Josef Mengele, who was under Mossad surveillance, arguing that the loss of focus could jeopardize the Eichmann mission.
During 1964–1966, Eitan headed a two-year operation in which armaments sold and delivered by the Germans to the Egyptian government 'disappeared'. In those days, Israel had no peace treaty with Egypt.
In 1968 Eitan, posing as an Israeli Ministry of Defense chemist, visited the U.S. Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC) nuclear fuel plant. It emerged that 200 pounds of
highly enriched uranium
Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238U ...
had disappeared from the plant, and it was alleged that the material had been diverted to Israel in an operation that became known as
The Apollo Affair
__NOTOC__
The Apollo Affair was a 1965 incident in which a US company, Nuclear Materials and Equipment Corporation (NUMEC), in the Pittsburgh suburbs of Apollo and Parks Township, Pennsylvania was investigated for losing of highly enriched uraniu ...
.
[Jefferson Morley]
''Rafi Eitan, spy at center of Israel’s great uranium heist from the U.S.,''
Mondoweiss
''Mondoweiss'' is a news website that began as a general-interest blog written by Philip Weiss on ''The New York Observer'' website. It subsequently developed into a broader collaborative venture after fellow journalist Adam Horowitz joined it ...
27 March 2019
Eitan was also involved in the planning and implementation of the
attack on the
Iraqi
Osirak nuclear reactor
The Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility adjacent to the Tuwaitha "Yellow Cake Factory" or Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center contains the remains of nuclear reactors bombed by Iran in 1980, Israel in 1981 and the United States in 1991. It was used as ...
in June 1981. In June 1984, Eitan was responsible for an espionage operation against the United States during which he recruited Naval Intelligence Analyst
Jonathan Jay Pollard to steal American intelligence material. The operation lasted eighteen months and was shut down after the arrest of Pollard, who was convicted and served 30 years of a
life sentence.
Eitan continued his work in intelligence until 1972, when he left the organization and went on to the private sector, raising tropical fish and other agricultural ventures. But in 1978, the government of
Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin ( ''Menaḥem Begin'' (); pl, Menachem Begin (Polish documents, 1931–1937); ''Menakhem Volfovich Begin''; 16 August 1913 – 9 March 1992) was an Israeli politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of Israel. B ...
, the then Prime Minister of Israel, called him back to be his advisor on terrorism, as Eitan was regarded and admired as one of the most respected experts in this field. In 1981, Eitan was named head of the Defense Ministry's
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 ...
, the Bureau for Scientific Relations, replacing Israeli spy-master Benjamin Blumberg, where he continued work on counter-terrorism. According to the British journalist,
Gordon Thomas, Eitan then participated in a partnership between Israeli and U.S. intelligence during the early 1980s in selling to foreign intelligence agencies in excess of $500 million worth of licenses to a trojan horse version of the Washington, D.C.-based,
Inslaw Inc.'s people-tracking software called
PROMIS, in order to spy on them.
In 1984, Lekem was put in touch with
Jonathan Pollard, an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
citizen, who worked on anti-terrorist activities at the US Naval Investigative Services. According to Jonathan Morley, Pollard was an agent run by Eitan.
Pollard had contacted the Israeli government with top secret information on the terrorist activities of Israel's enemies. Jonathan Pollard was exposed and arrested in the US in 1985. His arrest revealed the existence of Lekem to US authorities.
Also in 1985 In California, a US Aerospace Engineer, Richard Kelly Smyth, the president of a company called MILCO, was indicted for smuggling over 800
krytron
The krytron is a cold-cathode gas-filled tube intended for use as a very high-speed switch, somewhat similar to the thyratron. It consists of a sealed glass tube with four electrodes. A small triggering pulse on the grid electrode switches the tu ...
s to Israel without the required US State Department
Munitions Export License. Because of their potential for use as triggers of nuclear weapons, the export of krytrons is tightly regulated in the United States. A number of cases involving the smuggling or attempted smuggling of krytrons have been reported, as countries seeking to develop nuclear weapons have attempted to procure supplies of krytrons for igniting their weapons. Just before trial, and facing a possible 105 years in prison, Richard Kelly Smyth and his wife suddenly disappeared. Sixteen years later they were discovered and arrested while living as fugitives in
Málaga
Málaga (, ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populou ...
,
Spain, and extradited back to the United States where he was convicted in the case. The krytrons shipped by Smyth were sent to an Israeli company called Heli-Trading Ltd. owned by prominent Israeli movie producer
Arnon Milchan
Arnon Milchan ( he, ארנון מילצ'ן; December 6, 1944) is an Israeli businessman, film producer and spy. He has been involved in over 130 full-length motion pictures and is the founder of production company Regency Enterprises. Regency's f ...
. Before his prominent Hollywood career, Milchan had served for decades as a Lekem agent, under the direct command of Eitan's predecessor, Benjamin Blumberg. It later became clear that the company MILCO served as a Lekem front company for obtaining sensitive equipment, technologies and materials for Israeli secret defense-related programs, and in particular its nuclear program.
The Israeli government asserted that the MILCO krytron incident was a simple mistake by the "exporter" MILCO, and that the Pollard operation was an unauthorized deviation from its policy of not conducting espionage in the United States, before an admission in 1998 of Israeli responsibility. In 1987 the Israeli government set up a commission to investigate Lekem's failure, which found it would be in Israel's interest to take responsibility for the Pollard case. In 1987 following the difficult Pollard and MILCO cases, the Israeli government decided to disband Lekem, whose functions were assigned to the Director of Security of the Defense Establishment, adding technical and scientific intelligence to its responsibilities which include internal investigations of the defense ministry.
Following the disbandment of Lekem, Eitan was offered the position as head of the state-owned
Israel Chemicals Corporation, from which he retired in 1993 at the age of 67. During his tenure, the company underwent a rapid expansion in terms of sales, development and manpower, making it the largest government-held firm in the country. In 1998 he appeared in the documentary special ''
The Spy Machine
''The Spy Machine'' is a UK documentary special about the work of the Mossad, written and narrated by Gordon Thomas.
It was made by Open Media and Israfilm and first broadcast by Channel 4 in May 1998. The producer/director was Per-Eric Haw ...
'', produced by
Open Media
Open Media is a British television production company, best known for the discussion series '' After Dark'', described in the national press as "the most original programme on television".
The company was founded in 1987 and has produced more t ...
and
Israfilm and shown on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service in ...
.
Advisor on counter-terrorism
Further revelations from the book ''Gideon's Spies:The Secret History of the Mossad'' by
Gordon Thomas, describe how the
Margaret Thatcher government in Britain during the mid-1980s developed a relationship with Eitan as an advisor to the
Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) on
counterterrorism
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 el ...
operations in Northern Ireland. This relationship came to a head in 1985, when
Mossad agents helped track a
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republicanism, Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, fa ...
(IRA) bomb team in
Gibraltar
)
, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song = "Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gibra ...
. The three-member IRA team was killed (
Operation Flavius) by the British
Special Air Service, under highly controversial circumstances. It was subsequently reported in British papers that Eitan and Mossad had played a surveillance role in the operation, and IRA command put out orders for assassination teams in Ireland and Britain to find and kill Rafi Eitan. Due to this threat of assassination, and the embarrassment of the Israeli government over Eitan's unauthorized relationship with the operation, Eitan left Britain and ended his relationship with Britain's intelligence services. This incident strained Israeli/British relations for several years.
Business career
In 1992, Eitan was approached to bid on a contract for an agricultural deal in
Cuba, which involved the cultivation of the largest citrus grove cooperative on the island. After winning the bid, Eitan built a partnership with four other international entrepreneurs to run the deal. The company BM Group was incorporated in
Panama, and traded with Israeli suppliers.
Due to the success of the venture and the connections acquired, BM also won the contract to build the
world trade center in
Havana, and a
Holocaust Memorial at the center of the Old City of Havana. Recently, GBM was awarded the "Medal for Agricultural Work" by the
Cuban government
Cuba has had a socialist political system since 1959 based on the "one state – one party" principle. Cuba is constitutionally defined as a Marxist–Leninist state. The present Constitution of Cuba, which was passed in a 2019 referendum, also ...
.
In addition to this deal, BM has started expanding its business deals to the rest of
Latin America. It runs various agricultural projects in the
Dominican Republic, among others.
Political career
Eitan was asked to represent the pensioners' party
Gil in the
2006 Knesset elections. The party went on to win seven seats, despite predictions that it would not secure more than three, at best, and would not pass the vote threshold, at worst. In the
2009 elections the party failed to cross the electoral threshold, and Eitan lost his seat.
In February 2010, Eitan remarked ''"In principle, when there is a war on terror you conduct it without principles. You simply fight it."''.
In 2018 Eitan caused surprise and shock in Israel and Germany when he publicly endorsed the far-right
Alternative for Germany
Alternative for Germany (german: link=no, Alternative für Deutschland, AfD; ) is a right-wing populist
*
*
*
*
*
*
* political party in Germany. AfD is known for its opposition to the European Union, as well as immigration to Germany. ...
(AfD) party. He said: “Please understand that all of us in Israel appreciate your attitude toward Judaism. In any case, I’m sure that if you work wisely strongly and most important realistically… I’m sure that instead of ‘Alternative for Germany,’ you might become an alternative for all of Europe.”
Jeremy Issacharoff, Israel’s Ambassador to Germany, wrote: “It is hard to believe how the person who captured Eichmann … is able to praise German right-wingers who so admire the Nazi past and wish on us that they become the alternative of Europe! Sad and shameful.”
Published works
*''Ish Hasod'' ("The Secret Man"), 2020
References
External links
*
Bio: Rafi Eitan Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 4 May 2006
*
Eitan vows to focus on pensioner's issues Jerusalem Post, 29 March 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eitan, Rafi
1926 births
2019 deaths
Palmach members
Alumni of the London School of Economics
Elder rights activists
Israeli Jews
Leaders of political parties in Israel
Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009)
Government ministers of Israel
Dor (political party) politicians
People of the Shin Bet