tivities out of loyalty to the cause. A car sayanrunning a rental
agency, for instance, could help Mossadagents rent a car without the
usual documentation. Likewise, an apartment sayancould find ac-
commodations without raising suspicions, a bank sayancould pro-
vide money if necessary in the middle of the night, a physician sayan
could treat a bullet wound without reporting it to the police, and so
on. The sayanim do all this for either money or other incentives. Ac-
cording to foreign sources, local assistants operating for the Mossad
around the world number in the thousands. In London alone, there are
about 2,000 who are active, and another 5,000 on the list. The Israeli
Security Agency (ISA) also has local Palestinian sayanim operating
in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.SAYERET MATKAL.An elite Israel Defense Forces unit, the Sayeret
Matkal’s main roles are counterterrorism, deep reconnaissance, and in-
telligence gathering. The unit is modeled on the British Special Air Ser-
vice (SAS). It is best known for the Yehonathan Operationin 1976,
in which its members rescued more than a hundred Air France passen-
gers hijacked to Uganda by Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)
terrorists. Notable former Sayeret Matkal figures include former Is-
raeli prime ministersEhud Barakand Benjamin Netanyahu, and the
latter’s elder brother, Yehonathan (Yoni) Netanyahu, who commanded
the Uganda operation and was killed in action.SCHACK, HOWARDS H.A U.S.-born Jew, Schack was a business-
man until the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when he applied to the Israeli
embassy in Washington, D.C., and volunteered to serve Israel. Ini-
tially he did not intend to serve in the business of intelligence, but
somehow he found himself engaged in it and began serving Israel
from various corners in the Middle East. Most of all, his information
on Iraq contributed substantially to the Opera Operation, the Israel
Air Force raid on the Iraqi nuclear reactor on 7 June 1981. Following
the furor over the affair of Jonathan Jay Pollard, Schack decided to
stop his espionage service for Israel, and he returned to his business.SCHILLER, ZVI (1937– ).Born in Romania, Schiller immigrated to
Israel in 1949 and was conscripted into the Israel Defense Forces
(IDF) in 1955, serving in various positions as an intelligence officer.SCHILLER, ZVI• 24506-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 245