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Mossad
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The Mossad (HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuhadim) ( - 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, and the organization is considered to rank among the most effective intelligence agencies in the world.
The Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection, counter-terrorism, covert operations such as paramilitary activities and political assassinations and the facilitation of aliyah where it is banned.
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Encyclopedia
The Mossad (HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuhadim) ( - 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, and the organization is considered to rank among the most effective intelligence agencies in the world.
The Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection, counter-terrorism, 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
Executive offices
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 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.
Directors of Mossad
- 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
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-tachbulot ta`aseh lekha milchamah (Hebrew: ???????? ???? ?? ?????? 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). (Hebrew "tachbulot" - wise guidance - is more commonly translated as "cunning"/"trick" or even "deception")
The motto was changed recently as part of the Mossad's public 'coming out' to another Proverbs passage: be-'éyn tachbulot yippol `am; u-teshu`ah be-rov yo'éts (Hebrew: ???? ??????? ???? ??, ?????? ???? ?????) (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
North America
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.
South America
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.
Europe
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 killed Moroccan busboy, Ahmed Bouchikhi, whom they mistakenly believed to have been involved in the Munich Olympics massacre.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Assisted in air and overland evacuations of the Jews from war-torn Sarajevo to Israel in 1992.
Middle East
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.
Iran
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.
Iran 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 écologistes français, 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 PFLP and PFLP-EO leader Wadie Haddad in 1978.
- The assassination of As-Sa'iqa leader Zuhayr Muhsin in 1979.
- 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.
Lebanon
The provision of intelligence and operational assistance in 1973's Operation Spring of Youth.
Africa
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.
Oceania
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, which published the speech, embarrassing the USSR. This was a major intelligence coup that raised the prestige of the organization.
Criticism
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.
See also
Books
- Yuval Aviv - Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team
- Ari Ben-Menashe
- Black, Ian and Morris, Benny. Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991. 603 pages.
- Victor Ostrovsky - By Way of Deception and The Other Side of Deception
- Parsi, Rita. Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States, Yale University Press, 2007, ISBN-10: 0300120575.
- Central Intelligence Agency. "Israel. Foreign Intelligence and Security Services, 1979". Included in the volume "Documents from the US Espionage Den", Tehran, 1982.
Further reading
- Shimron, Gad 2007, "Mossad Exodus; The Daring Undercover Rescue of the Lost Jewish Tribe", Gefen Publishing House. ISBN 978-9652294036
- Thomas, Gordon 2007, "Gideon's Spies; The Secret History of the Mossad", Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 978-0-312-36152-5
External links
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