exposed to an Israeli advance. Only dire Soviet threats and superpower
intervention brought hostilities to an end and protected Egypt and Syria
from certain and utter defeat.
MI’s failure to give early warning—known popularly as the
mehdal—still merits study as to the question of whether such early
warning can in fact be provided at all.– Z –
ZA’AFRAN, MEIR YOSEF (1928– ).An Egyptian-born Jew, Za-
’afran was recruited by Major Avraham Darof Unit 131to the
Alexandria cell of the Jewish espionage network in Egypt. He was ar-
rested together with the other members of the espionage network fol-
lowing the Bad Business. He was found guilty and sentenced to
seven years in prison. On completing his term in 1962, Za’afran was
released and was allowed to leave Egypt. He made his way to Israel.
On 30 March 2005 Za’afran was accorded recognition by Israeli
president Moshe Katsav and the chief of the General Staff, Lieu-
tenant General Moshe Ya’alon, for his services to the state behind
enemy lines and for his years of suffering.ZAMIR, ZVI (1925– ).Born in Poland, Zamir immigrated to Palestine
and in 1942 joined the Palmah militia. After the establishment of the
State of Israel in 1948, he joined the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and
served in many command and training positions. In 1960 he was pro-
moted to major general and became the head of IDF training. Zamir
was appointed military attaché to Great Britain and the Scandinavian
countries in 1966. On completion of that assignment, he resigned
from the IDF. In 1968 he was appointed director of the Mossad, a po-
sition he held until 1974. Following the Munich massacreof Israeli
athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, the Mossad, under Zamir’s di-
rectorship, launched the Wrath of God Operation. One of the fail-
ures of this operation was the killing of an innocent Moroccan waiter
in Norway known as the Lillehammer Affair.
Under his directorship Zamir and the Mossad did not perform any
formal function in intelligence assessment. Yet because the Mossad,
through its Tsomet wing, was responsible for collecting human intel-
ligence (HUMINT), Zamir often made his assessments before Prime328 • ZA’AFRAN, MEIR YOSEF06-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:26 AM Page 328