Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

(coco) #1
In his job in the Mossad, Malkin traveled widely, frequently visit-
ing the United States. In the 1970s he assisted New York’s law en-
forcement departments in several cases. One was the investigation of
Frank Terpil, a Central Intelligence Agency agent who was convicted
of selling weapons and explosives to Uganda and Libya. Terpil fled
the United States and remains a fugitive.
Malkin succeeded Rafael (Rafi) Eitanas the head of the Metsada
branch of the Mossad in the early 1970s. He resigned from the or-
ganization in 1976, after which he devoted his time to the artistic pur-
suits that served as his cover during his years in intelligence. In his
28-year career in the Israeli intelligence community, Malkin con-
tended with the most dangerous of Israel’s enemies. He brought
about the arrest of 17 Soviet spies in Israel run by the former Soviet
Union’s KGB. He also won successes against the Palestinian terror-
istorganizations.

MALMAB.See DIRECTOR OF SECURITY FOR THE DEFENSE
ESTABLISHMENT.

MANBAR, NAHUM (1948– ).An Israeli-born former combat officer in
the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Manbar became a businessman, but ac-
cumulated massive debts and wrote bad checks in Israel, and from 1985
he lived in Switzerland. From around 1990 he began selling military
materiel to Iran, initially defense devices. At some point he started sell-
ing raw materials to Iran for the production of nerve and mustard gases.
But more or less from the start of his transactions, he came under the
watchful eye of Israeli and foreign security and intelligence services.
Allegedly during one surveillance mission in Vienna in 1993, two
Mossadagents were killed in a motorcycle accident. In May 1997 Man-
bar traveled to Israel for a visit. On arrival, he was arrested by the Is-
raeli Security Agency(ISA) and the Israeli police. According to the
subsequent indictment, in addition to the raw materials, he sold know-
how on the production of biological and chemical weapons and gave
advice on how to set up factories in Iran. Some 150 tons of raw materi-
als had been transported to Iran from Europe. The directors of the three
Israeli intelligence organizations were personally involved in the hidden
investigation of Manbar’s deeds. On 15 July 1998 Manbar was sen-
tenced to 16 years imprisonment by the Tel Aviv District Court.

MANBAR, NAHUM• 177

06-102 (03) H-P.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 177

Free download pdf