Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

Ze’ev Avni’s deeds were considered so damaging that no public

statement was made about arrest, his trial, or his sentence. He was the

only known Soviet spy to have penetrated Mossad.

Avni was released from prison for good behavior after 10 years. He

returned for a short period to his childhood home in Switzerland but,

with the agreement of the ISA, he returned to Israel, changed his ac-

ademic profession, and became a psychologist. The ISA’s condition

was that he not release any details on his past. Avni was even re-

cruited as a civilian psychologist to the Israel Defense Forces, and af-

ter the 1973 Yom Kippur Warhe treated soldiers who suffered war

trauma. After the restriction on speaking about his past ended, Avni

published his espionage story in his book False Flag: The Soviet Spy

Who Penetrated the Israeli Secret Intelligence Service.

AVRIEL, EHUD (1917–1980).Born Ehud Uberall in Vienna, Avriel

was stationed in Turkey after World War II. There he was engaged in

the Mossad Le’Aliyah Beth, assisting illegal Jewish immigration to

Palestine during the British Mandate. He was sent to Czechoslovakia

in 1946 to purchase arms. After the establishment of the State of Is-

rael, Avriel was appointed the Israeli consul general to Czechoslova-

kia and Hungary (1948). In 1950 Avriel was appointed the consul gen-

eral to Romania. During his career as a diplomat in the Eastern Bloc

countries, Avriel identified former Eastern European diplomats who

would be good sources of intelligence. From 1949 to 1957 Avriel was

a member of the Israeli Knesset. After he resigned from the Knesset,

he was appointed the Israeli ambassador to Ghana, Congo, and Liberia

(1957–1960). Avriel then served as the deputy general director of the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1961–1965) and Israeli ambassador to

Italy (1965–1968). In 1968 he was elected chairman of the Zionist Ex-

ecutive Committee in Chicago. In 1974 he was appointed Israel’s gen-

eral consul in Chicago, and in 1977 he was appointed the ambassador

for special affairs. He served in this position until 1979.

AWEKE, WONDERFERER.See SOLOMON OPERATION.

AYALON, AMI (1945– ).Israeli-born to a Hungarian Zionist pioneer

family, Ayalon was educated in a kibbutz near Tiberias. At age 18 he

was drafted into the Israeli Navy, where he subsequently had a long

AYALON, AMI•23

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