Union was well aware of the risk it was taking by stationing MiGs out-
side of its own borders in the service of foreign armies.
The Mossad had actually tried to acquire a MiG-21 twice before,
but had failed. Through the agency of an Egyptian-born Armenian
named Jack Leon Thomas, the Israelis had tried in the early 1960s
to pay an Egyptian Air Force pilot $1 million to defect to Israel with
his MiG-21, but the pilot had refused. Serving in a MiG-21 squadron
was in the Arab air forces the highest honor that could be granted to
a pilot. These pilots were not the kind of men who could be bribed
easily. Thomas and a number of accomplices were caught, and
Thomas and two others were hanged in December 1962. Another at-
tempt to persuade two Iraqi pilots to defect to Israel also came to
naught. But the third attempt would succeed. An unexpected source,
with no prompting from Israeli intelligence, appeared when an Iraqi
Jew called “Yusuf” (Joseph) contacted Mossad officers with the
rather curious information that he might be able to arrange the theft
of a MiG-21.
Yusuf had been born to an impoverished Jewish family and was in-
dentured to an Iraqi Maronite Christian family at the age of 10. Al-
though he never attended school and was illiterate, he, like the bibli-
cal Joseph, rose to prominence in this non-Jewish family’s household.
No decision was made without his consultation. He was present at all
family meetings, and his was often the final word on any decision. He
had risen to become a central figure in the family’s affairs, one whom
they all looked up to, admired, respected, and loved.
When Yusuf was almost 60, however, in a quarrel the actual head
of the household told Yusuf that without the family, Yusuf would
have had nothing. Although the man soon apologized, Yusuf did not
forget the barb. He decided then and there to explore his “other-
ness”—his Jewish identity, something he had hardly given a thought
to before. He began to learn about Judaism and Israel. Although he
maintained his loyalty to his adoptive family, he felt equally loyal to
his newfound concern for Israel. In 1964 he contacted Israeli officials
in Tehran (until 1979 Israel had sound relations with non-Arab Iran)
and Europe. He had something important to tell them.
Through Yusuf, Israel made contact with a Maronite Christian pi-
lot in the Iraqi Air Force named Munir Redfa. Redfa’s family felt dis-
affected with their lot, and his father was frustrated by the increasing276 • STEALING THE MIG-2106-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:26 AM Page 276