Is Israel Behind the Palestinian Authority Sex Scandal?

The PA's Chief of Staff is caught with his pants down, but why does the tape break on Israeli TV?

Screenshot from the video in question, which Israel says shows Dr. Rafiq al-Husseini soliciting sexual favor from women.

(OCCUPIED PALESTINE / SALEM) - Is the Israeli government behind a sex scandal presently rocking the Palestinian Authority? The head of security for Palestine, Dr. Rafiq al-Husseini, was taped in a clip exposed by Israeli television, soliciting sexual favor from women.

Y-Net in Israel reports that the PA is calling for an inquiry into the incident.

It is reported that he speaks lowly about President Mahmoud Abbas on the tape, saying he "lacks charisma" and that he also makes insulting statements about the credibility of the late Palestinian President, Yasser Arafat.

Adjacent to the paragraph in their article with the information about al-Husseini's alleged statements, is a 'Sarah Palin 2112' ad. Few things need less explanation.

Sources tell Salem-News.com that the fact that the tape surfaced at all, shows the strong collusion between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. That same source also suggested that this collusion allowed the tape to be recorded in the first place.

Excluding whatever role they may have had in it, Israeli sources say the tape proves that corruption runs deep in the Palestinian authority inner circle.

We learned that the Israelis arrested a lawyer involved with the PA, but a judge cut the attorney loose because he really couldn't be charged. That lawyer says he has since learned that there is a contract out on his life.

"If this embarrassing situation somehow leads to the exposure of the working agreements between the PA and Israel, then it could possibly lead to something positive," our source said.

If Israel simply uses it as a way to degrade and humiliate the PA, as well as all Palestinians, and an excuse to point fingers, then it was all probably just a setup organized by Israel in the first place to encourage political instability.

Israel has quite a history of keeping this part of the world highly unstable. The attorney in the case should not be placed in this position. None of the statements allegedly on the tape have been verified.

A set of videos was posted by Israel Channel 10 news, but one has already disappeared from YouTube. We have a line on that, and the second video appears to still be here, so here it is. Of course it is in Hebrew, but it does contain the video in question.

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines. Tim holds numerous awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), first place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com