The Unbelievable History of Israel’s Mossad Spy Agency

1. 1950s: The Mossad helped smuggle Jews out of several Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa to Israel, after they had been banned by their countries of origin from emigrating.

2. 1960: A team of Mossad agents captured former Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann in Argentina and smuggled him to Israel in a daring and clandestine operation. He then stood trial in Jerusalem for his crimes against humanity during the Holocaust, and was convicted and executed. He was the only Nazi leader tried directly by the Jewish nation, and his trial was a poignant moment in Israeli history.

3. 1960s: Mossad spy Eli Cohen infiltrated the highest levels of the Syrian government over a period of several years and became close friends with Syria’s President and other officials. Despite his eventual capture and execution in 1965, the intelligence he gathered was key to Israel winning the Six Day War two years later and capturing the Golan Heights.

4. 1967: The Mossad provided crucial intelligence to the IDF for the opening strikes of the Six Day War, which gave Israel the upper hand and allowed it to win so decisively.

5. 1973: In Operation Spring of Youth, a team of IDF special forces commandos and Mossad agents smuggled themselves into Lebanon and attacked several Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) targets, following months of Mossad surveillance. The raid is considered to have been part of Israel’s retaliation for the 1972 Munich Olympic massacre of Israeli athletes and coaches by Palestinian terrorists.

6. 1976: The Mossad provided intelligence for one of the Israeli Defense Forces’ most famous missions, Operation Entebbe, which rescued Jewish and Israeli hostages held by terrorist hijackers at Entebbe International Airport in Uganda.

7. 1970s-1980s: Following an order by Prime Minister Golda Meir, Operation Wrath of God was launched, which aimed to assassinate those responsible for the Munich Olympic massacre - as both retaliation and to deter future attacks. Mossad agents were dispatched all over the world to go after and eliminate members of the terror group Black September as well as certain PLO operatives. The agency also employed creative psychological warfare, such as publishing obituaries of still-living targets or sending condolence cards to family members right before a hit.

8. 1992-1993: The Mossad assisted in evacuating Bosnian Jews from war-torn Sarajevo to Israel.

9. August 2001: The Mossad advised the FBI and CIA in the United States that it had picked up intelligence of a large-scale terrorist attack being planned for US soil, though it is unclear whether the information was taken seriously. The World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked a month later in the September 11 attacks.

10. 2007: The agency uncovered a nuclear reactor being built in Syria, which was subsequently destroyed by the Israeli Air Force. This completely devastated Syria’s nuclear program and prevented the country from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon.

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