Mossad
| The 'Mossad' Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations | |
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| Established: | December 1949 |
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| Director of the CSI: | |
| Director of Public Affairs: | |
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Ha-Mosad le-Modi'in u-le-Tafkidim Meyuhadim (help·info) (Hebrew: המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, often referred to as The Mossad, meaning The Institute) is Israel's intelligence agency and is responsible for intelligence collection, counter-terrorism, covert operations such as paramilitary activities, and the facilitation of aliyah where it is banned. It is one of the several main Intelligence Community intelligence entities in Israel, such as Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security), but its director reports directly to the Prime Minister. Its role and function is like that of the CIA in the USA or MI6 in the United Kingdom.
Note that the name "Mossad" is usually preceded by the definite article "the", Shin Bet may or may not be preceded by the definite article ("the Shin Bet", or "Shin Bet"), and Aman is never preceded by the definite article "the".
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 approximately 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).
Structure
From its headquarters in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv, the Mossad oversees a staff estimated at approximately 1200 personnel. 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.
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.
Successful operations
The deliverance of the Secret Speech of Nikita Khrushchev to the hands of the CIA in 1956 (commonly misattributed to the Mossad, but actually a Shin Bet success).
Located and captured 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.
Procured French Mirage III plans, leading to the development of the Kfir in the 1960's.
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.
Assisted in the defection and rescuing the family of Munir Redfa, an Iraqi pilot who defected and flew his MiG 21 to Israel in 1966.
Provided key intelligence on the Egyptian Air Force for Operation Focus, the opening airstrike of the Six-Day War.
Removed 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.
Assassination of those belonging to Black September which was responsible for the Munich massacre at the 1972 Olympic Games, called "Operation Wrath of God".
Intelligence and operational assistance in 1973 Operation Spring of Youth.
Provided intelligence of Entebbe International Airport and received refueling rights in Kenya for Operation Entebbe in 1976.
Assassination of PFLP and PFLP-EO leader Wadie Haddad in 1978.
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 airstrike in 1981 (Chaussepied was also killed in the strike).
Assisted in Operation Moses, the immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel in 1984.
Abducted nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu in Italy in 1986 after American-Israeli agent Cheryl Bentov lured him from the United Kingdom.
Tunis Raid - Assassination of Abu Jihad from the Fatah in 1988.
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.
Assisted in air and overland evacuations of the Jews from war-torn Sarajevo to Israel in 1992.
Assassination of Fathi Shqaqi, the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, in 1995.
Assassination of Hamas leader Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil in Damascus in 2004.
The Mossad has sometimes sent 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 incidents of the Mossad letter bombs were those sent to Nazi war-criminal Alois Brunner and PFLP member Bassam Abu Sharif.
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 1981, fake British passports were discovered in a grocery bag in London, leading to a diplomatic row with Israel over the Mossad's involvement in an attempt to infiltrate the People's Republic of China.
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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.
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.
Directors of the Mossad
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The Mossad in popular culture
The House on Garibaldi Street - A 1979 movie starring Topol and Martin Balsam, about the Mossad operation in 1960, whereby the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was captured and brought to justice in Israel after 15 years in hiding in Argentina.
The Impossible Spy - A 1987 movie starring John Shea and Eli Wallach (directed by Jim Goddard), about the executed Israeli master spy, Eli Cohen.
The Man Who Captured Eichmann - A 1996 TV movie starring Robert Duvall and Jeffrey Tambor, that follows the same line as The House on Garibaldi Street.
Munich - The movie is set after the 1972 Munich massacre and follows a Mossad squad, led by "Avner" (Eric Bana), which is ordered to track down and kill 11 Black September members thought to be responsible for the Israeli athletes' murders.
Sword of Gideon - The original movie that follows the same line as Munich.
Les patriotes - A French movie (1994) about the Mossad.
NCIS - Starting with the third season, NCIS added a character Ziva David, who is a Mossad officer attached to NCIS as a liaison officer. Her father is portrayed as the current director (deputy-director in season 3), and her half-brother was a Mossad agent undercover as a Hamas terrorist. (Comment: Most Israelis who have seen these episodes of NCIS consider the depiction of the Mossad as absurd and somewhat amusing.)
The Point Men - 2001 movie starring Christopher Lambert.
Walk on Water - The movie's main character is Eyal, a Mossad agent sent to locate a Nazi war criminal.
The Little Drummer Girl - 1984 An American actress with a penchant for lying is forceably recruited by the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency to trap a Palestinian bomber, by pretending to be the girlfriend of his dead brother. - IMDB
The Constant Gardener - dialogue on spies:
Tessa Quayle: "I thought you spies knew everything, Tim?"
Tim Donohue: "Only God knows everything, and he works for Mossad."
Lucky Number Slevin - The Bodyguards of the character named Fairy are ex-Israeli Mossad
Spooks (UK TV Series) - Three 2006 episodes featured Mossad operations: first a 2-parter violent Black op takeover of a Saudi trade meeting in the guise of Al Qaeda terrorists (episodes 6 and 7), and an effort to execute members of an imaginary militant Christian organisation in the following episode.
Triple (Book by Ken Follet) - The main character, Nat Dickstein, works for the Mossad performing a mission with the purpose of stealing 100 tons of uranium into Israel.
Conspiracy theories
Like other intelligence agencies, the Mossad has frequently been the subject of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories. This has included purported involvement in the John F. Kennedy assassination, the death of Princess Diana, the assassination of Elie Hobeika, and more recently the September 11th attacks and the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
A commonly circulated internet myth incorrectly attributes the motto; "By way of deception, thou shalt do war", to the Mossad.
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