Three suspected al Qaeda terrorists arrested in Spain in early August were allegedly plotting an airborne attack on a shopping mall near Gibraltar, the British overseas territory on the southernmost tip of Spain.

In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has claimed that al Qaeda “is on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse” and the US State Department has even declared that the “war on terror is over.” Advisors to President Obama have also boasted of “the end of al Qaeda in any meaningful sense of the word.”

The arrests in Spain, however, indicate that al Qaeda continues to pose a serious threat and that Obama’s triumphalism may be premature. Jorge Fernández Díaz, the Spanish interior minister, put it this way: “The terrorist organization al Qaeda represents a major threat globally and in particular to the entire Western world.”

Spanish counter-terrorism officials say an attack near Gibraltar, home to 30,000 British citizens, was likely intended to coincide with the London Olympic Games, and would have been a more feasible alternative to attempting an act of terrorism in the heart of London.

In addition to Gibraltar, the suspects were credibly also plotting to attack the joint US-Spanish naval base at Rota, strategically located near the Strait of Gibraltar.

The foiled plot shows, among other revelations, that, contradicting the claims of some within the Obama administration that al Qaeda and its offshoots are dead, al Qaeda and its affiliated organizations continue to pose a threat to Europe and the United States.

Spanish Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz has called the case “one of the biggest investigations carried out until now against the al Qaeda terrorist group at an international level.” At a news conference in Madrid, he said the three men “have experience in the development of chemical explosives, manufacture of car bombs, handling of poisons, and sniper training,” and that together they constitute one of the most skilled and experienced terrorist cells seen in recent years.

The suspects involve two Chechen-Russians named Eldar Magomedov (also known as Ahmad Avar) and Mohammed Ankari Adamov, both of whom were arrested on August 1 on a bus near Almuradiel, a town situated halfway between Spain’s southern coast and Madrid.

The third suspect, a Turkish national named Cengiz Yalcin, was arrested on August 2 in the province of Cádiz, near Gibraltar.

Police say the two Chechens “resisted fiercely” and hid their true identity after they were arrested; they claimed they were in Spain to apply for political asylum, but Spanish authorities established their real names after obtaining help from American and Russian intelligence agencies.

Magomedov, the suspected leader of the cell and a former member of Spetsnaz (Russian Special Forces), has training as a sniper and is an expert in poisons. After leaving Spetsnaz, according to the Spanish Interior Ministry, Magomedov joined training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan, including camps run by the Pakistani militant group and al Qaeda ally, Lashkar-e-Taiba. Police say that before his arrest, Magomedov had been living in Spain for two months.

Adamov, the other Chechen, received “intensive training in the camps of Afghanistan where he became an expert in managing explosives,” according to Spanish officials. He is also believed to have been involved in the January 2011 bomb attack at Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, a strike that killed at least 35 people and injured more than 100, many critically.

Yalcin, the Turk, who police believe was in charge of managing logistics for the cell, had been living legally for the past six years in a Spanish town that borders Gibraltar, La Línea de la Concepción, where he worked as a site manager for Profield Contractors, a local construction company. A police raid of Yalcin’s apartment yielded enough explosives “to blow up a bus,” three motorized paragliders, and a video in which Yalcin is filmed flying a large remote-controlled model airplane.

Spanish investigators suspect the cell was testing a remote-controlled airplane as a potential bomber. The video footage showed the aircraft – about three meters, or nine feet, long — being maneuvered into a descent during which two packages were dropped from both wings of the airplane.

Every year in the early winter the world-renowned auction house, Sotheby’s, presents an auction of Israeli and International (Jewish) Art and Judaica.  It is always a delight and Sunday, December 12 was no exception.  Since it is an international affair, the foremost experts assemble the finest artworks available.  The efforts of specialists Rivka Saker, Sigal Mordechai, Daria Gluck, Esta Kilstein and Jennifer Roth of Sotheby’s Israel and Jennifer Roth, Sharon Liberman Mintz, David Wachtel, Elizabeth Muller, John Ward, Jill Waddell, Kevin Tierney here in New York were well rewarded. It was a truly exciting exhibition that frequently surprised one with new insights into many familiar artists.

While I was privileged to attend a private viewing hosted by Nishmat (Center for Advanced Torah Study for Women in Israel), these pre-auction exhibitions are normally open five days before the sale to the public and always have specialists available to answer questions and show off the objects.  As I strode into the exhibition I glanced at the diminutive Chagall but decided to look at it later.  An evocative pastel, Shulamith (1939) by Abel Pann, had caught my eye. 

Pann’s devotion to biblical subjects is well known, combining romanticism with exotic Bedouin costumes to produce what he thought would be authentic visualizations of ancient biblical characters.  What was unusual in this piece was that he had found an inner life to a predominantly sensual character.  The Shulamith is mentioned in Song of Songs 7:1 as an exquisitely beautiful dancer, at least in a literal translation.  Others have associated her with Avishag, the young virgin brought to the aged King David when he could find no warmth.  In either case we normally think of this woman in physical terms.  And yet here Pann has depicted a young redhead pensively draped over the branches of a tree in full bloom.  She rests her hand alongside her face deep in reflection.  Aside from a bare bracelet-covered arm, she is quite modestly clothed; the only sensual thing about her is the bright orange necklace and bracelet that the artist expertly threads around her and the tree blossoms.

Around the corner was an equally surprising Moshe Castel (1909-1992).  Born in Jerusalem to an ancient Sephardic family, he studied art at the Bezalel School and in Paris, and finally settled in Safed where many of his paintings pictured the Sephardi community of his youth.  Looking for Mashiach, painted in 1947, depicts five robed figures lightly walking across a nightscape.  Each is brilliantly colored, all facing a mysterious globe in the sky containing an arm and hand.  Hovering off to the side are two angels, while down in the valley below a little village glows.   This scene of mystery and wonder takes on special significance considering the year it was painted.  Israel was being flooded by survivors of the Holocaust and was only a year away from becoming the first independent Jewish state in more than 1900 years.  In their own ways many were “looking for Mashiach.”  Castel may have been the only artist actually painting it.

These are just a sampling of the 293 works of art, Judaica, books and manuscripts offered for sale at Sotheby’s this year.  It was breathtaking and I strongly suggest taking it in at next year’s Sotheby’s exhibition and sale of Judaica and Israeli and International Jewish Art.  Who knows what we might discover?

Israeli Professors for Justice and Peace

         Steven Plaut, a frequent contributor to The Jewish Press and The Jewish Press Blog (www.thejewishpress.blogspot.com), is a professor at Haifa University. His book “The Scout” is available at Amazon.com. He can be contacted at steveneplaut@yahoo.com.