3 Americans Held in Iran Are all Jews: Were They Spies?

While the American media coverage and international news agencies are content to indicate that three Americans detained by Iran after crossing the Iranian Iraqi border are tourists, lost hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan, "Israel National News" website has ensured that all three are Jews and journalists as well.

Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were detained on the Iranian side of the border on July 31 for entering Iran illegally after allegedly hiking through the mountains from Iraq's Kurdistan region. A fourth American, Shon Meckfessel, did not go on the hike and stayed behind at the hotel after feeling ill. Meckfessel has said his detained companions made "a simple and very regrettable mistake." The US State Department has said it has still not been able to officially confirm the arrest of the three Americans by Iran.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Tehran to return them as quickly as possible but the Iranian authorities are questioning whether they are tourists as claimed or not.

Josh Fattal is a researcher in the American Jewish center and works for the Jewish magazine "The Jewish Week". Sarah Shourd a writer and a contributor to New America Media, and one of Matador Pulse’s contributing writers.

Shane Bauer is the connoisseur of the region. He is a freelance journalist in several online news organizations, fluent in Arabic, and being installed in the Arab world, he covered news in Iraq and knows that country very well.

Having concealed their Judaism is doubtful and suggests they were on a mission of spying for the Israeli Mossad in particular.

As a journalist, Meckfessel claims that he and his comrades had come from Syria, through Turkey to the region of Kurdistan in Iraq known as "Ahmad Awwa" to "visit stunning natural beauty and the waterfalls" without being aware that it lies on the border with Iran: "There is no (tour guide), Lonely Planet in Iraqi Kurdistan, and Ahmed Awa was not on the map we had planned to," he wrote in a communique broadcast on several Internet news sites, including The Nation, New American Media and Mother Jones, where he worked as a freelancer.

Moreover, the assertions of this journalist contradict the statements of the tourism police in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan. It shall have met the three Americans and have warned of their proximity to the Iranian border, BBC reported. "The tourism police in the region had asked them not to climb mountains because the Iranian border was very close," said Bechro Ahmad, the spokesman of the security of Iraqi Kurdistan, and concludes that "they crossed the border, despite warnings."

IRAQI FM ASKS IRAN FOR INFORMATION
Meanwhile, Iraq's foreign minister has asked Iran for information on the fate of three US “hikers”, he said on Saturday. Hoshyar Zebari said he met Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi on Wednesday to ask about the fate of the detained. "I met with the Iranian ambassador and asked for information on the missing Americans and we are waiting for a response," Zebari said. He did not elaborate on the content of the meeting.

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