Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

The Israeli response to the Munich massacre involved widespread

reprisals against all individuals and organizations thought to have

been in any way associated with the murders, as determined by the

secret Committee X. Palestinian terrorists were targeted for assassi-

nation in a series of actions, including the Wrath of God Operation

and the Spring of Youth Operation.

MUSTAFA HAFEZ ASSASSINATION. SeeHAFEZ, MUSTAFA

ASSASSINATION.

– N –

NAFSU AFFAIR.Izzat Nafsu was a former Israel Defense Forces

(IDF) lieutenant and member of the Circassian minority of non-Arab

Muslims. In Israel they are a tiny and loyal minority. In 1976, Nafsu

was serving in intelligence Unit 504in southern Lebanon, an area

then occupied by Israel. One of his tasks was to seek out Lebanese

Arab collaborators; other duties included providing arms and medical

supplies to the Christian and Shi’ite Lebanese who opposed the

Palestinians. In this sensitive duty, he was not briefed on exactly who

he could establish contact with and who not. On the night of 4 Janu-

ary 1980 a fellow officer in Nafsu’s unit knocked at the door of his

home, woke him, and asked him to go with him at once on a secret

military mission. Nafsu took leave from his wife, promising to return

as soon as the mission was over. In fact, he was taken to a room in a

hotel in Haifa rented by the Israeli Security Agency(ISA) for inter-

rogation. There he was arrested on suspicion of treason and of spying

for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). At first he was in-

terrogated fairly, but as the interrogation went on, he was transferred

to Kishon Prison in Haifa where the ISA had its own cells and the in-

terrogation became very brutal. After 40 days of interrogation, he

broke down and gave a full confession. During Nafsu’s trial, held on

camera, Nafsu’s lawyer, Zvi Hadar, maintained that his confession

was false and extracted from him illegally, as indeed was the case.

At the end of 1982, Nafsu was convicted and sentenced to 18 years

in prison; he was demoted to the rank of private. Nafsu’s conviction was

based on testimony by a Lebanese named Abu Kassem, who said that

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