Israel's intelligence agency, the Mossad, has a reputation for executing daring and innovative missions to protect the nation from terrorist threats. From taking down terrorist leaders to using unorthodox methods, the Mossad's operations have inspired movies, books, and TV shows. Here are four of the Mossad's wildest stories that showcase their strategic brilliance and unwavering commitment to justice.

Since its inception, Israel has faced threats from hostile neighbors, leading to the Mossad developing creative strategies to combat terrorism. One such strategy involved targeting terrorist group leaders to dismantle their operations. By using small, highly trained forces to assassinate key figures, the Mossad minimized civilian casualties and effectively disrupted terrorist networks.

The Mossad's operations have included some of the most daring and high-profile assassinations in modern history. One of the agency's most infamous missions was its response to the 1972 Munich Massacre. On September 5, 1972, eight gunmen of the Palestinian militant group Black September broke into the Israeli team's flat at the Olympic village in Munich, shooting two and taking nine Israelis hostage. West German police responded with a bungled rescue operation in which all nine hostages were killed, along with five of the eight hostage-takers and a police officer. The "Peace" Olympic games were meant to showcase a new Germany 27 years after the Holocaust but instead opened a deep rift with Israel. In what became known as Operation Wrath of God, the Mossad hunted down and eliminated those responsible, employing a range of ingenious tactics to track and eliminate their targets.

In 1973, the Mossad executed a bold operation in Beirut to eliminate key leaders of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) -- Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar (Abu Youssef), Kamal Adwan, Kamal Nasser. The strategy involved deploying troops from naval vessels onto Lebanon's shoreline. These soldiers would then make their way into Beirut, posing as vacationers. Once in the city, they would rendezvous with Mossad operatives who had prepared rental vehicles for their transportation to designated locations. To minimize suspicion, particularly when moving through Beirut during late-night hours, some commandos adopted female personas. This tactic was designed to make the group appear less conspicuous as they navigated the city streets around midnight. They managed to successfully take down high-ranking PLO officials, crippling the organization's infrastructure. Despite facing challenges during the mission, the Mossad's operatives accomplished their objectives with precision and stealth.

In 1978, the Mossad targeted Wadie Haddad, a prominent Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) co-founder known for orchestrating terror attacks. An RPG fired through his window had barely scratched him. A bomb dropped on a Beirut stadium had somehow missed him. Killing him at home was impossible because his wife and young children were always around. Unable to approach Haddad directly, the Mossad devised a plan to introduce a slow-acting poison into his toothpaste through a double agent. The poison gradually took effect, leading to Haddad's eventual demise.

Doctors suspected but could not prove that he had been poisoned. The PLO appealed to the Stasi, East Germany's secret police. But even the best doctors in East Germany couldn't save Haddad. His New York Times obituary reported the cause of death as cancer. Without Haddad, the PFLP dissolved, proving that targeted assassinations were the cleanest, most moral way to eliminate a threat -- without war or civilian casualties.

In 1996, the Mossad orchestrated the assassination of Yahya Ayyash, known as "The Engineer," who was responsible for constructing lethal explosive devices. A close associate of Ayyash was persuaded to cooperate with Israeli authorities. He was given a cellular phone by Israeli operatives, which contained both surveillance equipment and explosive material.

On the morning of January 5, Ayyash used this phone to answer a call from his father. Israeli surveillance aircraft in the area intercepted the conversation, confirming Ayyash's identity and location in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza. They detonated the bomb remotely without causing any harm to others.

In an ambitious mission to neutralize Khaled Mashal, the Deputy Head of Hamas's political Bureau, in Amman, Jordan, in 1997, the Mossad encountered unforeseen challenges that led to the exposure of their operatives. The plan was to poison him through an ultrasound device disguised as a harmless gesture: Meshal would feel a puff of damp air, and when he turned around, all he'd see were two bumbling tourists opening a well-shaken can of soda. The agents would apologize for spraying him and then return to Israel.

The incident unfolded as Mashal was being dropped off at the "Palestinian Aid Center," a front for Hamas operations. The Mossad operatives approached Mashal as he exited his vehicle. In a twist of fate, Mashal's young daughter got out of the car and ran after her father, inadvertently alerting his driver to the presence of the suspicious individuals behind Mashal. The driver's warning cry allowed Mashal to turn and confront his assailants as they were spraying the poison, which landed in Mashal's ear.

The operatives, caught off guard, fled the scene but were pursued by local Palestinian affiliates. A physical altercation ensued on the streets of Amman, drawing the attention of passersby and ultimately leading to the capture of the two men. Jordanian authorities detained the suspects. Initial attempts by the men to pose as Canadian tourists quickly unraveled under questioning, leading to a diplomatic crisis. The Israelis handed over the antidote and Mashal recovered quickly, in exchange for the two agents coming home, bruised but alive. Jordanian King Hussein bin Talal then suspended all ties with Israel, leaving six Israeli agents trapped in the embassy, which were traded for the release of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin from an Israeli prison.

In conclusion, the Mossad's history is filled with daring and intricate missions that blur the lines between reality and fiction. The Mossad continues to uphold its mission of safeguarding Israel and pursuing justice against those who threaten its security. Beyond the high-profile assassinations, the Mossad has undertaken countless other missions that have remained largely unknown to the public. These include the rescue of hostages, the gathering of critical intelligence, and the disruption of terrorist plots. The agency's ability to operate with stealth and precision has earned it a reputation as one of the world's most elite and effective spy organizations. As new challenges emerge, the world can only speculate on the future endeavors of Israel's legendary secret agents.

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Hamas officials told the paper that the funds were cut off as a result of intelligence sent from Jerusalem to Abu Dhabi, and claimed that some high-ranking members of Hamas who were arrested in the UAE were subjected to torture.

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Al-Akhbar reported that the most important Hamas operated arrested and tortured by Emirati officials was Musa Abu Marzouk, who was reportedly on the "verge of death" in an Emirati prison before he was released as a result of other Arab countries' intervention.

Later, the Hamas sources told Al-Akhbar, the Emirati intelligence apparatus began operating in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to recruit agents. One of the recruiters said that Abu Dhabi had wanted information about Israeli soldiers Hamas was holding captive in Gaza, the location of Hamas' attack tunnels, sources of Hamas' funding, key players in Hamas' fundraising network, and its plans for rocket attacks.

The Hamas officials accused former top Fatah official Mohammad Dahlan of "working to collect intelligence for the Emiratis and strengthen [their] ties with Israel."

According to the report, the Emiratis continued their intelligence work during Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. The Hamas officials told the paper that they had exposed an Emirati spy cell that was operating in the Gaza Strip under the guise of a field hospital belonging to the Red Crescent of the UAE. The Hamas officials claimed that they discovered that all the members of that delegation were Emirati spies who had been charged with collecting information about the organization's military wing, the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, as well as the location of the launchers it used to fire rockets at Israel.

The Hamas officials said that the cell was exposed after Palestinians who arrived at the field hospital did not receive any treatment or other medical assistance. The agents were exposed and their eventual release was brokered by unnamed Arab countries.

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According to three former US officials cited in the report, the miniature "StingRay" devices were meant to spy on US President Donald Trump and his closest aides.

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Notably, in contrast to other espionage discoveries, there were no consequences for this case, as the Trump administration did not reprove the Israeli government, according to one of the former officials.

The StingRays, technically referred to as IMSI-catchers, work by acting as regular cell towers that are then able to obtain the locations and identities of mobile devices in addition to data and call content.

.@politico journalist @dlippman says senior White House officials told him the FBI determined it most likely #Israel who planted Stingray spy devices near the White House: pic.twitter.com/ZfAzTXJiuu

— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) September 12, 2019

According to Politico, the incumbent president has been notoriously careless in security protocols, for example by failing to use a secured cellphone. Politico also cited his dismissive response to a report in The New York Times in October 2018 of Chinese spies tapping his calls, which he said was "so incorrect I do not have time here to correct it."

At that point, officials at the Homeland Security Department had already uncovered evidence of the StingRays around the nation's capital while conducting tests, though they were unable to identify the specific source.

The findings were apparently relayed to relevant federal agencies, Politico reported, based on a letter by a top DHS official, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Christopher Krebs, to Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) in May 2018.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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"The Report of Iran capturing CIA spies is totally false. Zero truth. Just more lies and propaganda (like their shot down drone) put out by a Religious Regime that is Badly Failing and has no idea what to do," Trump wrote on Twitter.

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Iran said it has arrested 17 Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on the country's nuclear and military sites, and that some of them have already been sentenced to death.

The arrests took place over the past months and those taken into custody worked on "sensitive sites" in the country's military and nuclear facilities, an Iranian intelligence official told a press conference in Tehran.

He did not elaborate, say how many of them got the death sentence nor when the sentences were handed down.

The announcement comes as Iran's nuclear deal with world powers is unraveling and tensions have spiked in the Persian Gulf region. The crisis stems from Trump's decision to pull the United States out of Tehran's deal last year and intensify sanction on the country.

The Iranian official did not give his name but was identified as the director of the counterespionage department of Iran's Intelligence Ministry. Such a procedure is highly unusual in Iran; officials usually identify themselves at press conferences. It is also rare for intelligence officials to appear before the media.

The official claimed that none of the 17, who allegedly had "sophisticated training," had succeeded in their sabotage missions. Their spying missions included collecting information at the facilities they worked at, carrying out technical and intelligence activities and transferring and installing monitoring devices, he said.

The official further claimed the CIA had promised those arrested US visas or jobs in America and that some of the agents had turned and were now working with his department "against the US."

He also handed out a CD with a video recording of an alleged foreign female spy working for the CIA. The disc also included names of several US Embassy staff members in Turkey, India, Zimbabwe, and Austria who Iran claims were in touch with the recruited Iranian spies.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed Iran's announcement that it had captured CIA spies.

"The Iranian regime has a long history of lying," Pompeo said in an interview on Fox News.

Occasionally, Iran announces detentions of spies it says are working for foreign countries, including the US and Israel. In June, Iran said it executed a former staff member of the Defense Ministry who was convicted of spying for the CIA.

In April, Iran said it uncovered 290 CIA spies both inside and outside the country over the past years.

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There is a reason why for thousands of years we have repeated the Torah portion that tells the story of the spies Moses sent to the Promised Land. In our cultural, religious, historical, and national tradition, the story of the spies has become the root of all the ills we have endured as a people ever since then, from repulsion at the desirable land, to the start of its destruction, and the long exile from it. Even today, it stays with us, hanging over the great debate about the future of the good land.

An enslaved people left Egypt after hundreds of years and set out into the unknown in the desert, trusting their leader's promise that they would reach the land of their forefathers. The fourth book of the Pentateuch, Numbers, tells the story of the journey from Egypt to Jerusalem, the tale of our eternal journey home. There was a lot of concern, and Moses appointed a delegation to collect information. An elect 12 are sent to spy, the "leaders of the sons of Israel," the social elite. Forty days later, they return and give their report. Yes, the land is amazing, milk and honey, and here are its fruits. But it wouldn't work: "However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. … The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negev," remember? Just as we left Egypt, we were set upon by their gangs. And there are more strong people: "The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan" (Numbers 13:28-29).

In short, we found ourselves facing a host of troubles: the risk of constant war, a demographic danger that could cause us to lose numbers and put others in power over us, which could lead to a loss of our faith and tradition, and more.

2

Two spies, Caleb and Joshua, thought differently. The Bible says of Caleb: "Because my servant Caleb has a different spirit." (Numbers 14:24) They offered a voice that differed from the uniform reports of "bad, bad, bad" that had been delivered. Do not be deterred - "Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." But the chorus that slandered the land drowned them out. These were prominent military commanders and political leaders, who insisted: "Then the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.'" And more threats: "And there we saw the Nephilim [giants,  according to some of our sages] and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them" (Numbers 13:30-3). This teaches us that fears begin with low self-esteem. In such a situation, every challenge appears to be an immense mountain that cannot be overcome.

In a last attempt, Joshua and Caleb do not argue with these facts, but rather with the conclusions that predicted a defeat: "The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land … do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them!" (Numbers 14:7,9).

It was all for nothing. The die had been cast. "Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night" (Numbers 14:1). Our sages said that same night should have fallen on the fateful date of the ninth of Av. The people declared a civil uprising: "They said to one another, "Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt" (Numbers 14:4). Who needs the land of Israel, with all the troubles we will surely find there? That is how our forefathers were sentenced to remain in exile and wander in the desert for another 40 years. They would not enter the Promised Land – only their descendants would.

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Western culture rests on two pillars: the Bible and Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. While the Bible is still a book read by millions, Homer's works have become somewhat niche and are known by relatively few. But look - Book 9 of the Odyssey contains a story with similar characteristics, about spies that ventured into an unknown land. After 10 years of war with Troy, during a journey to their homeland Ithaca, Odysseus and his people reach a land of "lawless brutes," the Cyclops, one-eyed giants, where "unsown, unplowed, the earth teems with all they need. … They have no meeting place for council, no laws either … each a law to himself, ruling his wives and children." Odysseus docks in the bay, and the next day announces that he and his team will set out to investigate and "probe the natives living over there. What are they – violent, savage, lawless? Or friendly to strangers, god-fearing men?"

As they wander, they enter the cave of one of the giants and discover that they have been pulled into a death trap. The giant bashes in the heads of two of the group and consumes them, and does the same for the next meals. In the end, Odysseus manages to defeat him: he gets the giant drunk on wine, and when he falls asleep, the group gouges out his one eye using the sharpened trunk of an olive tree. The next day, they sneak out of the cave, hiding among the sheep that left the cave for the pasture. They quickly herd the sheep onto their boat and as they are rowing, Odysseus - who until that point had been anonymous - shouts his name. The blind giant prays to his father, the god of the sea, to punish him. And the people's fate was indeed sealed: Odysseus' warriors would die on the journey, and he would be the only one to return to his native land, and even then not on his own boat and after many years of wandering, "Sick at heart for the comrades we had lost" (translation by Robert Fagles).

What is left of the story that thrilled me as a child, when I would dig through my late father's library, searching for textual treasures? Who studies it today? Compare that to the living, contemporary presence of the story of our spies. At a congressional luncheon to celebrate the swearing-in of former U.S. President George W. Bush, Sen. Mitch McConnell (now Senate majority leader) asked that the president lead them in the best tradition "of Joshua and Caleb, who were chosen to lead the people into the Promised Land, because they exemplified a different spirit."

A people doesn't choose to eternalize stories merely because they are interesting or of artistic value. Our people had a deep need to repeat the story of the spies over and over, especially in our many exiles. It's a sort of psychological compulsion, an attempt to return to the trauma that was etched into the national and religious memory, and though the story – heal the wound and return us to our land. And even when we came back to the land of Israel, there is still a need to go back and tell the story, so we can draw strength and insight from it, and not lose hope, but continue to cling to the land of our life.

4

In the first half of the 12^th century CE, Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra wondered about the generation of Jews who left Egypt – why had they been afraid of their Egyptian persecutors, who were fewer in number? His answer: "Because the Egyptians were the masters of the people of Israel, and the generation that left Egypt had been taught from a young age to suffer the Egyptian wrongs and to be cast down in spirit; how could they now wage war against their masters? The people of Israel were weak, and unschooled in warfare." Ibn Ezra was not only talking about biblical times, but also his own era. He traveled throughout Europe and encountered our people's weak state. Who then could have spoken about mass aliyah (immigration) to the land of Israel?

Even earlier, Rabbi Yehuda Halevi admitted to the king of Khazars in his philosophical work "The Kuzari" that despite his lofty words about Zion, he remained in exile: "This is the weakness of my argument, my shame, and my disgrace." In the second half of the 12^th century CE, Maimonides explains the psychology of exile in his book "Guide for the Perplexed": "It is contrary to man's nature. … It would be just as if a person trained to work as a slave with mortar and bricks, or other similar things, should interrupt his work, clean his hands, and at once fight with real giants."

To possess the land, there needed to be a generation born in the wilderness, who had never known the sight of slavery and was free from mental enslavement to any master. Indeed, after 40 years in the desert, the generation of slaves completed their historic role, and a new generation of a "different spirit," the generation who would storm Canaan, entered the land of Israel.

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