Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

to Israel because he felt the pull of Zionism was sufficient. But soon

the ISA discovered Samuel’s history prior to his Zionist awakening.

It was learned that in 1941 Samuel had joined the Romanian Com-

munist party. In 1948 he was appointed director of the bureau of the

Romanian agriculture minister. There was a wave of purges in the Ro-

manian Communist party in 1952, including the agriculture minister’s

bureau; Samuel was detained and interrogated brutally. He did not re-

turn to politics after that ordeal but resumed his trade as an electrician.

In 1957, in a further wave of purges, Samuel was again summoned for

interrogation. This time he was given the chance to undergo brief

training in the tradecraft of espionage and then to spy in Israel for the

Directia de Informatii a Armatei, Romanian military intelligence. His

duties would include collecting data on Israeli domestic politics, es-

tablishing a Romanian espionage network in Israel, and recruiting

agents for the network. His wife was supposed to assist him, espe-

cially in the transmission of information to his Romanian handlers.

After arriving in Israel, Samuel did as he had been bidden. On the

night of 22 March 1963, he was caught red-handed receiving coded

information from his Romanian handlers. His wife sitting nearby was

helping him decode the information. He was tried and found guilty in

January 1967; the punishment was six years in prison. In May 1967

he was pardoned by the Israeli president and was deported to Roma-

nia in some kind of prisoner exchange. Many details on his espionage

activity are still classified. His wife for still unknown reasons was not

put on trial.

SASSON, ELIYAHU (1902–1978).Born in Damascus as Elias Sas-

son, he immigrated to Palestine in 1927. Sasson headed the Arab De-

partment of the Jewish Agency (1933–1948) and visited Arab coun-

tries on numerous occasions to meet with Arab leaders. He was a

member of Israeli delegation to the United Nations (1947–1948); in

1948 he also headed a special office of the Israeli Foreign Ministry in

Paris for contacts with the Arabs in an attempt to explore prospects

for Arab-Israeli coexistence or peace. Although Sasson was not a

spymaster, from Paris he ran a fairly active military intelligence col-

lections operation. He obtained the list of weapons, including 10,000

rifles, that Syria was endeavoring to buy in Western Europe. His

source was the head of the Syrian arms purchase mission, Lieutenant

SASSON, ELIYAHU• 243

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