Mossad
Ha-Mossad le-Modiin ule-Tafkidim Meyuhadim (Hebrew: המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, "Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks") is an Israeli intelligence agency, commonly referred to as Mossad. It is responsible for intelligence collection, covert action (including paramilitary activities and assassinations) and counter-terrorism. Its focus is on Arab nations and organizations throughout the world.
Introduction
Mossad is one of the world's most famous intelligence agencies, and is often viewed in the same regard as the CIA and MI6. It is known for its efficiency and many view it as having made a large contribution to the stability and security of Israel.
Mossad was formed in April 1951 from the Central Institute for Coordination and the Central Institute for Intelligence and Security. It was created by then Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. It is headquartered in Tel Aviv. It has a current staff of approximately 1200.
Mossad is a civilian service, and does not use military ranks, although all of the Mossad's staff have served in the Israeli Defence Force (as a part of Israel's compulsory draft system), and many of them are officers.
Mossad has long had a reputation for being an extremely effective agency. However, it has also been involved in several spectacular debacles.
Departments
Mossad is headquartered in Tel Aviv and has eight departments:
- Collections Department is the largest, with responsibility for espionage operations.
- Political Action and Liaison Department conducts political activities and liaison with friendly foreign intelligence services and with nations with which Israel does not have normal diplomatic relations.
- Special Operations Division (Metsada) conducts assassination, sabotage, and paramilitary projects.
- LAP (Lohamah Psichlogit) Department is responsible for psychological warfare, propaganda and deception operations.
- Research Department is responsible for intelligence synthesis.
- Technology Department is responsible for development of technologies to support of Mossad operations.
Famous Mossad Operations
Famous Mossad Debacles
In 1973, Mossad murdered Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent Arab waiter in Lillehammer, Norway, who had been mistaken for Ali Hassan Salameh, one of the leaders of the Black September, a Palestinian guerrilla organization, which was responsible for the Munich Massacre. The Mossad agents used fake Canadian passports, which angered the Canadian government. This was similar to an event in 1981 where fake British passports were discovered in a grocery bag in London in 1981, leading to a diplomatic row with Israel over Mossad involvement with the attempt to infiltrate China. In 1997, two Mossad agents were caught in Jordan (which has signed a peace treaty with Israel), on mission to assassinate Sheikh Khaled Mashal, a leader of the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, by injecting him with poison. Again, they were using fake Canadian passports. This led to a diplomatic row with Canada and Jordan, and Israel was also further forced to release several Palestinian prisoners, in particular the militant Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who until his assassination played a prominent role in attacks against Israeli civilians (and soldiers) during the current Al-Aksa Intifada, in exchange for the Mossad agents (who would otherwise have faced the death penalty for attempted murder).
Mossad was also involved in the Lavon Affair; the kidnappings of Adolf Eichmann and Mordechai Vanunu; and the assassination of Abu Jihad. Their wide-ranging international presence has led to accusations of Mossad infiltration and involvement in a wide range of unconfirmed cases; these range from the assassination of Elie Hobeika and Gerald Bull, to a ring of Israeli "art dealers" with military backgrounds deported shortly after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Mossad allows assassination on the soil of (and of the citizens of) allied nations , but has a strict policy against assassinating Israeli citizens.
In July 2004, New Zealand imposed diplomatic sanctions on Israel over an incident in which two Israelis, Uriel Kelman and Eli Cara, allegedly working for Mossad, attempted to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports.
On August 27, 2004 CBS News broke a story about an FBI investigation into a Israeli mole in the US Department of Defense. The story reports the FBI had uncovered a Israeli spy working as a policy analyst under Douglas Feith and Paul Wolfowitz. The alleged spy, Larry Franklin, is said to have passed on classified documents pertaining to US deliberations on its foreign policy towards Iran, in time for Israel to apply pressure on the US prior to a final policy statement.
Israel has denied the report, saying that due to an agreement reached with the US government it has not had any intelligence assets in the USA since the Jonathan Pollard incident.
Directors of Mossad
| 1951-1952 | Reuven Shiloah |
| 1952-1963 | Issar Har'el |
| 1963-1968 | Me'ir Amit |
| 1968-1974 | Zvi Zamir |
| 1974-1982 | Yitzhak Hofi |
| 1982-1990 | Danny Yatom |
| 1998-2003 | Efraim Halevy |
| 2003- | Me'ir Dagan |
See also
