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 An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of inf ...

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 ...

. It is one of the main entities in the

Israeli Intelligence Community The Israeli Intelligence Community is made up of Aman (military intelligence), Mossad (overseas intelligence) and Shabak (internal security). Current agencies * Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman): the supreme military-intelligence bran ...

, along with Aman (military intelligence) and

Shin Bet The Israel Security Agency (ISA; he, שֵׁירוּת הַבִּיטָּחוֹן הַכְּלָלִי; ''Sherut ha-Bitaẖon haKlali''; "the General Security Service"; ar, جهاز الأمن العام), better known by the acronym Shabak ( he, ...

(internal security). Mossad is responsible for

intelligence collection This is a list of intelligence gathering disciplines. HUMINT Human intelligence (HUMINT) are gathered from a person in the location in question. Sources can include the following: * Advisors or foreign internal defense (FID) personnel wor ...

covert operation A covert operation is a military operation intended to conceal the identity of (or allow plausible deniability by) the party that instigated the operation. Covert operations should not be confused with clandestine operations, which are perform ...

s, and

counter-terrorism Counterterrorism (also spelled counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, incorporates the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, business, and intelligence agencies use to combat or ...

. Its director answers directly and only to the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

. Its annual budget is estimated to be around 10 billion shekels (US$2.73 billion) and it is estimated that it employs around 7,000 people directly, making it the one of the world's largest espionage agencies. Unlike other security bodies (such as the

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

or the

Israel Security Agency 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 ...

), its purpose, objectives, roles, missions, powers or budget have not been defined in any law.

History

Mossad was formed on December 13, 1949, as the Central Institute for Coordination at the recommendation of Prime Minister

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the nam ...

Reuven Shiloah Reuven Shiloah ( he, ראובן שילוח; December 1909 – 1959) was the first Director of the Mossad from 1949 to 1953. Biography Reuven Zaslani (later Shiloah) was born in Ottoman-ruled Jerusalem. His father was a rabbi. Shiloah marrie ...

. Ben Gurion wanted a central body to coordinate and improve cooperation between the existing security services—the army's intelligence department ( AMAN), the Internal Security Service (''

''), 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.

Organization

Mossad has been described by

Ronen Bergman Ronen Bergman ( he, רונן ברגמן; born June 16, 1972) is an Israeli investigative journalist and author. He is a senior political and military analyst for ''Yedioth Ahronoth'', Israel's largest-circulation daily. Bergman has written for ' ...

as a " deep state" because of the way (justified by "state security") that it has been able to carry out actions that would otherwise be subject to prosecution.

Units

The largest department of Mossad 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. The Political Action and Liaison Department is responsible for working with allied foreign intelligence services, and nations that have no normal diplomatic relations with Israel. Additionally, Mossad has a Research Department, tasked with intelligence production, and a Technology Department concerned with the development of tools for Mossad activities.

Metsada

Metsada is a unit responsible for attacking the enemy. Metsada runs "small units of combatants" whose missions include "assassinations and sabotage".

Kidon

The Kidon is a unit which belongs to the Caesarea department (one of Mossad's eight departments). It is described by Yaakov Katz as "an elite group of expert assassins who operate under the Caesarea branch of the espionage organization. Not much is known about this mysterious unit, details of which are some of the most closely guarded secrets in the

Israeli intelligence community The Israeli Intelligence Community is made up of Aman (military intelligence), Mossad (overseas intelligence) and Shabak (internal security). Current agencies * Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman): the supreme military-intelligence bran ...

." It recruits from "former soldiers from the elite IDF special force units." This unit has been a part of Israel's policy of assassinations, which according to

is a policy that Israel has used more than any other country in the West since World War II, stating it has carried out at least 2,700 assassination missions.

Venture capital

Mossad opened a

venture capital fund Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which hav ...

in June 2017, in order to invest in

hi-tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

startups A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend t ...

to develop new cyber technologies.ISRAEL'S MOSSAD IS LOOKING FOR A FEW GOOD STARTUPS
BY HERB KEINON, JUNE 27, 2017, ''Jerusalem Post'' The names of technology startups funded by Mossad will not be published.

Operation Harpoon

Together with

Shurat HaDin Shurat HaDin (aka. Israel Law Center (ILC)) is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in Tel Aviv in 2003. Shurat HaDin has been described by some as a civil rights organization and others as a pro-Israel lawfare-wagi ...

, Mossad started Operation Harpoon, for "destroying terrorists’ money networks.”

Motto

Mossad's former motto, ''be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh'' ( he, בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה) is a quote from the Bible (Proverbs 24:6): "For by wise guidance you can wage your war" (

NRSV The New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) is an English translation of the Bible published in 1989 by the National Council of Churches.

Directors

, 1949–53 *

Isser Harel Isser Harel ( he, איסר הראל, 1912 – 18 February 2003) was spymaster of the intelligence and the security services of Israel and the Director of the Mossad (1952–1963). In his capacity as Mossad director he oversaw the capture and ...

, 1953–63 *

Meir Amit Meir Amit ( he, מאיר עמית, 17 March 1921 – 17 July 2009) was an Israeli politician and cabinet minister. He served as the Chief Director and the head of global operations for Mossad from 1963 to 1968, before entering into politics an ...

, 1963–68 *

Zvi Zamir Zvi Zamir ( he, צבי זמיר) born Zvicka Zarzevsky (born 3 March 1925) is a former major general in the Israel Defense Forces and the director of the Mossad from 1968 to 1974. He is currently retired and lives in Israel. Early life Born ...

, 1968–73 *

Yitzhak Hofi Yitzhak Hofi ( he, יצחק חופי‎; 25 January 1927 – 15 September 2014) was a member of the Palmach, IDF General, chief of the Northern Command (Israel), and director of the Mossad. Life Hofi was born in Tel Aviv. He joined the Haganah ...

, 1973–82 *

Nahum Admoni Nahum Admoni ( he, נחום אדמוני; born November 21, 1929) is an Israeli former intelligence officer who served as the Director-General of the Mossad from 1982 to 1989. Admoni was born in Jerusalem in Mandatory Palestine. His parents, Eli ...

, 1982–89 * Shabtai Shavit, 1989–96 *

Danny Yatom Danny Yatom ( he, דני יתום, born 15 March 1945) is a former Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Labor. In 1996–1998, Yatom was head of the Mossad and between 1999 and 2001, he served as Prime Minister Ehud Barak' ...

, 1996–98 * Efraim Halevy, 1998–2002 *

Meir Dagan Aluf (Major General) Meir Dagan ( he, מאיר דגן; 30 January 1945 – 17 March 2016) was an Israel Defense Forces Major General (reserve) and Director of the Mossad. Personal life and education Meir Huberman (later Dagan) was born on a ...

, 2002–11 *

Tamir Pardo Tamir Pardo ( he, תמיר פרדו; born 1953) is the former Director of the Mossad, taking over the role from Meir Dagan on January 1, 2011. The appointment was announced by Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on November 29, 2010. Biogr ...

, 2011–16 *

Yossi Cohen Yosef "Yossi" Meir Cohen ( he, יוסף מאיר כהן; born 10 September 1961) was the Director of Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. Early life Cohen was born in Jerusalem to a religious family and grew up in the Katamon nei ...

, 2016–21 *

David Barnea David "Dadi" Barnea ( he, דוד (דדי) ברנע; born 29 March 1965) is the current Director of the Mossad, having taken over from Yossi Cohen in June 2021. Early life Barnea was born in Ashkelon and grew up in Rishon Lezion. His father, Jos ...

, 2021–

Operations

''Sayanim''

''Sayanim'' ( he, סייענים, lit. ''Helpers, Assistants'') are unpaid Jewish civilians that help Mossad out of a sense of devotion for Israel. They are recruited by Mossad's field agents, ''katsas'', to provide logistical support for Mossad operations. A Sayan running a rental agency, for instance, could help Mossad agents rent a car without the usual documentation. The usage of Sayanim allows the Mossad to operate with a slim budget yet conduct vast operations worldwide. Sayanim can have dual citizenships but are often not Israeli citizens. The sayanim concept was created by

in the 1960s. According to Gordon Thomas, there were 4,000 sayanim in Britain and some 16,000 sayanim in the United States in 1998. Israeli students called ''bodlim'' are often used as

gofer A gofer, go-fer or gopher is an employee who specializes in the delivery of special items to their superior(s). Examples of these special items include a cup of coffee, a tool, a tailored suit, or a car. Outside of the business world, the term ...

s for Mossad.

Africa

Egypt

* Provision of intelligence for the cutting of communications between Port Said and Cairo in 1956. * Mossad spy

Wolfgang Lotz Wolfgang Lotz (6 January 1921 – 13 May 1993), who later adopted the Hebrew name Ze'ev Gur-Arie, was an Israeli spy in Egypt during the 1960s providing intelligence and conducting operations against Egyptian military scientists. He was arres ...

, holding West German citizenship, infiltrated Egypt in 1957, and gathered intelligence on Egyptian missile sites, military installations, and industries. He also composed a list of German rocket scientists working for the Egyptian government, and sent some of them letter bombs. After the East German head of state made a state visit to Egypt, the Egyptian government detained thirty West German citizens as a goodwill gesture. Lotz, assuming that he had been discovered, confessed to his

cold war The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

espionage activities. * After a tense May 25, 1967, confrontation with

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

Tel Aviv station chief John Hadden, who warned that the United States would help defend Egypt if Israel launched a surprise attack, Mossad director

flew to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American business executive and the eighth United States Secretary of Defense, serving from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He remains the ...

and reported back to the Israeli cabinet that the United States had given Israel "a flickering green light" to attack. * Provision of intelligence on the

Egyptian Air Force The Egyptian Air Force (EAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية المصرية, El Qūwāt El Gawīyä El Maṣrīya), is the aviation branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces that is responsible for all airborne defence missions and operates all mili ...

for

Operation Focus Operation Focus ( he, מבצע מוקד, ''Mivtza Moked'') was the opening airstrike by Israel at the start of the Six-Day War in 1967. It is sometimes referred to as the "Sinai Air Strike". At 07:45 on 5 June 1967, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) u ...

, the opening air strike of the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

. *

Operation Bulmus 6 Operation Bulmus 6, also known as the Green Island Raid, was a military raid conducted by special operations units of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) against what was believed to be an Egyptian early-warning radar and ELINT station located on a ...

– Intelligence assistance in the Commando Assault on Green Island, Egypt during the

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies fro ...

. * Operation Damocles – A campaign of assassination and intimidation against

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

rocket scientists employed by

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in building missiles. ** A bomb sent to the Heliopolis rocket factory killed five Egyptian workers, allegedly sent by

Otto Skorzeny Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including t ...

on behalf of the Mossad. ** Heinz Krug, 49, the chief of a Munich company supplying military hardware to Egypt disappeared in September 1962 and is believed to have been assassinated by

on behalf of the Mossad.

Morocco

In September 1956, Mossad established a secretive network in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

to smuggle

Moroccan Jews Moroccan Jews ( ar, اليهود المغاربة, al-Yahūd al-Maghāriba he, יהודים מרוקאים, Yehudim Maroka'im) are Jews who live in or are from Morocco. Moroccan Jews constitute an ancient community dating to Roman times. Jews b ...

to Israel after a ban on immigration to Israel was imposed. In early 1991, two Mossad operatives infiltrated the Moroccan port of

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

and planted a tracking device on the freighter ''Al-Yarmouk'', which was carrying a cargo of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

n missiles bound for

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. The ship was to be sunk by the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...

, but the mission was later called off by Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...

Tunisia

The 1988 killing of

Khalil al-Wazir Khalil Ibrahim al-Wazir Standardized Arabic transliteration: '' / / '' ( ar, خليل إبراهيم الوزير, also known by his '' kunya'' Abu JihadStandardized Arabic transliteration: ' —"Jihad's Father"; 10 October 1935 – 16 April 1 ...

(Abu Jihad), a founder of

Fatah Fatah ( ar, فتح '), formerly the Palestinian National Liberation Movement, is a Palestinian nationalist social democratic political party and the largest faction of the confederated multi-party Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and s ...

. The alleged killing of

Salah Khalaf use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = Carthage, Tunisia , death_cause = Assassination , resting_place = , resting_place_coord ...

, head of intelligence of the PLO and second in command of

behind

Yasser Arafat Mohammed Abdel Rahman Abdel Raouf al-Qudwa al-Husseini (4 / 24 August 1929 – 11 November 2004), popularly known as Yasser Arafat ( , ; ar, محمد ياسر عبد الرحمن عبد الرؤوف عرفات القدوة الحسيني, Mu ...

, in 1991. The 2016 alleged killing of

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni- Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qas ...

operative, Mohammad al-Zawahri, in Tunisia. Mohammad Zawari, known to Israel's security echelon as "The Engineer", was a Hamas affiliated engineer who was believed to be constructing drones for the group. He was shot at close range.

Uganda

For

Operation Entebbe Operation Entebbe, also known as the Entebbe Raid or Operation Thunderbolt, was a counter-terrorist hostage-rescue mission carried out by commandos of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) at Entebbe Airport in Uganda on 4 July 1976. A week ear ...

in 1976, Mossad provided intelligence regarding

Entebbe International Airport Entebbe International Airport is the only international airport in Uganda. It is located about southwest of the town of Entebbe, on the northern shores of Lake Victoria. This is approximately by road south-west of the central business distric ...

and extensively interviewed hostages who had been released.

South Africa

In the late 1990s, after Mossad was tipped off to the presence of two

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

ian agents in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

on a mission to procure advanced weapons systems from

Denel Denel SOC Ltd is a South African state-owned aerospace and military technology conglomerate established in 1992. It was created when the manufacturing subsidiaries of Armscor were split off in order for Armscor to become the procurement agency ...

, a Mossad agent was deployed, and met up with a local Jewish contact. Posing as South African intelligence, they abducted the Iranians, drove them to a warehouse, and beat and intimidated them before forcing them to leave the country.

Sudan

After the

1994 AMIA bombing The AMIA bombing occurred on 18 July 1994 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and targeted the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; ), a Jewish Community Centre. Executed as a suicidal attack, a bomb-laden van was driven into the AMIA buildi ...

, the largest bombing in Argentine history, Mossad began gathering intelligence for a raid by Israeli Special Forces on the

ian embassy in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

as retaliation. The operation was called off due to fears that another attack against worldwide Jewish communities might take place as revenge. Mossad also assisted in

Operation Moses Operation Moses ( he, מִבְצָע מֹשֶׁה, ''Mivtza Moshe'') was the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews (known as the "Beta Israel" community or "Falashas") from Sudan during a civil war that caused a famine in 1984. Originally called '' ...

, the evacuation of

Ethiopian Jews The Beta Israel ( he, בֵּיתֶא יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Bēteʾ Yīsrāʾēl''; gez, ቤተ እስራኤል, , modern ''Bēte 'Isrā'ēl'', EAE: "Betä Ǝsraʾel", "House of Israel" or "Community of Israel"), also known as Ethiopian Jews ...

to Israel from a famine-ridden region of Sudan in 1984, also maintaining a relationship with the Ethiopian government.

Americas

Argentina

In 1960, Mossad discovered that the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

leader

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. A team of five Mossad agents led by Shimon Ben Aharon slipped into Argentina and, through

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

, confirmed that he had been living there under the name of Ricardo Klement. He was abducted on May 11, 1960 and taken to a hideout. He was subsequently smuggled to Israel, where he was

tried In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

and executed. Argentina protested what it considered as the violation of its sovereignty, and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...

noted that "repetition of acts such as

his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, in ...

would involve a breach of the principles upon which international order is founded, creating an atmosphere of insecurity and distrust incompatible with the preservation of peace" while also acknowledging that "Eichmann should be brought to appropriate justice for the crimes of which he is accused" and that "this resolution should in no way be interpreted as condoning the odious crimes of which Eichmann is accused." Mossad abandoned a second operation, intended to capture

Josef Mengele , allegiance = , branch = Schutzstaffel , serviceyears = 1938–1945 , rank = ''Schutzstaffel, SS''-''Hauptsturmführer'' (Captain) , servicenumber = , battles = , unit = , awards = , command ...

United States

During the 1990s, Mossad discovered a

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

agent operating within the United States in order to procure materials needed to manufacture

IEDs An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mecha ...

and other weapons. In a joint operation with U.S. intelligence, the agent was kept under surveillance in hopes that he would betray more Hezbollah operatives, but was eventually arrested. Mossad informed the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

and CIA in August 2001 that, based on its intelligence, as many as 200 terrorists were slipping into the United States and planning "a major assault on the United States." The Israeli intelligence agency cautioned the FBI that it had picked up indications of a "large-scale target" in the United States and that Americans would be "very vulnerable."Officials Told of ‘Major Assault’ Plans
However, "It is not known whether U.S. authorities thought the warning to be credible, or whether it contained enough details to allow counter-terrorism teams to come up with a response." A month later, terrorists struck at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the largest terrorist attack in history.

Uruguay

Mossad assassinated Latvian

collaborator

Herberts Cukurs Herberts Cukurs (17 May 1900 – 23 February 1965) was a Latvian aviator and deputy commander of the Arajs Kommando, which carried out the largest mass murders of Latvian Jews in the Holocaust. Although Cukurs never stood trial, multiple Holoca ...

in 1965.

Asia

Central and West Asia

A report published on the Israeli military's official website in February, 2014 said that Middle Eastern countries that cooperate with Israel (Mossad) are the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, the

Republic of Azerbaijan A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

and

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. The report claimed that Bahrain has been providing Israel with intelligence on

ian and Palestinian organizations. The report also highlights the growing secret cooperation with Saudi Arabia, claiming that Mossad has been in direct contact with Saudi intelligence about

’s nuclear energy program.

Iran

Prior to the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

of 1978–79,

SAVAK SAVAK ( fa, ساواک, abbreviation for ''Sâzemân-e Ettelâ'ât va Amniat-e Kešvar'', ) was the secret police, domestic security and intelligence service in Iran during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. SAVAK operated from 1957 until prime ...

(Organization of National Security and Information), the Iranian

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

and intelligence service was created under the guidance of United States and Israeli intelligence officers in 1957. After security relations between the United States and Iran grew more distant in the early 1960s which led the

training team to leave

, Mossad became increasingly active in Iran, "training SAVAK personnel and carrying out a broad variety of joint operations with SAVAK." A US intelligence official told ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' that Israel orchestrated the defection of Iranian general Ali Reza Askari on February 7, 2007. This has been denied by Israeli spokesman

Mark Regev Mark Regev ( he, מארק רגב; born 1960) is a former Israeli diplomat and civil servant who is currently the chair of the Abba Eban Institute for Diplomacy and Foreign Relations at Reichman University. Between June 2020 and April 2021, he ser ...

. ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' reported that Askari had been a Mossad asset since 2003, and left only when his cover was about to be blown. Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has accused Mossad of assassination plots and killings of Iranian physicists in 2010. Reports have noted that such information has not yet been evidently proven. Iranian state TV broadcast a stated confession from Majid Jamali-Fashi, an Iranian man who claimed to have visited Israel to be trained by Mossad. ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

'' claimed that Mossad was possibly behind a blast at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Imam Ali military base, on October 12, 2011. The explosion at the base killed 18 and injured 10 others. Among the dead was also general

Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam ( fa, حسن تهرانی مقدم) (29 October 1959 – 12 November 2011) was an Iranian military officer in the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and designer of Iran's ballistic missile project. ...

, who served as the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ missile program and was a crucial figure in building Iran's long-range missile program. The base is believed to store long-range missiles, including the

Shahab-3 The Shahab-3 ( fa, شهاب ۳, Šahâb 3; meaning "meteor-3") is a liquid-propelled medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) developed by Iran and based on the North Korean Nodong-1. The Shahab-3 has a range of ; a MRBM variant can now reach (can ...

, and also has hangars. It is one of Iran's most secure military bases. Mossad has been accused of assassinating

Masoud Alimohammadi Masoud Alimohammadi ( fa, مسعود علی‌محمدی; 24 August 1959 – 12 January 2010) was an Iranian quantum field theorist and elementary-particle physicist and a distinguished professor of elementary particle physics at the Universit ...

Ardeshir Hosseinpour Ardeshir Hosseinpour ( fa, اردشير حسين پور, 1962 – 15 January 2007) was an Iranian nuclear scientist, physics professor, and electromagnetism expert who was involved in the Iranian nuclear program. He died mysteriously in early 20 ...

Majid Shahriari Majid Shahriari ( fa, مجید شهریاری, c. 1966 – 29 November 2010) was a top Iranian nuclear scientist and physicist who worked with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. Career He specialized in neutron transport, a phenomenon tha ...

Darioush Rezaeinejad Between 2010 and 2012, four Iranian nuclear scientists ( Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan) were assassinated, while another ( Fereydoon Abbasi) was wounded in an attempted murder. In Novem ...

and Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan; scientists involved in the

Iranian nuclear program The nuclear program of Iran is an ongoing scientific effort by Iran to research nuclear technology that can be used to make nuclear weapons. Iran has several research sites, two uranium mines, a Nuclear reactor technology, research reactor, an ...

. It is also suspected of being behind the attempted assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist

Fereydoon Abbasi Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani ( fa, فریدون عباسی دوانی; born 11 July 1958) is an Iranian nuclear scientist who was head of the Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013. He survived an assassination attempt in 2010, but was serious ...

, who served as Director of Mossad from 2002 until 2009, while not taking credit for the assassinations, praised them in an interview with a journalist, saying "the removal of important brains" from the Iranian nuclear project had achieved so-called "white

defection In politics, a defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, changing sides in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, defection involves abandoning a person, ca ...

s," frightening other Iranian nuclear scientists into requesting that they be transferred to civilian projects. In early February 2012, Mossad director

met with U.S. national security officials in Washington, D.C. to sound them out on possible American reactions in the event Israel attacked Iran over the objections of the United States. In 2018 the Mossad infiltrated into Iran's secret nuclear archive in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

and smuggled over 100,000 documents and computer files to Israel. The documents and files showed that the Iranian

AMAD Project AMAD Project (or AMAD Plan, fa, پروژه آماد) is an Iranian scientific project, started in 1989 and stopped in 2003 according to IAEA, that is suspected by Israel to have nonetheless continued, with the aim of developing nuclear weapons. ...

aimed to develop

nuclear weapon 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 bom ...

s. Israel shared the information with its allies, including European countries and the United States.

Iraq

Assistance in the defection and rescuing of the family of

Munir Redfa Captain Munir Redfa ( ar, منير ردفا, syr, ܡܘܢܝܪ ܪܕܦܐ), born Munir Habib Jamil Rufa ( ar, منير حبيب جميل روفا, syr, ܡܘܢܝܪ ܚܒܝܒ ܓܡܝܠ ܪܘܦܐ‎) (1934 – 1998) was an Iraqi fighter pilot. After Q ...

, an

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

i pilot who defected and flew his

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickna ...

to Israel in 1966: "

Operation Diamond Operation Diamond ( he, מִבְצָע יַהֲלוֹם, ''Mivtza Yahalom'') was an operation undertaken by Mossad. Its goal was the acquisition of a Soviet-built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, the most advanced Soviet fighter plane at that time. The op ...

". Redfa's entire family was also successfully smuggled from Iraq to Israel. Previously unknown information about the MiG-21 was subsequently shared with the United States. Operation Sphinx – Between 1978 and 1981, obtained highly sensitive information about Iraq's

Osirak Operation Opera ( he, מבצע אופרה), also known as Operation Babylon, was a surprise airstrike conducted by the Israeli Air Force on 7 June 1981, which destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor located southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. ...

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat from nu ...

by recruiting an Iraqi nuclear scientist in France. Operation Bramble Bush II – In the 1990s, Mossad began scouting locations in Iraq where

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

could be ambushed by

Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal ( he, סיירת מטכ״ל) is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, General ...

commandos inserted into Iraq from

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. The mission was called off due to

Operation Desert Fox The 1998 bombing of Iraq (code-named Operation Desert Fox) was a major four-day bombing campaign on Iraqi targets from 16 to 19 December 1998, by the United States and the United Kingdom. On 16 December 1998, President of the United States Bill ...

and the ongoing Israeli-Arab peace process.

Jordan

In what is thought to have been a reprisal action for a Hamas suicide-bombing in Jerusalem on July 30, 1997 that killed 16 Israelis, Benjamin Netanyahu authorised an operation against

Khaled Mashal Khaled Mashal ( ar, خالد مشعل, Khālid Mashʿal, Levantine Arabic: , born 28 May 1956) is a former leader of the Palestinian organization Hamas. After the founding of Hamas in 1987, Mashal became the leader of the Kuwaiti branch of th ...

, the Hamas representative in Jordan. On September 25, 1997, Mashal was injected in the ear with a toxin (thought to have been a derivative of the synthetic opiate

Fentanyl Fentanyl, also spelled fentanil, is a very potent synthetic opioid used as a pain medication. Together with other drugs, fentanyl is used for anesthesia. It is also used illicitly as a recreational drug, sometimes mixed with heroin, cocaine ...

called Levofentanyl). Jordanian authorities apprehended two Mossad agents posing as Canadian tourists and trapped a further six in the Israeli embassy. In exchange for their release, an Israeli physician had to fly to Amman and deliver an antidote for Mashal. The fallout from the failed killing eventually led to the release of

Sheik Ahmed Yassin Sheikh Ahmed Ismail Hassan Yassin ( ar, الشيخ أحمد إسماعيل حسن ياسين; 1 January 1937 – 22 March 2004) was a Palestinian politician and imam who founded Hamas, a militant Islamist and Palestinian nationalist organi ...

, the founder and spiritual leader of the Hamas movement, and scores of Hamas prisoners. Netanyahu flew into Amman on September 29 to apologize personally to King Hussein, but he was instead met by the King's brother, Crown Prince Hassan.

Lebanon

The sending of

letter bombs A letter bomb, also called parcel bomb, mail bomb, package bomb, note bomb, message bomb, gift bomb, present bomb, delivery bomb, surprise bomb, postal bomb, or post bomb, is an explosive device sent via the mail, postal service, and designed ...

to PFLP member

Bassam Abu Sharif Bassam Abu Sharif ( ar, بسام أبو شريف; born 1946 in Jerusalem) is a former senior adviser to Yasser Arafat and leading cadre of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). He was previously a member of the Popular Front for the Li ...

in 1972. Sharif was severely wounded, but survived. The killing of the Palestinian writer and leading

PFLP The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist an ...

member

Ghassan Kanafani Ghassan Kanafani ( ar, غسان كنفاني, 8 April 1936 – 8 July 1972) was a Palestinian author and a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). On 8 July 1972 ...

by a car bomb in 1972. The provision of intelligence and operational assistance in the 1973

Operation Spring of Youth The 1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon (known as Operation Spring of Youth, Hebrew: מבצע אביב נעורים, ''Mivtsa Aviv Ne'urim'') took place on the night of April 9 and early morning of April 10, 1973, when Israeli army special forces un ...

special forces raid on

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. The

targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...

Ali Hassan Salameh Ali Hassan Salameh ( ar, علي حسن سلامة, ; 1 April 1941 – 22 January 1979) was a Palestinian militant who was the chief of operations (code name Abu Hassan) for Black September and founder of Force 17. He was assassinated by Mossad ...

, the leader of

Black September Black September ( ar, أيلول الأسود; ''Aylūl Al-Aswad''), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was a conflict fought in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF), under the leadership of King Hussein ...

, on January 22, 1979 in

by a car bomb. Providing intelligence for the killing of

Abbas al-Musawi Abbas al-Musawi (; ar, عباس الموسوي; 26 October 1952 – 16 February 1992) was an influential Lebanese Shia cleric, co-founder and Secretary General of Hezbollah. He was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in 1992. Early life ...

, secretary general of Hezbollah, in southern Lebanon in 1992. Allegedly killed Jihad Ahmed Jibril, the leader of the military wing of the PFLP-GC, in Beirut in 2002. Allegedly killed

Ali Hussein Saleh ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib ( ar, عَلِيّ بْن أَبِي طَالِب; 600 – 661 common era, CE) was the last of four Rashidun, Rightly Guided Caliphs to rule Islam (r. 656 – 661) immediately after the death of Muhammad, and he was ...

, member of Hezbollah, in Beirut in 2003. Allegedly killed

Ghaleb Awwali Ghaleb Awwali was a senior Amal Movement and later Lebanese Islamic Jihad official who was assassinated in a car bombing in Beirut, Lebanon in a Hezbollah controlled area, on 19 July 2004. Hezbollah blamed Israel and the Jund Ash Sham organiza ...

, a senior Hezbollah official, in Beirut in 2004. Allegedly killed Mahmoud al-Majzoub, a leader of

Palestinian Islamic Jihad The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine ( ar, حركة الجهاد الإسلامي في فلسطين, ''Harakat al-Jihād al-Islāmi fi Filastīn''), known in the West simply as Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), is a Palestinian Islamist par ...

, in Sidon in 2006. Mossad was suspected of establishing a large spy network in Lebanon, recruited from

Druze The Druze (; ar, دَرْزِيٌّ, ' or ', , ') are an Arabic-speaking esoteric ethnoreligious group from Western Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, syncretic, and ethnic religion based on the teachings of ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, and

Sunni Muslim Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagree ...

communities, and officials in the Lebanese government, to spy on

and its Iranian Revolutionary Guard advisors. Some have allegedly been active since the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee ( he, מבצע שלום הגליל, or מבצע של"ג ''Mivtsa Shlom HaGalil'' or ''Mivtsa Sheleg'') by the Israeli government, later known in Israel as the Lebanon War or the First L ...

. In 2009, Lebanese Security Services supported by Hezbollah's intelligence unit, and working in collaboration with

, and possibly Russia, launched a major crackdown which resulted in the arrests of around 100 alleged spies "working for Israel". Previously, in 2006, the Lebanese army uncovered a network that allegedly assassinated several Lebanese and Palestinian leaders on behalf of Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.

Palestine

Caesarea tried for many years to assassinate

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establ ...

leader

, a job later tasked by Israel's

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

Ariel Sharon Ariel Sharon (; ; ; also known by his diminutive Arik, , born Ariel Scheinermann, ; 26 February 1928 – 11 January 2014) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel from March 2001 until April 2006. S ...

to a military

special ops Special operations (S.O.) are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment". Special operations may include ...

task force code named "Salt Fish," later renamed "Operation Goldfish," specially created for the job of assassinating Arafat, with Ronan Bergman suggesting that Israel used radiation poisoning to kill Yasser Arafat.

Syria

Eli Cohen Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen ( he, אֱלִיָּהוּ בֵּן שָׁאוּל כֹּהֵן‎, ar, إيلياهو بن شاؤول كوهين‎; 6 December 1924 – 18 May 1965), commonly known as Eli Cohen, was an Egyptian-born Israel ...

infiltrated the highest echelons of the Syrian government, was a close friend of the Syrian President, and was considered for the post of Minister of Defense. He gave his handlers a complete plan of the Syrian defenses on the

Golan Heights The Golan Heights ( ar, هَضْبَةُ الْجَوْلَانِ, Haḍbatu l-Jawlān or ; he, רמת הגולן, ), or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about . The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between di ...

, the Syrian Armed Forces order of battle, and a complete list of the Syrian military's weapons inventory. He also ordered the planting of trees by every Syrian fortified position under the pretext of shading soldiers, but the trees actually served as targeting markers for the Israel Defense Forces. He was discovered by Syrian and Soviet intelligence, tried in secret, and executed publicly in 1965. His information played a crucial role during the

. On 1 April 1978, 12 Syrian military and secret service personnel were killed by a booby trapped sophisticated Israeli listening device planted on the main telephone cable between Damascus and Jordan.Ronen Bergman
The Spies Inside Damascus
''

Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...

'', September 19, 2013 The alleged death of General Anatoly Kuntsevich, who from the late 1990s was suspected of aiding the Syrians in the manufacture of VX nerve-gas, in exchange for which he was paid huge amounts of money by the Syrian government. On April 3, 2002, Kuntsevich died mysteriously during a plane journey, amid allegations that Mossad was responsible. The alleged killing of

Izz El-Deen Sheikh Khalil Izz El-Deen Sobhi Sheikh Khalil (alternately Ezzeddine) ( ar, عز الدين الشيخ خليل) (''circa'' 1962/1964 – September 26, 2004) was a senior member of the military wing of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas when he was ki ...

, a senior member of the military wing of

, in an automobile booby trap in September 2004 in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. The uncovering of a nuclear reactor being built in Syria as a result of surveillance by Mossad of Syrian officials working under the command of

Muhammad Suleiman Muhammad Suleiman (Also Mohammad Sulayman) ( ar, محمد سليمان) (1959 – 1 August 2008) was a Syrian Army General and Special Presidential Advisor for Arms Procurement and Strategic Weapons to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad. He was ki ...

. As a result, the Syrian nuclear reactor was destroyed by Israeli Air Forces in September 2007 (see

Operation Orchard Operation Outside the Box ( he, מבצע מחוץ לקופסה, ''Mivtza MiHutz LaKufsa''), also known as Operation Orchard ( he, מבצע בוסתן, ''Mivtza Bustan''), was an Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor, The alleged killing of Muhammad Suleiman, head of Syria's nuclear program, in 2008. Suleiman was on a beach in

Tartus ) , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = Tartus corniche Port of Tartus • Tartus beach and boulevard Cathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa • Al-Assad Stadium&n ...

and was killed by a sniper firing from a boat. On July 25, 2007, the al-Safir chemical weapons depot exploded, killing 15 Syrian personnel as well as 10 Iranian engineers. Syrian investigations blamed Israeli sabotage. The alleged killing of

Imad Mughniyah Imad Fayez Mughniyeh ( ar, عماد فايز مغنية; 7 December 1962 – 12 February 2008), alias al-Hajj Radwan (), was the founding member of Lebanon's Islamic Jihad Organization and number two in Hezbollah's leadership. Information about ...

, a senior leader of Hezbollah complicit in the

1983 United States embassy bombing The April 18, 1983 United States embassy bombing was a suicide bombing in Beirut, Lebanon, that killed 32 Lebanese, 17 Americans, and 14 visitors and passers-by. The victims were mostly embassy and CIA staff members, but also included several U ...

, with an exploding

headrest Head restraints (also called headrests) are an automotive safety feature, attached or integrated into the top of each seat to limit the rearward movement of the adult occupant's head, relative to the torso, in a collision — to prevent or ...

in Damascus in 2008. The decomposed body of Yuri Ivanov, the deputy head of the

GRU The Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, rus, Гла́вное управле́ние Генера́льного шта́ба Вооружённых сил Росси́йской Федера́ци ...

, Russia's foreign military intelligence service, was found on a Turkish beach in early August 2010,''Top Russian spy’s body washes up 'after swimming accident’''
Telegraph amid allegations that Mossad may have played a role. He had disappeared while staying near Latakia, Syria. Mossad was accused of being behind the assassination of Aziz Asbar, a senior Syrian scientist responsible for developing long-range rockets and chemical weapons programs. He was killed in a car bomb in

Masyaf Masyaf ( ar, مصياف ') is a city in northwestern Syria. It is the center of the Masyaf District in the Hama Governorate. As of 2004, Masyaf had a religiously diverse population of approximately 22,000 Ismailis, Alawites and Christians. The ci ...

on August 5, 2018.

United Arab Emirates

Mossad is suspected of killing

Mahmoud al-Mabhouh Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh ( ar, محمود عبد الرؤوف المبحوح; 14 February 1960 – 19 January 2010) was the chief of logistics and weapons procurement for Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He is reme ...

, a senior Hamas military commander, in January 2010 at

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

. The team which carried out the killing is estimated, on the basis of

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

and other evidence, to have consisted of at least 26 agents traveling on bogus passports. The operatives entered al-Mabhouh's hotel room, where Mabhouh was subjected to electric shocks and interrogated. The door to his room was reported to have been locked from the inside. Although the UAE police and Hamas have declared Israel responsible for the killing, no direct evidence linking Mossad to the crime has been found. The agents' bogus passports included six British passports, cloned from those of real British nationals resident in Israel and suspected by Dubai, five Irish passports, apparently forged from those of living individuals, forged Australian passports that raised fears of reprisal against innocent victims of identity theft, a genuine German passport and a false French passport. Emirati police say they have fingerprint and DNA evidence of some of the attackers, as well as retinal scans of 11 suspects recorded at Dubai airport. Dubai's police chief has said "I am now completely sure that it was Mossad," adding: "I have presented the (Dubai) prosecutor with a request for the arrest of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu and the head of Mossad," for the murder.

South and East Asia

=India

= A

Rediff Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

story in 2003 revealed that Mossad had clandestine links with the

Research and Analysis Wing The Research and Analysis Wing (abbreviated R&AW; hi, ) is the foreign intelligence agency of India. The agency's primary function is gathering foreign intelligence, counter-terrorism, counter-proliferation, advising Indian policymakers, an ...

(R&AW), India's external intelligence agency. When R&AW was founded in September 1968 by

Rameshwar Nath Kao Rameshwar Nath Kao (R.N. Kao) (10 May 1918 – 20 January 2002) was an Indian spymaster and the first chief of India's external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) from its founding in 1968 to 1977. Kao was one of India ...

, he was advised by then Prime Minister

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

to cultivate links with Mossad. This was suggested as a countermeasure to military links between that of Pakistan and China, as well as with

. Israel was also concerned that Pakistani army officers were training Libyans and Iranians in handling Chinese and North Korean military equipment.RAW and MOSSAD, the Secret Link
''rediff.com'' Pakistan believed intelligence relations between India and Israel threatened Pakistani security. When young Israeli tourists began visiting the Kashmir valley in the early 1990s, Pakistan suspected they were disguised Israeli army officers there to help Indian security forces with anti-terrorism operations. Israeli tourists were attacked, with one slain and another kidnapped. Pressure from the

Kashmiri Muslim Kashmiri Muslims are ethnic Kashmiris who practice Islam and are native to the Kashmir Valley in Indian-administered Kashmir. Quote: "Jammu and Kashmir: Territory in northwestern India, subject to a dispute between India and Pakistan. It has bo ...

diaspora in the United States led to his release. Kashmiri Muslims feared that the attacks could isolate the American Jewish community, and result in them lobbying the US government against Kashmiri separatist groups. ''India Today'' reported that the two flats were RAW safe houses used as operational fronts for Mossad agents and housed Mossad's station chief between 1989 and 1992. RAW had reportedly decided to have closer ties to Mossad, and the subsequent secret operation was approved by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. ''India Today'' cites "RAW insiders" as saying that RAW agents hid a Mossad agent holding an Argentine passport and exchanged intelligence and expertise in operations, including negotiations for the release of an Israeli tourist by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front militants in June 1991. When asked about the case Verma refused to speak about the companies, but claimed his relationship with them was purely professional. Raman stated, "Sometimes, spy agencies float companies for operational reasons. All I can say is that everything was done with government approval. Files were cleared by the then prime minister

Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (; 20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian politician who served as the sixth prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of his mother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to beco ...

and his cabinet secretary. Balachandran stated, "It is true that we did a large number of operations but at every stage, we kept the Cabinet Secretariat and the prime minister in the loop." In November 2015, ''The Times of India'' reported that agents from Mossad and MI5 were protecting Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament from ...

during his visit to Turkey. Modi was on a state visit to the United Kingdom and was scheduled to attend the 2015 G-20 Summit in Antalya, Turkey. The paper reported that the agents had been called in to provide additional cover to Modi's security detail, composed of India's Special Protection Group and secret agents from RAW and IB, in wake of the

November 2015 Paris attacks The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bombers ...

=Malaysia

= In 2018, Hamas and the family of Malaysian-based Hamas engineer and university lecturer

Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh Fadi Mohammad al-Batsh () was a Palestinian engineer, academic and member of Hamas. He was assassinated on 21 April 2018 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, while heading to a mosque for dawn prayers. Biography While living in Gaza, he was employed by ...

have accused the Mossad of assassinating him. In April 2018, al-Batsh was shot dead by two men on a motorbike in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi Dato' Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi ( ms, أحمد زاهد بن حميدي, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; born 4 January 1953) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 11th and 14th Deputy Prime Minister from July 2015 to M ...

described the suspects as Europeans with links to an unidentified foreign intelligence agency. In response,

Israeli Defense Minister The Ministry of Defense ( he, מִשְׂרַד הַבִּטָּחוֹן, Misrad HaBitahon, Ministry of Security, acronym: he, משהב"ט) of the government of Israel, is the governmental department responsible for defending the State of Isra ...

Avigdor Lieberman Avigdor Lieberman (, ; russian: Эве́т Льво́вич Ли́берман, Evet Lvovich Liberman, ; born 5 June 1958) is a Soviet-born Israeli politician serving as Minister of Finance since 2021, having previously served twice as Deputy ...

denied that Mossad was involved in al-Batsh's assassination and suggested that his death was the result of an internal Palestinian dispute. Hamas also issued a statement describing Batsh as a "martyr" and "distinguished scientist who has widely contributed to the energy sector." In October 2022, the ''

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...

'' and

Al Jazeera Arabic Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera M ...

reported that several Malaysian Mossad operatives had attempted to kidnap two Palestinian computer experts in Kuala Lumpur in late September 2022. Though they managed to kidnap one of the men, the second escaped and alerted Malaysian Police. The operatives allegedly assisted Mossad officials via video call in interrogating and beating their captive, who was questioned about the computer programming and software capabilities of Hamas and its

Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades ( ar, كتائب الشهيد عز الدين القسام, , Battalions of martyr Izz ad-Din al-Qassam; also spelt Izzedine or Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades; often shortened to Al-Qassam Brigades, IQB

. With the aid of the second Palestinian man, Malaysian Police were able to track down the car registration plates to a house where the alleged kidnappers were arrested and the man was freed. According to Al Jazeera Arabic, a "well-informed Malaysian source" claimed that an investigation had uncovered an undercover 11-member Mossad cell in Malaysia that was involved in spying on important sites including airports, government electronic companies, and tracking down Palestinian activists. This Mossad cell allegedly consisted of Malaysian nationals who received training in Europe.

=North Korea

= Mossad may have been involved in the 2004 explosion of Ryongchon, where several Syrian nuclear scientists working on the Syrian and Iranian nuclear-weapons programs were killed and a train carrying fissionable material was destroyed.Thomas, Gordon: ''Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad'' (Fifth Edition)

=Pakistan

= In a September 2003 news article, it was alleged by Rediff News that General Pervez Musharaf, the then-President of Pakistan, decided to establish a clandestine relationship between Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Mossad via officers of the two services posted at their embassies in Washington, DC.

=Sri Lanka

= Mossad had helped both

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

and the

Eelam Eelam ( ta, ஈழம், ''īḻam'', , also spelled Eezham, Ilam or Izham in English) is the native Tamil name for the South Asian island now known as Sri Lanka. The exact etymology and the original meaning of the word are not clearly kno ...

. Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky claimed that Mossad trained both the

Sri Lankan armed forces The Sri Lanka Armed Forces is the overall unified military of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka encompassing the Sri Lanka Army, the Sri Lanka Navy, and the Sri Lanka Air Force; they are governed by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Th ...

and the LTTE while keeping the two separated. Ravi Jayawardene, head of the STF, had toured Israel in 1984 and took inspiration from the Israeli settlements in the

Palestinian Territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The I ...

to form armed Sinhalese settlements in strategic border areas of the Tamil-dominant Northern and Eastern provinces.

Europe

Austria

In 1954, after Mossad received intelligence that an Israeli officer who had access to classified military technologies, Major Alexander Israel, had approached Egyptian officials in Europe and offered to sell Israeli military secrets and documents, a team of Mossad and Shin Bet officers was quickly sent to Europe to locate him and abduct him, and located him in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. The mission was code-named Operation Bren. A female agent managed to lure him to a meeting through a honey trap operation, and he was subsequently kidnapped, sedated, and flown to Israel aboard a waiting Israeli military plane. However, the plane had to make several refueling stops, and he was given an additional dose of sedatives each time, which ultimately caused him to overdose, killing him. Upon arrival in Israel, after it was discovered that he was dead, he was given a

burial at sea Burial at sea is the disposal of human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship or boat. It is regularly performed by navies, and is done by private citizens in many countries. Burial-at-sea services are conducted at many different location ...

, and the case remained highly classified for decades. Mossad gathered information on Austrian politician

Jörg Haider Jörg Haider (; 26 January 1950 – 11 October 2008) was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of ...

using a

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

Belgium

Mossad is alleged to be responsible for the killing of Canadian engineer and

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and a ...

expert

Gerald Bull Gerald Vincent Bull (March 9, 1928 – March 22, 1990) was a Canadian engineer who developed long-range artillery. He moved from project to project in his quest to economically launch a satellite using a huge artillery piece, to which end he des ...

on March 22, 1990. He was shot multiple times in the head outside his

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

apartment. Bull was at the time working for

on the

Project Babylon Project Babylon was a space gun project commissioned by then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. It involved building a series of " superguns". The design was based on research from the 1960s Project HARP led by the Canadian artillery expert Gerald ...

supergun. Others, including Bull's son, believe that 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.

and

are also candidates for suspicion.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Assisted in air and overland evacuations of Bosnian Jews from war-torn

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

to Israel in 1992 and 1993.

Cyprus

The killing of Hussein Al Bashir in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1973 in relation to the

Munich massacre The Munich massacre was a terrorist attack carried out during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany, by eight members of the Palestinian people, Palestinian militant organization Black September Organization, Black September, who i ...

.Israeli "Hits" On Terrorists
Jewish Virtual Library, last updated December 18, 2007. Retrieved December 24, 2007.

France

Mossad allegedly assisted

's domestic security service in the disappearance of dissident politician

Mehdi Ben Barka use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) --> , death_place = , death_cause = , body_discovered = , resting_place = , resting_place_coordinates = ...

in 1965.

Cherbourg Project The Cherbourg Project (or Boats of Cherbourg) was an Israeli military operation that took place on 24 December 1969 and involved the escape of five remaining armed Sa'ar 3 class boats from the French port of Cherbourg (Cherbourg-Octeville sin ...

– Operation Noa, the 1969 smuggling of five

Sa'ar 3-class missile boat The Sa'ar 3 class ("Cherbourg") is a series of missile boats built in Cherbourg, France at the Amiot Shipyard based on an Israeli Navy modification of the German Navy's . They are also known as the stars of Cherbourg. Design and development ...

s out of Cherbourg. The killing of Mahmoud Hamshari, coordinator of the

, with an exploding telephone in his Paris apartment in 1972. The killing of Basil Al-Kubaissi, who was involved in the

, in Paris in 1973. The killing of Mohammad Boudia, member of the

, in Paris in 1973. On April 5, 1979, Mossad agents are believed to have triggered an explosion which destroyed 60 percent of components being built in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

for an Iraqi reactor. Although an environmental organization, ''Groupe des écologistes français'', unheard of before this incident, claimed credit for the blast, most French officials discount the claim. The reactor itself was subsequently destroyed by an Israeli air strike in 1981. The alleged killing of

Zuheir Mohsen Zuheir Mohsen ( ar, زهير محسن; 1936 – 25 July 1979) was a Palestinian leader of the pro-Syria As-Sa'iqa Ba'athist faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) between 1971 and 1979. Previously active in the Jordanian wing ...

, a pro-Syrian member of the PLO, in 1979. The killing of

Yehia El-Mashad Yahya El Mashad ( ar, يحيى المشد; 1932 – 14 June 1980) was an Egyptian nuclear scientist who headed the Iraqi nuclear program. He was killed in a Paris hotel room in June 1980, in an operation generally attributed to the Mossad. Ea ...

, the head of the Iraq nuclear weapons program, in 1980. The alleged killing of

Atef Bseiso Atef Bseiso ( ar, عاطف بسيسو, 23 August 1948 – 8 June 1992) was the Palestine Liberation Organization's (PLO) liaison officer with foreign intelligence agencies. He was assassinated in Paris in 1992. Several theories exist regarding t ...

, a top intelligence officer of the PLO, in Paris in 1992. French police believe that a team of assassins followed Atef Bseiso from Berlin, where that first team connected with another team to close in on him in front of a Left Bank hotel, where he received three head-shots at point blank range.

Germany

Operation Plumbat Operation Plumbat is believed to have been an Israeli covert operation in 1968 to obtain yellowcake (processed uranium ore) to support the Israeli nuclear weapons effort. France stopped supplying Israel with uranium fuel for the Dimona nuclear ...

(1968) was an operation by

Lekem Lekem, (also pronounced "Lakam") an acronym for ''ha-Lishka le-Kishrei Mada'' ( he, הלשכה לקשרי מדע, Bureau of Scientific Relations), was an Israeli intelligence agency headed by Benjamin Blumberg (1957–1981), and Rafi Eitan (1981–1 ...

-Mossad to further Israel's nuclear program. The German freighter "Scheersberg A" disappeared on its way from

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

along with its cargo of 200 tons of

yellowcake Yellowcake (also called urania) is a type of uranium concentrate powder obtained from leach solutions, in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores. It is a step in the processing of uranium after it has been mined but before fue ...

, after supposedly being transferred to an Israeli ship.ISRAEL The Plumbat Operation (1968)
retrieved 10/12/2008 The sending of

during the

Operation Wrath of God Operation "Wrath of God" ( he, מבצע זעם האל ''Mivtza Za'am Ha'el''), also known as Operation "Bayonet", was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals involved in the 1972 Munich massacre in which 11 members of t ...

campaign. Some of these attacks were not fatal. Their purpose might not have been to kill the receiver. A Mossad letter bomb led to fugitive Nazi war-criminal

Alois Brunner Alois Brunner (8 April 1912 – December 2001) was an Austrian (SS) SS-Hauptsturmführer who played a significant role in the implementation of the Holocaust through rounding up and deporting Jews in occupied Austria, Greece, Macedonia, France, ...

's losing four fingers from his right hand in 1980. The alleged targeted killing of

Wadie Haddad Wadie Haddad ( ar, وديع حداد; 1927 – 28 March 1978), also known as Abu Hani, was a Palestinian leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine's armed wing. He was responsible for organizing several civilian airplane hi ...

, using poisoned chocolate. Haddad died on 28 March 1978, in the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

supposedly from leukemia. According to the book ''Striking Back'', published by Aharon Klein in 2006, Haddad was eliminated by Mossad, which had sent the

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

-loving Haddad

Belgian chocolate Belgian chocolate (french: chocolat belge, nl, Belgische chocolade) is chocolate produced in Belgium. A major industry since the 19th century, today it forms an important part of the Belgian economy, nation's economy and Culture of Belgium, cul ...

s coated with a slow-acting and undetectable poison which caused him to die several months later. "It took him a few long months to die", Klein said in the book. Mossad discovered that

had recruited a German national named Steven Smyrek, and that he was travelling to Israel. In an operation conducted by Mossad, the

, the German Internal Security agency

Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (german: Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz or BfV, often ''Bundesverfassungsschutz'') is Germany's federal domestic intelligence agency. Together with the Landesämter für Verfassungss ...

(BfV), and the Israeli Internal Security agency

, Smyrek was kept under constant surveillance, and arrested as soon as he landed in Israel.

Greece

The killing of Zaiad Muchasi,

representative to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, by an explosion in his Athens hotel room in 1973.

Ireland

The assassination of Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh – a senior

military commander – in

, 2010, was suspected to be the work of Mossad, and there were eight Irish passports (six of which were used) fraudulently obtained by the Israeli embassy in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

for use by alleged Mossad agents in the operation. The

Irish government The Government of Ireland ( ga, Rialtas na hÉireann) is the cabinet that exercises executive authority in Ireland. The Constitution of Ireland vests executive authority in a government which is headed by the , the head of government. The governm ...

was angered over the use of Irish passports, summoned the Israeli ambassador for an explanation and expelled the Israeli diplomat deemed responsible from Dublin, following an investigation. One of the passports was registered to a residence on Pembroke Road,

Ballsbridge Ballsbridge () (from historic Ball's Bridge) is an affluent neighbourhood of the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The area is largely north and west of a three-arch stone bridge across the River Dodder, on the south side of the city. Th ...

, on the same road as the Israeli embassy. The house was empty when later searched, but there was suspicion by Irish authorities it had been used as a Mossad

safe house A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor. Histori ...

in the past. Mossad is reported to have a working relationship with the Irish

military intelligence service The Military Intelligence Service ( ja, アメリカ陸軍情報部, ''America Rikugun Jōhōbu'') was a World War II U.S. military unit consisting of two branches, the Japanese American unit (described here) and the German-Austrian unit based ...

and has previously tipped the Irish authorities off about arms shipments from the Middle East to Ireland for use by

dissident republican Dissident republicans, renegade republicans, anti-Agreement republicans or anti-ceasefire republicans ( ga, poblachtach easaontach) are Irish republicans who do not support the current peace agreements in Northern Ireland. The agreements follow ...

militants, resulting in their interception and arrests.

Italy

The killing of

Wael Zwaiter Abdel Wael Zwaiter ( ar, وائل زعيتر; 2 January 1934 – 16 October 1972) was a Palestinian translator, assassinated as the first target of Israel's Operation Wrath of God campaign following the 1972 Munich massacre. Israel considered Zwa ...

, thought to be a member of

. In 1986, Mossad used an undercover agent to lure

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 ...

from the United Kingdom to Italy in a honey trap style operation where he was abducted and returned to Israel where he was tried and found guilty of

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...

because of his role in exposing Israel's nuclear weapons programme.

Malta

The killing of Fathi Shiqaqi. Shiqaqi, a leader of the

, was shot several times in the head in 1995 in front of the Diplomat Hotel in

Sliema Sliema ( mt, Tas-Sliema ) is a town located on the northeast coast of Malta in the Districts of Malta#Northern Harbour District, Northern Harbour District. It is a major residential and commercial area and a centre for shopping, bars, dining, a ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Norway

On July 21, 1973,

Ahmed Bouchiki The Lillehammer affair (Hebrew: פרשת לילהאמר, ''Parshat Lillehammer'', Norwegian: ''Lillehammer-saken'') was the killing by Mossad agents of Ahmed Bouchikhi, a Moroccan waiter and brother of the renowned musician Chico Bouchikhi, i ...

, a Moroccan waiter in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

, Norway, was killed by Mossad agents. He had been mistaken for

, one of the leaders of

, the

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

group responsible for the

, who had been given shelter in Norway. Mossad agents had used fake

Canadian passport A Canadian passport (french: passeport canadien) is the passport issued to citizens of Canada. It enables the bearer to enter or re-enter Canada freely; travel to and from other countries in accordance with visa requirements; facilitates the p ...

s, which angered the Canadian government. Six Mossad agents were arrested, and the incident came to be known as the

Lillehammer affair The Lillehammer affair (Hebrew: פרשת לילהאמר, ''Parshat Lillehammer'', Norwegian: ''Lillehammer-saken'') was the killing by Mossad agents of Ahmed Bouchikhi, a Moroccan waiter and brother of the renowned musician Chico Bouchikhi, in ...

. Israel subsequently paid compensation to Bouchiki's family.

Serbia

Israel provided weapons to the Serbs during the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, possibly due to the pro-Serbian bias of the government of the time, or possibly in exchange for the immigration of the Sarajevo Jewish community to Israel. The Mossad allegedly was responsible for providing Serbian groups with arms.

Switzerland

According to secret

and

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

documents discovered by the Iranian students who took over the

U.S. Embassy in Tehran The Embassy of the United States of America in Tehran was the American diplomatic mission in the Imperial State of Iran. Direct bilateral diplomatic relations between the two governments were severed following the Iranian Revolution in 1979, and ...

on November 4, 1979: In February 1998, five Mossad agents were caught wiretapping the home of a

agent in a

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

suburb. Four agents were freed, but the fifth was tried, found guilty, sentenced to one year in prison, and following his release was banned from entering Switzerland for five years.

Soviet Union/Russia

Mossad was involved in outreach to

refusenik Refusenik (russian: отказник, otkaznik, ; alternatively spelt refusnik) was an unofficial term for individuals—typically, but not exclusively, Soviet Jews—who were denied permission to emigrate, primarily to Israel, by the authori ...

s in the Soviet Union during the

crackdown Crackdown may refer to * ''Crackdown'' (web series) * ''Crackdown'' (video game series) ** ''Crackdown'' (video game) ** ''Crackdown 2 ''Crackdown 2'' is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Ruffian Games and published by ...

Soviet Jews The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "For ...

in the period between the 1950s and the 1980s. Mossad helped establish contact with Refuseniks in the USSR, and helped them acquire Jewish religious items, banned by the Soviet government, in addition to passing communications into and out of the USSR. Many rabbinical students from Western countries travelled to the Soviet Union as part of this program in order to establish and maintain contact with refuseniks.

United Kingdom

In 1984 Mossad agents were caught attempting to

kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

Nigerian politician

Umaru Dikko Umaru Abdulrahman Dikko (31 December 1936 – 1 July 2014) was a Nigerian politician. He was an adviser to President Shehu Shagari and served as minister for transportation from 1979 to 1983. Early life Dikko was born in Wamba. Wamba is sm ...

from London. On 4 July 1984 customs officials at Stanstead airport discovered Dikko in a crate about to be flown to Nigeria. Agents Alexander Barak, Felix Abithol and anesthetist Dr Levi-Arie Shapiro were given prison sentences of between ten and fourteen years. In 1986, a bag containing eight forged British passports was discovered in a telephone booth in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. The passports had been the work of Mossad and were intended for the Israeli Embassy in London for use in covert operations. The British government, furious, demanded that Israel give a promise not forge its passports again, which was obtained. On 30 September 1986 Mossad agents succeeded in luring

from London to Rome where he was kidnapped back to Israel and tried for treason. Vanunu had been hosted in London by the

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

whilst revealing details of Israel’s nuclear weapons programme. On 15 June 1988, following the trial and conviction of a Palestinian post-graduate student studying at

Hull University , mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £18.8 million (2016) , budget = £190 million ...

, Ismail Sowan, two Mossad agents were expelled from the UK. Sowan was found in possession of a large arms cache and was sentenced to eleven years in prison. During his trial it had been revealed that he had employed by Mossad for ten years. The Mossad agents, Arie Regev and Jacob Barad, were Sowan’s controllers. They had failed to inform

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

of Sowan’s activities and that they were aware that a Palestinian, Abd al-Rahim Mustapha, believed to be involved in the assassination of

Naji al-Ali Naji Salim Hussain al-Ali ( ar, ناجي سليم العلي '; born c. 1938 – 29 August 1987) was a Palestinian cartoonist, noted for the political criticism of the Arab regimes and Israel in his works. He has been described as the greatest ...

had entered the country illegally. The Mossad station in UK remained closed until the 1994 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in London.

Ukraine

In February 2011, a Palestinian engineer,

Dirar Abu Seesi Dirar Abu Seesi or Abu Sisi ( ar, ضرار أبو سيسي; born in 1969 in Jordan) is a Palestinian engineer. Abu Seesi was a deputy engineer for the Gaza Strip's sole electrical plant, which provides 25% of Gaza's power. According to Israel, ...

, was allegedly pulled off a train by Mossad agents en route to the capital

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

from

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.diplomatic sanctions International sanctions are political and economic decisions that are part of diplomatic efforts by countries, United Nations Security Council, multilateral or regional organizations against states or organizations either to protect national secur ...

on Israel over an

incident Incident may refer to: * A property of a graph in graph theory * ''Incident'' (film), a 1948 film noir * Incident (festival), a cultural festival of The National Institute of Technology in Surathkal, Karnataka, India * Incident (Scientology), a ...

in which two Australia-based Israelis, Uriel Kelman and Eli Cara, who were allegedly working for Mossad, attempted to fraudulently obtain

New Zealand passport New Zealand passports (Māori: ''Uruwhenua Aotearoa'') are issued to New Zealand citizens for the purpose of international travel by the Department of Internal Affairs. New Zealand has a passport possession rate of around 70% of the population ...

s by claiming the identity of a severely disabled man. Israeli Foreign Minister

Silvan Shalom Zion Silvan Shalom ( he, ציון סילבן שלום, born 4 August 1958) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Likud between 1992 and 2015. He held several prominent ministerial positions, including being Vice Pri ...

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 six-month sentences and, upon release, were

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

to Israel. Two others, an Israeli, Ze'ev Barkan, and a New Zealander, David Reznick, are believed to have been the third and fourth men involved in the passport affair but they both managed to leave New Zealand before being apprehended.

In fiction

;Films (including made-for-television movies) * The films ''

Sword of Gideon ''Sword of Gideon'' is a 1986 Canadian television film about Mossad agents hunting down terrorists associated with the 1972 Munich massacre. It was first shown on the CTV Television Network in Canada as a four-hour miniseries and later on HBO i ...

'' (1986) and ''

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

'' (2005), depict Mossad agents' retaliation against

following the events of the 1972 Munich Olympics. * '' The Impossible Spy'' (1987) is a TV movie about the life of top Mossad spy

. * In the film ''

Swordfish Swordfish (''Xiphias gladius''), also known as broadbills in some countries, are large, highly migratory predatory fish characterized by a long, flat, pointed bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfis ...

'' (2001), the lead character Gabriel Shear (played by

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He came to public attention during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes ''Carrie'' (19 ...

) is believed to be a Mossad agent. * ''

The Red Sea Diving Resort ''The Red Sea Diving Resort'' (also known as ''Operation Brothers'') is a 2019 spy thriller film written and directed by Gideon Raff. The film stars Chris Evans as an Israeli Mossad agent who runs a covert operation that attempts to rescue Et ...

'' (2019) is loosely based on the events of

and

Operation Joshua Operation Joshua, also known as Operation Sheba, was the 1985 airlifting of Ethiopian Jews from refugee camps in Sudan to Israel. Ethiopian Jews had fled to refugee camps in Sudan from a severe famine in their country. The Israeli Operation Moses ...

(jointly referred to as

Operation Brothers Ethiopian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants from the Beta Israel communities in Ethiopia who now reside in Israel. To a lesser, but notable, extent, the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel is also composed of Fala ...

), in which Ethiopian Jews were covertly moved from refugee camps in Sudan to Israel. * ''

The House on Garibaldi Street ''The House on Garibaldi Street'' is a 1979 American television film based on the non-fiction book of the same name, written by Isser Harel. It was directed by Peter Collinson and starred Topol and Martin Balsam. The story is about the Mossad ope ...

'' (1979) and ''

Operation Finale ''Operation Finale'' is a 2018 American historical drama film directed by Chris Weitz from a screenplay by Matthew Orton about a 1960 clandestine operation by Israeli commandos to capture former SS officer Adolf Eichmann, and transport him to J ...

'' (2018) movies about the Mossad exfiltration of Nazi war criminal

Adolf Eichmann Otto Adolf Eichmann ( ,"Eichmann"
''

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...

's novel '' Honour Among Thieves'' (1993), the lead female protagonist is a Mossad agent. * In book 4 of Mark Greaney's Gray Man series, ''Dead Eye'', Mossad and the CIA partner to capture the world's most feared and lethal rogue former black ops agent Courtland Gentry. * Daniel Silva's spy novel series is centered on fictional Mossad agent and assassin,

Gabriel Allon Gabriel Allon is the main protagonist in Daniel Silva's thriller and espionage series that focuses on Israeli intelligence. The main characters refer to their employer as 'the Office', although it is not specified that it is Mossad (known internall ...

. The term "Mossad" is never used in the novels, but the protagonist is described as working for Israel's intelligence service (which the characters refer to simply as "the Office"). * John Le Carre's novel ''

The Little Drummer Girl ''The Little Drummer Girl'' is a spy novel by British writer John le Carré, published in 1983. The story follows the manipulations of Martin Kurtz, an Israeli spymaster who intends to kill Khalil – a Palestinian terrorist who is bombing Jewis ...

'' (1983) describes a fictional Mossad operation against Palestinian terrorists. * Frederick Forsyth's novel '' The Fist of God'' describes the inner workings of various Mossad divisions. ;Television (Alphabetical by show) *

(2020–present) is a spy thriller television series about a Mossad agent working undercover in Iran. * In the TV series ''

The Blacklist ''The Blacklist'' is an American crime thriller television series that premiered on NBC on September 23, 2013. The show follows Raymond "Red" Reddington (James Spader), a former U.S. Navy officer turned high-profile criminal who voluntarily sur ...

'' (2013–present), Mossad agent Samar Navabi (played by

Mozhan Marnò Mozhan Marnò (born May 3, 1980) is an Iranian-American film and television actress. She is known for her roles in ''The Blacklist'' and ''House of Cards''. Early life and education Marnò was born in Los Angeles. Her parents are from Iran an ...

) is one of the side characters. * In the TV series ''

Covert Affairs ''Covert Affairs'' is an American action drama television series filmed in Toronto, Canada, starring Piper Perabo and Christopher Gorham that premiered on Tuesday, July 13, 2010. On January 6, 2015, USA Network canceled ''Covert Affairs'' after ...

'' (2010–2015), Mossad agent Eyal Lavin is a recurring character. * Since the ''

NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...

'' season 3 episode " Kill Ari (Part 1)" (2005), Mossad has played an instrumental part. Mossad's presence includes one of the main characters, Agent

Ziva David Ziva David (; Hebrew: זיוה דוד, , feminine form of Ziv: "Radiance"; birth date November 12, 1982, Beersheba in the Negev desert of southern Israel). She was born in Be'er Sheva, Israel. is a fictional character from the CBS television seri ...

, who is a former Mossad Agent. She originally filled the position of Mossad liaison to NCIS, until the end of

season 7 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

, when she became a full-time NCIS agent. Her father, Eli David, was the director of Mossad, until the season 10 episode " Shabbat Shalom", when he was killed. Many other characters have been included in the show from Mossad, including Michael Rivkin and

Ari Haswari '' NCIS'' is an American police procedural television series, revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which investigates crimes involving the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The series was ...

. Some episodes of the show have taken place in Israel. * '' The Spy'' (2019) is a web television miniseries on the life of top Mossad spy

Notes

References

External links

* * *
Libertad website
{{Authority control Government agencies established in 1949 Holocaust trials Israeli intelligence agencies 1949 establishments in Israel