Once Eliezer (Geyzi) Tsafrir, a high-ranking operative of the Israeli special service «Mossad», faced a choice: to «catch» the terrorists red-handed right before they shoot down a passenger plane, or to warn his niece about the danger, who was flying the same flight, jeopardizing the entire operation.
Eliezer Tsafrir. Photo: Eric Schur
This happened in 1976 in Nairobi, during Operation Heartburn, which the Mossad conducted jointly with the Kenyan intelligence services. Prior to that, Eliezer Tsafrir saved, without exaggeration, thousands of lives and thousands more after. But Eliezer says that choosing the «lesser evil» then, in Nairobi, if it ended tragically, would torment him for the rest of his life.
At 87, like many former Mossad employees, Tsafrir does not comment on “targeted killings” — something that has created an extremely harsh, if not violent, image for the Israeli intelligence service. Even Lukashenka says something about “we will, like the Mossad, get our“ fugitives ”. And a rare theorist of «targeted killings» of political opponents in his own country does not present the history of the Israeli intelligence service as an indulgence. The effectiveness of the “targeted assassinations” of the Mossad is often presented by its imitators as an excuse for abandoning the rule of law and the priority of international law.
Eliezer Tsafrir, unlike the «theoreticians», is not at all proud of this harshness attributed to «Mossad». The people with whom he happened to be friends and work — of course, yes, but toughness — no. Former senior Mossad operative Eliezer Tsafrir, who jokingly speaks of himself with almost Zeno's aporia «I have not killed anyone and have never been killed,» admits: you have to be tough, but not out of conviction, but out of necessity. And he explains:
“If we are not tough, we simply will not be. But the state should strive to be liberal and democratic. ” the least evil. And he knows exactly what it's like to stand on the edge of personal hell.
Flight delay
In mid-January 1976, Eliezer Tsafrir received a message from one of his agents that a terrorist attack against an Israeli plane would take place in Africa in the next few days. But the agent will be able to transmit detailed information only at the very last moment — on the eve of the terrorist attack.
Eliezer Tsafrir:
— I used a very serious agent in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, George Habash and Wadi Haddad. The agent has reported on several occasions that the Front is looking for an opportunity to commit a terrorist act against the Israeli airline EL AL in Nairobi, Kenya. And they even send some of their own people there. We decided it was time to go to Kenya. According to the agent, the Popular Front delivered Strela missiles from Aden, Yemen by diplomatic mail to Nairobi.
It was necessary to intercept the terrorists before they could launch missiles at the plane. It was not known where they would shoot from, nor how many terrorist attacks (including distracting ones) they were going to commit. It was almost impossible to find their car in a city with a population of seven hundred thousand. But the Israelis and Kenyans were lucky: a car with five terrorists and two Strela missiles was unexpectedly discovered right in the center of Nairobi.
— At that time, my sister and her husband with their two children were in Johannesburg. I knew that they were going to send my niece by plane from Johannesburg to Nairobi and then to Tel Aviv.
— By the same plane that the terrorists were going to shoot down?
“I understood how much I risked her life. But I couldn't just call her and say: stop, don't get on this plane. If I did that, the whole operation could immediately go to pieces. And I decided not to tell her anything. Plus I was sure that we were more or less in control of the situation.
At night we identified their van and saw an Arrow rocket in it. Several of my group traveled to the Nairobi airport on the west side to locate a possible missile launch site. But they failed to find him. Then I told them where to look, because I taught the Kurds to launch these Arrows and knew their characteristics well. I went with a friend to the airport area and found exactly the place from where they should have fired at the plane. As the agent told us, this place was marked with a scarlet ribbon, which was tied to a cactus.
In the morning at this cactus, the Kenyan security personnel, together with representatives of the Mossad, intercepted a car with Arab terrorists. Nearby, the Germans from the terrorist group «Red Army Faction», who had undergone training at the Haddad training camp in Aden, Yemen, were also detained. During the execution of the terrorist attack, they were assigned the role of a cover group.
At this time, the departure of the Johannesburg — Tel Aviv flight continued to be postponed. El Al representatives could not give the passengers any clear explanations.
— How did the passengers feel in Johannesburg when it became clear that the flight was delayed by several hours?
— The pilot in Johannesburg was ordered to wait. Later he was told: okay, let's take off. Naturally, no one explained anything to anyone. I don’t think the passengers suspected anything unusual — after all, flights are sometimes delayed.
— What would have happened if you had not managed to catch all the terrorists and there was a tragedy?
— I would not forgive myself for the rest of my life. Come on, I'll show you something. (Tsafrir leads me into another room.) I'm a bit of an artist, just a little bit. I did it myself. (Shows collages hanging on the wall, like paintings, composed mainly of old photographs and newspaper clippings.) Here is a photograph of an El Al aircraft in Iran (these were used to transport Jews who were taken out by smugglers across the Iraqi border in 1975. — < strong> Ed. ). This is a meeting of Khomeini with a crowd of thousands in Tehran (Eliezer filmed the Ayatollah, mingling with the crowd of those who met. — Ed. ) … And here is my niece's boarding pass from that flight from Johannesburg. You know, I didn't go to meet her in Nairobi then.
— But you talked to her about this later?
— Of course.
Kenyans offered to quietly eliminate all terrorists.
— One of the leaders of the Nairobi secret service told me: listen, we have a place outside the city where hyenas live. Let's just let these guys out there and the animals will eat them. (Laughs.) It was a joke, of course.
The Israelis had a categorical order from Prime Minister Rabin to bring the terrorists to Israel.
— We took these five, three Arabs and two Germans, from Baader Meinhof on a special flight. And on the plane, I had an idea. Open the doors and throw them to the sharks … But, you know, I didn't.
Of course, I was a good guy.
Six months after the failed terrorist attack in Kenya, Haddad planned and carried out the hijacking of an Air France passenger plane to Uganda. This hostage release later became known as Operation Entebbe.
in Uganda. Photo: archive
— I was involved in planning and carrying out this operation, but already as a representative of the Mossad in the joint headquarters. Terrorists in Entebbe gave a list of demands. And the first item in it was the release of the five that we captured in Nairobi.
— They say you said then: if they want to get these five, okay, let's take them to Uganda and drop them from the plane onto the roof of the airport terminal where the terrorists have settled.
— If we did this, then either a reward or a prison would await me. Most likely a prison, of course.
— Do you think that if Haddad, the terrorist who organized these attacks, did not die two years later in a hospital in East Germany, such attacks as in Nairobi and Entebbe would continue to occur?
— Of course. He was a terrorist for many years. His hands were covered in blood. And, of course, it was very important that he went to this very hospital. (Smiling.)
— What about the diagnosis? Did he really die of «cancer»?
— Well, I don't know that. (Shrugs.)
How Mossad agents sat in a cafe with Dr. Mengele
— Did you take part in the search for former Nazi criminals?
— When I was the head of the Mossad office in South America in 1979, we received information that in one of the villages in which the Germans settled in Brazil, they allegedly saw a man who looked like «Doctor» Mengele. Before taking any action, it was necessary to make sure that it was really him.
I took a few guys with me and off we went. But this village turned out to be a difficult place: when the Germans saw us, they let the dogs down — even we could not get out of the car.
On the outskirts we saw a small cafe, a man was sitting at a table on the veranda drinking beer. And he was exactly as they described to us how Mengele was supposed to look at that time.
He drank beer, we also sat down at a table and ordered something.
He was finished, paid and left. One of our guys quickly grabbed his glass off the table and put it in a plastic bag. We sent him for DNA testing.
— And what did the analysis show?
— On the way, the glass broke. (Laughs) But there was no point in such an analysis. Because
literally a few days later it became known that Mengele drowned in the ocean, about one hundred and fifty kilometers from the place where we were looking for him.
And the DNA test confirmed that drowned and was the real Mengele.
Being soft and tough
— Is there anything special about recruiting Arab agents?
— Well, there are different ways. For many years, Arab society was closed, built on prohibitions. When they came to Germany, to France, to Vienna, whenever a lady at a bar asked for a drink, a relationship began … It was one of the most effective recruiting methods.
— And in Arab countries?
— Nothing special. It wasn't very difficult to recruit. Later, when the religious upsurge began, it became more difficult.
— Do you think political “liquidations” were really necessary to preserve Israel's independence today?
— We had big problems with public opinion even here in Israel if there were events such as the disappearance of the Moroccan opposition activist Mehdi Ben Barki in Paris in 1965, in which the Mossad was not even involved directly. Of course, we must be careful. (Smiling.)
David Shomron. Photo: Wikipedia
— What about individual terror during the British Empire? For example, David Shomron, who killed the English officer Tom Wilkin …
— David Shomron was my friend. He was a great man. He died a few months ago, he was over 90 years old. He was in «Lehi» with Yitzhak Shamir (the Jewish military resistance group «Fighters for the freedom of Israel — Lehi» was founded in 1940, its leader Shamir later became prime minister, but even then he continued to be listed in the UK on the lists of extremists. — Ed. ).
— David Shomron once said that he was absolutely convinced that only extreme methods could force the British to leave Palestine.
— There was no other way against the policy of the British Empire. You know, there was a saying back then that the sun never sets in the British Empire. It was the largest colonial state, stretching around the world, which means that the sun was always over the British Empire. So why did it never go over her? Because God never trusts the British in the dark. (Laughs.)
— Meir Dagan, one of the first to carry out «targeted killing» in Israeli-controlled territory, said that to protect Israeli citizens, the state must sometimes take actions that run counter to generally accepted democratic norms. Do you agree with this statement now?
— We were friends with Dagan. We were together during the war in Lebanon, he commanded army units, I was the head of the Mossad's station. He later became the head of the Mossad. He was a great man. And he always believed that if you want to win, you have to be tough. Otherwise, they will kill you.
— But do you think the secret services can actually stand above the law? Doesn't it eventually corrode the whole society like rust?
— Of course, there is a danger. I mean, this is an abnormal way of being for the state. But sometimes there is simply no other choice. The enemy forces us to behave this way. In a normal society, everything should be liberal and democratic. But sometimes we have to use force when necessary. But I was still an adviser to the Prime Minister on Arab affairs, not on internal Israeli affairs.
It is important to clearly distinguish the border between the extraordinary and the ordinary, to maintain a basic understanding of the lifestyle. But when something is plotted against us, we must take action. Sometimes secret measures, and sometimes even excessive measures.