The Mossad is one of Israel’s largest intelligence agencies, responsible for intelligence operations, covert action, and counterterrorism. It was founded in 1949 and has carried out high-profile operations, including the abduction of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and the “Wrath of God” operation in revenge for the Munich Olympics massacre. Meir Dagan has been the director since 2002.
The Mossad, or HaMossad leModi’in v’leTafkidim Meyuhadim, in Hebrew, is one of the five largest intelligence agencies of the state of Israel. Its headquarters are in Tel Aviv, and while its size isn’t exactly disclosed, it is thought to employ around 1,200 personnel responsible for the nation’s intelligence operations, covert action and counterterrorism. Many consider the Mossad to be the most important part of the state intelligence-gathering agencies.
Before Israel was founded in 1948, the Mossad Le’aliyah Bet was the group responsible for bringing Jewish exiles to Palestine. Their actions were kept secret and their aim was to circumvent the quotas that the British Mandate imposed on immigration to Palestine. When the Jewish state first formed, Reuven Shiloah, the first director of the Mossad, recommended the creation of a centralized security organization to direct the hitherto dispersed state security forces. The Mossad was born in December 1949. It joined the prime minister’s office in 1951, and today the director of the Mossad works directly with the Israeli prime minister.
The Mossad has carried out a number of high-profile operations in an effort to protect state interests or bring justice to former Nazis and Arab militants who have perpetrated acts against Israeli citizens. Perhaps the most notable example of Mossad’s overseas operations is the rendition of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann of Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1960. Avoiding the need for extradition proceedings, the Mossad abducted Eichmann from a bus in Argentina , tried him in an Israeli court and later sentenced him to death.
Equally infamous was the Mossad operation entitled “Wrath of God,” which was undertaken in revenge after the massacre of eleven Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics by the Palestinian militant group, Black September. The operation searched for the surviving kidnappers and those members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) believed to be involved in supporting and financing the massacre. This first operation and the next, Operation Spring Youth, in Beirut, Lebanon, accounted for the lives of scores of Palestinians and Arabs, including Ali Hassan Salameh, Yasser Arafat’s security commander.
There have been ten directors of the Mossad, with Meir Dagan in charge since 2002.
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