Israeli Intelligence
Israeli Intelligence
Israeli Intelligence
Intelligence
Community
2009
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Current Members of
the Israeli Intelligence
Community
Aman: the supreme military intelligence branch of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Air Intelligence Directorate: the intelligence unit of the Israeli Air Force.
Naval Intelligence Department: the intelligence unit of the Israeli Sea Corps.
Intelligence Corps: the main intelligence collection and analysis of the IDF.
Field Intelligence Corps: the intelligence unit of GOC Army Headquarters.
The intelligence units of the four Regional Commands (Central, Northern, Southern,
Home Front).
Mossad: the agency responsible primarily for overseas intelligence work.
Shin Bet ("Shabak"): the organization responsible for internal security, including in the
Israeli-occupied territories.
The intelligence branch of the Israeli Police.
The Centre for Political Research: the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
Former Members
Nativ. The organization responsible for bringing Jews from Soviet Bloc countries, a later
manifestation of the Mossad.
Le'aliyah Bet. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it was moved out of the
intelligence community and became a department within the Prime Minister's office.
Lekem. The agency responsible for obtaining and securing secret technology. It was
dissolved, and its director, Rafi Eitan, resigned over the exposure of Jonathan Pollard, who
was convicted of spying on its behalf.
Structure and Organization: The issue regarding the suitable structure of the IIC, and questions
as to dividing responsibilities and jurisdictions between Aman, Shabak, and Mossad, as well as the
format of work for the three in relation to Prime Ministers and Ministers, all of these became
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agenda issues many times in the past. Various commissions and individual inspectors were
appointed throughout the years, whether due to traumatic experiences or as a matter of routine, in
order to examine the issues and propose recommendations. These were:
The Role of Aman - The historical development of the IIC destined Aman with a range of
activities and tasks that are conventionally outside the realm of military intelligence in the West,
such as the responsibility for intelligence research in political matters and other markedly non-
military affairs. This largely followed from the reliance by the State of Israel during its first years on
the IDF as an anchor and mechanism to fulfill national tasks, it being a system with organizational
capacities, resources, and available human resources. As such, Aman has assumed functions which
ordinarily would be handled by other intelligence agencies. Accordingly, some critics say, there is a
need to reexamine the position and placement assumed by intelligence bodies within the current
structure, and transferring certain strategic and political areas and non-military ones, from Aman
to a civilian intelligence authority.
Reforms - The Commission to investigate the intelligence network following the War in Iraq
maintained that, notwithstanding the historical consolidation behind the current IIC structure,
and despite the advantages gained by Aman's Research Department and Unit 8200 during many
years of service, it is finally time to restructure the IIC in accordance with a proper work
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distribution, professional designation, as well as a correct constitutional and legal frame of
reference.
The Commission recommended on reforming the current IIC structure, ending up with three or
four independent intelligence services, alongside the National Security Council, with the
distinction between them being based upon the respective spheres of responsibility of each service:
Aman (IDF): Its jurisdiction is to consist primarily of "military intelligence" - alerting the
political leadership and the security arms to the possibility of war and estimating the means
of the enemy, and identifying prospective targets during a war or a limited military conflict.
Mossad: Charged with, in addition to foiling attacks, a strategic-political emphasis, which
includes evaluating the stability of regimes, and engaging in industrial-scientific-
technological and nuclear -related intelligence as well as against global terrorism.
Shabak: Is tasked with the security of the State, its citizens, and organs, against Palestinian
and other forms of terrorism, and against internal subversion.
SIGINT: This proposed service would supply all the other services with SIGINT
intelligence.
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The Spymasters
In 1922 the family emigrated from the Soviet Union to Dvinsk in independent Latvia. On the
way, Soviet soldiers stole their suitcases, which contained the rest of their possessions. In Dvinsk,
Isser began his formal studies, completed primary school, and began secondary school. As he grew,
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a Jewish national consciousness grew within him and he joined a Zionist youth organization.
When he was 16, Isser began preparations to immigrate to Israel. During this preparatory year he
worked in agriculture with the aspiration to join a kibbutz. With the outbreak of the 1929 Hebron
massacre, his friends decided to move up their immigration date in order to reinforce the Jewish
settlement in Palestine. Documents were prepared for the 17-year-old Isser stating that he was 18
and eligible for a British visa. At the beginning of 1930 he immigrated to Israel. He crossed
Europe from north to south to board a ship in Genoa, carrying a pistol that he concealed in a loaf
of bread. He had one child, a daughter, from his first marriage. She currently works for the Shabak
(General Security Service) in Israel. She did not serve in the Israeli Defense Forces but instead in
the National Work Program which is an alternative for women who do not or cannot serve the
mandatory 18 months in the I.D.F.
On September 22, 1952, Harel became head of the Mossad. Harel became the first man to be
given the Hebrew title of HaMemuneh (the responsible one), a reference to his unique position as
the head of both Israeli civilian intelligence services, Mossad and Shabak. Harel was the head
investigator in the 15 year manhunt for Adolf Eichmann. The hunt ended in May 1960, when the
Mossad covertly kidnapped Eichmann from Argentina to Israel. Eichmann was the man
responsible for technical coordination of the Final Solution in WWII, which resulted in the
systematic murder of 6,000,000 Jewish people. Harel documented his 15 year investigation in "The
House on Garibaldi Street". He was replaced as head of Mossad after it became known that many
of his agents had misappropriated funds. Since then, Mossad agents working on foreign soil have
to "earn" their money through business activities, which also enhances their cover.
After leaving Mossad, Harel turned to politics. He joined David Ben Gurion's newly created
National List prior to the 1969 elections, and was elected to the Knesset as the party won four
seats. However, after Ben Gurion resigned from the party it began to disintegrate, with two of the
MKs defecting to Likud and the other to the Alignment. As a result, Harel lost his seat in the
1973 elections.
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Head of Shin Bet, in October 1953, Dorot followed Isser Harel to the Mossad as Deputy Director;
he was replaced as Director of Shin Bet by Amos Manor. He served as deputy director of the
Mossad until 1963.
In 1964 Manor began serving on the directorial board of several companies, banks and the stock
market. He also worked as a business consultant for various textile firms. He was also a partner in
the Atlas hotel management company. Amos Manor spoke fluent Hebrew, English, French,
Romanian and Hungarian.
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Avraham Ahituv (born Avraham Gottfried in 1930) is a
German-born Israeli politician, having served as Director of the Shabak, the Israel Security Agency,
from 1974 to 1980. Ahituv's family immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1935. In
1946 Ahituv, joined the Haganah while a student in the Kfar Ha-Ro'eh seminary, where he
completed his high school matriculation test. In 1949 Ahituv joined the Internal Intelligence
Service, (SHAI), founded during the Israeli War of Independence and later became the Israel
Security Agency (Shin Bet). It was during the conflict period that Gottfried changed his name to
Ahituv. Through the 1950s Ahituv was in the Arab division of the Shin Bet. Ahituv was
instrumental in adopting a policy of “practical moderation” in relation to the Israeli Arab
demographic. This policy was to enable full integration of the Israeli Arab population into Israeli
main stream society. Ahituv also authorized the use of lies in Israeli courts to cover confessions
obtained by torture. In August 1982 a report appeared in the Washington Star that Ahituv's
resignation was caused by the intervention of Prime Minister Begin in the investigations in the
bombing of Palestinian town Mayors by Jewish extremist groups. The allegation was denied by
both Begin and Ahituv. After Ahituv testified that his resignation had been submitted before the
spate of bombs, the Knesset defense dismissed the Washington Star report as "groundless" and
having "no basis in fact"
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Carmi Gillon (Hebrew: ;ןוליג ימרכborn January 1950) is an
Israeli politician, and a former Israeli ambassador to Denmark and head of Shabak, the Internal
General Security Service of Israel. After the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, he attracted criticism
for failing to provide adequate security. Carmi Gillon is currently the mayor of the Jerusalem
suburb Mevasseret Zion and vice-president of external relations for the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem. Gillon was born in Jerusalem into a well known family of lawyers who resided in the
Jerusalem neighborhood of Rehavia. His grandfather, Gad Frumkin, was the only Jewish judge to
serve at the Supreme Court of Palestine under the British Mandate and was also a member of the
Hebrew University's Board of Governors from the 1930s until his death. His father, Colin Gillon,
was a state attorney, and his mother Saada Gillon (nee Frumkin) served as Deputy Attorney
General. He began his army service in the armored corps and was later transferred to the artillery
corps. He was released from the army in 1971. He graduated from the National Defense College.
He has a B.A. in political science from the Hebrew University where he was recruited into the
Israeli Security Agency and an M.A. in public policy from Haifa University. He is also a graduate
of the advanced management program at the Harvard Business School, and completed
management training at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.
In addition to his official roles, Gillon has also been a member of a number of boards of directors,
including the Tahal Group, Danker Investment and the Arab Israel Bank. Over the years, Gillon
has written several books and a range of articles on the subjects of foreign affairs and security.
Gillon is married with three children.
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Bachelor of Arts in 1980. In 1992 he received a Master of Public Administration from Harvard
University. He is married and the father of three.
In 2006, Ayalon was elected to the Knesset on the Israeli Labor Party's list, but was not given a
position in the cabinet when Labor entered a coalition with Kadima. At the end of May 2007,
Ayalon was one of two candidates for the leadership of the Labor Party in ongoing party primaries.
In September 2007, Ayalon was appointed to the Israeli cabinet as a Minister without Portfolio; he
is now a member of the security cabinet.
The assassination of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 shed light on Shin Bet's
shortcomings. Aiming to improve the Shin Bet's protection capabilities, Dichter was appointed
Director of the Security and Protection Division. In 1999, he became Deputy Director of Shin Bet.
One year later, Prime Minister Ehud Barak promoted Dichter to Director.
During his tenure as Director, the Palestinians launched one of their most deadly campaigns, the
Al-Aqsa Intifada. Under Dichter’s leadership, Shin Bet changed its modus operandi and
restructured its mission and duties to serve at the forefront of Israel’s security and counter-
terrorism efforts. The organization spearheaded counter-insurgency and intelligence operations
deep inside the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In doing so, the Shin Bet is credited with drastically
reducing the number of attacks perpetrated against Israel during this time as well as helping to
restore safety and positive morale to the public. Another one of Dichter’s successful initiatives
included envisioning and planning with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the controversial West Bank
security barrier.
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In September 2005, Dichter left office and became a research fellow at the Brookings Institute in
Washington, D.C. Several months later, he returned to Israel and announced his foray into
politics with the newly-established Kadima party. On May 4, 2006 Dichter was sworn in as the
Minister of Public Security.
Dichter holds a BA in Social Sciences from Bar Ilan University ('86) and an Executive MBA from
Tel Aviv University (1999). He speaks Hebrew, English and Arabic. He and his wife Ilana reside in
Ashkelon, where they both grew up. They have three children.
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Mossad
The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations
Formed December 13, 1949 as the Central Institute for Coordination
Employees 1,200 (est.)
Agency Executive Meir Dagan, Director
Parent agency Office of the Prime Minister
Website www.mossad.gov.il
The Mossad (HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuhadim or Institute for Intelligence and Special
Operations) is the national intelligence agency of Israel. "Mossad" is the Hebrew word for institute
or institution. Membership in the Mossad is very prestigious in Israeli society. The Mossad is
responsible for intelligence collection, counterterrorism, covert operations such as paramilitary
activities and political assassinations and the facilitation of aliyah where it is banned. It is one of
the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community (along with Aman (military intelligence),
OADNA and Shin Bet (internal security), but its director reports directly to the Prime Minister. Its
role and function is similar to that of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Secret
Intelligence Service (MI6).
Prior to Israel's formation the "Mossad Le'aliyah Bet" was a small, unorthodox Zionist organization
whose mission in 1938 was to bring Jews to Israel. This was done to subvert the British quotas on
Jewish immigration. The Mossad's modes of operation, its ideology, and politics resulted in the
creation of the intelligence agency for the Israeli government once it was established in 1948.
The agency consisted of several of the existing members who had worked to establish Israel as a
Jewish nation and to bring the Jewish people to it.
Organization
From its headquarters in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, the Mossad oversees a staff estimated at 1,200
personnel, although it may have numbered up to 2,000 in the late 1980s. The Mossad does not
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use military ranks, although most of its staff have served in the Israel Defense Forces as part of
Israel's compulsory draft system, and many of them are officers. It is assumed to consist of eight
different departments. The largest is Collections, tasked with many aspects of conducting
espionage overseas.
Employees in the Collections Department operate under a variety of covers, including diplomatic
and unofficial. Their field intelligence officers, called katsas, are similar to case officers of the CIA.
Thirty to forty operate at a time, mainly in Europe and the Middle East. The Political Action and
Liaison Department is responsible for working both with allied foreign intelligence services, and
with nations that have no normal diplomatic relations with Israel.
Among the departments of the Mossad is the Special Operations Division or '"Metsada" (see
Kidon), which is involved in assassination, paramilitary operations, sabotage, and psychological
warfare. Psychological warfare is also a concern of the Lochamah Psichologit Department, which
conducts propaganda and deception activities as well. Additionally, the Mossad has a Research
Department, tasked with intelligence production, and a Technology Department concerned with
the development of tools for Mossad activities.
Organizational History
The Mossad was formed on December 13, 1949 as the "Central Institute for Coordination", at the
recommendation of Reuven Shiloah to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Shiloah wanted a
central body to coordinate and improve cooperation between the existing security services – the
army's intelligence department (AMAN), the General Security Service (GSS or "Shin Bet") and the
foreign office's "political department". In March 1951, it was reorganized and made a part of the
prime minister's office, reporting directly to the prime minister. Its current staff is estimated at
1,200. Mossad's former motto: be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh is a quote from the Bible
(Proverbs 24:6): "For by wise guidance you can wage your war, and in abundance of counselors
there is victory" (NRSV). The motto was changed recently as part of the Mossad's public 'coming
out' to another Proverbs passage: be-'.yn tachbūlōt yippol `ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rov yō'.ts (Proverbs 11:14).
This is translated by NRSV as: "Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of
counselors there is safety."
Activities
United States of America The Mossad informed the FBI and CIA in August 2001 that as many as
200 terrorists were slipping into the United States and planning "a major assault on the United
States." The Israeli intelligence agency cautioned that it had picked up indications of a "large-scale
target" in the United States and that Americans would be "very vulnerable." A month later, the
terrorists struck at the World Trade Center. Just prior to the 9/11 attacks a large Israeli spy ring
was discovered in the United States and was fully unraveled after 9/11. At least 200 suspected
Israeli spies were arrested in regards to suspected involvement in the 9/11 attacks and were
subsequently deported back to Israel.
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Argentina
In 1960, the Mossad discovered that Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was in Argentina and
through surveillance, they confirmed that he had been living there under the name of Ricardo
Klement. He was captured by a team of Mossad agents on May 11, 1960, and subsequently
smuggled to Israel where he was tried and executed. Argentina protested what it considered as the
violation of its sovereignty, and the United Nations Security Council noted that "repetition of acts
such as [this] would involve a breach of the principles upon which international order is founded,
creating an atmosphere of insecurity and distrust incompatible with the preservation of peace"
while also acknowledging that "Eichmann should be brought to appropriate justice for the crimes
of which he is accused" and that "this resolution should in no way be interpreted as condoning the
odious crimes of which Eichmann is accused." Mossad aborted a second operation to capture Josef
Mengele.
Germany
Operation Plumbat (1968) was an operation by Lekem-Mossad to further Israel's nuclear
program. The German freighter "Scheersberg A", disappeared on its way from Antwerp to Genoa
along with its cargo of 200 tons of yellowcake, after supposedly being transferred to an Israeli ship.
The sending of letter bombs during the Operation Wrath of God campaign. Some of these
attacks were not fatal, although their purpose might not have been to kill the receiver. Some of the
more famous examples of the Mossad letter bombs were those sent to Nazi war-criminal Alois
Brunner.
Italy
The abduction of nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu in 1986 after American-Israeli agent
Cheryl Bentov lured him from the United Kingdom.
Malta
The assassination of Fathi Shiqaqi, a leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in 1995 in front of the
Diplomat Hotel in Sliema, Malta.
Norway
Lillehammer affair. On July 21, 1973, Mossad agents in Lillehammer murdered Moroccan busboy,
Ahmed Bouchikhi, whom they mistakenly believed to have been involved in the Munich Olympics
massacre.
Egypt
Directed missions for Israeli spy Wolfgang Lotz in Egypt 1957-1965.
Directed missions for Israeli spy Eli Cohen (was born and worked in his youth in Egypt but
spied on Syria) in 1964, who provided vast amounts of valuable intelligence. Eli Cohen
was, however, caught in 1965 in Syria while he was monitoring radio frequencies.
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Provision of key intelligence on the Egyptian Air Force for Operation Focus, the opening
airstrike of the Six-Day War.
Operation Bulmus 6 - Intelligence assistance in the Commando Assault on Green Island,
Egypt during the War of Attrition.
Iran
1960s Prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1978–79 in Iran, SAVAK (Organization of National
Security and Information), the Iranian secret police and intelligence service was created under the
guidance of United States and Israeli intelligence officers in 1957 to protect the regime of the shah
by arresting, torturing, and executing the dissidents (especially Leftists). After security relations
between the United States and Iran grew more distant in the early 1960s which led the CIA
training team to leave Persia, Mossad became increasingly active in Iran, training SAVAK
personnel and carrying out a broad variety of joint operations with SAVAK.
In 2007 It was alleged by private intelligence agency Stratfor, based on "sources close to Israeli
intelligence", that Dr. Ardeshir Hosseinpour, a scientist involved in the Iranian nuclear program,
was killed by the Mossad on January 15, 2007. A US intelligence official told The Washington Post
that Israel orchestrated the defection of Iranian general Ali Reza Askari on February 7, 2007. This
has been denied by Israeli spokesman Mark Regev. The Sunday Times reported that Askari had been
a Mossad asset since 2003, and left only when his cover was about to be blown.
Iraq
Assistance in the defection and rescuing of the family of Munir Redfa, an Iraqi pilot who defected
and flew his MiG 21 to Israel in 1966. Operation Sphinx - Between 1978 and 1981, obtained
highly sensitive information about Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor by recruiting an Iraqi nuclear
scientist in France. On April 5, 1979, the Mossad destroyed 60 percent of the Iraqi reactor
components being built in France; "[An] environmental organization named Groupe des ecologistes
francais, unheard of before this incident, claimed credit for the blast." The reactor was
subsequently destroyed by an Israeli air strike in 1981. The alleged assassination of Canadian
scientist Gerald Bull, developer of the Iraqi supergun, in 1990. The most common theory is that
the Mossad was responsible, and its representatives have all but claimed responsibility for his
assassination. Others, including Bull's son, believe that the Mossad is taking credit for an act they
did not commit to scare off others who may try to help enemy regimes. The alternative theory is
that Bull was killed by the CIA. Iraq and Iran are also candidates for suspicion.
Palestinian Territories
The assassination of members of Black September, who were responsible for the Munich
massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games, called "Operation Wrath of God".
In July 1973, Ahmed Bouchiki, a Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer, Norway, was killed
while walking with his pregnant wife. He had been mistaken for Ali Hassan Salameh, one of
the leaders of Black September, the Palestinian group responsible for the Munich massacre,
who had been given shelter in Norway. The Mossad agents had used fake Canadian passports,
which angered the Canadian government. Six Mossad agents were arrested, and the incident
became known as the Lillehammer affair.
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The assassination of PFLP and PFLP-EO leader Wadie Haddad in 1978.
The assassination of As-Sa'iqa leader Zuhayr Muhsin in 1979.
Tunis Raid - The assassination of Abu Jihad from the Fatah in 1988.
The assassination of Fathi Shqaqi, the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in 1995.
In 1997, two Mossad agents were caught in Jordan, which had signed a peace treaty with
Israel, on a mission to assassinate Sheikh Khaled Mashal, a leader of Hamas, by spraying him
with poison at a pro-Hamas rally in Amman. Again, they were using fake Canadian passports.
This led to a diplomatic row with Canada and Jordan. Israel was forced to provide the antidote
to the poison and to release around 70 Palestinian prisoners, in particular the Hamas leader
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in exchange for the Mossad agents, who would otherwise have faced the
death penalty for attempted murder.
The assassination of Hamas leader Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil in Damascus in 2004.
The sending of letter bombs to PFLP member Bassam Abu Sharif.
Lebanon
The provision of intelligence and operational assistance in 1973's Operation Spring of Youth.
Ethiopia
Assistance in Operation Moses, the immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984, and has a
relationship with the Ethiopian government.
Morocco
According to Time, the Mossad was involved in what is known as the Ben Barka Affair (see Mehdi
Ben Barka).
Uganda
The provision of intelligence regarding Entebbe International Airport and grant of refueling rights
in Kenya for Operation Entebbe in 1976.
New Zealand
In July 2004, New Zealand imposed diplomatic sanctions on Israel over an incident in which two
Australian based Israelis, Uriel Kelman and Eli Cara, who were allegedly working for Mossad,
attempted to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports by claiming the identity of a severely
disabled man. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom later apologized to New Zealand for their
actions. New Zealand cancelled several other passports believed to have been obtained by Israeli
agents. Both Kelman and Cara served half of their six month sentences and, upon release, were
deported to Israel. Two others, an Israeli, Ze'ev Barkan, and a New Zealander, David Reznick, are
believed to have been the third and fourth men involved in the passport affair but they both
managed to leave New Zealand before being traced.
Soviet Union
In February 1956, a friendly member of the Politburo provided the Mossad with a copy of Nikita
Khrushchev's speech denouncing Joseph Stalin. The Mossad passed it on to the United States,
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which published the speech, embarrassing the USSR. This was a major intelligence coup that
raised the prestige of the organization.
Mossad has often come under criticism for perceived excessive actions against Israel's many
enemies. It has been criticized for carrying out assassinations, abductions and torture.
When World War II broke, the Mossad became virtually paralyzed and its activities were only
renewed by August 1945. Since that time and until the founding of Israel, the Mossad was able to
bring an additional 64 ships with over 70,000 Jewish immigrants (many of whom were Holocaust
survivors). In addition to the sea, although in a much smaller scale, the Mossad also brought
immigrants via land, from the Arab world. Overall, the Mossad was able to bring about 100,000
Jews into what was to become the State of Israel. The most famous ship used by the Mossad was
Exodus, which brought 4,554 Holocaust survivors.
Throughout most of its years, the Mossad was led by Shaul Avigur (Meirov). With the founding of
Israel, the Mossad served as a basis for the agency Lishkat Hakesher (Liaison Bureau), codenamed
Nativ ("Path"), created in 1953 and also headed by Meirov, which brought Jews from Soviet bloc,
the Arab world, and other countries.
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Mossad Directors
Reuven Shiloah. 1949-1952
Isser Harel. 1952-1963
Meir Amit. 1963-1968
Zvi Zamir. 1968-1974
Yitzhak Hofi. 1974-1982
Nahum Admoni. 1982-1989
Shabtai Shavit. 1989-1996
Danny Yatom. 1996-1998
Efraim Halevy. 1998-2002
Meir Dagan. 2002-present
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Isser Harel (Born Isser Halperin on 1912, died 18 February
2003) was spymaster of the intelligence and the security services of Israel and the Director of the
Mossad (1952 - 1963). Isser Harel was born in Vitebsk, Russia (now Belarus) to a large, wealthy
family. The exact date of his birth was not passed on to him because the book of Gemara in which
the date was recorded was lost in the migrations of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and World
War I. The family had a vinegar factory in Vitebsk. It was a gift of his maternal grandfather, who
had a concession to make vinegar in large parts of Tsarist Russia. Young Isser was five years old
when the revolution broke out and Vitebsk passed several times between the Whites and the Reds.
On one occasion he saw Leon Trotsky give a speech in the town.
Isser and his family fell on hard times when the Soviet regime confiscated their property. In 1922
the family emigrated from the Soviet Union to Dvinsk in independent Latvia. On the way, Soviet
soldiers stole their suitcases, which contained the rest of their possessions. In Dvinsk, Isser began
his formal studies, completed primary school, and began secondary school. As he grew, a Jewish
national consciousness grew within him and he joined a Zionist youth organization. When he was
16, Isser began preparations to immigrate to Israel. During this preparatory year he worked in
agriculture with the aspiration to join a kibbutz. With the outbreak of the 1929 Hebron massacre,
his friends decided to move up their immigration date in order to reinforce the Jewish settlement
in Palestine. Documents were prepared for the 17-year-old Isser stating that he was 18 and eligible
for a British visa. At the beginning of 1930 he immigrated to Israel. He crossed Europe from north
to south to board a ship in Genoa, carrying a pistol that he concealed in a loaf of bread. He had
one child, a daughter, from his first marriage. She currently works for the Shabak (General
Security Service) in Israel. She did not serve in the Israeli Defense Forces but instead in the
National Work Program which is an alternative for women who do not or cannot serve the
mandatory 18 months in the I.D.F.
On September 22, 1952, Harel became head of the Mossad. Harel became the first man to be
given the Hebrew title of HaMemuneh (the responsible one), a reference to his unique position as
the head of both Israeli civilian intelligence services, Mossad and Shabak. Harel was the head
investigator in the 15 year manhunt for Adolf Eichmann. The hunt ended in May 1960, when the
Mossad covertly kidnapped Eichmann from Argentina to Israel. Eichmann was the man
responsible for technical coordination of the Final Solution in WWII, which resulted in the
systematic murder of 6,000,000 Jewish people. Harel documented his 15 year investigation in "The
House on Garibaldi Street". He was replaced as head of Mossad after it became known that many
19
of his agents had misappropriated funds. Since then, Mossad agents working on foreign soil have
to "earn" their money through business activities, which also enhances their cover.
After leaving Mossad, Harel turned to politics. He joined David Ben Gurion's newly created
National List prior to the 1969 elections, and was elected to the Knesset as the party won four
seats. However, after Ben Gurion resigned from the party it began to disintegrate, with two of the
MKs defecting to Likud and the other to the Alignment. As a result, Harel lost his seat in the 1973
elections.
During the lead up to the Six-Day War in 1967, Amit had a network of informants that permeated
the entire Egyptian military, providing key details for Israel's pre-emptive strike on Egyptian air
bases and subsequent ground offensive. Amit also built close personal ties with the CIA. Since his
retirement from the Mossad, he has continued to be an active voice in the intelligence community,
and done work for the Israeli government. Following the lead of other former generals, Amit
joined the Dash party and served in the Knesset. He is currently the chairman of Israel's Center for
Special Studies. In a recent 2006 interview with reporter Aaron Klein, Amit assessed the current
problem of Islamic terrorism. He said that he views the conflict as World War III, a widespread
attempt to impose Islamic beliefs across the world. He has also called for the assassination of
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has repeatedly threatened to destroy Israel. In a
2008 interview with Klein, Amit advocated military action to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear
weapons. The comments from Amit were considered significant since, until the interview, he had
refused to support an attack against Iran.
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Zvi Zamir (Born Zvicka Zarzevsk, 1925) was a Major
General in the Israel Defense Forces and the Director of the Mossad from 1968 to 1974.
Born in Poland, Zamir immigrated with his family to the then British Mandate of Palestine when
only seven months old. At the age of 18 Zamir began his military career, first as a soldier in the
Haganah's Palmach, a unit that included future Israeli leaders among the likes of Moshe Dayan
and Yitzhak Rabin. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Zamir fought in the newly created Israel
Defense Forces. After the war he continued climbing the chain of command, eventually promoted
to the Commander of the Southern Command. His final IDF post before being appointed Mossad
Director came in 1966 when he was appointed the military attaché to London. During his tenure
at the Mossad, he helped carry out Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli response to the Munich
Massacre, and dealt with the lead-up to and aftermath of the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
After the German government refused to accept an Israeli team during the Munich hostage crisis,
Zamir was sent to observe the activities at the F.rstenfeldbruck airbase the night that the failed
rescue attempt left all nine remaining Israeli hostages dead.
Zamir was interviewed about the incident in 1999 when he spoke with the producer of One Day in
September, a documentary on the massacre. In it he strongly criticized the German rescue effort for
its complete lack of coordination. He had previously been interviewed on this subject for an NBC
profile during their coverage of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, and he has discussed the massacre
several times since. Zamir currently resides in Zahala, Israel, just north of Tel Aviv. Zamir was
played by Ami Weinberg in Steven Spielberg's 2005 movie Munich.
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Yitzhak Hofi (born 25 January 1927) was the director of
Mossad from 1974 to 1982. Hofi was born in Tel Aviv. He joined the Haganah in 1944 and
commanded a company in the Arab-Israeli War in 1948. He continued to serve in the Israeli
Defense Forces in a variety of command, staff and training posts. He headed the Northern
Command of the IDF during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. He was Acting Chief of Staff for a
brief period in 1974, before retiring from the military and taking the post of director of Mossad.
Before that he was a general in the Israeli Defense Forces in charge of the Northern Command. In
July 1976, Hofi lobbied strongly for a rescue mission to be mounted to save the large number of
Israeli passengers on a hijacked Air France airliner flown to Entebbe International Airport in
Uganda. In order to facilitate the resulting Operation Entebbe, Hofi directed Mossad katsas to
survey the airport, and used contacts in Kenyan intelligence to allow the refueling of Israeli planes
in Nairobi on the return journey.
Along with a number of other embarrassing incidents involving careless mistakes by Mossad
agents, Admoni retired in 1989. On August 28, 2006 he was appointed by Prime Minister Ehud
Olmert to be chairman of an investigation committee, charged with investigating the actions of the
government during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.
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Shabtai Shavit was the Director General of the
Mossad from 1989 to 1996. Shavit first joined the Israel Defense Forces, where he served in the
Sayeret Matkal and from 1958 to 1959 he was the Military Governor of the Southern Command.
He then joined the Mossad in 1964, where he worked his way up to his appointment as Director.
After retiring from the Mossad he spent five years as CEO of Maccabi Health Services Group.
Thereafter he became the chairman of the Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary
Center in Herzliya, Israel in 2001, and also President and CEO of EMG Israel and Chairman of
Athena. Shavit has also continued to work in government roles, including as Advisor to the Israeli
National Security Council, Advisor to the Sub-Committee on intelligence of the Knesset,
Committee on Foreign Affairs and National Security, and as a member of the N.Y.F.D. Task Force
for Future Preparedness against Terrorism.
In 2003 he was elected to the Knesset on Labour's list, and served as head of the committee on
foreign workers, as well as chairing the lobbies for enlisted soldiers and the West Bank barrier. He
retained his seat in the 2006 elections and served as head of the West Bank barrier lobby. He
retained his seat in the 2006 elections, but resigned from the Knesset on 30 June 2008, stating that
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he was "not willing to be part of a political reality in which basic values are trampled upon, such as
leading by example, ethics, and integrity". He was replaced by Leon Litinski.
Between 1957 and1961 he was the editor of the journal Monthly Survey, published by the Chief
Education Officer. In 1961, he began his work in the Mossad. In 1967, he was selected to the
Chief Branches Forum. Halevy remained in the Mossad for the next 28 years, heading three
different branches throughout. Between 1990 and1995, under the directorship of Shabtai Shavit,
he served as deputy director and as head of the headquarters branch. In March 1998, he became
the director of Mossad following the resignation of Danny Yatom. In 1996, he became the Israeli
ambassador to the European Union in Brussels. Halevy served as the envoy and confidant of five
Prime Ministers: Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Ariel
Sharon. He took an active part in a special mission by Rabin in forging the Israel-Jordan Treaty of
Peace. After the failure of the Mossad operation to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in
1997, he took an active part in Benjamin Netanyahu's mission to return the Mossad men captured
in Jordan, and to settle the crisis with the King of Jordan. On October 2002, he was appointed the
second head of the National Security Council and an advisor to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. In
June 2003, he resigned from this position after Dov Weisglass, the bureau chief of Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, isolated and neutralized him and Prime Minister Sharon refrained from accepting
his recommendations on a host of issues and went to teach at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He is the author of the book ‘The Role of the Intelligence Community in the Age of Strategic Alternatives
for Israel’. He is known as a hard-headed pragmatist on issues involving the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, willing to ruffle feathers on the right and the left, unlike many others in the intelligence
establishment who are known to take more extreme ideological positions on these issues. Halevy
believes that Israel should take up Hamas’s offer of a long-term truce and try negotiating, because
the Islamic movement is respected by Palestinians and generally keeps its word, he said. He
pointed to the cease-fire in attacks on Israel that Hamas declared two years ago and has largely
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honored. “They’re not very pleasant people, but they are very, very credible,” Halevy said. In 2006
he published the book Man in the Shadows, covering Middle Eastern history since the late 1980s.
In 1995, Dagan retired from the IDF. A year later, he was requested to return to public service by
then Prime Minister of Israel, Shimon Peres. He was added to the Israeli Headquarters for
Fighting Terror as Ami Ayalon's Deputy. When Ayalon received the position of head of the
Shabak, Dagan became head of the Headquarters. At the end of the 90s, Dagan joined the Israeli
General Staff, as head of the operations division and special advisor to the head of the General
Staff. Dagan was appointed Director of the Mossad by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in August
2002, replacing outgoing Director Ephraim Halevy. He was reconfirmed until the end of 2008 by
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in February 2007, and in June 2008 Olmert again extended his
tenure until the end of 2009. In mid 2007 Dagan had a "spat with the Deputy Director N, who is
thought to be a candidate for replacing Dagan in late 2008. Dagan restored his former deputy T to
the post and Dagan is likely to recommend T as his replacement. During his military service Dagan
was injured twice, and also won a decoration for his service. Dagan holds a B.A. in political science
from the University of Haifa.
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