SCHUMACHER, YOSSELE (1953– ).In 1960, Schumacher, an Is-
raeli Jewish boy, was without his parents in his grandparents’ apart-
ment in Jerusalem, when he was kidnapped by men associated with
the boy’s maternal grandfather, Nahman Shtarkes. All of them were
members of the ultraorthodox Jewish sect Neturei Karta, which op-
posed Zionism and the State of Israel. The grandfather feared that
Yossele’s parents would raise him in a secular way, while he wanted
to give the child a strictly Jewish religious and anti-Zionist education.
The grandfather was the main suspect and was detained for a po-
lice investigation. However, the investigation produced nothing. Is-
raeli prime minister David Ben-Gurion was concerned that the kid-
napping of Schumacher might have a negative impact on relations
between secular and religious Jews and on the rule of law in Israel.
He also thought that he might lose the upcoming 1961 elections if he
did not resolve the problem of the kidnapping.
Ben-Gurion assigned the mission of finding Yossele Schumacher
to the Mossad. Its director, Isser Harel, did not believe that this was
an appropriate mission for the national intelligence organization,
which should engage primarily in national security. Still, in February
1962, after reading the file and being convinced of its importance,
Harel allocated huge resources in manpower and money to finding
the boy. Forty Mossad agents were involved in this operation, known
as the Tiger Operation. The Israeli Security Agency(ISA) was in-
volved as well. A very senior ISA officer, Amos Manor, who later
became ISA director, was personally engaged in the operation.
Manor grew sidelocks and curled them in the manner of the ultra-
orthodox Jews, hoping by this disguise to penetrate their close-knit
inner circles, but he garnered little success. Another Mossad agent
tried to infiltrate a Neturei Karta funeral but was found out when he
failed to pray in their proper manner.
These failures made Harel even more determined to succeed with
the Tiger Operation. He dispatched Mossad agents to ultraorthodox
Jewish communities in Golders Green and Hendon, London; Pletzl in
Paris; and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. They were even sent
to Orthodox Jewish communities as far away as Johannesburg, South
Africa; Hong Kong; Japan; and South America. In Paris a Mossad
agent conducted surveillance on an Orthodox Jewish school where it
was thought that Schumacher was a pupil, but he was soon uncovered.
Ten Mossad agents attending an ultraorthodox Sabbath service in a248 • SCHUMACHER, YOSSELE06-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:25 AM Page 248