Yuval Aviv
Encyclopedia
Juval Aviv (born February 24, 1947) is an Israeli-American writer and security consultant. He may be best-known for his claim that he is the source of the 1984 book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team
by George Jonas
, on which Steven Spielberg
's 2005 film Munich
was based. He has claimed to have worked for Mossad
but there has been some debate as to whether or not this is the case. He is currently the president of Interfor, a corporate investigations firm in New York.
writing in Ha'aretz, Aviv was born in kibbutz
Kfar Menachem in 1947 as Yuval Aviof. The Australian Herald Sun reported that before establishing Interfor, Inc., Aviv was a Major in the Israeli Defense Force.
for clients US Aviation and Pan American World Airways
.
As a counter terrorism expert, he has been used as a source by publications such as the New York Times and by news networks Fox News Channel
and ABC News
.
was approached by Collins Canada about meeting with Juval Aviv, a former Mossad
officer who said that he had led Operation Wrath of God
, an operation to assassinate the Palestinian terrorists who planned the 1972 Munich massacre
, in which 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and murdered. In a joint deal, two Toronto-based publishing houses, Lester & Orpen Dennys and Collins Canada Ltd, commissioned him to write Aviv's story.
Jonas told Maclean's that he spent two years and $30,000 of the publishers' money conducting research with Aviv in Europe and Israel. The result, in 1984, was Jonas's Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, which depicted Aviv's character as "Avner". According to Maclean's, which put together an 11-person investigative team to find out whether Aviv's story was true, the book generated $500,000 in advance foreign sales, as well as "worldwide debate in intelligence and publishing communities", and denial and skepticism in Israel. Senior Israeli intelligence sources, including Zvi Zamir
who headed Mossad (1968–74), told Yossi Melman
that they do not know anyone named Yuval Aviof or Aviv. Israeli and U.S. intelligence sources, including former CIA officers Vince Cannistraro
and Larry Johnson
, have described Aviv as a liar and con-artist who never worked for Mossad.
However, American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media, looked into the allegations as well and noted several court documents including a memo from the FBI from 1982 and an informant agreement between Aviv and the US Justice Department, both of which refer to a past association with Israeli intelligence.
The book The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks by Nicole Laporte, a reporter for Variety, references Aviv and his background in a section of the book which describes how Steven Spielberg
vetted him during pre-production on the movie, Munich. Spielberg assembled a brain trust of researchers and through his connections at the White House and a Middle East diplomat determined that "His real name was Juval Aviv. Furthermore, Spielberg's brain trust discovered FBI files proving that he and his team were not fictitious."
Jonas, Louise Dennys, and the president of Collins Canada, Nicholas Harris, told Maclean's they are satisfied that the story is genuine. Jonas told Maclean's: "To my mind, if he is not legit, then he can only be a disgruntled ex-employee of Mossad with sufficient knowledge of what has gone down in this area. As far as I am concerned, if he is not who he says he is, then that is what he is."
In 1986, the book was turned into a made-for-television movie, Sword of Gideon, starring Steven Bauer and Michael York, and in 2005, it formed the basis of Steven Spielberg's Munich.
. He says that he "got the information from the horse's mouth, from people who were involved directly and indirectly in the information" when investigating the bombing. In his report he claimed that US agents had been monitoring a heroin-smuggling route operating from the Middle East to the United States which was run by a Syrian criminal.
Aviv claimed that the Syrian had ties to Hizbollah terrorists who were holding Westerners hostages in Beirut. Aviv alleged that US agents agreed to allow the heroin smuggling continue in return for the Syrian helping to free the hostages. At some point Turkish extremists who worked at Frankfurt airport as baggage handler
s swapped a suitcase of heroin for a bomb. However, the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism examined the same allegations in 1989 and found "no foundation for speculation in press accounts that U.S. government officials had participated tacitly or otherwise in any supposed operation at Frankurt Airport having anything to do with the sabotage of Flight 103."
After the Interfor report was released, Aviv was called "a fabricator who had lied about his entire background" by diplomatic and intelligence officials. Later, Aviv stated "I was never told directly that [my report] was wrong, I was always attacked as the messenger, as somebody who was a fabricator, a lunatic, whatever." American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media
, looked into the allegations that Aviv had never been employed by the FBI or Mossad. They found that several documents existed, including a memo from the FBI from 1982 and an informant agreement between Aviv and the US Justice Department, which refer to a past association with Israeli intelligence.
Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team
Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team is a 1984 book by George Jonas describing part of Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli assassination campaign launched after the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre...
by George Jonas
George Jonas
George Jonas is a Hungarian-born Canadian writer and columnist. He is the author of 15 books. They include Vengeance , the story of an Israeli operation to kill the terrorists responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre...
, on which Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's 2005 film Munich
Munich (film)
Munich is a 2005 historical fiction film about the Israeli government's secret retaliation attacks after the massacre of Israeli athletes by the Black September terrorist group during the 1972 Summer Olympics. The film stars Eric Bana and was produced and directed by Steven Spielberg...
was based. He has claimed to have worked for Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
but there has been some debate as to whether or not this is the case. He is currently the president of Interfor, a corporate investigations firm in New York.
Early life
According to Israeli journalist Yossi MelmanYossi Melman
Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist.Yossi Melman graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University...
writing in Ha'aretz, Aviv was born in kibbutz
Kibbutz
A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...
Kfar Menachem in 1947 as Yuval Aviof. The Australian Herald Sun reported that before establishing Interfor, Inc., Aviv was a Major in the Israeli Defense Force.
Career
Aviv is president and CEO of Interfor, an international investigative and intelligence firm according to the ABA Banking Journal. He has investigated cases such as the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
for clients US Aviation and Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways
Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal and largest international air carrier in the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991...
.
As a counter terrorism expert, he has been used as a source by publications such as the New York Times and by news networks Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel
Fox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
and ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
.
Involvement in Vengeance
In 1981, Canadian writer George JonasGeorge Jonas
George Jonas is a Hungarian-born Canadian writer and columnist. He is the author of 15 books. They include Vengeance , the story of an Israeli operation to kill the terrorists responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre...
was approached by Collins Canada about meeting with Juval Aviv, a former Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....
officer who said that he had led Operation Wrath of God
Operation Wrath of God
Operation Wrath of God ,This title was an invention of later writers, and was most likely not used by the Mossad itself. also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the...
, an operation to assassinate the Palestinian terrorists who planned the 1972 Munich massacre
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...
, in which 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and murdered. In a joint deal, two Toronto-based publishing houses, Lester & Orpen Dennys and Collins Canada Ltd, commissioned him to write Aviv's story.
Jonas told Maclean's that he spent two years and $30,000 of the publishers' money conducting research with Aviv in Europe and Israel. The result, in 1984, was Jonas's Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team, which depicted Aviv's character as "Avner". According to Maclean's, which put together an 11-person investigative team to find out whether Aviv's story was true, the book generated $500,000 in advance foreign sales, as well as "worldwide debate in intelligence and publishing communities", and denial and skepticism in Israel. Senior Israeli intelligence sources, including Zvi Zamir
Zvi Zamir
Zvi Zamir born Zvicka Zarzevsky 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...
who headed Mossad (1968–74), told Yossi Melman
Yossi Melman
Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist.Yossi Melman graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University...
that they do not know anyone named Yuval Aviof or Aviv. Israeli and U.S. intelligence sources, including former CIA officers Vince Cannistraro
Vincent Cannistraro
Vincent Cannistraro was Director of Intelligence Programs for the United States National Security Council from 1984 to 1987; Special assistant for Intelligence in the Office of the Secretary of Defense until 1988; and Chief of Operations and Analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency's ...
and Larry Johnson
Larry C. Johnson
Larry C. Johnson is a former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, who moved subsequently in 1989 to the U.S. Department of State, where he served four years as the deputy director for transportation security, antiterrorism assistance training, and special operations in the State...
, have described Aviv as a liar and con-artist who never worked for Mossad.
However, American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media, looked into the allegations as well and noted several court documents including a memo from the FBI from 1982 and an informant agreement between Aviv and the US Justice Department, both of which refer to a past association with Israeli intelligence.
The book The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks by Nicole Laporte, a reporter for Variety, references Aviv and his background in a section of the book which describes how Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
vetted him during pre-production on the movie, Munich. Spielberg assembled a brain trust of researchers and through his connections at the White House and a Middle East diplomat determined that "His real name was Juval Aviv. Furthermore, Spielberg's brain trust discovered FBI files proving that he and his team were not fictitious."
Jonas, Louise Dennys, and the president of Collins Canada, Nicholas Harris, told Maclean's they are satisfied that the story is genuine. Jonas told Maclean's: "To my mind, if he is not legit, then he can only be a disgruntled ex-employee of Mossad with sufficient knowledge of what has gone down in this area. As far as I am concerned, if he is not who he says he is, then that is what he is."
In 1986, the book was turned into a made-for-television movie, Sword of Gideon, starring Steven Bauer and Michael York, and in 2005, it formed the basis of Steven Spielberg's Munich.
Interfor report on Lockerbie
Aviv was employed by Pan Am in 1989 to investigate who had bombed Pan Am Flight 103Pan Am Flight 103
Pan Am Flight 103 was Pan American World Airways' third daily scheduled transatlantic flight from London Heathrow Airport to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport...
. He says that he "got the information from the horse's mouth, from people who were involved directly and indirectly in the information" when investigating the bombing. In his report he claimed that US agents had been monitoring a heroin-smuggling route operating from the Middle East to the United States which was run by a Syrian criminal.
Aviv claimed that the Syrian had ties to Hizbollah terrorists who were holding Westerners hostages in Beirut. Aviv alleged that US agents agreed to allow the heroin smuggling continue in return for the Syrian helping to free the hostages. At some point Turkish extremists who worked at Frankfurt airport as baggage handler
Baggage handler
In the airline industry, a baggage handler is a person who loads and unloads baggage , and other cargo for transport via aircraft...
s swapped a suitcase of heroin for a bomb. However, the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism examined the same allegations in 1989 and found "no foundation for speculation in press accounts that U.S. government officials had participated tacitly or otherwise in any supposed operation at Frankurt Airport having anything to do with the sabotage of Flight 103."
After the Interfor report was released, Aviv was called "a fabricator who had lied about his entire background" by diplomatic and intelligence officials. Later, Aviv stated "I was never told directly that [my report] was wrong, I was always attacked as the messenger, as somebody who was a fabricator, a lunatic, whatever." American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media
American Public Media
American Public Media is the second largest producer of public radio programs in the United States of America after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and operates radio stations in Minnesota, California, and Florida. Its station brands are Minnesota Public Radio,...
, looked into the allegations that Aviv had never been employed by the FBI or Mossad. They found that several documents existed, including a memo from the FBI from 1982 and an informant agreement between Aviv and the US Justice Department, which refer to a past association with Israeli intelligence.
Works
- (2003) The Complete Terrorism Survival Guide: How to Travel, Work and Live in Safety. Juris Publications, ISBN 1578231302
- (2004) Staying Safe : The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business. Collins, ISBN 0060735201
- (2006) Max, based on the death of British publisher Robert MaxwellRobert MaxwellIan Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
ISBN 1844138755 - (2008) Flight 103