Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence

to death, with the sentence executed immediately (see TOBIANSKI

AFFAIR). The same day, Be’eri attempted to fabricate evidence

against Abba Hushi, the mayor of Haifa, and against Yehuda Amster,

whom he suspected of passing information to British and Arab offi-

cers before Israeli statehood. Amster was a taxi owner in Haifa and

mayor Hushi’s right-hand man. He was detained by Be’eri, charged

with espionage, and tortured. His nerve-wracking ordeal lasted two

and a half months in a secret detention camp.

Later, in the summer of 1948, Be’eri ordered the execution, with-

out any legal process, of Ali Qassem, an Arab informer who was sus-

pected of betraying his Jewish handlers. Be’eri maintained that he

was a double agent. The order was carried out.

Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, decided to have Be’eri tried for

this act. The court ruled that Be’eri be removed from Military Intelli-

gence without additional penalties, and his military service ended

shortly afterward. Be’eri was brought to justice again for his respon-

sibility in the execution of Tobianski and was found guilty of con-

ducting a field court-martial without authority. Be’eri received merely

a token sentence of one day in prison, from sunrise to sunset. A few

days later he was granted amnesty by the president of the state. Even

after his conviction, Be’eri continued to maintain that Tobianski was

a spy and a traitor. Because of technical legalities, Be’eri’s detention

and torture of Amster did not reach the court, even though Ben-Gurion

knew about it and regarded it as Be’eri’s gravest crime.

Be’eri is remembered for his proposal to Ben-Gurion, after the es-

tablishment of the State of Israel, to split the Shai into Military Intel-

ligence and internal security intelligence dealing with counterintelli-

gence.

BEGIN-SADAT (BESA) CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES.

Founded in 1991 at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat-Gan. Thomas O.

Hecht, a wealthy Canadian businessman and former professor of polit-

ical science, was the major financial contributor to the establishment of

the BESA Center. The Center is named in memory of Menachem Begin

and Anwar Sadat, whose groundbreaking efforts to broker peace agree-

ments paved the way for future conflict resolution in the Middle East. It

conducts research on regional and national security issues; terrorism;

weapons of mass destruction; Israeli relations with the United States

BEGIN-SADAT CENTER FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES•37

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