Yossef Harmelin (1922 – December 12, 1994) was an Israeli civil servant, serving as the director of the Shabak from 1964 to 1974 and again from 1986 to 1988 and as

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

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 ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. Born 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 ...

, Harmelin was active in

Maccabi youth movement The "Maccabi youth movement" (, ''HaMaccabi HaTza'ir'') is a Zionist youth movement established during the international convention of the Maccabi organization in Prague, Czech Republic in 1929. As the Maccabi movement is involved with promoting ...

and the

Hakoah Vienna SC Hakoah Vienna (german: Sport Club Hakoah Wien; ' means "the strength" in Hebrew) is a Jews, Jewish sports club in Vienna, Austria. Prior to World War II, it produced several Olympic athletes and was notable for fielding an entirely Jewish ass ...

Jewish sports club. He immigrated to Mandatoy Palestine in 1939 under the Youth Immigration program. He was first at

Ben Shemen Youth Village Ben Shemen Youth Village ( he, כפר הנוער בן שמן, ''Kfar HaNo'ar Ben Shemen'') is a youth village and agricultural boarding school in central Israel. Located near Ben Shemen and Ginaton, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Modi ...

and then founded

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Neve Yam Neve Yam ( he, נְוֵה יָם, ''lit.'' Sea Oasis) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located around twenty kilometres south of Haifa, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Council. In it had a population of . History The kib ...

. Harmelin fought with 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 ...

in the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

. He joined the shabak in 1949 and became deputy director of Shabak in 1960, rising to his first term as director four years later. In 1974, he left Shabak to pursue other interests, including his ambassadorship. He was the last Israeli ambassador to Iran, before diplomatic relations were severed following 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 ...

. He returned to head the security agency again in 1986 following the

Bus 300 affair The Bus 300 affair (), also known as Kav 300 affair, was a 1984 incident in which Shin Bet members executed two Palestinian bus hijackers, immediately after the hostage crisis incident ended and they had been captured. After the incident, the Sh ...

. He retired in 1988.

Sources

Yosef Harmelin
Shabak website Directors of the Shin Bet 1922 births 1994 deaths Austrian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Ambassadors of Israel to South Africa Ambassadors of Israel to Iran {{Israel-bio-stub