National intelligence agency of Israel
The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security).
Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection, covert operations, and counter-terrorism. Its director answers directly and only to the prime minister. Its annual budget is estimated to be around ₪10 billion (US$2.73 billion), and it is estimated that it employs around 7,000 people, making it one of the world's largest espionage agencies. The organization is alleged to have been involved with many assassination plots across a variety of locations.
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History.
Mossad was formed on December 13, 1949, as the Central Institute for Coordination at the recommendation of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to Reuven Shiloah. Ben Gurion wanted a central body to coordinate and improve cooperation between the existing security services—the army's intelligence department (AMAN), the Internal Security Service ("Shin Bet"), and the Political Intelligence Service (Mossad). The central body governing the three security services was Va'adat; today it is the Ministry of Intelligence.
In March 1951, it was reorganized and incorporated into the prime minister's office, reporting directly to the Prime Minister of Israel. Due to Mossad's accountability directly to the prime minister and not to the Knesset, journalist Ronen Bergman has described Mossad as a "deep state".
In the 1990s, Aliza Magen-Halevi became the highest-ranking woman in Mossad's history when she served as the agency's deputy director under Shabtai Shavit and Danny Yatom.
The Mossad made an unusual move on Israel's 68th Independence Day by releasing a secret recruitment ad for its Cyber Division. The ad featured seemingly random letters and numbers, which turned out to be a hidden puzzle. Over 25,000 people attempted to solve it, and while most failed, dozens succeeded and were recruited. In a rare 2012 interview with "Lady Globes," Mossad fighters talked about the recruitment of men and women to the Mossad, the screening tests, their work in the Mossad alongside starting a family, the relationship between the time to prepare for the actions and the actions themselves, working in teams, the emotional intelligence required of them, the nature of the activity, avoiding fame and omnipotence, and conversations with enemies.
In 2024, during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, it was reported in the media that Hezbollah fired a "Qader 1" missile towards the Mossad base in Tel Aviv.
Organization.
Divisions.
The organizational structure of the Mossad is officially classified. Mossad is organized into divisions, led by a director who is equivalent to a major general in the Israel Defense Forces.
Venture capital.
Mossad opened a venture capital fund in June 2017, to invest in high-tech startups to develop new cyber technologies. The names of technology startups funded by Mossad are not published.
Personnel.
"Katsa".
A katsa is a field intelligence officer of the Mossad. The word "katsa" is a Hebrew acronym for , "intelligence officer", literally "gathering officer". A katsa is a case officer who runs agents to clandestinely collect intelligence.
"Kidon".
The "kidon" are Mossad's elite assassins. Recruits receive two years of training at Mossad's training facility near Herzliya.
"Sayanim".
"Sayanim" (, lit. "helpers, assistants") are unpaid Jewish civilians who help Mossad out of a sense of devotion to Israel. They are recruited by Mossad's field agents, "katsas", to provide logistical support for Mossad operations. A "sayan" running a rental agency, for instance, could help Mossad agents rent a car without the usual documentation. The usage of "sayanim" allows the Mossad to operate with a slim budget yet conduct vast operations worldwide. "Sayanim" can have dual citizenships but are often not Israeli citizens.
According to Gordon Thomas, there were 4,000 "sayanim" in Britain and some 16,000 in the United States in 1998.
Israeli students called "bodlim" are often used as gofers for Mossad.
Motto.
Mossad's former motto, "be-tachbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milchāmāh" () is a quote from the Bible (Proverbs 24:6): "For by wise guidance you can wage your war" (NRSV). The motto was later changed to another Proverbs passage: "be-'éyn tachbūlōt yippol `ām; ū-teshū`āh be-rov yō'éts" (, Proverbs 11:14). This is translated by NRSV as: "Where there is no guidance, a nation falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety."
Directors.
About half of the Mossad's leaders rose through its ranks, while the rest are retired IDF soldiers appointed to head the agency. The Prime Minister personally appoints the head of the Mossad for Intelligence and Special Duties without needing government or other supervisory body approval (unlike the Chief of Staff or the Shin Bet's head). The appointment undergoes review by the advisory committee for appointing senior civil service officials. The term is five years, extendable by the Prime Minister for another year without conditions.
Until 1996, the head of Mossad's name was kept confidential. Mossad argued that secrecy allowed the head to move freely worldwide. In response to public criticism, the government began revealing the head's name when Danny Yatom assumed office.
Alleged operations.
Operation Harpoon.
Together with Shurat HaDin, Mossad started Operation Harpoon, for "destroying terrorists' money networks".
Africa.
Morocco.
In September 1956, Mossad established a secretive network in Morocco to smuggle Moroccan Jews to Israel after a ban on immigration to Israel was imposed.
In early 1991, two Mossad operatives infiltrated the Moroccan port of Casablanca and planted a tracking device on the freighter "Al-Yarmouk", which was carrying a cargo of North Korean missiles bound for Syria. The ship was to be sunk by the Israeli Air Force, but the mission was later called off by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Tunisia.
The 1988 killing of Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), a founder of Fatah.
The alleged killing of Salah Khalaf, head of intelligence of the PLO and second in command of Fatah behind Yasser Arafat, in 1991.
The 2016 alleged killing of Hamas operative Mohamed Zouari in Tunisia. Known to Israel's security echelon as "The Engineer", he was a Hamas-affiliated engineer who was believed to be constructing drones for the group. He was shot at close range.
Uganda.
For Operation Entebbe in 1976, Mossad provided intelligence regarding Entebbe International Airport and extensively interviewed hostages who had been released.
South Africa.
In the late 1990s, after Mossad was tipped off to the presence of two Iranian agents in Johannesburg on a mission to procure advanced weapons systems from Denel, a Mossad agent was deployed, and met up with a local Jewish contact. Posing as South African intelligence, they abducted the Iranians, drove them to a warehouse, and beat and intimidated them before forcing them to leave the country.
Sudan.
After the 1994 AMIA bombing, the largest bombing in Argentine history, Mossad began gathering intelligence for a raid by Israeli Special Forces on the Iranian embassy in Khartoum as retaliation. The operation was called off due to fears that another attack against worldwide Jewish communities might take place as revenge. Mossad also assisted in Operation Moses, the evacuation of Ethiopian Jews to Israel from a famine-ridden region of Sudan in 1984, also maintaining a relationship with the Ethiopian government. 
Americas.
Argentina.
In 1960, Mossad discovered that the Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was in Argentina. A team of five Mossad agents led by Shimon Ben Aharon slipped into Argentina and, through surveillance, confirmed that he had been living there under the name of Ricardo Klement. He was abducted on May 11, 1960 and taken to a hideout. He was subsequently smuggled to Israel, where he was tried and executed. Argentina protested what it considered as a violation of its sovereignty, and the United Nations Security Council noted that "repetition of acts such as [this] would involve a breach of the principles upon which international order is founded, creating an atmosphere of insecurity and distrust incompatible with the preservation of peace" while also acknowledging that "Eichmann should be brought to appropriate justice for the crimes of which he is accused" and that "this resolution should in no way be interpreted as condoning the odious crimes of which Eichmann is accused." Mossad abandoned a second operation, intended to capture Josef Mengele.
United States.
Shortly after Rafael Eitan visited Inslaw in February 1983, the software PROMIS was allegedly stolen and copied by the United States Department of Justice, which triggered years of litigation. Earl W. Brian and Edwin Meese, two men with close ties to Reagan, are said to have sold or given the software to over 80 countries, with a “back door” built into the program, which allowed for espionage. Two versions of the software are said to have been sold: an American one for the CIA and an Israeli one for the Mossad. The software with the built-in back door is said to have reached the KGB via the British publisher Robert Maxwell, a Mossad agent. Maxwell was also able to sell the bugged Israeli version of PROMIS to Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory, two of the most important nuclear research and national security facilities in the United States. He is said to have been assisted by John Tower.
After the 1987 arrest of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, wiretaps pointed to a high-level Israeli spy in the U.S. known as “Mega.” Mega may have been a group of people (possibly the Mega/Study Group, alleged to be connected to israeli intelligence).
During the 1990s, Mossad discovered that a Hezbollah agent was operating inside the United States to procure materials needed to manufacture IEDs and other weapons. In a joint operation with U.S. intelligence, the Hezbollah agent was kept under surveillance in hopes that his communications would expose additional Hezbollah operatives. The agent was eventually arrested.
Mossad informed the FBI and CIA in August 2001 that, based on its intelligence, as many as 200 terrorists were slipping into the United States and planning "a major assault on the United States". The Israeli intelligence agency cautioned the FBI that it had picked up indications of a "large-scale target" in the United States and that Americans would be "very vulnerable". However, "It is not known whether U.S. authorities thought the warning to be credible, or whether it contained enough details to allow counter-terrorism teams to come up with a response." A month later, terrorists struck at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the largest terrorist attack in history.
In May 2014, a NSA document obtained by Edward Snowden and published by journalist Glenn Greenwald revealed that the CIA was concerned that Israel had established an extensive espionage network in the United States.
The US journalists Dylan Howard, Melissa Cronin and James Robertson linked the Mossad to American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in their book "Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales". They relied for the most part on the former Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe. According to him, Epstein's activities as a spy served to gather compromising material on powerful people in order to blackmail them. There is also a possible connection to the Mossad via Ghislaine Maxwell, whose father Robert Maxwell is said to have had contacts with the Mossad. Epstein's victim Virginia Giuffre also alleged Epstein to be an intelligence asset, linking on Twitter to a Reddit page, that alleged Epstein being a spy, running a blackmail operation.
Uruguay.
In 1965, the Mossad assassinated Latvian Nazi collaborator Herberts Cukurs.
Asia.
Central Asia and the Middle East.
A report published on the Israeli military's official website in February 2014 said that Middle Eastern countries that cooperate with Israel (Mossad) are the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, the Republic of Azerbaijan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The report claimed that Bahrain has been providing Israel with intelligence on Iranian and Palestinian organizations. The report also highlights the growing secret cooperation with Saudi Arabia, claiming that Mossad has been in direct contact with Saudi intelligence about Iran's nuclear energy program.
Iran.
Prior to the Iranian Revolution of 1978–79, SAVAK (Organization of National Security and Information), the Iranian secret police and intelligence service was created under the guidance of United States and Israeli intelligence officers in 1957. After security relations between the United States and Iran grew more distant in the early 1960s which led the CIA training team to leave Iran, Mossad became increasingly active in Iran, "training SAVAK personnel and carrying out a broad variety of joint operations with SAVAK."
A US intelligence official told "The Washington Post" that Israel orchestrated the defection of Iranian general Ali Reza Askari on February 7, 2007. This has been denied by Israeli spokesman Mark Regev. "The Sunday Times" reported that Askari had been a Mossad asset since 2003, and left only when his