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By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

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BY WAY OF DECEPTION 211what he had done, but Moukharbel told him he'd heard about iton the radio and that he'd missed the Israeli plane.Carlos replied, "Yes, we missed this time, but we're going back onthe nineteenth to do it again."Naturally, Moukharbel fed this tidbit to Oren Riff. Again, they didnot want to burn such a valuable agent, so Riff ordered doublesecurity and had all Israeli planes moved to the north side <strong>of</strong> theairport so that there was just one approach to them, shouldCarlos fulfill his threat.Sure enough, on January 19, after the French had been warnedthere might be a terrorist attack, Carlos arrived with three men inthe car. They made three passes and then stopped, but the Frenchpolice, their sirens roaring, closed in. The men didn't fire. Instead,appearing to throw down their weapons, they ran <strong>of</strong>f, leaving theircar behind. Carlos grabbed a passer-by and put a gun to herhead. One <strong>of</strong> his colleagues followed suit. For the next 30 minutes,there was a stand<strong>of</strong>f while they negotiated.Although no guns were fired, somehow they got away. Theirequipment was left behind, and Carlos disappeared. EvenMoukharbel didn't know where he was.* * *For the next five months, things were quiet. Moukharbel was stillsupplying valuable information, but he had heard nothing aboutCarlos. At this point he was becoming nervous, too: friends hadtold Moukharbel that some people in Beirut were gettingsuspicious <strong>of</strong> his activities and wanted to talk to him. <strong>By</strong> this time,the Mossad had decided to hit Carlos, but all Moukharbel wantedwas a new identity and to get out <strong>of</strong> the game as quickly as hecould. He had begun to fear that Carlos was on to him.Headquarters didn't want Riff to tackle Carlos himself, nor didthey want the Metsada to eliminate him, so it was decided thatthey should leave the whole thing to the French, although theywere prepared to help out with some information.On June 10, 1975, Carlos phoned Moukharbel, who was

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