Palestinians accuse Israel of training spy cows - report

A Palestinian villager encountered Israeli cattle and fabricated a story about how Israel has been secretly training the cattle to spy on Palestinians, according to Palestinian Media Watch citing the official Palestinian Authority daily news outlet Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.

"These are recruited and trained cattle, Palestinian villager Rushd Morrar reportedly told the daily. "On the neck of each cow, they hang a medallion with an eavesdropping and recording device on it and sometimes cameras, in order to monitor every detail in Khirbet Yanun large and small."

He also reportedly claimed that "the settlers release herds of wild boars" as a way to destroy any and all Palestinian crops. "The settlers' crimes are diversifying and becoming sophisticated and the means they employ in their war are unlimited," he alleged. "Starting with direct acts of murder and ending with incidents of car ramming on the roads; starting with burning agricultural crops, uprooting trees and stripping lands and ending with releasing boars towards the farmer's lands."

Not the first time Palestinians claim Israelis trained spy animals

This isn't the only time a Palestinian has claimed that Israel has been using animals against them. In July 2008, a statement was reportedly released by the same Palestinian news outlet claiming that "settlers" were releasing a species of super rats immune to rat poisoning in the Old City of Jerusalem.

"[Israeli] settlers have been bringing chests filled with rats and releasing them in the Old City's [Arab] neighborhoods; they breed and have become a major curse," the statement read. "The residents' efforts to counter this infestation have failed, especially since cats run away from these rats because of their size and ferocity.

"All of the conventional efforts to kill them have not succeeded because they seem to be immune to poison and they breed in the sewers. It is known that this female rat gives birth seven times a year, each time giving birth to 20 babies; which compels Jerusalem's [Arabs] today to face the dangers of [Israeli] settlement and the infestation of rats."