Yuval Aviv

Juval Aviv ( he, יובל אביב February 24, 1947), also Yuval Aviv, is an Israeli-American security consultant and founder of Interfor International"A Look Ahead At The ABA Banking Leaders Forum And Annual Convention," ''ABA Banking Journal'' 99.8 (2007): 15. Business Source Elite. Web. 2 Dec. 2011., a corporate investigations firm in New York City. Juval Aviv is also a book writer under the pseudonym Sam Green.

In particular, Aviv investigated the terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 103.

Biography

Yuval Aviof (later Juval Aviv) was born in Kfar Menachem on February 24, 1947 as Yuval Aviof. He received his master's degree from Tel Aviv University. Aviof served as a major in Israel's Defence Force and Mossad from 1968 to 1979. According to the Herald Sun, he participated in Mossad secret service operations in many countries.

Business career

Aviv is president and CEO of Interfor, an international investigative and intelligence firm, according to the '' ABA Banking Journal''. He has investigated cases such as the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 for clients US Aviation and Pan American World Airways.

Aviv was employed by Pan Am in 1989 to investigate who had bombed Pan Am Flight 103. He says that he received the information from people who were involved directly and indirectly. In his report, he claimed that US agents had been monitoring a heroin-smuggling route operating from the Middle East to the United States, which was run by a Syrian criminal.

Aviv said that the Syrians had ties to Hezbollah militants who were holding Westerners hostage in Beirut. According to Aviv, US agents agreed to allow the heroin smuggling to continue in return for help in freeing the hostages. At some point Turkish extremists, who worked at Frankfurt Airport as baggage handlers, swapped a suitcase of heroin for a bomb.

The President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism examined these allegations in 1989 and found "no foundation for speculation in press accounts that U.S. government officials had participated tacitly or otherwise in any supposed operation at Frankurt Airport having anything to do with the sabotage of Flight 103."Steven Emerson
"PanAm Scam"
, ''American Journalism Review'', September 1992.

After the Interfor report was released, Aviv was described by diplomatic and intelligence officials as "a fabricator who had lied about his entire background." Later, Aviv stated, "I was never told directly that y reportwas wrong, I was always attacked as the messenger, as somebody who was a fabricator, a lunatic, whatever." American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media, looked into allegations that Aviv had never been employed by the FBI or Mossad. They found several documents, including a memo from the FBI from 1982 and an informant agreement between Aviv and the US Justice Department, which refer to a past association with Israeli intelligence.
He has been used as a source by publications such as the ''New York Times'' and by news networks Fox News Channel and ABC News.

Involvement in ''Vengeance''

In 1981, Canadian writer George Jonas was approached by Collins Canada about meeting with Aviv, who claimed to have been involved in Operation Wrath of God, an operation to assassinate the Palestinian terrorists who carried out the 1972 Munich massacre, in which they took hostage and killed 11 Israeli athletes.George Jonasbr>"The Spielberg Massacre"
, ''Macleans'', January 7, 2006. In a joint deal, two Toronto-based publishing houses, Lester & Orpen Dennys and Collins Canada Ltd, commissioned Jonas to research and write Aviv's account.

''Vengeance'' (1984) depicted Aviv's character as "Avner", though that is in dispute.

According to ''Maclean's'', which put together an 11-person investigative team to find out whether Aviv's story was true, the book generated $500,000 in advance foreign sales. After his book was published, Jonas told a journalist for ''Maclean's'' that he had spent two years and $30,000 of the publishers' money conducting research in Europe and Israel.Robert Miller. "The 'Vengeance' Affair," ''Macleans'', May 7, 1984. American RadioWorks, the national documentary unit of American Public Media, looked into the allegations as well and noted several court documents, including a memo from the FBI from 1982 and an informant agreement between Aviv and the US Justice Department, both of which refer to a past association with Israeli intelligence.

In 1984, Jonas, Louise Dennys, and the president of Collins Canada, Nicholas Harris, told ''Maclean's'' they were satisfied that the story was genuine. Jonas told Maclean's: "To my mind, if he vivis not legit, then he can only be a disgruntled ex-employee of Mossad with sufficient knowledge of what has gone down in this area. As far as I am concerned, if he is not who he says he is, then that is what he is."

In 1986, the book was adapted as a made-for-television movie, ''Sword of Gideon'', starring Steven Bauer and Michael York. The book was also turned into a 2005 feature film ''Munich'' directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig and Geoffrey Rush.Schickel, Richard, and Desa Philadelphia. "SPIELBERG TAKES ON TERROR. (Cover Story)," ''TIME Magazine'', 166.24 (2005): 64-68. Academic Search Premier. Web. 2 Dec. 2011.Yossi Melman
"Spielberg could be on the wrong track"
''Haaretz'', July 6, 2005.

The book ''The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks'' claims that Steven Spielberg vetted Aviv during pre-production on the movie, ''Munich'' (2005). Spielberg assembled a brain trust of researchers and, through his connections at the White House and a Middle East diplomat, determined that, "His real name was Juval Aviv. Furthermore, Spielberg's brain trust discovered FBI files proving that he and his team were not fictitious."

Published works

*(2003) ''The Complete Terrorism Survival Guide: How to Travel, Work and Live in Safety''. Juris Publications,
*(2004) ''Staying Safe: The Complete Guide to Protecting Yourself, Your Family, and Your Business''. Collins,
*(2006) ''Max'', based on the death of British publisher Robert Maxwell.
*(2008) ''Flight 103'', later published as ''Flight Into Danger'', based on the Lockerbie bombing.

References

Further reading

"Juval Aviv"
Snopes, Updated 1 August 2007
*Biewen, John

American Radio Works, March 2000.
*Emerson, Steven.
PanAm Scam
" ''American Journalism Review''. September 1992.
*McGibbon, Roy
"The Press Conference with Juval Aviv"
''The Press Gazette'' (UK), July 21, 2006.
*Melman, Yossi and Steven Hartov
"Munich: Fact and Fantasy"
''The Guardian'', 17 January 2006.
*Lamb, Matthew. "Flimsy plot from 'spy' writer," ''The Courier Mail'', September 20, 2006.
*Mueller, Andrew

''The Independent'', July 16, 2006.
*Swan, James
"On Guard"
''The National Review'', April 23, 2003.
*Wise, David

''The New York Times'', October 7, 1990.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aviv, Juval
1947 births
Living people
Historians of espionage
People of the Mossad
Israeli non-fiction writers
Operation Wrath of God
Israeli emigrants to the United States
People from Southern District (Israel)
20th-century American non-fiction writers