Even the Sharks are Spies

Egyptian security boats search for sharks after the first attack on a
German tourist in December 2010.

Tourism in Egypt took a plunder in 2010 when a series of shark attacks were reported off the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, severely injuring four and killing one tourist. In response, the resort was closed and dozens of sharks were captured and killed.

The governor of South Sinai, backed by numerous Egyptian television broadcasts, insisted that the shark attacks were linked to an Israeli conspiracy to harm Egyptian tourism. These were no ordinary sharks - but remote-controlled Israeli spies. Fuelling this theory was the fact that some sharks were found with GPS devices attached to them.

 It's rather evident that this theory was propagated by nothing but anti-Semitism. As someone who has studied international relations in university, I'm well aware that conspiracy theories about Israel and the Jews are relatively commonplace in the Middle East.

There's actually a pretty simple explanation for the shark attacks. During the Islamic Festival of Eid al-Adha, dozens of sheep carcasses had been illegally dumped into the Red Sea, luring the sharks to the shore. Additionally, Egypt's issue with over-fishing by the Red Sea also contributed to the depletion of natural prey in the area. Those GPSs that were apparently controlling the sharks? Planted by marine biologists to study shark behaviour.

And, as the cherry on-top of the cake, guests of the resort had been feeding the reef fish and the sharks.

Remote-controlled Israeli spies? Nice try.