digest
Intro
If you were asked to name five of the top spy agencies in the world, chances are that Israel's Mossad would make the list. But why is the foreign intelligence service of such a tiny country so famous? What are some of the extraordinary events that make the Mossad so feared and respected? And what role does the Mossad play in the overall security strategy of the world's only Jewish state?
The Arab Section: pre-State of Israel intelligence missions
Even before the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, Jews created organizations to gain information on their enemies' activities. In the months following the UN vote to partition Palestine, four young Jewish men were sent on intelligence missions to Arab countries. Having grown up in Arab lands, they could pass as Arabs and gather intelligence in the heart of societies who were hostile to Jews and Israel. They called themselves Mista'arvim, or those who become like Arabs.
According to author Matti Friedman, the special skill sets of these Mista'arvim explain the success of Israeli intelligence in the early years of the state. This group, known as The Arab Section, was one of several organizations that offered a glimpse into how The Mossad would later operate.
Israel as Defender of the Jewish People: The need for superior intelligence
Israel is tiny, and it lives in a pretty rough neighborhood. Since its founding, it was clear Israel would need more than a strong military to stay ahead of those who were set on wiping the Jews, or the Jewish state, off the map. Israel would need superior intelligence, both to understand the constant threats against it and to carry out pinpoint operations to neutralize those threats. This explains why The Mossad adopted, as its first motto, the biblical verse, "For by strategems you wage war."
As the only Jewish state in the world, Israel has also taken upon itself the role of defender of the Jewish people. When terrorists have targeted Jewish communities, Israel stands at the ready to bring criminals to justice when other nations can't or won't take action. The Mossad's main mission is first and foremost to gather intelligence. Beyond that, The Mossad's work serves four distinct purposes: to bring to justice those who have harmed the Jewish people, to neutralize military threats to the State of Israel, to retaliate against the perpetrators of terror, and to help Jewish refugees reach the land of Israel.
The Mossad mission to abduct Adolf Eichmann
The story of Adolf Eichmann best illustrates The Mossad's commitment to justice. Eichmann, a renowned Nazi, supervised the mass deportation of Jews to extermination camps as part of Hitler's Final Solution. After the war, he escaped from US custody and moved to Argentina, where he lived under a false identity.
An eight-man team of Israeli Mossad agents covertly traveled to Argentina and abducted Eichmann in May of 1960. They dressed him up as an Israeli flight attendant and snuck him out of the country. Eichmann was tried and convicted of war crimes the following year, and became the only criminal to be executed in Israel's history. If you want to hear the whole story, check out the video we made about it.
Mossad mission to identify North Korean/Syrian nuclear facility
There are new reports that an Israeli air strike last month may have targeted a nuclear facility in Syria. Three senior US officials claim Syria was just months or even weeks from making the reactor operational, and charge that North Korea helped Syria's covert nuclear activities.
In 2001, cooperation between Syria and North Korea regarding nuclear weapons piqued Israel's interest. So, in late 2006, Mossad agents broke into the London hotel room of a Syrian atomic energy official and installed monitoring software on his laptop. This gave them access to hundreds of photographs, blueprints, and documents relating to a nuclear facility being built with North Korea and Iran's help. In the summer of 2007, Israeli commandos obtained photographs and soil samples from the facility, revealing nuclear material originating in North Korea.
When US President George W. Bush rejected a military strike, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert replied that Israel would act alone. A few weeks later, Israeli jets destroyed the reactor and ended Syria's nuclear program.
Mossad's takedown of Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh
If the destruction of the Syrian reactor was the Mossad's greatest success against a national threat to the State of Israel, its biggest takedown of an individual terrorist would be Imad Mughniyeh. One of the founders of Hezbollah, Mughniyeh was responsible for many high-profile attacks, including the April 1983 bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut that killed 63, the October 1983 Beirut bombing of the US Marines headquarters that killed 243, and the 1994 attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in which 86 people died. Before the 9/11 attacks, US officials blamed Mughniyeh for the deaths of more Americans than any other terrorist.
He lived a life of secrecy, moving around frequently and using disguises and plastic surgery to hide his identity. The Mossad managed to track him down in Damascus in February of 2008, and a Mossad hit team was deployed. They packed explosives into a rental car, while another Mossad team tracked Mughniyeh to a planned meeting with Iranian and Syrian officials. When Mughniyeh arrived, the rigged car moved into position alongside it, and as Mughniyeh got out, the car exploded via remote detonation.
Undercover Sudanese diving resort: Rescuing Ethiopian refugees
You don't often hear about spy agencies rescuing refugees, but that's exactly what the Mossad did on several occasions. In the early 1980s, they smuggled Ethiopian Jews out of Sudan. Netflix even adapted this epic story into the movie "Red Sea Diving Resort."
Ethiopia went through a difficult period beginning in the mid-1970s: civil war, famine, and an invasion from neighboring Somalia. Life was especially hard for the Jews of Ethiopia, as they were singled out for persecution. In 1977, many made the long and dangerous trek to Sudan, where they ended up in refugee camps. Sudan refused to cooperate with the Israelis on getting the refugees to Israel, so the Mossad was tasked to come up with a plan: to operate a diving resort along the Red Sea coast in Sudan as a cover. By day it was a full-service tourist operation, complete with meals, lodging, and water sports instruction. At night, the senior staff would travel to refugee camps hundreds of miles away, bring Ethiopian Jews back to the resort, and then get them on boats headed for Israel.
The Mossad wasn't perfect, however. There were a few times when their cover was almost blown, such as the time a Canadian tourist took one of the managers aside and told him that he knew they weren't Europeans, because, "Only Israelis chop their salad so finely." The three-year operation, beginning in 1981, was an all-around success, and over 6,000 Jews were rescued.
Missions that benefit Israel and the entire international community
The Mossad plays an indispensable part in Israel's security strategy and serves many roles. The Mossad's record of success, its willingness to strike deeply into the territory of its enemies, and its use of assassinations make it both respected and feared among Israel's enemies. Working alone or with intelligence services of other countries, the Mossad has carried out missions that directly benefit not only Israel but the international community as a whole.
Outro
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