Mossad
Introduction
- Mossad is a civilian organization from Isreal. Mossad was established as the Central Institute for Coordination on December 13, 1949, at the suggestion of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to Reuven Shiloah. Ben Gurion desired a centralized organization to manage and enhance collaboration among the existing security agencies, which included the army’s intelligence section (AMAN), the Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), and the foreign ministry’s “political department.” It was restructured and became a component of the prime minister’s office in March 1951, reporting directly to the prime minister. Mossad’s previous motto, be-tachblt taaseh lekh milchmh (Hebrew: ), is a Bible quotation (Proverbs 24:6): “For through wise guidance, you may fight your battle” (NRSV). The motto was subsequently altered to another Proverbs passage: be-‘éyn tachblt yippol m; -teshh be-rov y’éts (Hebrew: Proverbs 11:14). The NRSV translates this as “Where there is no direction, a country collapses; but where there is an abundance of counselors, there is safety.”
Mossad is a civilian organization from Isreal. Mossad was established as the Central Institute for Coordination on December 13, 1949, at the suggestion of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to Reuven Shiloah. Ben Gurion desired a centralized organization to manage and enhance collaboration among the existing security agencies, which included the army’s intelligence section (AMAN), the Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), and the foreign ministry’s “political department.” It was restructured and became a component of the prime minister’s office in March 1951, reporting directly to the prime minister. Mossad’s previous motto, be-tachblt taaseh lekh milchmh (Hebrew: ), is a Bible quotation (Proverbs 24:6): “For through wise guidance, you may fight your battle” (NRSV). The motto was subsequently altered to another Proverbs passage: be-‘éyn tachblt yippol m; -teshh be-rov y’éts (Hebrew: Proverbs 11:14). The NRSV translates this as “Where there is no direction, a country collapses; but where there is an abundance of counselors, there is safety.”
3,000 people worked for this civilian organization in 2013, with several hundred of them working overseas. Employees do not have military ranks, although the majority of them had served in the military, especially in military intelligence. Mossad is one of the most effective intelligence organizations in the regions where Israel is engaged. The director-general also serves as the intelligence community’s coordinator, i.e., the first among equals among the heads of Israel’s intelligence agencies; This kind of covert action is used by the Israeli state more often than any other country, and the term “targeted assassination” is used to refer to these types of assassinations. The circumstances under which the government may authorize such killings are outlined in rules and regulations. Israeli intelligence agencies, Mossad and Aman, have developed a list of legitimate targets, which they categorize into three categories: terrorists, political and military leaders of countries that are Israel’s enemies, and individuals who manufacture or sell weapons of mass destruction to Israel’s opponents. Since the early 1970s, the Kidon, which is a branch of the Mossad, has been in charge of destroying targets that cannot be reached by missiles or drones. Hundreds of prospective targets are memorized and their pictures and histories are memorized by these operatives, who meticulously examine every video on historic killings.
They are capable of killing with their bare hands, with a knife, a pen, or even a credit card, as well as with whatever kind of weapon they choose to use. In addition to knowing how to manufacture and handle bombs, they are also familiar with administering a deadly poison injection to a victim in a crowded situation. More than anything else, they have the ability to make an assassination seem to be a tragic accident. When they go overseas to get acquainted with the main cities, their instructors accompany them and make arrangements for them to carry out mock executions that are not meant to draw notice to themselves or the teachers. A synagogue or a bank is often targeted, and the only information provided to the victims is that they would be taking part in an exercise to defend the building. Despite the fact that the Kidon is responsible for a large number of unexplained deaths, targeted killings are still very uncommon, owing to the high cost and difficulty of putting them together in large numbers.
Although they have had little success, they have disrupted and crippled terrorist organizations, removing the vast majority of recruiters, instructors, and planners of suicide operations within a few years, thus decreasing the number of potential commando candidates. Israelis are now confronted with uncontrollable suicide bombers, which are much worse than they were before. Certain murdered people, listened to by the Palestinians because of their authority and charm, might have made for fascinating interlocutors for the Israelis had they lived longer. .. Unlike what the media often reports, an elimination operation does not constitute state terrorism, which is a major misconception. Assuming that we do not consider the moral dimension of the action, we see on the one hand a single terrorist, who will attempt to kill as many innocent victims as possible with his explosive belt or his booby-trapped vehicle, and on the other hand, a team that eliminates an identifiable target without attempting to terrorize Palestinian civilians in any way.
Following the murder of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics by Black September, targeted assassinations escalated dramatically. Premier Golda Meir, therefore, resolved to eliminate the terrorists involved wherever they were, and the Mossad was tasked with coordinating and executing the ground operations. On the 19th of January 2010 in Dubai, the organization carried out a well-publicized mission: the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhoud, who was responsible for providing weapons to Hamas. Surveillance cameras captured footage of the perpetrators of the operation. The ineptitude of the team engaged is not shown by this, despite what the media has started. In recent years, it has been more difficult to do covert work, thanks to the proliferation of surveillance cameras and other tools, such as biometric passports and scanners, as well as the increased use of biometric information in searches. Considering all of this, it’s clear that disguise is very important! Also, the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad eavesdrops on its friends, particularly on the United States. It is the Lekem (Bureau of Scientific Relations) that takes over when the CIA is unable to act due to political considerations. One of its notable achievements was the obtaining of blueprints for the Swiss Air Force’s Mirage-III from the engineer Alfred Frauenknecht, which enabled the Israeli fighter Kfir to be constructed using the plans obtained from him.
Structure Of The Agency
Mossad is divided into eight sections, although the specifics of the agency’s internal organization remain secret.
Intelligence: the most essential division is intelligence. It is in charge of foreign espionage activities through its official or clandestine divisions. This department is split into bureaus, each of which is in charge of a geographical region, its antennas, and the agents that work there.
Research & Study: The Research Division is in charge of interpreting intelligence. It includes a daily report, a weekly bulletin, and a comprehensive monthly notebook. This department is split into 15 geographical areas: the United States, Canada, Western Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, China, the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia), Libya, Egypt, the Rest of Africa, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran. A sub-office keeps track on the progress of armaments programs in neighboring countries.
Psychological Warfare: The Lohamah Psychologist division is in charge of psychological warfare, propaganda/counter-propaganda, and mystification/demystification activities.
Technology and methods: The section in charge of creating and developing technology and techniques for the Mossad.
Planning, Coordination, and International Relations: The International Ties Division is in charge of relations and cooperative operations with agencies in friendly nations as well as countries with whom the State of Israel does not have normalized relations. Under the cover of the embassy, the Mossad has an official connected with the Information Division and an official in charge of International Relations in major branches such as Paris.
The Special Activities Division (METSADA in Hebrew) is in charge of paramilitary, sabotage, and assassination operations
Formation.
Administration.
Famous Operations & Missions
After many years of surveillance headed by Rafi Eitan, Mossad abducted Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1960. Eichmann was sent to Israel, where he was convicted and condemned to death. A similar effort was planned to apprehend Joseph Mengele, but it was thwarted.
Eli Cohen is a well-known Israeli spy who was recruited by the Mossad in the 1960s. Eli Cohen, who penetrated the top levels of the Syrian administration, passed on vital intelligence to his nation for two years before being exposed. Despite worldwide outrage, he was executed in a public plaza.
Another Israeli spy, Wolfgang Lotz, met high-ranking Egyptian army and police officials, gaining accurate intelligence on missile locations and the German scientists’ ballistic missile research. Between 1962 and 1963, an intimidation campaign aimed at Germans was extremely effective, including the murder of many senior Egyptian project executives.
Mossad hijacked seven launches ordered from France in December 1969, which had been embargoed by General de Gaulle. The action became known as the Cherbourg speedboat incident.
Several members of the Black September terrorist cell, responsible for the hostage-taking and murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, were killed by Mossad throughout the 1970s, under the direction of Prime Minister Golda Meir. Michael Harari is in charge of these activities.
According to Richard Labévière, Mossad may have been responsible for the Ehden massacre in Lebanon in 1978, which killed Christian leader Tony Frangié and thirty others, including his wife and three-year-old daughter. The goal, according to reports, was to assist Bashir Gemayel, who was close to Israel, in his ascent to power by removing one of his major rivals5.
Salfati Ernest Pinhas is 22 years old. Rav Samal, an “Officer” in the Tsahal army, is kidnapped and imprisoned in Syria during the Yom Kippur war in 1973; upon his release, he joins the Mossad and is educated there; and his participation is crucial in the arrest of two key commanders of “Hamas” in Lebanon in 1992.
Memorable Failures
As part of Operation Wrath of God, Mossad erroneously killed Ahmed Bouchiki, a Moroccan waiter who bore a remarkable resemblance to Ali Hassan Salameh, the architect of the 1972 massacre, on January 7, 1974, in Lillehammer (Norway). The police apprehend the agents engaged in this operation. Five of them were convicted and sentenced to brief jail sentences, despite the Israeli government’s denial of any involvement in the operation. However, Israel compensated the Bouchiki family in 1996. Following the scandal surrounding the intelligence services’ role in the murder of Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995, Mossad Director-General Shabtai Shavit was compelled to resign. General Danny Yatom took his place.
On September 24, 1997, two operatives with Canadian passports crossed the border between Israel and Jordan to spray poison on one of Hamas’ senior leaders, Khaled Mashal. The two agents are found after completing their job. Jordan bargains for their release in return for the antidote to the poison, which will enable Hamas’ number two to live, as well as the release of Hamas’ founder, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.
Connection With India
In 2003, a Rediff article claimed that Mossad has secret connections with the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), India’s foreign intelligence agency. When Rameshwar Nath Kao established R&AW in September 1968, he was urged by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to develop ties with Mossad. This was proposed as a countermeasure to Pakistan’s military ties with China, as well as with North Korea. Israel was also worried that Pakistani army personnel was instructing Libyans and Iranians on how to operate Chinese and North Korean military equipment.
Pakistan felt that intelligence cooperation between India and Israel posed a danger to Pakistani security. When young Israeli vacationers started visiting Kashmir in the early 1990s, Pakistan believed they were disguised Israeli army personnel coming to assist Indian security forces with anti-terrorism operations. One Israeli tourist was killed and another was abducted after they were assaulted. His release was prompted by pressure from the Kashmiri Muslim diaspora in the United States. Kashmiri Muslims were concerned that the assaults would alienate the American Jewish community, causing them to urge the US government against Kashmiri separatist organizations.
The two apartments were RAW safe houses used as operational fronts for Mossad operatives and housed Mossad’s station head between 1989 and 1992, according to India Today. RAW allegedly agreed to strengthen relations with Mossad, and the ensuing covert operation was sanctioned by then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. According to “RAW sources,” RAW operatives concealed a Mossad agent with an Argentine passport and shared information and experience in operations such as talks for the release of an Israeli tourist by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front terrorists in June 1991. The files were approved by Rajiv Gandhi, the then-prime minister, and his cabinet secretary.
The Times of India claimed in November 2015 that Mossad and MI5 operatives were safeguarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his visit to Turkey. Modi was in the United Kingdom on a state visit and was expected to attend the 2015 G-20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey. In the aftermath of the November 2015 Paris attacks, the agents were reportedly brought in to offer extra cover to Modi’s security detail, which included India’s Special Protection Group and secret operatives from RAW and IB.
Surprising And Original Recruitment Techniques
Given that the secret services operate under strict confidentiality, the wave of Israeli espionage thrillers that have appeared on streaming sites is unexpected in terms of visibility but conceals interesting ulterior motivations. Because elite intelligence agencies are always on the lookout for new members, they must adapt, and television shows such as Apple TV’s “Tehran” and Netflix’s “The Spy” help to fuel the influx of applications.
“When people watch the James Bond films, or when they see Tehran, they want to be a part of it,” veteran Mossad agent Avner Avraham told the Daily Telegraph. Mossad officer Avraham explained why individuals want to join the organization. “It’s exciting, sometimes risky, and you feel extremely happy to serve your nation… and that’s why people want to be in it,” he said. Avraham served as a Mossad officer for more than two decades.
Yossi Cohen, the current head of Mossad, has lately launched on a recruiting binge and boosted the agency’s budget by billions of dollars as the organization prepares to confront an increasing danger from Iran.
Due to growing competition from Israel’s burgeoning technology sector, which is drawing some of the country’s finest brains following the end of obligatory national service, Avraham emphasized that the Mossad is no longer considered a lifelong profession, as it was during his time there.
Given that the secret services operate under strict confidentiality, the wave of Israeli espionage thrillers that have appeared on streaming sites is unexpected in terms of visibility but conceals interesting ulterior motivations. Because elite intelligence agencies are always on the lookout for new members, they must adapt, and television shows such as Apple TV’s “Tehran” and Netflix’s “The Spy” help to fuel the influx of applications.
“When people watch the James Bond films, or when they see Tehran, they want to be a part of it,” veteran Mossad agent Avner Avraham told the Daily Telegraph. Mossad officer Avraham explained why individuals want to join the organization. “It’s exciting, sometimes risky, and you feel extremely happy to serve your nation… and that’s why people want to be in it,” he said. Avraham served as a Mossad officer for more than two decades.
Yossi Cohen, the current head of Mossad, has lately launched on a recruiting binge and boosted the agency’s budget by billions of dollars as the organization prepares to confront an increasing danger from Iran.
Due to growing competition from Israel’s burgeoning technology sector, which is drawing some of the country’s finest brains following the end of obligatory national service, Avraham emphasized that the Mossad is no longer considered a lifelong profession, as it was during his time there.
Conclusion
In Israel, espionage is deeply ingrained in the culture of the country, to the point that the vast majority of its leaders, as well as a large portion of its political elite, of all political persuasions, have served in the intelligence service or a special forces unit. President Chaim Herzog, Prime Ministers Ehud Barak, Benyamin Netanyahu, Yitzhak Shamir, and Ariel Sharon, as well as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, were among those present. When the leadership wants to surprise the enemy and deliver a decisive blow, special operations are the privileged tool with which to do it. Their character is defined by six criteria: the search for a decisive effect, the highly perilous nature of their missions, the small size of the forces involved, strict confidentiality for the personnel and units involved, an objective of high strategic importance, and an operation decided at the highest level with the goal of altering the balance of forces in the theater of operations. The Israeli special forces have carried out a broad range of operations since its formation, which is the primary reason for their efficiency. While they have had many and often spectacular triumphs, they have also had countless failures and suffered a large number of fatalities, much more than the general public is aware of.
Top 13 Interesting Facts
Mossad is the Hebrew meaning of “The Institute for intelligence and special operations”
In Israel, the Director or the head of Mossad is also known as Ramsad (the abbreviation for Rosh Hamossad)
Mossad’s degree of vengeance was so extreme that it was able to kill all of the masterminds involved in the Munich massacre within a decade of the events!
This organization performed a very important role in undermining the nuclear programs of its main adversary nations. Iraq, Syria, and Iran, to name a few.
Mossad is well-known for using the most extreme techniques of killing. They do research into contemporary poisons and radioactive chemicals in order to eliminate their adversary. Apparently, they have a research section dedicated only to this endeavor.
Mossad is believed to have a strong working relationship with both the British MI6 and the American CIA.
The Mossad has a hit team/assassination squad known as “The Kidon,” which is based in Israel. Apparently, the Kidon guys are so well-kept a secret that even some members of the Mossad are unaware of their existence.
In recent years, Mossad has been said to have a positive relationship with the Indian Intelligence RAW. During Prime Minister Modi’s recent visit to Israel, he signed seven accords, the most important of which is an agreement on intelligence sharing between India and Israel. Current Mossad chief Yosi Cohen and Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval are reported to be in constant communication.
Intelligence and security community leaders and top employees adhere to the greatest professional standards of ethics and honesty, and they hold the lower echelons of the organization to these same standards. Between the starting pay of a new employee and the starting compensation of a staff member who has a high-ranking job, there is a comparatively little gap.
It is estimated that there are perhaps more than 1,000 people serving as staff officers for Mossad and Shin Beth, all of whom have through a lengthy and rigorous security screening process. If even the smallest suspicion is raised against a particular person, the application is automatically denied. Personnel with Marxist backgrounds are usually viewed with suspicion by senior members of the intelligence and security communities.
Mossad used a magnetic device to murder one of Iran’s scientists, and radioactive polonium in a toothbrush to assassinate Yasir Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization! Yes, you read it correctly! A toothbrush with the purpose of murdering.
Because of “Operation Wrath of God,” a successful revenge tale of Mossad for the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes in Munich, Germany, Mossad came to the public’s attention for the first time.
Mossad established strong ties with the SAVAK, the Iranian intelligence agency that served under the shah, and backed the Kurds in their uprising against Baghdad’s officers’ government during this period.
Seoane Gabriel
Writer
13angle
