Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

LEVANON, NEHEMIAH (1915–2003).Born in Latvia, Levanon im-

migrated to Palestine in 1938. He served as the second director of

Nativ, replacing Shaul Avigurin 1970. In the 1950s Levanon had

been a diplomat at the Israeli embassy in Moscow, and under this

cover he worked for Nativ as well. He was expelled from the Soviet

Union with two other Israelis for engaging in intelligence work. Af-

ter assuming the directorship of Nativ, Levanon operated according

to his belief in quiet intelligence activity. Levanon resigned from Na-

tiv in 1980 and was replaced by Yehuda Lapidot.

LEVINE, AMIRAM (1944– ).In 1999 Major General Levine retired

from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after a 33-year career

(1965–1998), mostly with elite units and culminating as the head of

Northern Command. In the IDF, Levine was decorated for personal

bravery in combat. In addition to various field commands, his career

included general staff assignments as well as weapon system devel-

opment duties; he headed the strategic weapons development task

force, consisting of military designers.

Upon retirement from the IDF, Levine was appointed deputy di-

rector of the Mossad. This was after the Khaled Mash’al Fiascoin

1997 and the Failed Bern Actionin 1998 during the directorship of

Danny Yatom. Levine was assigned to oversee the Mossad’s opera-

tions, thereby strengthening that aspect of the organization’s activi-

ties. Its director at the time was Efraim Halevy, who was considered

more a man of quiet diplomacy than clandestine actions. The inten-

tion was for Levine to train for two years as deputy director, after

which he would take over the Mossad directorship. This would com-

bine the long years of Halevy’s experience in the Mossad with

Levine’s 33-year military experience. However, the plan did not ma-

terialize, and Levine ended his career in the Mossad in 2000, together

with Halevy.

In academia, Levine holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences

from the University of Haifa. He also graduated from the Massachu-

setts Institute of Technology and Sloan School of Business Adminis-

tration and from the Command and General Staff College, Fort Leav-

enworth, Kansas.

LEVINSON, SHIMON (1932– ).A former colonel in the Israel De-

fense Forces (IDF), Levinson was promoted through the military ranks

LEVINSON, SHIMON• 157

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