Mossad: Intelligence and Special Operations

Tuesday nights at 8:00 PM on CBS do not miss Mossad Officer Ziva David on NCIS-Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Ziva David is one of the show's characters played by Cote Pablo. Ziva's father is Deputy Director of Mossad, and the rest of her family is somehow involved in Mossad. A continued inspiration for her devotion to her agency is that her sister was killed in a bombing in Israel. Ziva is tough, quiet, intelligent, caring, and a polyglot. Her favorite quote, according to CBS's Biography Page, is: "All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing" ("Ziva"). This quote is from English political philosopher Edmund Burke. During the mid to late 1700s Edmund Burke began as a law student, dropped out to be an author, and ended up as a politician. He firmly believed in the balance of liberty and order. The man, much like Mossad, was always looking for a cause and a way to progress society and protect its people. The quest for Burke was protecting the oppressed, since they are denied liberty. Burke's mission was to balance protecting the people and the country. (Landry).

There exists an agency within the country of Israel whose existence began as a secret and progressed into a necessity for the protection of the Israeli people: Mossad. Mossad, which is short for Mossad Merkazi Le-modiin V-letafkidim, is the Israeli Central Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations ("Mossad"). In 1920, Charles Stienmetz said a quote that provided revelation to the not yet born state of Israel: "There will come about an age of independent nations whose first line of defense will be knowledge" (Dugdale-Pointon). Mossad's primary work is towards intelligence gathering operations. The intelligence Mossad gathers deals with espionage and covert political operations within foreign countries. Israel has five major intelligence agencies, and of those, Mossad is the most important ("Mossad").

The creation of Mossad was dependent on the creation of a nation: Israel. Beginning in World War I, David Ben Gurion had a vision for the Jewish state of Israel. After the dissolve of the Ottoman Empire, Zionist leaders like David Ben Gurion wanted a Jewish state. The global powers at the time were not ready to create such a state. Winston Churchill even traveled to Palestine to affirm that there was not going to be a Jewish State (Mansfield 182-232). November 29, 1947, following World War II, Israel becomes incorporated into the European Partition Plan. European powers created a Jewish state on May 15, 1948 (Israel Mossad), and Zionist leader David Ben Gurion became the first Prime Minister (Mansfield 182-232). Arab pressures, resulting from the state's creation, led Israel to realize that they needed intelligence agencies that are assigned a specific purpose. This framework based on specialization would allow each agency to complete their unique missions. December 13, 1949, almost two years after the creation of Israel, Mossad was born. Prime Minister Ben Gurion developed the agency to oversee internal security, military intelligence, and to work within various political departments (Israel Mossad). Initially, Mossad existed as a branch of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Prime Minster Ben Gurion initiated a reorganization of the Israeli government, and in March 1951, Mossad became its own independent agency that answers directly to the Prime Minister (Israel Mossad). Prime Minister Ben Gurion stated Mossad's directive to be:

For our state, which since its creation has been under siege by its enemies. Intelligence constitutes the first line of defense...we must learn well how to recognize what is going on around us ("Mossad the Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks").

Mossad agents are deployed all over the world fulfilling their primary mission of gathering information. Mossad agents are presently active in former communist countries, across the West, and even operating within the United Nations ("Mossad the Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks"). A secondary purpose of Mossad is the prevention of terrorist attacks using gathered information. In the event of a successful attack, Mossad knows the only effective repercussion is to come back at the attacker twice as hard, and will hunt down the aggressor if necessary (Dugdale-Pointon).

To fully understand how Mossad personnel carry out their mission from its Tel Aviv headquarters, it is important to understand the known divisions and operations of the agency. Not all departments of Mossad are public knowledge. The largest department is the Collections Department. Collections are responsible for managing espionage operations ("Mossad the Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks"). The Israeli covert operations are further divided into three sections: counter terrorism, anti-Nuclear Proliferation, Technology Acquisition, and Humanitarian Aid (Dugdale-Pointon).

It is important for intelligence agencies to have communications with each other; this responsibility lies with the Political Action and Liaison Department ("Mossad the Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks"). One example of shared intelligence occurred prior September 11, 2001. In August 2001, Mossad contacted the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warning that as many as 200 terrorists were slipping into the United States and planning a large scale attack on a predetermined large scale target ("Mossad Warned US of Impending Attack").

Another division is Metsada. This is the Special Operations Division, who handles high-level operations. The Metsada's operations include high-level assassinations, sabotage, paramilitary activity, and psychological warfare projects. Metsada is closely related to Lohamah Psichlogic Department (LAP) handles psychological warfare, propaganda, and deception related operations.

The final division is the Research Department is responsible for intelligence production and daily situation reports. These reports include one nuclear weapons report and reports for fifteen distinct geographical regions ("Mossad the Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks").

There are a number of missions that Mossad has been given credit for by the people, and some that Mossad publicly accepts. Fitting to the mission of Mossad, Proverbs 11:14 has become their motto: "Without guidance do a people fall, and deliverance is in a multitude of counselors" (Israel Mossad). The agents of Mossad defend Israel against many threats, and as stated before, they will stop at nothing to get their man. Former Nazi Adolf Eichmann had fled to Argentina to avoid being tried for war crimes. In 1960, Mossad agents kidnapped the former Nazi and brought him back to Europe to stand trial. During the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, an Arab group massacred Israeli athletes. Mossad is believed to be the group responsible for tracking down the Arab guerilla leader that plotted the attack. Mossad has also been linked to the assassination of Palestinian leaders in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa ("Mossad"). Mossad has also been credited with the killing of top scientists that were aiding Arabian countries in acquiring weapons of mass destruction (Dugdale-Pointon).

Mossad also works towards technology acquisition. The arms embargo of 1968 provided France the opportunity to deny delivery of gunboats to Israel. The gunboats were being manufactured for Israel at Cherberg; Mossad activated a team that went and recovered the gunboats. There is a second indirect conflict between Israel and France regarding anti-Nuclear proliferation. Iraq wanted to acquire nuclear power and France was willing to help by agreeing to build the reactors and setup everything. Construction began in 1979, Mossad assembled a team that infiltrated the construction site and destroyed the reactor. This blocked the progress of the project and delaying Iraq's hope at nuclear power (Dugdale-Pointon).

Not all of the operations carried out by Mossad lead to death or asset destruction. Mossad seeks to aid Jewish refugees in places like Syria, Iran, and Ethiopia ("Mossad the Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks"). One covert operation was named Operation Moses. The mission was to rescue Falahas, black Ethiopian Jews, from starvation. The plan called for the extraction of the Falahas to Israel. Mossad opened a "Holiday Resort" by the Red Sea and began to carry out their mission. In total, 18,000 Jews were rescued, 13,000 as a direct result of the Red Sea Operation, and 5,000 via official chartered jet to Israel (Dugdale-Pointon).

Media has impacted the information the general population knows about Mossad. During the 1960s there were only hints about Mossad, and the agency's formal name was never mentioned. Critical writings about Mossad began to appear in the 1970s, and the transition into the 1980s brought about an information hungry media that divulged as many details and criticisms as possible. In essence, the media changed Mossad from an agency that was a mere whisper shrouded in secrecy to a known government agency subject to media persecution. The shroud of secrecy was immediately removed as people began to review past missions of Mossad (Densch).

Israel is a nation that depends heavily on intelligence information and a dedicated agency with enough autonomy to cut out certain bureaucratic steps and report directly to the Prime Minister. The Israeli government put the mission of Intelligence at the hands of Mossad. The agency is still more unknown than known with regards to its operations and inner workings. It is important to remember that the agency serves to protect Israel and help the global Jewish needs. Mossad has been glorified in its own way through television, even though the true secrets will never truly be known. It is known that since December 1949, Mossad has been providing critical information for the protection of Israel and the Jewish people.

Works Cited

Densch, Liran. "Relations Between the Mossad and the Media." Omedia : Ethics and the Media - Relations Between the Mossad and the Media. 7 Jun. 2007. 31 Mar. 2008 .

Dugdale-Pointon, T. "The Israeli Intelligence Services: Deception and Covert Action Operations." 22 August 2001. History of War. 31 Mar. 2008 .

Israel. Mossad. "History." www.mossad.gov.il 2008. Mossad. 31 Mar. 2008 .

Landry, Peter. "Biographies: The Political Philosopher, Edmund Burke (1729-97)." 2006. Blupete 15 Apr. 2008 .

Mansfield, Peter. A History of the Middle East. 2ed ed. New York:Penguin Books, 2004.

"Mossad." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 31 Mar. 2008 .

"Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks ha-Mossad le-Modiin ale-Tafkidim Meyahadim." 2008. Global Security. 31 Mar. 2008 .

"Mossad Warned US of Impending Attack." Los Angeles Times. 20 Sept. 2001. Jewish Virtual Library. 31 Mar. 2008 .

"Ziva David-NCIS." 2008. CBS. 31 Mar. 2008 .