surviving an airplane crash in the Libyan Desert in April 1992. The
chair was equipped with a sophisticated monitoring device. In addi-
tion, Yassin utilized Arafat’s absence to install a monitoring system
in Arafat’s desk lamp. Not surprisingly, therefore, when Israel de-
cided to kill Abu Jihad, every detail of the security arrangements
and the entrances to his villa was known to the Mossad.
Yassin would probably never have been found out but for the fact
that after the 1993 Oslo Accords he aroused the suspicions of the
French police when he frequently drove to Paris in his car. He was sus-
pected of resisting the Oslo Accords peace process. In a search of his
car, the French police found high-tech communications equipment. He
was handed over to the PLO in Tunis. Nothing helped when he insisted
that he had never betrayed the Palestinians to Israel, which he whole-
heartedly believed. He was executed by the PLO in September 1993.
Conspiracy stories maintain that as a gesture of good faith to Arafat,
Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres blew Yassin’s cover, and as a re-
sult Yassin’s car was searched. The Yassin case serves as a good ex-
ample of Israel’s use of the “false flag” technique, which was also
used on Jack Leon Thomas.YATOM, DANNY (1945– ).Born in Israel, Yatom served in the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF) in various command positions, eventually
reaching the rank of major general. His last position in the IDF was as
military secretary to Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Ra-
bin (1992–1996). In 1996 Yatom was appointed to direct the Mossad.
He was the first director whose name was known from the moment he
was appointed; until then, the IDF censor had strictly prohibited pub-
lication of the identity of the director of the Mossad and the director
of the Israeli Security Agency(ISA). During Yatom’s directorship,
the Mossad experienced the debacle of the Khaled Mash’al Fiasco, a
failed assassination attempt in Jordan on a leader of the Hamas terror
organization. Yatom’s brother, Ehud Yatom, also served in the intel-
ligence community and was a senior ISA officer. Danny Yatom holds
a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, physics, and computer science
from Hebrew University in Jerusalem. After resigning from the
Mossad, Yatom became chairman of the Institute for Strategic Studies
at Netanya College. He lectures on foreign affairs and defense issues
within the IDF and at various conferences. Yatom is a member of the
Labor party and has served as a member of the Knesset since 2003.316 • YATOM, DANNY06-102 (04) Q-Z.qxd 3/24/06 7:26 AM Page 316