The Israeli intelligence service Mossad is one of the most discussed and effective intelligence organizations in the world. Although it has a relatively small number of operatives, its influence extends far beyond the Middle East and touches practically all continents. From precision operations in the heart of enemy states to complex diplomatic crises - Mossad has long proven that a small country surrounded by enemies can play a big global game.
Mossad, officially known as the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, specializes in information collection, sabotage, cyber attacks and targeted elimination of terrorist leaders. Its tentacles are most intensively manifested in Iran, where Israeli agents carried out, among other things, the daring theft of the Iranian nuclear archive in Tehran in 2018 and a series of assassinations of key nuclear scientists. It is equally active in Lebanon and Syria against Hezbollah, where in 2024 it significantly intervened in the logistics chains through an operation with exploding communication devices.
In Europe, the Mossad has a long history - from Operation "Wrath of God" after the Munich massacre in 1972 to the surveillance of terrorist cells today. In Latin America, it carried out the legendary kidnapping of Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann from Argentina in 1960. In Africa, it secretly organized the evacuation of Ethiopian Jews and in the USA it cooperates with local services, despite the scandal it caused in the past with the case of Jonathan Pollard, who handed over thousands of secret American documents to Israel.
Nevertheless, the Mossad is not infallible. Failures such as the Lillehammer, Norway, 1973, shooting an innocent waiter instead of a terrorist, and the failed attempt to poison Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan (1997) demonstrate the risks of an aggressive approach. Another major failure was the failure to foresee the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. These incidents often led to diplomatic crises and criticism for violating the sovereignty of other states.
Today, under the leadership of new director Roman Gofman, Mossad focuses primarily on the Iranian threat and its global proxy networks. The combination of human resources, modern technology, and the sayanim (volunteer helpers from the Jewish diaspora) system allows it to operate almost anywhere in the world – from Asia to Africa to the Americas.
Sources: - Official and publicly available information from Israeli security services - Books “Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service” - Reports from the New York Times, BBC, Reuters - Publicly known cases from court trials and declassified documents
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