"From Bureau to Mossad – The Early Years of the Israeli Mossad 1949-1963": This book represents a sensation that somehow passed under the radar. Few intelligence organizations publish official books about their own history, based on original documents and interviews inaccessible to the general public. Yet here, the Mossad publishes a volume about the organization's early years. This is an unclassified version of an internal book that spans about 900 pages. For the reader who is not a historian, it can be said that this is an improved version, as it is very focused, and thanks to its conciseness, it is much more readable than that secret book.
The inspiration derives from two thick volumes, unreadable masterpieces due to their length, written about British intelligence services, MI6 (equivalent to the Mossad) and MI5 (equivalent to the Shin Bet), at the organizations' initiative, by renowned historians who gained almost unlimited access to internal documents.
For the Mossad, this is an almost-first public release, one that deals with the establishment of the Mossad and its early years, and it contains many fascinating treasures, even if they are written in cautious academic language, and the reader must complete the adventure, the emotional turmoil, and the drama hidden behind the words in their imagination. Much has already been written about the organization's major operations during the period covered by the book before this one including the capture of Eichmann, the locating of the kidnapped boy Yossele Schumacher, and the operations to thwart the activities of German scientists in Egypt. Therefore, the most innovative chapters are those that rely almost exclusively on internal sources. Thus, a great deal of information is revealed about the three operational units – Tzomet, the unit for recruiting and running agents, which in the Mossad's early days controlled most of the operational activity; Mifratz, the unit for running clandestine combatants (after its merger with the parallel unit in Aman, Unit 188, Mifratz became the unit named Caesarea); and Tevel, the unit for covert cooperation with foreign intelligence services.
The book also provides us with a rare glimpse into the Mossad's economic unit, which handled collecting economic intelligence, executing secret economic missions, establishing economic infrastructures that served as cover for operational activities of its internal units Mifratz and Tzomet, and also "diverse economic activity designed not only to collect economic intelligence but also to obtain budgets for activities." Here lies a hint to what can only be imagined – how the Mossad "obtained" funds. This activity characterized an organization in its early days and a state just taking its first steps. When the state and the Mossad matured somewhat, this unit was permanently closed.
In November 1959, then-director Isser Harel decided to establish a special framework for dealing with penetration into Arab countries using covert fighters. The covert fighter is an Israeli in every respect, capable of maintaining deep cover, as an Arab or as a European, and operating for extended periods or in short forays in enemy countries. This involves extremely dangerous activity under conditions of extreme isolation. Tzomet unit initially also handled this activity, but Isser understood that it required special expertise and strict compartmentalization. The new unit was called "Mifratz," and its first commanders were Efraim Ronel (who soon moved to command the activity for bringing North African Jews to Israel), Izi Dorot, and Yitzhak Shamir (who was among the Stern Gang's senior members and would later become Israel's prime minister).
The book mentions several male and female fighters, some married to each other. For example, "Moshe" and "Lady," converts who immigrated to Israel and operated in one of the Arab countries. "Moshe" worked in the Arab country as an agronomist (his real profession) and as a representative of a European seed company. He utilized his work trips to the agricultural regions to conduct reconnaissance tours for warning missions and collecting field intelligence and operational intelligence. "Gadi" positioned himself with his wife and son in Beirut and operated in Lebanon and Syria.
"Hadass" and her husband "Lawyer" positioned themselves in one of the enemy countries, and "Lawyer" operated in the country as part of a European archaeological mission. Three of the fighters were called "Shamir's boys." Shamir knew them well from his past and knew how to operate them despite their stormy temperament. Three non-Jewish fighters also operated in Mifratz unit, which had become synonymous with the state and its daring operations. When Harel's term as head of the Mossad ended, the unit comprised 17 fighters. When Meir Amit entered the position of head of the Mossad, Military Intelligence's fighter unit, Unit 188, which was much larger than Mifratz, transferred to the Mossad. The two fighter units merged and became the legendary Caesarea unit, which specialized over the years in operating fighters in enemy countries and special operations worldwide.
In the 1950s, it was Tzomet unit that operated (among its numerous occupations) fighters in target and base. In this context, we should mention the operations the unit executed to infiltrate fighters into diplomatic missions of Arab countries. For example, "Tal," daughter of a Jewish family that immigrated from Iraq, operated as an Arab impersonator under the cover of a Christian refugee from the Land of Israel. She was hired to work in the offices of an Arab mission in one of the Western countries, obtained substantial information from within the mission, and even acquired the mission's keys, which enabled the unit's operatives to break into the offices several times secretly and photograph numerous documents.
Tzomet's central mission was and remains recruiting spies from enemy countries and operating them. This constitutes a central doctrine of the Mossad's warfare, requiring deep understanding of the human soul, strong personal presence and considerable manipulativeness. This complex world sometimes attracts questionable individuals to the Mossad, like yes,, who was dismissed from the Mossad even before his operational training was completed. The book reveals that an even more serious affair occurred right with the Mossad's establishment
In 1948, the Foreign Ministry's "Daat" department, from which Tzomet emerged, recruited David Magen, who volunteered for the IDF after claiming he had accumulated rich intelligence experience as an officer in the South African army. He possessed a perfect European appearance, polished English, a vibrant and charismatic personality, and an authentic Christian name, Ted Cross. He was sent twice to an Arab country for intelligence collection missions. On his way there for the third time, he was arrested in Italy, and drugs intended to finance his activities were found in his car. He managed to get released, but later it became clear that he had offered his services to the embassy of an Arab country in France, and passed extensive and detailed information on various intelligence matters, including the name of the head of an Israeli intelligence network in that country. Magen was secretly tried in 1953 and sentenced to 14 years in prison, which was reduced on appeal to the Supreme Court to 11. Through his betrayal, Magen caused serious damage to the Mossad's collection efforts.
"From Bureau to Mossad – The Early Years of the Israeli Mossad 1949-1963" was written by historian and Middle East scholar Dr. Uri Rost and the late Shai Raz, who served in the Mossad for many years, held a master's degree in history, and devoted himself to writing the book as a retiree from the organization. The book was written based on conversations with many employees in the organization, internal documents, and Isser Harel's diary, which according to Rost "met regularly with David Ben-Gurion every two weeks. Neither of them produced a written summary of what transpired between them. Ben-Gurion was satisfied with only three words: 'Isser came to me.'"
The transformation of the Mossad into a modern organization began during Meir Amit's period as head. It is hoped that the Mossad will publish an unclassified book about this period as well. The organization preserves the secret history of its activities as a trustee of the public in general, and of Israeli history researchers in particular, and publishing books like "From Bureau to Mossad" represents a worthy and blessed fulfillment of its responsibility and faithfulness.
