Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

retired after Amit’s appointment that he flew to Europe to invite the

head of Mossad’s political and liaison department in Europe, Ya’acov

Caroz, to become his deputy; Caroz accepted the offer. Ben-Gurion

resigned as prime minister soon after Amit’s appointment, and the

new prime minister, Levi Eshkol, showed great interest in intelli-

gence work even though he was almost entirely ignorant of the field.

Amit hoped that Eshkol, previously the minister of finance, would in-

crease the Mossad budgets.

Amit reorganized the Mossad and incorporated into it Unit 131,

then MI’s unit for cross-border operations. Amit successfully turned

the Mossad into a modern intelligence organization and developed its

capabilities in the collection of military and political intelligence on

the Arab countries. Amit likewise relocated the Mossad premises in

Tel Aviv from the Ministry of Defense compound to a modern build-

ing in the city center. He changed the method of recruitment to the

Mossad. Instead of the British way of recommendations through

friends, Amit adopted more systematic methods. He absorbed new

personnel from the army, especially from the universities and new

immigrant community. This community could supply the Mossad

with recruits of European appearance and behavior. The reorganiza-

tion in the Mossad during Amit’s tenure paved the way for more op-

portunities for women. The structural reorganization has survived,

and its effect is still felt in the Mossad. Under Amit the Mossad was

primarily oriented to human intelligence (HUMINT), but other col-

lection methods were developed during his incumbency, too. The use

of computers was promoted significantly. Amit’s time in the Mossad

would be remembered mainly for his success in stealing the MiG-21

flown by its defecting Iraqi pilot, Munir Redfa.

AMIT, YOSEF (1945– ).Born in Haifa, Israel, and conscripted to the

Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in 1963, Amit completed the IDF offi-

cers’ course with distinction and joined Unit 504of Military Intelli-

gence(MI), where he was promoted to the rank of major. The func-

tion of Unit 504 was to operate Arab agents in Israel’s neighboring

countries, paying them with drugs obtained from the Israel police. An

MI base of this unit on the Lebanese border was placed under the

command of Amit, who tried to profiteer by the sale of drugs. In 1978

he was arrested for drug dealing, but prior to his court-martial he was

10 • AMIT, YOSEF

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