The connection between Israel and the arrest of Telegram founder and CEO, Pavel Durov
...plus comments from Macron, Zakharova and the EU Commission on this story.
When reading the title of this article of mine you may wonder what this connection could be. So, here we go, straight into the core of the issue:
A Haaretz article (see the headline in the picture above) published on 21st August 2024 reads (emphasis mine):
A few months ago, foreign hackers managed to break into a computer linked to Israel's Justice Ministry. Tens of thousands of classified files and sensitive emails were leaked. Links allowing anyone to download the breached files were published on Telegram, the popular instant messaging app.
And further down in the article (emphasis mine):
Telegram has proved a huge challenge for Israel since the beginning of the war.
While many technology companies have simplified the mechanisms through which states can contact them, Telegram is considered the least cooperative of all.
And, as reported in this Ynet article (see headline below), a few days ago the servers of the Knesset (Israeli parliament) were hacked and messages that read verbatim:
An answer will come and a decision will be made, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.
…were sent to thousands of Israeli settlers via Telegram, allegedly by Hezbollah, though I have not seen any claim on the Resistance network. What if this was staged by the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency?
In fact… what happens then?! The founder and CEO of Telegram, Pavel Durov, is arrested in Paris (France), as I reported yesterday in the article in the link below:
Moreover, it is worth noting that Pavel Durov is charged for crimes which Mark Zuckerberg could be accused of. For example, in January 2024 The Guardian wrote an article with the following deadline:
And again in May 2024 the CBNC published an article with the following headline:
So why not issue an arrest warrant for Zuckerberg as well?
It is easy to answer this question, but the answer can also be found in the aforementioned Haaretz article (emphasis mine):
Israeli sources explain that Google or Meta will remove a page […] On Telegram content cannot be removed with such arguments […]
The Israeli Ministry of Justice has sent Facebook over 40,000 successful requests to remove illegal content [i.e. “illegal” by Western standards, most likely pro-Palestine posts]. TikTok has also removed over 20,000 posts reported by Israel. On Telegram, that number is just over 1,300.
In 2018, when Telegram was blocked by a Russian court ruling following the entry into force of a law requiring correspondences to be stored for six months and the handing over of keys to decrypt them, there were dozens of Western human rights organisations crying out in scandal, as pointed out recently by Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - see update at the bottom of my article on Pavel Durov’s arrest in the link above. At that time, the western mainstream media (MSM) were spinning the classic narrative of freedom of the press torn to shreds, of justice at the service of political power, and made appeals to the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc. Where are they today?
By the way, after Emmanuel Macron’s tweet earlier today (see picture above), Maria Zakharova, posted the following statement on her Telegram channel (all formatting original):
The French Foreign Ministry said that out of respect for the independence of the judicial system in France, the French government cannot comment on the situation with Mr Durov.
The funniest thing is that earlier the French Foreign Ministry commented without embarrassment on the decisions of even the UN International Court of Justice. It turns out that it did not respect international law, according to the logic of French diplomats. I will not even speak about comments on the judgements of foreign courts - Paris does not usually restrain itself.
In the meantime, the EU Commission is trying to distance itself “from French Telegram spat”, as reported by EuroNews, citing an EU Commission spokesperson as saying:
Criminal prosecution is not among the potential sanctions for a breach of the DSA [Digital Services Act]. The DSA does not define what is illegal nor does it establish any criminal offence and can therefore not be invoked for arrests. Only national [or international] laws that define a criminal offence can be invoked.
We are closely monitoring the developments related to Telegram and stand ready to cooperate with the French authorities should it be relevant.
We will see how it goes and if Pavel Durov becomes a new Julian Assange…
UPDATE (27/08/2024): Just a minor update to add this link to an article on Strategic Culture Foundation, in case you are looking for further reading on this topic.
this is very helpful and informative ismaele... thank you!!
IMPLEMENTING OF DIALOGUE IN A BROAD PUBLIC CULTURAL BASE TO RE-ESTABLISH HEALTHY HUMAN COMMUNICATION in our present fake 'money' (Greek 'mnemosis' = 'memory' Oligarch controlled media with Censorship, Shadow-banning, Cancelling, Banishing & other MONOLOGUES.
RE: Arrest & Persecution of Telegram's Pavel Durov, WikiLeaks Julian Assange, Edward Snowden & many millions of other Truth Tellers worldwide. HUMANITY NEEDS INDIGENOUS CULTURAL EMPOWERMENT
DIPLOMATIC PAIRING of BEHIND-CLOSED-DOORS NEGOTIATIONS with OPEN, PUBLIC BOTH-SIDES-NOW, EQUAL-TIME, RECORDED & PUBLISHED DIALOGUES for the public & specialists to be able to review & align with the issues, sincerity & complementation of parties for holistic solutions. How we as citizens & residents, implement whole culture negotiation as the norm for our businesses, institutions & governments to follow as the norm.
The Right to Free Speech as the 1st Amendment was ill conceived (Half-baked, immature) in its wording. There are always issues of Slander, Libel, Defamation, Mis-representation, Miss or Dis-Information or impinging upon one's reputation, which must be responded to upon request. Free Speech must be paired with RESPONSE-ABLE SPEECH. i.e. Citizens have right to speak freely but also a responsibility to provide others the ability to respond to our acts & our speech in formal Dialogue or 'Debate' (French 'de' = 'undo' + 'bate' = 'the-fight') upon request.
All humanity's worldwide 'indigenous' (Latin 'self-generating') ancestors & 1st Nations provided for COUNCIL PROCESS or the opportunity for Both-sided, Equal-time, Recorded (aka witnessed) & Published (shared) Dialogue. When we openly offer our readers the equal opportunity to respond to what is said before, after or during the publication, then legally, we’ve satisfied any claims to Slander, Libel, Defamation etc. As well, we make our writing, media, audio or visual much more interesting to the average person. indeed Debates are the most viewed, listened to & read media events because human mind prefers to contrast & compare facts, figures, arguments, perspectives etc. in the dialectic way our mind forms meaning & actionable memory. India's 'Swadeshi' (Hindi 'Indigenous' = 'Self-sufficiency') movement with Mohandas Gandhi's leadership implemented 'Satyagraha' (H. 'Truth-search'). BOTH-SIDES-NOW, as an easy to use meeting, negotiation, contracting, contract-agreement, & conflict resolution recording program. People don't realize how powerful we are at the bottom for reaching constructive creative agreements among our families, friends, colleague at home, in Multihomes (eg. apartment, townhouse & village where 70% of people now live in an average of 32 dwelling-units = ~100 people) at work, school, commerce, industry, organizations, institutions etc.
https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1-both-sides-now-equal-time-recorded-dialogues
1st Nations here & all humanity's worldwide 'indigenous' (Latin 'self-generating') ancestors cultivated COUNCIL PROCESS FOR REDUCING THE ODDS OF VIOLENCE THROUGH COMMUNICATION.
At all interpersonal LEVELS, from individual, family, extended-family, ~100 (50-150) person Multihome-Building-Complex (eg. Apartment, Townhouse & Village-cluster where 70% of people live today.) city, region, state, national, continental, hemispheric & international levels. Any person at any time could raise an issue both positive for Constructive-partnership & negative for Conflict-Resolution with any person who affects them with a statement or an action.
The person so addressed for their statement or action is responsible to meet the issuer in a Both-sides-now, Equal-time, Recorded & Published Dialogue. Typically when more than one person or stakeholder group is involved at any level, these groups must 'debate' (French 'de' = 'undo' + 'bate' = 'the-fight') amongst themselves & choose a spokesperson, even debate among other stakeholder groups to finally choose a spokesperson. The spokesperson enunciates the issue & helps set the date & time for meeting in person or on-line in public (or private if the issue involves certain intimate parameters) debate.
IN-PERSON 2500 years ago Socrates based in Greece's ancient Council Process, called this 'Dialectics' ('Both-sides') with the right & responsibility of every student, teacher, administrator & townspeople to raise issues in 'Academia' (Held in the Athens 'Garden of Academus'). Mohandas Gandhi recalling India's 'Swadeshi' (Hindi 'indigenous' aka 'self-sufficiency') Council Process called this 'Satyagraha' (H. 'Truth-search') https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1-both-sides-now-equal-time-recorded-dialogues
ON-LINE CONVERTING SOCIAL MEDIA FROM MONO TO DIALOGUE During the Oligarch rollout of Social-Media, we missed the opportunity to implement 'Debate' buttons to online articles & Comment Sections, enabling an individual & collective process for challenging statements made, for convening written online debate among diverse stakeholder groups, choosing Spokespersons, Engaging with Authors & Commenters & publishing together. https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/d-participatory-structure/1communication-converting-social-media-from-mono-to-dialogue-libya Libya’s mentioned as to our responsibility never to forget the atrocity we commit there & in 100s of other subject states & continue to commit in following unilateral executive Oligarch mandates for lack of economic sovereignty. RELATIONAL ECONOMY https://sites.google.com/site/indigenecommunity/relational-economy
If we learn from our ancient indigenous heritage, such Council Process will expose those with tendencies towards violence at a level, they can understand & engage with. Its a far more effective 'Field-of-Engagement' to dialogue details of one's issues & perhaps receive a necessary loving & growing 'Character-Assassination' we can all learn from, than to physically assassinate the spokesperson such as Trump with LAWFARE & have to go through the whole issue, recreated with another unexpected apparition of the same spirit. Its far more effective in human resolution of life-issues, to include the other in our equation of understanding than to eliminate one character or enemy & to find ourselves subject to the 'Throws of Karma'.