embassy but did not walk out. It appears that an attempt was made to drug him and return him to his home country to stand trial for charges against the Saudi government.
Article 6 of Saudi Arabian basic law states it is “punishable by imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years and a fine of not more than SAR 3 million [$800,000] or one of these penalties for a number of crimes, including the production of anything that violates public order, religious values, morals, the inviolability of private life, or preparation, transmission or storage of it through the Internet or a computer.”
I was quietly told – first in Israel by a former high-level member of the Mossad, and later in a meeting with Egyptian intelligence officials – that Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman approved the mission to arrest Khashoggi and bring him to justice, as Israel did with Adolf Eichmann. Unfortunately, the persons charged with secretly arresting the journalist and flying him back to stand trial for incitement accidentally killed him with an overdose and then panicked. It was then that the cover-up ensued.
Shortly thereafter, I flew to the United Arab Emirates and heard the story repeated twice more before flying and after. While in the various countries, I met with His Royal Highness Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the deputy prime minister, and defense minister. I also held meetings with the ministers of foreign affairs, Islamic affairs, Da’wah and Guidance, and Education, as well as with the secretary-general of the Islamic World League, and members of the ETIDAL Center (Combating Extremist Ideology).
According to those sources I spoke with, Khashoggi stopped breathing after he was drugged, as stated above.
KHASHOGGI’S LAST article in The Washington Post broadcast some of his long-standing disapprovals. He wrote: “Even in Tunisia and Kuwait, where the press is considered at least ‘partly free,’ the media focuses on domestic issues but not issues faced by the greater Arab world. They are hesitant to provide a platform for journalists from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Yemen. Even Lebanon, the Arab world’s crown jewel when it comes to press freedom, has fallen victim to the polarization and influence of pro-Iran Hezbollah.”
Despite rabid finger-pointing by Turkey, the Saudis were well aware that the embassy cameras were trained on the corridors.
According to one unidentified source, “No one was authorized to kill Khashoggi. We knew we had every right to smuggle him out and arrest him, as he is a Saudi citizen.”
I was in a delegation that had a two-hour meeting with the crown prince. I told the crown prince the story of “Operation Eichmann.” I knew it well because Isser Harel, who planned the operation, shared it with me at his home one evening over dinner.
I told the crown prince that I believe he did the same thing and drugged Khashoggi to bring him back to charge him for incitement, but the drug killed him. The Prince never denied it; he simply talked about how unfortunate the whole event was. He said “even a prince can make a mistake.”
At the close of World War II, Adolf Eichmann assumed various aliases and identities in an attempt to elude Allied authorities and evade responsibility for his wartime atrocities. Eichmann was the Nazi transportation administrator assigned the duty of ensuring that trains packed with Jews heading to the death camps were kept in good working order,
In 1960, the Mossad, Israel’s Intelligence Agency, then headed by Isser Harel, planned and executed “Operation Finale.” The intelligence agents tracked Eichmann to his village, drugged him and brought him to Israel. There, the fugitive stood trial on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against the Jewish people.
He was convicted in 1961, and after all appeals were exhausted, he was hanged. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered across the Mediterranean.
Such was the plan for Jamal Khashoggi, a plan that went awry, resulting in his death.
The writer is a New York Times bestselling author with 92 published books, including The New Iran. He is the founder of Friends of Zion Museum in Jerusalem and serves on the Trump Faith Initiative.