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{{short description|National intelligence agency of Israel}}
{{For|the institute that facilitated Jewish immigration to
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The '''Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations''' ({{lang-he|המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים|ha-Mosád le-Modiʿín u-le-Tafkidím Meyuḥadím}}), popularly known as '''Mossad'''{{efn|Also referred to as "the Mossad" ({{lang-he|הַמּוֹסָד|ha-Mosád}}, {{IPA
Mossad is responsible for [[intelligence assessment|intelligence collection]], [[covert operation]]s, and [[Counterterrorism|counter-terrorism]]. Its director answers directly and only to the [[Prime Minister of Israel|Prime Minister]]. Its annual budget is estimated to be around {{Text|
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In the 1990s, [[Aliza Magen-Halevi]] became the highest-ranking woman in Mossad's history when she served as the agency's deputy director under [[Shabtai Shavit]] and [[Danny Yatom]].<ref name="Ynet">{{cite news |last1=Shoan |first1=Amir |title='If she wants to, a woman can head the Mossad' |url=https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5064777,00.html |access-date=29 August 2023 |work=[[Ynet]] |date=2018-02-01}}</ref>
The Mossad made an unusual move on Israel's 68th Independence Day by releasing a secret recruitment ad for its Cyber Division. The ad featured seemingly random letters and numbers, which turned out to be a hidden puzzle. Over 25,000 people attempted to solve it, and while most failed, dozens succeeded and were recruited.<ref>{{Cite news |last=אייכנר |first=איתמר |date=2016-05-11 |title=מעוניינים לעבוד במוסד? פתרו את כתב החידה |url=https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4802192,00.html |access-date=2024-04-06 |work=Ynet |language=he}}</ref> In a rare 2012 interview with "[[Globes (newspaper)|Lady Globes]]," Mossad fighters talked about the recruitment of men and women to the Mossad, the screening tests, their work in the Mossad alongside starting a family, the relationship between the time to prepare for the actions and the actions themselves, working in teams, the emotional intelligence required of them, the nature of the activity, avoiding fame and omnipotence, and conversations with enemies.<ref>{{Cite news |last=ריבלין |first=ורד רמון |date=2012-09-11 |title=לראשונה בתולדות המדינה: 5 לוחמות מוסד בכירות מדברות; "אני עושה דברים שרואים בסרטי ריגול; אם אני נתפסת - נגמרו לי החיים" |url=https://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000783977 |access-date=2024-04-06 |work=Globes}}</ref>
==Organization==
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====''Sayanim''====
''Sayanim'' ({{lang-he|סייענים}}, lit. ''helpers, assistants'')<ref name="lat01">{{cite news |last=Melman |first=Yossi |date=25 February 2001 |title=All the Fugitive's Men in Israel |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-feb-25-op-29986-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref> are unpaid Jewish civilians who help Mossad out of a sense of devotion to Israel.<ref name = "tg09">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=What if they are innocent? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/1999/apr/17/lockerbie |work=The Guardian |date=17 April 2009 |access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref> They are recruited by Mossad's field agents, ''katsas'', to provide logistical support for Mossad operations.<ref name="license">{{cite news |last=Thomas |first=Gordon |date=17 February 2010 |title=Mossad's licence to kill |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7254807/Mossads-licence-to-kill.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7254807/Mossads-licence-to-kill.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=Daily Telegraph |access-date=5 November 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref> A ''sayan'' running a rental agency, for instance, could help Mossad agents rent a car without the usual documentation.<ref name="thomas2">{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Gordon |date=19 November 2015 |title=Gideon's Spies: Mossad's Secret Warriors |publisher=Pan Macmillan |isbn=978-0330375375}}</ref><ref name="kahana">{{cite book |last=Kahana |first=Ephraim |date=19 April 2006 |title=Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence (Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence) |publisher=Scarecrow Press; Illustrated edition |page=244 |isbn=978-0810855816}}</ref> The usage of ''sayanim'' allows the Mossad to operate with a slim budget yet conduct vast operations worldwide.<ref name="nzher04">{{cite news |last=Hallel |first=Amir |date=1 October 2004 |title=At home with the Mossad men |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/at-home-with-the-mossad-men/DUYRY353K67IPSLKMGKSNBJVTI/ |work=New Zealand Herald |access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref> ''Sayanim'' can have dual citizenships but are often not Israeli citizens.<ref name="richelson">{{cite journal |last1=Richelson |first1=Jeffrey T. |date=15 February 2007 |title=The Mossad Imagined: The Israeli Secret Service in Film and Fiction |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08850600600889431?mobileUi=0&journalCode=ujic20 |journal=International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=138 |doi= 10.1080/08850600600889431|s2cid=154278415 |access-date=5 November 2020 | issn=0885-0607 }}</ref><ref name="huff17">{{cite news |last=Dajani |first=Jamal |date=6 December 2017 |title=Mossad's Little Helpers |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mossads-little-helpers_b_487173 |work=Huffington Post |access-date=5 November 2020}}</ref>
According to Gordon Thomas, there were 4,000 ''sayanim'' in Britain and some 16,000 in the United States in 1998.<ref name="thomas2" />
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==Directors==
[[File:Directors of the Mossad.jpg|thumb|280px|Directors of the Mossad in 2015]]About half of the Mossad's leaders rose through its ranks, while the rest are retired [[Israel Defense Forces|IDF]] soldiers appointed to head the agency. The Prime Minister personally appoints the head of the Mossad for Intelligence and Special Duties without needing government or other supervisory body approval (unlike the Chief of Staff or the [[Shin Bet]]'s head). The appointment undergoes review by the advisory committee for appointing senior civil service officials. The term is five years, extendable by the Prime Minister for another year without conditions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shapira |first=Asaf |date=June 27, 2011 |title=אסף שפירא, מינויים לתפקידים בכירים בשירות המדינה והפיקוח עליהם |trans-title=Appointments to senior positions in the civil service and their supervision |url=https://www.idi.org.il/parliaments/8067/12013 |url-status=live |journal=Israel Democracy Institute |language=Hebrew |issue=69 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204005821/https://www.idi.org.il/parliaments/8067/12013 |archive-date=December 4, 2018}}</ref>
Until 1996, the head of Mossad's name was kept confidential. Mossad argued that secrecy allowed the head to move freely worldwide. In response to public criticism, the government began revealing the head's name when [[Danny Yatom]] assumed office.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Israeli Intelligence Agencies |url=https://irp.fas.org/world/israel/mossad/ |access-date=2024-04-06 |website=irp.fas.org}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!#
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==Alleged operations==
{{Cleanup section|reason=Everything is pretty much just lists.|date=September 2024}}
=== Operation Harpoon ===
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====Egypt====
* Provision of intelligence for the cutting of communications between Port Said and Cairo in 1956.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}}
* Mossad spy [[Wolfgang Lotz]], 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 [[
* After a tense May 25, 1967, confrontation with [[CIA]] Tel Aviv station chief John Hadden, who warned that the United States would help defend Egypt if Israel launched a surprise attack, Mossad director [[Meir Amit]] flew to Washington, D.C. to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary [[Robert McNamara]] and reported back to the Israeli cabinet that the United States had given Israel "a flickering green light" to attack.<ref name="israel_attack_iran_nyt">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/magazine/will-israel-attack-iran.html?pagewanted=all|title=Will Israel Attack Iran?|last=Bergman|first=Ronen|newspaper=The New York Times|date=25 January 2012|access-date=2 March 2012}}</ref>
* Provision of intelligence on the [[Egyptian Air Force]] for [[Operation Focus]], the opening air strike of the [[Six-Day War]].
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During the 1990s, Mossad discovered that a [[Hezbollah]] agent was operating inside the United States to procure materials needed to manufacture [[Improvised explosive device|IEDs]] and other weapons. In a joint operation with U.S. intelligence, the Hezbollah agent was kept under surveillance in hopes that his communications would expose additional Hezbollah operatives. The agent was eventually arrested.<ref name=Ross />
Mossad informed the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] 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".<ref name="latimes2001">[
The US journalists [[Dylan Howard]], Melissa Cronin and James Robertson linked the Mossad to American sex offender [[Jeffrey Epstein]] in their book ''Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales''. They relied for the most part on the former Israeli intelligence officer [[Ari Ben-Menashe]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-12-09 |title=The disturbing reason Jeffrey Epstein's homes had a camera in every room |url=https://7news.com.au/the-morning-show/jeffrey-epstein-was-a-mossad-spy-says-investigative-journalist-dylan-howard-c-595812 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227003644/https://7news.com.au/the-morning-show/jeffrey-epstein-was-a-mossad-spy-says-investigative-journalist-dylan-howard-c-595812 |archive-date=December 27, 2021 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=7NEWS |language=en}}</ref> According to him, Epstein's activities as a spy served to gather compromising material on powerful people in order to [[blackmail]] them.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McKay |first=Hollie |date=2020-06-17 |title=Jeffrey Epstein's alleged 'spy' ties under fresh scrutiny in new book |url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-spy-ties-under-fresh-scrutiny-in-new-book |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107120103/https://www.foxnews.com/us/jeffrey-epsteins-alleged-spy-ties-under-fresh-scrutiny-in-new-book |archive-date=January 7, 2024 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}</ref> There is also a possible connection to the Mossad via [[Ghislaine Maxwell]], whose father [[Robert Maxwell]] is said to have had contacts with the Mossad.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O’ Malley |first=JP |title=For writer who broke Epstein case, a rumored Mossad link is worth digging into. |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-writer-who-broke-epstein-case-a-rumored-mossad-link-is-worth-digging-into/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104185331/https://www.timesofisrael.com/for-writer-who-broke-epstein-case-a-rumored-mossad-link-is-worth-digging-into/ |archive-date=January 4, 2024 |access-date=January 7, 2024 |website=The Times of Israel}}</ref> Epstein's victim [[Virginia Giuffre]] also alleged Epstein to be an intelligence asset, linking on [[Twitter]] to a [[Reddit]] page, that alleged Epstein being a spy, running a blackmail operation.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Correspondent |first=Jack Royston Chief Royal |date=2023-10-05 |title=Prince Andrew's accuser shares Jeffrey Epstein spy theory |url=https://www.newsweek.com/prince-andrew-virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-spy-theory-1832295 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240107063023/https://www.newsweek.com/prince-andrew-virginia-giuffre-jeffrey-epstein-spy-theory-1832295 |archive-date=January 7, 2024 |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=Newsweek |language=en}}</ref>
====Uruguay====
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Mossad has been accused of assassinating [[Masoud Alimohammadi]], [[Ardeshir Hosseinpour]], [[Majid Shahriari]], [[Darioush Rezaeinejad]] and [[Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan]]; scientists involved in the [[Nuclear program of Iran|Iranian nuclear program]]. It is also suspected of being behind the attempted assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist [[Fereydoon Abbasi]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=283793 |title=Geopolitical Diary: Israeli Covert Operations in Iran |access-date=February 4, 2007 |date=February 2, 2007 |newspaper=[[Stratfor]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091010142626/http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=283793 |archive-date=October 10, 2009 }}(requires premium subscription)</ref> [[Meir Dagan]], 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]]s", frightening other Iranian nuclear scientists into requesting that they be transferred to civilian projects.<ref name="israel_attack_iran_nyt"/>
In 2018,
====Iraq====
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The sending of [[letter bombs]] to PFLP member [[Bassam Abu Sharif]] in 1972. Sharif was severely wounded, but survived.<ref>Guerin, Orla. "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/2072849.stm Arafat: On borrowed time]", ''BBC News'', June 29, 2002. Retrieved October 27, 2006.</ref>
The killing of the Palestinian writer and leading [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine|PFLP]] member [[Ghassan Kanafani]] by a car bomb in 1972.<ref name=Harlow>{{Cite journal|author=Barbara Harlow|title=Return to Haifa:
The provision of intelligence and operational assistance in the 1973 [[1973 Israeli raid on Lebanon|Operation Spring of Youth]] special forces raid on [[Beirut]].
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====Italy====
The killing of [[Wael Zwaiter]], thought to be a member of [[Black September (group)|Black September]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Johnson |first=Ken|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/arts/design/13jaci.html|title=Material for a Palestinian's Life and Death|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 13, 2009|access-date=December 4, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/11/20/60II/main318655.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020415090611/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/11/20/60II/main318655.shtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 15, 2002|title="An Eye for an Eye", Bob Simon|publisher=CBS News|date=November 20, 2011|access-date=December 4, 2011}}</ref>
In 1986, Mossad used an undercover agent to lure [[Mordechai Vanunu]], in a [[Honey trapping|honey trap]] style operation, from the United Kingdom to Italy. There, he was abducted and returned to Israel, where he was tried and found guilty of [[treason]] because of his role in exposing [[Israel's nuclear programme|Israel's nuclear weapons programme]].<ref name="haaretz.com"/>
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{{Further|Israel-New Zealand relations|Foreign espionage in New Zealand}}
In July 2004, New Zealand imposed [[International sanctions|diplomatic sanctions]] on Israel over an [[2004 Israel–New Zealand passport scandal|incident]] in which two Australia-based Israelis, Uriel Kelman and Eli Cara, who were allegedly working for Mossad, attempted to fraudulently obtain [[New Zealand passport]]s by claiming the identity of a severely disabled man. Israeli Foreign Minister [[Silvan Shalom]] later apologized to New Zealand for their actions. New Zealand cancelled several other passports believed to have been obtained by Israeli agents.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10332767">{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10332767 |title=Israeli government apologises to New Zealand|date=June 26, 2005|agency=[[NZPA]]|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|access-date=October 26, 2011}}</ref> Both Kelman and Cara served half of their six-month sentences and, upon release, were [[deportation|deported]] 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.<ref name="NZ_Herald_3596863">{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/israeli-spy-case/news/article.cfm?c_id=606&objectid=3596863|title=At home with the Mossad men|author=Hallel, Amir|date=October 2, 2004|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]]|access-date=October 26, 2011}}</ref>
===International Criminal Court===
The Mossad for years allegedly conducted an effort to "surveil, hack, pressure, smear and allegedly threaten" senior staff of the [[International Criminal Court]] (ICC) in an attempt to derail the court’s investigation of Israeli actions in the [[Palestinian territories]]. [[Fatou Bensouda]], [[Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court|Prosecutor]] of the ICC, and her family were victims of an alleged prolonged campaign by Mossad director [[Yossi Cohen]] to dissuade her from opening prosecution of Israeli officials for [[war crimes]].<ref name="guardian280524">{{cite web |last1=Davies |first1=Harry |title=Revealed: Israeli spy chief ‘threatened’ ICC prosecutor over war crimes inquiry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/israeli-spy-chief-icc-prosecutor-war-crimes-inquiry |website=The Guardian |access-date=30 May 2024 |date=28 May 2024}}</ref>
==In popular culture==
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(Alphabetical by show)
* [[Tehran (TV series)|Tehran]] (2020–present) is a spy thriller television series about a Mossad agent working undercover in Iran.
* In the TV series ''[[The Blacklist (TV series)|The Blacklist]]'' (
* In the TV series ''[[Covert Affairs]]'' (2010–2015), Mossad agent Eyal Lavin is a recurring character.
* Since the ''[[NCIS (TV series)|NCIS]]'' season 3 episode "[[NCIS
* ''[[The Spy (TV series)|The Spy]]'' (2019) is a web television miniseries on the life of top Mossad spy [[Eli Cohen]].
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[[Category:Israeli intelligence agencies]]
[[Category:1949 establishments in Israel]]
[[Category:Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew]]
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