Turkish media were left red-faced when they erroneously claimed that the Israeli Spy Agency, Mossad, had sent an operative named ‘Amit Nakesh’ to assassinate Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of Hamas’s political wing.
Ismail Haniyeh, the chief of Hamas’s political wing, was in Tehran to attend the swearing-in of the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, when he was killed on July 31.
Turkish Media Embarrassed by Blunder Over ‘Amit Nakesh’ Mossad Story
Several prominent Turkish media outlets such as Akdeniz Gerçek Gazetesi, Güneydoğu Ekspres, and Haber Global reported that ‘Amit Nakesh’ had killed Haniyeh at his guesthouse in northern Tehran.
One Turkish media outlet, Usak Olay, even published Amit Nakesh’s profile, and as the name is Indian, there were speculations that he could be an Israeli of Indian origin due to his first name, Amit, which is quite common in India.
Once the faux pas became evident, Turkish media outlets removed all references to ‘Amit Nakesh’. The Turkish media had fallen victim to an Israeli pun.
The genesis of this faux pas by Turkish media could be traced to a post on X by entrepreneur and researcher Dr. Eli David on July 31.
The post said that Israeli sources revealed that the name ‘Amit Nakesh’ closely resembles the Hebrew word “hamitnakesh,” which also means assassin.
David further posted,
“Israeli sources revealed the name of the Mossad agent who assassinated Ismail Haniyeh. His name is Amit Nakesh, who according to sources has taken part in several previous assassinations as well. Amit, you are a hero!”
However, on July 1st, the founder of Deep Instinct revealed that it was a joke about the assassin being named ‘Amit Nakesh’.
Much to the delight of David, the Turkish media, without verifying the facts, bit the bait and in the end, were left to bear the ignominy of being fooled.
David tweeted on X,
“Yesterday I posted a joke that the name of the Mossad agent who killed Haniyeh is ‘Amit Nakesh’, which in Hebrew literally means ‘assassin’. Today the Turkish press ran with it, and some even referred to him as Colonel Amit Nakesh,”
The Israeli Secret Service Mossad has been known to target its opponents or people who have killed Israeli citizens across the world. In the past, it had kidnapped Adolf Eichmann, a WWII Nazi war criminal, and brought him to Israel to stand trial.
It is also believed to have carried out a series of assassinations across the world of the perpetrators of the Munich Olympics Israeli athletes’ massacre. However, it has never publicly acknowledged its hand in these assassinations, and Israel has neither confirmed nor denied involvement in Haniyeh’s killing either.
