''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 thatwho help Mossad out of a sense of devotion for 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="tele10">{{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" /><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}}</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>
The sayanim concept was created by [[Meir Amit]] in the 1960s.<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> According to Gordon Thomas, there were 4,000 sayanim in Britain and some 16,000 sayanim in the United States in 1998.<ref name="thomas2" />
