Mossad
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[edit] History
The Mossad was formed in December 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. Its motto is be-'éyn tahbūlōt yīpōl `ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rōv yo'éts (Hebrew: באין תחבולות יפול עם, ותשועה ברוב יועץ, "14"For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure." - Proverbs XI, 14).
[edit] Structure
From its headquarters in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, the Mossad oversees a staff estimated at 1200 personnel, although it may have numbered up to 2000 in the late 1980s. The Mossad is a civilian service, and 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", which is involved in assassination, paramilitary operations, sabotage, and psychological warfare.
Psychological warfare is also a concern of the Lohamah Psichlogit 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.
[edit] High Profile Operations
The Mossad's many endeavors in serving Israel's security interests have earned the Mossad a reputation for being extremely effective as an intelligence agency. Controversy exists over cases where it has employed the tactics of kidnapping and assassination.
[edit] Successful Operations
- The finding and capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. In 1960, the Mossad discovered that 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. A second plan to capture Josef Mengele was aborted.
- The procurement of French Mirage III plans, which led to the development of the Kfir in the 1960s.
- Directed missions for Israeli spy Wolfgang Lotz in Egypt 1957-1965.
- Directed missions for Israeli spy Eli Cohen in 1964, who provided vast amounts of valuable intelligence. Eli Cohen was, however, caught in 1965 by the KGB in Syria while it was monitoring radio frequencies.
- Assistance in the defection and rescuing the family of Munir Redfa, an Iraqi pilot who defected and flew his MiG 21 to Israel in 1966.
- Provision of key intelligence on the Egyptian Air Force for Operation Focus, the opening airstrike of the Six-Day War.
- The removal of five missile boats from the French shipyard of Cherbourg which were paid for by the Israeli government but were not delivered due to the French arms embargo in 1969.
- Operation Bulmus 6 - Intelligence assistance in the Commando Assault on Green Island, Egypt during the War of Attrition.
- The assassination of members of Black September, which was responsible for the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games, called "Operation Wrath of God".
- The provision of intelligence and operational assistance in 1973's Operation Spring of Youth.
- The provision of intelligence regarding Entebbe International Airport and grant of refueling rights in Kenya for Operation Entebbe in 1976.
- The assassination of PFLP and PFLP-EO leader Wadie Haddad in 1978.
- The assassination of As-Sa'iqa leader Zuhayr Muhsin in 1979.
- 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." With the help of a French recruit, Damien Chaussepied (a technician), who placed homing beacons on site, the reactor was subsequently destroyed by an Israeli air strike in 1981 (Chaussepied was also killed in the strike).
- Assistance in Operation Moses, the immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984.
- The abduction of nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu in Italy in 1986 after American-Israeli agent Cheryl Bentov lured him from the United Kingdom.
- Tunis Raid - The assassination of Abu Jihad from the Fatah in 1988.
- Assisted in air and overland evacuations of the Jews from war-torn Sarajevo to Israel in 1992.
- The assassination of Fathi Shqaqi, the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in 1995.
- The assassination of Hamas leader Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil in Damascus in 2004.
- The sending of letter bombs to assassination targets, such as during the 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 and PFLP member Bassam Abu Sharif.
[edit] Alleged but Unconfirmed Operations
- 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 murder. 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.*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 assassinated by the Mossad on January 15, 2007.
- Evidence suggest that a mysterious individual is directly related to the recent main frame computer disruptions that have occured at their headquarters.
[edit] Failed Operations
- In July 1973, Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent 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.
- 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 injecting 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, and Israel was forced to provide the poison antidote and 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. In March 2004, 7 years after he was released, Yassin was killed in an Israeli helicopter airstrike.
[edit] Compromised Mossad Actions
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 the Mossad (Israel denied it), attempted to obtain New Zealand passports fraudulently 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 6 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 4th men involved in the passport affair but managed to leave New Zealand before being traced. Amir Lati, 2nd Secretary at the Israeli Embassy in Canberra was later expelled from Australia in January 2005 for reasons still not disclosed by the Australian Government.
[edit] Directors of the Mossad
- Reuven Shiloah, 1951-1952
- 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
- Ephraim Halevy, 1998-2002
- Meir Dagan, 2002-Present
