the 1972 Munich massacre; the kidnapping of Mordechai Vanunu
in 1986; providing the intelligence background for the Osirak nuclear
reactor bombing by Israel in 1981 (Opera Operation); assisting in
the immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel; and furnishing intelli-
gence for IDF operations thousands of miles away from Israel, such
as the Yehonathan Operationin 1976 and the assassination of Abu
Jihadin Tunisia in 1988.
The Mossad’s best-known mishaps have been the Lillehammer Af-
fair, the killing in 1973 of Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent Moroccan
waiter mistakenly identified as the leader of the Black September ter-
roristorganization, Ali Hassan Salameh; the Khaled Mash’al Fiasco,
the failed assassination of Sheikh Khaled Mash’al, a leader of the Pales-
tinian militant group Hamas, by poison injection in 1997 on Jordanian
soil when Mossad agents used forged Canadian passports, which an-
gered the Canadian government no less than the Jordanians; the use of
forged British passports, discovered in 1981 in a grocery bag in a Lon-
don telephone booth, which sparked a diplomatic row between Britain
and Israel over the Mossad’s involvement in an attempt to infiltrate
China; and an attempt in July 2004 by Uriel Kelman and Eli Cara (for-
merly head of Nevioth) to fraudulently obtain New Zealand passports.
From time to time, the Mossad undergoes a reorganization. Efraim
Halevy, as director of the Mossad, wanted to pattern it on the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) model, with a few big divisions.
He envisioned three such wings: a collection wing, a research wing,
and an operations wing. All the departments described above would
have been incorporated in one way or another into these three large
wings. Halevy actually succeeded in establishing the first two wings.
To date, the operations wing has not been created—not even by
Halevy’s successor, who devotes special attention to operations. Cur-
rent director Meir Dagancreated the Forum of Unit Directors, the
deputy director of the Mossad for activating the force, and the admin-
istrator for construction of the force (see appendix E).
The Mossad director, together with the directors of MI and of the
Israeli Security Agency(and of Nativin its early stages) constitute
the Committee of Directors of the Intelligence Services(Va’adat
Rashei Hasherutim, or VARASH).
Since its establishment, the Mossad has had 10 directors: Reuven
Shiloah (1951–1952); Isser Harel(1952–1963); Meir Amit(1963–194 • MOSSAD06-102 (03) H-P.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 194