able to join the small economics department of the Israeli Foreign Min-
istry, then urgently in need of more qualified employees. At that time
government officials were obliged to Hebraize their names; Goldstein
changed his name to its Hebrew equivalent, Ze’ev Avni.
Not being contacted by the KGB, Goldstein sought action himself.
He approached the Soviet embassy, contrary to KGB instructions,
and offered to spy for the Soviets against Israel. In 1952, Avni, with
his background, was soon posted by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to
Brussels as economic counselor at the legation there. This was the
time of secret negotiations between Israel and West Germany on
reparations for Israeli Jews and the Israeli government for the conse-
quences of the Holocaust. Avni reported regularly on these negotia-
tions to the KGB in Moscow.
The Mossad, impressed by Avni’s European background, con-
tacted him and suggested that he serve also as the organization’s case
officer in Brussels under his diplomatic cover, especially to collect
information on the German scientists rebuilding Egypt’s military
strength. Later Avni was stationed in Belgrade, where he continued to
perform the same two jobs for the Foreign Ministry and the Mossad.
His responsibilities in Belgrade involved commercial relations be-
tween the two countries. Exploiting the staff shortage at the embassy,
Avni volunteered to work overtime deciphering communications. He
thereby gained access to the embassy’s top secrets. He could pass on
to the KGB the secret code for communications between Jerusalem
and the embassy in Yugoslavia. The Soviets thus discovered all the
top secret details of Israeli intelligence agents’ operations at the Is-
raeli embassies in Eastern Europe.
On a visit to Israel, Avni was summoned to meet the director of the
Mossad, Isser Harel. During the meeting, Avni was unmasked at
once as a Soviet mole, Harel simply saying to him, “You are a Soviet
spy!” Harel incessantly surveyed the diplomatic lists, and with his
exquisitely fine-tuned sense of counterespionage, he discerned that
Avni was a Soviet agent, though he had no specific proof. Avni con-
fessed nevertheless, and in April 1956 he was recalled to Tel Aviv
where he cooperated with interrogators of the Israeli Security
Agency(ISA). Avni was sentenced to 15 years in jail. His cellmate
was Avraham (Avri) Elad, who had betrayed the Jewish espionage
network in Egypt in 1954.22 • AVNI, ZE’EV06-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 22