Death of arms salesman in Saudi Arabia casts suspicions on Israeli company Elbit

Jimmy Johnson Rights and Accountability 30 January 2015

Text message sent by Cramer, posted on Facebook by his nephew.

An arms salesman with an Elbit Systems US subsidiary has died under mysterious circumstances in Saudi Arabia.

Cristopher Cramer of New Hampshire-based Kollsman died on 15 January after a “three story tumble from the window of the Sahara Makarim Hotel in the city of Tabuk” according to a Fox News report this week. Kollsman is a subsiduary of Elbit’s US branch.

The company told Cramer’s family that he had committed suicide, a claim the family disputed, pointing to panicked voicemails and text messages he sent in the hours prior to his death.

According to the Fox report, Cramer texted an associate saying, “I’m at the Marakim tabuk hotel in Saudi. I think something bad is going to happen to me tonight. Please contact state dept ASAP. Bad things were said.” Cramer also left several voicemails with his friend and family attorney “saying he was in danger and to call the State Department.”

After Cramer’s family disputed the suicide claims Kollsman backed away and in a statement said: “Like the family, we are eager to learn more about his death and are in continuous contact with the US Department of State to strongly encourage their assistance in obtaining the final report of the local police regarding the circumstances surrounding Chris’ passing.”

Further questions remain about Israeli arms companies operating in Saudi Arabia, despite the two nations having no official diplomatic nor economic relations. According to the Fox report, Cramer was in Saudi Arabia to demonstrate and sell Elbit’s TOW anti-tank missile systems.

But in a posting on Facebook Cramer’s nephew Chris Arsenault said Cramer was in Saudi Arabia to “save his company the embarrassment of selling millions of dollars worth of sub-par weapons systems to the Saudi Army.” Whether the sale has already happened or is prospective, the TOW missile sale would not be the first military encounter between the two countries.

History of Saudi-Israel links

Both Saudi Arabia and Israel helped fund and train royalist forces in the north of Yemen during the Yemeni civil war that took place between 1962 and 1970. The opposing republicans in the south were sponsored by Egypt’s president, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Shalom Yerushalmi reported for the Israeli newspaper Ma’ariv in March 2014 that Saudi Arabia was a prime economic sponsor of Israel’s campaigns of cyber-warfare and targeted assassinations against Iran’s nuclear program. Referring to a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the AIPAC conference, Yerushalmi noted that Saudi Arabia “gives us tremendous funding in the campaign we fight against Iran.”

There is a substantial difference, however, between covert cooperation against mutual enemies and direct arms sales from to Saudi Arabia from an Israeli company. Saudi public opinion is strongly pro-Palestinian and the nation was the site of a large boycott, divestment and sanctions victory in October 2011 when Alstom lost its bid for an $11 billion railway contract in the kingdom.

This would not be the first time Israel has sold TOW missiles to a country with which is has no relations. Most famously Israel sold Iran several TOW missile systems in 1985 as part of what became known as the Iran-Contra affair (Robert Pear, 14 December 1986, “The Story Thus Far: Assembling Some of the Pieces of the Puzzle.” New York Times, p.D1). Additionally Israel provided TOW missiles and other arms to the Sudan People’s Liberation Army during the Second Sudanese Civil War (Jacob Abadi, 1999, “Israel and Sudan: The Saga of an Enigmatic Relationship.” Middle Eastern Studies, 35:3, p. 31).

The police in Tabuk in northwestern Saudi Arabia have not released any public information about Cramer’s death and none of the released voicemails or texts from Cramer point to a specific motive behind his death. None of Elbit’s statements refer to arms sales between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the Saudi government has not released any public statement about Cramer’s death nor prospective arms purchases from Israel.

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Comments

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Ed Ski replied on

it is crystal clear from his last statements that he was threatened with death by israelis. this guy is another american murdered by israel. israel is a rogue state that travels the world murdering whomever they feel might expose their criminal secrets. the fact that obama has not mentioned this incident confirms israel's guilt.

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Anthony Shaker replied on

Thanks for this timely piece. However, you repeat false rumors that Iran dealt with Israel. This has no basis in reality and served only as part of an American insurance policy, the intent being to be able to discredit Iran by association, just in case. But this too borders on fantasy. Even if President Reagan had offered Iran a laughable Contra arms deal to induce it to help the US out of a bind, and even if Iran had accepted it, where those arms came from would be immaterial. Whatever you may think of Iran, Iran simply does not deal with Israel--PERIOD.

Conspiracy theories pass too easily for analysis these days! I realize that international politics is a synonym for the devil's playpen, but you really should not be echoing American or Zionist nonsense. Please stop repeating falsehoods.

Saudi Arabia is a hub of international intrigue. The Zionist race colony to the north has greatly expanded its operations there since the Syrian War. But no Israeli or American agent is any longer safe in Saudi Arabia, or for that matter, in any GCC state. As one analyst recently confirmed, one would be foolish to imagine Saudi Arabia surviving for another ten years in its present form.

Same goes for Israel. The fact is that both Saudi Arabia (a country literally owned by the Saud clan) and a borderless Zionist race colony called Israel (which has finally trashed its armistice with Syria) have chosen to mount a terrorist assault on the Syrian government and people.

The price for that will be very steep, indeed. Iran has no policy of overseas assassination or false flag operations, as do Israel and the US. There are many other actors now. The United States has reshuffled the cards in the Middle East so wildly that their CIA proxies can be "moderate" terrorists on day, Wahhabi-takfiri terrorists the next.

Most of us are in the dark about Western skullduggery, but the "darkness" descending on Israel and Saudi, two creations of Anglo-American, is truly breathtaking!

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Jimmy Johnson replied on

Iran has bought numerous weapons systems from Israeli companies and arms deals post-revolution however I know of none post-2004. Throughout the 1980s Iran remained a major Israeli arms client and during the 1990s was a consistent destination for Israeli arms dealers and brokers. Some of these sales violated Israeli and U.S. laws and there are people in jail today behind some of these sales. It is not conspiracy theory, it is copiously documented.

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Anthony Shaker replied on

As far as I can tell--and I am a trained specialist on the Middle East--this is pure nonsense. Not only that, but you are using claims planted by the Israel military and intelligence services themselves. You should not be promoting such drivel in a political and international context you do not understand.

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Jimmy Johnson replied on

The problem isn’t the amount of available evidence, it’s that you choose to deny it exists for some reason. From German, Polish, U.S., Israeli and Iranian government, trade and media sources comes copious documentation. Both Israel and the U.S. have prosecuted Israelis for non-sanctioned military exports to Iran including chemical weapons. You can examine the U.S. court documents for Avichai Weinstein and Eli Cohen for details on how some of it went down. While most documents relating to Nahum Manbar’s case are not available, there is copious media coverage as well as interviews with Manbar (who is in an Israeli jail).

Pre-revolution Israel was one of Iran’s largest military suppliers and had been for nearly a decade. Numerous contacts and personal relationships were made during this time that endured past the revolution. Only some of the sales during the 1980s were part of Iran-Contra, others were simply regular arms sales facilitated by relationships built during the 1970s.

And attributing this to falsehoods by Israeli intelligence makes no sense at all. The publicized claims would be equally damaging and unpopular in both Israel and Iran. That’s why these sales only come to light when something goes wrong, such as errors with or fraudulent end user certificates or military and intelligence leaks. For more info see google.

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zoom replied on

it seems Israel always has its hand in such things

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Peter Loeb replied on

This is an excellent beginning in trying to comprehend what is going on
and why as regards Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Why (from the Israeli perspective) is Saudi Arabia pumping funds to the militants invading Syria and Iraq? What benefit is this for Israel?

Is there a relationship between training malcontent militant fundamentalists
such as those engaged in terrorist activities in France and other European
nations ("Charlie"). ? After these events Israel righteously(?) proclaimed that
the cause is "anti-Semitism" and proposed that Jews in these countries
come to Palestine, their real "home". ( Several known Jewish commentators
have disputed these claims They have been mostly unheard..)

Is this a more complex version of the bombing of Jews in Iraq by Ben Gurion
carried out by Shin Bet. The Iraqjui Jews frightened by "anti-Semitism"
fled to Israel---the goal of the ben Gurion initiative--- never suspecting that
it could have been Israel itself that was the cause.

It must be mentioned here that there is at this time no documentation as
there was of ben Gurion's actions in Iraq.

Is there a more profound reason for the US backing of Israel (beyond
domestic concerns in the US) and US expfressed hope that the new
Saudi regime will endure?

The US must be aware that they are raising fears and funds to fight ISIS
and al quaeda which Saudi Arabia is funding. The US must also know
of the hard-line Saudi ambitions over hundreds of years to invade
Syria. They must also be aware of the new King's past relationships with
terrorist organizations.

Is there more that we on the outside do not know?

----Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA

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Jimmy Johnson replied on

Saudi support for right-wing militias in Syria and Iraq probably has little or nothing to do with Israel. I’ll be updating this post or writing a new one soon enough but from what little is known thus far, Israel probably had nothing to do with the man’s death. The only big intrigue is that Saudi is buying Israeli arms/Israel is selling arms to Saudi.

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Anthony Shaker replied on

Again, what do you base yourself on, Mr. Johnson? The same "documents" furnished by Israel you refer to farther up in your reply about Iran? You are ignorant of both Syria and Iran. But I take your comments on Syria especially personally. Like Lebanon, Syria is at the center of Israel's terror network. Have you ever heard of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front? Israel has installed them in the Golan, right along the border. Even UN officials have admitted this.

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Jimmy Johnson replied on

I did said nothing of the sort and now you’re simply trolling. I said Saudi involvement in Syria (probably) has nothing to do with Israel. Obviously Israel is up to all kinds of foul play of its own in Syria and has been for decades. Bye.

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Peter Loeb replied on

Mr. (Jimmy) Johnson, your posts have been well- put but your abrupt "Bye"
sounds like a retreat.

Given Israel's "foul play" (to say the least) and the well-known interests and
capacities of the Israeli government, I do not allow them the innocence that
your comments seem to indicate.

----Peter Loeb, Boston, MA, USA

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Jimmy Johnson replied on

What innocence? I said nothing of the sort. And the fellow I said bye to rejects entirely what I offered to back up my claims. So be it. To continue is a waste of his and my time and would just be spinning wheels.

Jimmy Johnson

Jimmy Johnson is an organizer in Detroit, Turtle Island.