Was German State Television Involved in Sea Watch 3?

Hat tip Vlad Tepes and Il Giornale

The on-going saga of the Sea Watch 3 and its repercussions for Italian-German relations has just gotten much more interesting. It is now being reported, both in Germany and in Italy, that two journalists from German state television (ARD), were on board the Sea Watch 3 during the entire operation reporting on the rescue of migrants to the standoff at Lampedusa and the illegal docking in which an Italian Guardia di Finanza patrol boat was nearly rammed. The below Il Giornale article was translated from Italian by Fousesquawk.

http://www.ilgiornale.it/news/mondo/dietro-carola-c-mano-merkel-laccusa-choc-dellex-capo-dei-1733720.html

Behind Carola there is the hand of the Germans. Shocking accusation of ex chief of (intelligence) services

On board the Sea Watch, next to Rackete, there was German state television. Concerns about the financing of the NGO. The ex- head of German 007 accuses Merkel

- Andrea Indini, July 30, 2019-12:50

Who was really behind the illegal operation conducted by commander Carola Rackete at the helm of Sea Watch 3? It is difficult to be certain, but in Germany, certain (concerns) are beginning to be raised that point directly at German state TV, and consequently at Angela Merkel.

One thesis, which initially had found space at an alternative information site near the extreme right, Journalist Watch.com, but which yesterday was given credence also by the ex-head of the secret services, Hans-Georg Maassen, removed a year ago after  having put the lie to the chancellor on a leaked video denouncing the "foreign hunt" after the homicide in Chemnitz.

The accusations were thrown last week when the site, Journalist Watch.com wrote  that the entire episode of Sea Watch 3 (incursion along the coast of Libya, up to arrival at Lampedusa and the (ramming) of the patrol boat of the Italian Guardia di Finanza was " a genius work of propaganda" of the transmitting public television, ARD, "probably with the intent of provoking a confrontation with Italian authorities at any cost".  On board the ship, put out to sea by the German NGO Sea Watch. were, in fact, two journalists who filmed and reported the entire voyage in the Mediterranean, the rescue of the migrants, the entrance at the port of Lampedusa in violation of the Security decree to the arrest of Rackete. on behalf of the column, Panorama.

"If this news is correct, Panorama would not be a western transmission", commented Maassen on Twitter, who from 2012 to 2018 was director of German  internal secret (intelligence) services. In the message, later removed, reference is made to western German media, which, before the fall of the Berlin Wall, was considered in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) to be the only source of reliable news. Already very close to Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, in September 2018 he was removed from his position of president of BfV (Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution)  with the accusation of disclosing sensitive information to Alternative for Germany (AfD), thus, being less than the obligation of impartiality. For his undoubted experience, he was nominated under secretary of Interior for security, but last November he was  placed on leave before taking charge after he had denounced the presence of subversive elements within the SpD (Social Democrats),which  from 14 March 2018 is part of the Grand Coalition with the Cdu (Christian Democrats) of Merkel.

Now Maassen is out of the game, but as also notes Fatto Quotidiano, he surely still has good contacts within the German intelligence structure. And, while the alternative information sites accuse public TV of , in some manner, having financed the last mission of Sea Watch, the ex-head of German (intelligence) takes a step back, but as reveals The Guardian, maintains that the entire operation was planned in order to put Minister of Interior Matteo Salvini in difficulty causing an incident that reopened the debate on the closure of Italian ports. In the past days, Giorgia Meloni has immediately asked for clarification of "this surprising declaration" asking for the summoning of the ex-head of the German intelligence services to the European Parliament to "tell his version of the facts" of an event in which Berlin had a role not altogether clear.