Cheryl Ben Tov (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: שריל בנטוב), born Cheryl Hanin in 1960, is an American real estate agent and former

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

agent who became well known in 1986 when, under the name "Cindy", she persuaded former Israeli

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

technician

Mordechai Vanunu Mordechai Vanunu ( he, מרדכי ואנונו; born 14 October 1952), also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israe ...

to go with her to

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, in the context of an

Extraordinary rendition Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored Kidnapping, forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had t ...

with the purpose of ultimately taking him to

. Vanunu faced a secret trial and was sentenced to 18 years in prison, spending nearly 12 of them in solitary confinement. Vanunu publicly released confidential information on Israel's nuclear reactor and stated that Israel had created

nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

, becoming the sixth nuclear power and the first since the 1968

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation ...

, of which Israel was not a signatory. A feature in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' revealed that Hanin was American-born but had moved to Israel as a teenager. Hanin grew up in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and

Orlando Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures rele ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in a Jewish family. Her father, Stanley Hanin, had founded ''Allied Discount Tires.'' She spent a semester in

during high school at the

Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education Alexander Muss High School in Hod HaSharon, Israel is a pluralistic study-abroad program in Hod HaSharon, Israel, for high school students. Programs run throughout the year and range in length from 6 weeks to 18 weeks. The school is a fully accredi ...

Hod Hasharon Hod HaSharon ( he, הוֹד הַשָּׁרוֹן, lit. "Splendor of the Sharon, Israel, Sharon plain") is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel. The city is located approximately east of the Mediterranean coastline, s ...

, and upon her graduation in 1978, joined the

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...

. In 1985, she married Ofer Ben Tov, himself an Israeli intelligence officer, and at some point before 1986 was recruited and trained by the Mossad. In 1986, she was one of the Mossad agents that abducted

. Calling herself Cheryl Hanin, she now works as a real estate agent in Northeast

, with her husband and their two daughters. In 1988, newspaper journalists traced her to her home in

Netanya, Israel Netanya (also known as Natanya, he, נְתַנְיָה) is a city in the Northern Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between Poleg stream and Wingate I ...

, where she still owns a villa that she rents out. She does not deny her role in the "Cindy" affair. Vanunu, immediately upon his release from prison in April 2004, said that he did not believe "Cindy" was a Mossad agent: "She was either an FBI or a CIA agent. I spent a week with her. I saw her picture. Cindy was a young woman from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

." Regardless, it is clear that Cheryl Ben Tov was a Mossad agent.

Notes

External links

"The Spy -- And the Man She Busted"
in ''The St. Petersburg Times''
"The History of the Honey Trap"
in ''Foreign Policy'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentov, Cheryl People of the Mossad 1960 births Living people American emigrants to Israel 20th-century American Jews American real estate businesspeople Businesspeople from Florida Israeli Jews People from Longwood, Florida People from Orlando, Florida 21st-century American Jews