Mossad

In Israel, the organization responsible for secret national activities outside the borders of the state. Mossad's main spheres of responsibility are information collection on political, military, and security issues, research, and special operations, including intelligence warfare. Founded in 1951, Mossad assumed the tasks of the Political Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The chief of Mossad is directly subject to the prime minister.

Among Mossad's best-known operations are the abduction of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann from Argentina in 1960, and the liquidation of all the people responsible for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972. Mossad was also responsible for the strong ties that have been established between Israel and the Phalangists in Lebanon since the mid-1970s.

Prime Minister Netanyahu appointed Ephraim Halevy as the new head of Mossad in March 1998. Halevy's predecessor resigned following a series of blunders attributed to Mossad agents, including the failed assassination attempt on a Hamas official in Jordan in September 1997, and a bungled operation in Switzerland in February 1998.