assignments became the sole purview of Aman, which quickly established a secret military unit to plant agents in Arab countries.
It became clear, however, in less than two years that Shiloah—though brilliant—was not cut out to be an administrator. In September 1952 he was replaced by Harel, who had seemed quite busy with his domestic security duties.
Harel’s work ethic and rectitude had impressed the prime minister, who believed that he had found the right man for a task still not fully understood. Given responsibility for both Shin Bet at home and the Mossad abroad, Harel became the supreme chief of Israeli intelligence.
He carried a unique title: the Memuneh , the “One in Charge” of the intelligence community. Although Amos Manor became the titular head of Shin Bet, he bowed to Harel’s seniority.
In return, the Memuneh displayed boundless loyalty and agreed to undertake almost anything for the government. In truth that included, upon Ben-Gurion’s request, using intelligence agencies as political tools for the ruling Mapai party. While Israel’s founding fathers believed in democracy, they also had the unbreakable habit of identifying their own political interests with those of the state.
The nation was only beginning its long march away from the clandestine habits of a Jewish underground fighting for independence. Among the vast majority of Israelis, the Mapai party was practically synonymous with the state. Mapai certainly controlled most of its institutions: industrial factories, labor unions, the army hierarchy, and the intelligence community.
Harel was happy to serve the ruling party, but some of his operatives were reluctant to carry out seemingly strange instructions. One day they would be fighting black-market smugglers; on another they would try to locate and arrest subversives; and then they would join Aman’s military intelligence officers in opening thousands of letters from abroad—hoping to intercept contraband currency.
In the search for subversion, Ben-Gurion and his Mapai took a simple approach based on the belief that “those who are not with us are against us.” Accordingly, Harel ordered Shin Bet operatives to infiltrate Israel’s other political parties. Many of them did not care for doing that, either.
Harel was acting more like a Soviet-style secret police, rather than a professional intelligence agency in a democratic state. He spied on right-wing parties and on religious zealots, and he planted microphones in the offices of the leaders of a left-wing party. He interpreted political disagreements—sometimes heated—as subversive and dangerous to the state.
Manor—who had been in Israel for only a few years and spoke Hebrew with the accent of his native Hungary –adapted more to the values of a free country. He ordered Shin Bet agents to stop spying on political entities, and he destroyed archives of gossip and other information about Ben-Gurion’s opponents.
It took a while, but Harel went along with making Shin Bet far more professional. The agency became skillful at detecting treason by Israelis, as well as foreign spies planted within Israeli society.
Harel’s biggest catch came as an unexpected outgrowth of espionage by Israelis inside the largest of the neighboring Arab countries, Egypt. Aman’s actions there were far from glorious and failed to destabilize the land of the pyramids.
In the summer of 1954, an especially secret part of military intelligence that specialized in sabotage, Unit 131, launched a set of missions in Egypt that Israelis would later call Esek Bish : the Rotten Affair.
At the heart of it was an effort to create a wedge between the United States, Britain, and France on one side, and Egypt, led by the charismatic President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Israel decided to set off bombs all over Egypt in an attempt to make the country seem like an unstable and unreliable partner for the West. Israel hoped to provoke Britain into re-thinking its
It became clear, however, in less than two years that Shiloah—though brilliant—was not cut out to be an administrator. In September 1952 he was replaced by Harel, who had seemed quite busy with his domestic security duties.
Harel’s work ethic and rectitude had impressed the prime minister, who believed that he had found the right man for a task still not fully understood. Given responsibility for both Shin Bet at home and the Mossad abroad, Harel became the supreme chief of Israeli intelligence.
He carried a unique title: the Memuneh , the “One in Charge” of the intelligence community. Although Amos Manor became the titular head of Shin Bet, he bowed to Harel’s seniority.
In return, the Memuneh displayed boundless loyalty and agreed to undertake almost anything for the government. In truth that included, upon Ben-Gurion’s request, using intelligence agencies as political tools for the ruling Mapai party. While Israel’s founding fathers believed in democracy, they also had the unbreakable habit of identifying their own political interests with those of the state.
The nation was only beginning its long march away from the clandestine habits of a Jewish underground fighting for independence. Among the vast majority of Israelis, the Mapai party was practically synonymous with the state. Mapai certainly controlled most of its institutions: industrial factories, labor unions, the army hierarchy, and the intelligence community.
Harel was happy to serve the ruling party, but some of his operatives were reluctant to carry out seemingly strange instructions. One day they would be fighting black-market smugglers; on another they would try to locate and arrest subversives; and then they would join Aman’s military intelligence officers in opening thousands of letters from abroad—hoping to intercept contraband currency.
In the search for subversion, Ben-Gurion and his Mapai took a simple approach based on the belief that “those who are not with us are against us.” Accordingly, Harel ordered Shin Bet operatives to infiltrate Israel’s other political parties. Many of them did not care for doing that, either.
Harel was acting more like a Soviet-style secret police, rather than a professional intelligence agency in a democratic state. He spied on right-wing parties and on religious zealots, and he planted microphones in the offices of the leaders of a left-wing party. He interpreted political disagreements—sometimes heated—as subversive and dangerous to the state.
Manor—who had been in Israel for only a few years and spoke Hebrew with the accent of his native Hungary –adapted more to the values of a free country. He ordered Shin Bet agents to stop spying on political entities, and he destroyed archives of gossip and other information about Ben-Gurion’s opponents.
It took a while, but Harel went along with making Shin Bet far more professional. The agency became skillful at detecting treason by Israelis, as well as foreign spies planted within Israeli society.
Harel’s biggest catch came as an unexpected outgrowth of espionage by Israelis inside the largest of the neighboring Arab countries, Egypt. Aman’s actions there were far from glorious and failed to destabilize the land of the pyramids.
In the summer of 1954, an especially secret part of military intelligence that specialized in sabotage, Unit 131, launched a set of missions in Egypt that Israelis would later call Esek Bish : the Rotten Affair.
At the heart of it was an effort to create a wedge between the United States, Britain, and France on one side, and Egypt, led by the charismatic President Gamal Abdel Nasser. Israel decided to set off bombs all over Egypt in an attempt to make the country seem like an unstable and unreliable partner for the West. Israel hoped to provoke Britain into re-thinking its
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