1 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:14,920 Speaker 1: Diversion podcasts. A note this episode contains descriptions of graphic violence. 2 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: Listeners discretion is advised. So Massad's mission to assassinate the 3 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: butcher of Latvia was the success it achieved its subjective 4 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: It changed how we think about the Holocaust in genocide law, 5 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: and it changed the lives of countless people, including the 6 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: people you've met in the last ten episodes. But the 7 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: Zookers operation barely scratches the surface of what Massad has 8 00:00:49,120 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: done over the years, and it's more than seventy years 9 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: of existence. Massad has been, by its own definition quote 10 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: involved in special operations, an activity in the service of 11 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: the State of Israel, such as the pursuit of Nazi criminals. 12 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: Massad has also rescued Jews and the diaspora from dangerous 13 00:01:10,480 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: situations and resettled them in Israel. The most famous of 14 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: these operations was the four covert evacuation of approximately eight 15 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: thousand Ethiopian Jews out of Sudan in Operation Moses. Massad 16 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: also tells us that they are quote a key factor 17 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:35,600 Speaker 1: in the war against terror directed at Jewish and Israeli 18 00:01:35,640 --> 00:01:40,280 Speaker 1: targets abroad. So for this episode, I want to look 19 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: at some of the most important and spectacular operations the 20 00:01:44,120 --> 00:01:47,160 Speaker 1: agency has carried out. I want to tell you about 21 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 1: some missions you've probably never heard of, but then shape 22 00:01:50,240 --> 00:02:04,400 Speaker 1: them Middle East and even our world. I'm Stephen Talty, 23 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 1: and this is good Assassin's hunting. The butcher is rather 24 00:02:10,880 --> 00:02:14,360 Speaker 1: assassinated one of its top leaders. He was executed by 25 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: a coney bomb hidden in a mobile cellular telephone. There's 26 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 1: a time for diplomacy, and there's probably a time for 27 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:25,200 Speaker 1: direct action. Normally it's a simple matter, and that's the 28 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,359 Speaker 1: moral dilemma. Can you work with these people to save 29 00:02:28,400 --> 00:02:43,200 Speaker 1: your own skin? Episode eleven, Massad's Greatest Hits and Misses 30 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: the jet. Let's start with an operation in which the 31 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:02,240 Speaker 1: target wasn't even human. In three, the Israelis decided they 32 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: had to have a meg. At the time, the MiG 33 00:03:06,440 --> 00:03:10,079 Speaker 1: was the most advanced Soviet fighter plane and the latest model. 34 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:15,480 Speaker 1: The MiG had been purchased by Israeli's neighbors and enemies, Egypt, 35 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: Syria and Iraq. If it came to war, Israel would 36 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: be facing these fighter jets in the skies. They had 37 00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,280 Speaker 1: to know everything about them, so forget about stealing blueprints 38 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: or getting blurry photos from inside some hangar. They wanted 39 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:36,560 Speaker 1: to steal an entire plane. There was a problem, however, 40 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: if you didn't have the plane, you couldn't fly it, 41 00:03:40,240 --> 00:03:43,040 Speaker 1: So Massad would have to convince an air pilot to 42 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:46,120 Speaker 1: steal the plane for them. That was much harder than 43 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:50,840 Speaker 1: just going after the hardware. The mission began in the 44 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: early sixties. A Massad agent named Gene Thomas offered an 45 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: Egyptian pilot one million dollars to hijack his own aircraft 46 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:03,560 Speaker 1: fly it to Israel. That would be about nine million 47 00:04:03,600 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: dollars today. It was a fortune. But the pilot said no, 48 00:04:08,680 --> 00:04:11,320 Speaker 1: and then he went to his bosses and told them 49 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: about the offer. Thomas, the Massad agent, along with four others, 50 00:04:16,520 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: were arrested. Months later, Thomas and two of his accomplices 51 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: were hung, while the others received extensive prison terms. Who's 52 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: a complete failure, But for Massad the MiG was worth 53 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,919 Speaker 1: another try. In the mid nineteen sixties, they moved the 54 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: mission's focus away from Egypt to Iraq and actually tried 55 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,479 Speaker 1: to convince two pilots to get in the plane and 56 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: fly it again. The pilots refused. Finally, in nineteen sixty 57 00:04:48,040 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: six and Iraqi born Jew named Yusuf got in touch 58 00:04:51,640 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: with Massad. This is one of the strengths of the 59 00:04:54,279 --> 00:04:58,440 Speaker 1: agency's In countries around the world, there have been examples 60 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: of Jews willing to help Massa. I asked Keith Melton 61 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 1: about this. Melton is the intelligence historian an author of 62 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,720 Speaker 1: several books on espionage we've heard from in previous episodes. 63 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: At one time, the total of number intelligence officers they had, 64 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:20,040 Speaker 1: and this was thirty years ago, it was only twenty 65 00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:24,719 Speaker 1: four officers, so they had a very small service. But 66 00:05:25,279 --> 00:05:31,160 Speaker 1: they had the ability to look for other Jewish supporters 67 00:05:31,520 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: virtually anywhere they could go in the world. If you 68 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,119 Speaker 1: needed a check cash, you needed to arrange a safe house, 69 00:05:37,360 --> 00:05:40,719 Speaker 1: if you needed a rental car. They had an established 70 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:45,479 Speaker 1: contact within the synagogue, within a group in almost any 71 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:54,799 Speaker 1: country they could go. So this guy Yusuf told aside 72 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 1: about this other guy named red fu Red Phone was 73 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 1: a pilot who flew the Big any One. He was 74 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 1: a Christian whose religion had caused his military career to 75 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,200 Speaker 1: stall out. Only Muslims were getting promoted, so red Fot 76 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:12,080 Speaker 1: was piste off. He was also angry that he had 77 00:06:12,080 --> 00:06:14,720 Speaker 1: been forced to fight against Iraqi Kurds, whom he had 78 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,560 Speaker 1: no problem with. He was ready to turn against Iraq. 79 00:06:20,000 --> 00:06:22,839 Speaker 1: Massad sent a female agent to entice red Fot into 80 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: the deal. She got him to travel to Europe, where 81 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,120 Speaker 1: he could meet with her handlers. There they offered the 82 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:33,559 Speaker 1: pilot one million dollars, full Israeli citizenship and a good job. 83 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: Red Fot had some conditions. Knowing that Iraq's government would 84 00:06:39,480 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: take revenge on his relatives, he demanded that Israel get 85 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,000 Speaker 1: them out of the country at the same time he 86 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: was stealing the plane. Massad agreed, but there were obstacles. 87 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 1: Red foot superiors didn't trust him. He was considered a 88 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,080 Speaker 1: troublemaker and he was a Christian. They only allowed him 89 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: to fly a MiG equipped with two small fuel tanks, 90 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 1: which would theoretically prevent him from taking it all the 91 00:07:04,960 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: way to Israel. If he crashed on the way to 92 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:11,880 Speaker 1: tell Aviv, the mission would be a failure. Massad made 93 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:15,720 Speaker 1: the final arrangements. Red Fust's wife, who had no idea 94 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: what was going on, was given tickets to Paris with 95 00:07:18,760 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: her children. There, she was contacted by Massad and told 96 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:26,560 Speaker 1: the whole story. She threw a fit, threatening to go 97 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: to the Iraqi embassy and tell them everything, but her 98 00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 1: handlers finally convinced her to agree to the plant. Reda's 99 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: other family members were secretly escorted to Iraq's Iranian border, 100 00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: where Kurdish guerillas guided them to safety. From there, they 101 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:47,320 Speaker 1: were taken to Israel, but Redfa was still in Iraq. 102 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:50,640 Speaker 1: Finally he was given permission to take the plane up 103 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: on a training mission. He pointed the nose towards Jordan's 104 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:59,040 Speaker 1: air traffic control in Jordan's contacted the Iraqis, who was 105 00:07:59,080 --> 00:08:01,880 Speaker 1: a big flying over their territory. What was going on? 106 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:06,320 Speaker 1: The Iraqis, not imagining anything was wrong, told them their 107 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: pilot was just getting some airtime in with the MiG. 108 00:08:09,520 --> 00:08:13,920 Speaker 1: Redford turned the plane towards Israel. When he finally landed, 109 00:08:14,200 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: it was found that the two small gas tanks only 110 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,640 Speaker 1: had a few drops of fuel left. The mag was 111 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,400 Speaker 1: put to use. Israeli pilots trained against it learned how 112 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: to fight it in the air. The next year, Israel 113 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:33,959 Speaker 1: and Syria went into battle over the Golan Heights. Was 114 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:37,839 Speaker 1: the Israeli Mirages against the MiG twenty ones There's my 115 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: age applied. This film reportedly showing the dog fight and 116 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,840 Speaker 1: the sky between the Mirage jets and Syria's Russian built makes. 117 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:47,680 Speaker 1: The cameras were mounted on the Israelian fighters and recorded 118 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:52,200 Speaker 1: these dark air battles Kale Israel shot down six of 119 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: the Syrian planes and lost none of their own, and 120 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:59,120 Speaker 1: then they could get an Iraqi pilot. I mean that's 121 00:08:59,160 --> 00:09:03,760 Speaker 1: not easy to do. That's Robert bar, a former CIA 122 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:07,960 Speaker 1: case officer an author of many books on espionage. The 123 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,200 Speaker 1: movie Siriana was based on one of Bear's books, and 124 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:14,679 Speaker 1: the character played by George Clooney was based on him. 125 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: I mean, we had a pilot that defected the Japan 126 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:19,560 Speaker 1: and make pilot. We got one of the air planes 127 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:23,920 Speaker 1: as well. But you know, getting hard equipment like that 128 00:09:24,040 --> 00:09:26,720 Speaker 1: and figuring out what the avionics and the radar and 129 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:30,840 Speaker 1: the rest of it was extremely important for them and 130 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: it was a worthwhile operation. Was it was quite amazing. 131 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: What interests me about this mission is the human aspect. 132 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: Getting an agent to betray his country is hard, but 133 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: getting them to leave their country is even harder. Look 134 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,240 Speaker 1: how difficult it was to get the butcher out of Brazil. 135 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:52,800 Speaker 1: Some espionage sources find their lives aren't really disrupted. Their 136 00:09:52,840 --> 00:09:56,480 Speaker 1: children stay in their schools, Their wives or husbands are oblivious. 137 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,280 Speaker 1: But Redfa had to give up everything and move his 138 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:04,200 Speaker 1: extended family out of their homeland. It's really something of 139 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: a miracle Massad was able to find someone like him 140 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: and to convince him to make the leap to Israel. 141 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: I asked Robert bart about using someone's emotions to get 142 00:10:14,280 --> 00:10:19,439 Speaker 1: what you need. Well, it's helpful to go after a 143 00:10:19,600 --> 00:10:22,760 Speaker 1: press minority anywhere in the world. I mean, if you 144 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: look at the KGB, most a lot of the defectors 145 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 1: were from Ukraine. A lot of Israeli sources in Europe 146 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,880 Speaker 1: were Jewish who sympathized with the israel elements existence. And 147 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:38,040 Speaker 1: the same way with Christians who were oppressed and had 148 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:43,000 Speaker 1: no chance of ever, you know, holding positions of power. 149 00:10:43,720 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: And that's not to mention, you know, once these Islamic 150 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: groups came and started pressing, now that they would gravitate 151 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: to the United States or Israel. Mio had played on 152 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,240 Speaker 1: the butcher's emotions brilliantly, and now these Raelis had done 153 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:11,120 Speaker 1: it again. The engineer. Now let me take you to 154 00:11:11,200 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: the nineties. Sometimes Massad targets terrorists. Sometimes it's political operatives, 155 00:11:20,120 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: and sometimes it's people who betrayed their country. It's rare 156 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:28,120 Speaker 1: that the agency goes after a technician. But the engineer 157 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:33,400 Speaker 1: wasn't like other technicians. Yah Yah Ayash was a number 158 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: one bomb maker for Hamas. Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni 159 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:46,160 Speaker 1: Islamic militant fundamentalist organization. Ayasha's nickname was the Engineer, and 160 00:11:46,200 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: he was a master of building explosives. His skill is 161 00:11:50,080 --> 00:11:53,680 Speaker 1: even more impressive because dynamite, which is a favorite of 162 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,760 Speaker 1: bomb makers for its stability and power, was hard to 163 00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:59,880 Speaker 1: get in the West Bank and Gaza Strip where Yosh 164 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:03,600 Speaker 1: did his work, So he used a mix of acetone 165 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:09,199 Speaker 1: and detergent, ingredients found easily in many household cleaners. When 166 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:14,040 Speaker 1: you put them together, they make acetone peroxide. This stuff 167 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:18,600 Speaker 1: is powerful, but it's also highly unstable. In fact, it's 168 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:23,040 Speaker 1: called the mother of Satan. You can guess why. People 169 00:12:23,040 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: who work with the Mother of Satan usually don't live 170 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:31,440 Speaker 1: very long. But Ayash had an extensive and impressively lethal career. Well. 171 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: I mean, the Raelis went after arm stealers, especially ones 172 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:41,680 Speaker 1: that were supplying Iraq. They were very interested in the 173 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:46,040 Speaker 1: people who could make airplane bombs. And they went after them. 174 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: Some of these people were assassinated in Jordan's and the 175 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:53,800 Speaker 1: rest of it. I mean, they essentially viscerated the Palestinians, 176 00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:59,920 Speaker 1: the leadership as well as the technicians. That's Robert bar again. 177 00:13:01,040 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: A Yash built bombs for Hamass suicide attacks. The Mahola 178 00:13:05,880 --> 00:13:11,560 Speaker 1: Junction bombing in the Afuller bus massacre, it was at 179 00:13:11,640 --> 00:13:15,120 Speaker 1: lunchtime when the bomb went off, cutting down shoppers waiting 180 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 1: at a bus stop in a fullah town center. It's 181 00:13:18,200 --> 00:13:21,600 Speaker 1: believed that the bomber himself was among the eight who died. 182 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,400 Speaker 1: The attack was time to mark the end of the 183 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: Islamic morning period for the victims of the Hebron massacre. 184 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:35,720 Speaker 1: Whoever planned the bombing took plenty of casualties, at least 185 00:13:35,720 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: fifty people injured, many of them. The Disnegoff Street bus massacre, 186 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,319 Speaker 1: also in n at the time the deadliest suicide bombing 187 00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 1: in Israeli history, with twenty two civilians killed and fifty injured. 188 00:13:49,280 --> 00:13:52,920 Speaker 1: It had happened in Disnengoff Street, the city's commercial heart 189 00:13:53,200 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: and a place where people normally sit in cafes and relax. Today, 190 00:13:57,160 --> 00:14:00,880 Speaker 1: though the bloodied survivors and those in shock, stumbled onto 191 00:14:00,880 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: the pavement as passers by came to their aid was done. 192 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:17,840 Speaker 1: The Yash was also behind the Hadara Central Station massacre 193 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:23,800 Speaker 1: again and many more Hamas claimed responsibility for the deadliest 194 00:14:23,920 --> 00:14:27,800 Speaker 1: terrorist attack in Israel for sixteen years. Police combed the 195 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:30,760 Speaker 1: wreckage trying to prove their hunch that the person who 196 00:14:30,760 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: took so many lives was a suicide bomber. The engineer 197 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: was killing Israeli's inside Israel civilians right in the heart 198 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: of the country. He later branched out and built bombs 199 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:46,200 Speaker 1: for other groups, including Islamic Jahad. He was like a 200 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:50,280 Speaker 1: one man bomb factory. Massad had to get him out 201 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:52,520 Speaker 1: of the picture and to cut off the supply of 202 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: explosives for these attacks. The agency worked with shin Bet, 203 00:14:58,720 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: the Internal Security Age see on the mission. They even 204 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: had the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority, the official Palestinian 205 00:15:07,480 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: government body that controls the Gaza Strip and West Bank, 206 00:15:11,560 --> 00:15:20,720 Speaker 1: in tracking a Yasha's movements. The break came when the 207 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: agents realized that Yash kept returning to a certain apartment 208 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: owned by a buddy from his childhood days. This childhood 209 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: friend the Israelis had worked with his uncle they knew him, 210 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:37,920 Speaker 1: and they blackmailed him into cooperating with the operation. The 211 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: agents gave the uncle a cell phone. They told him 212 00:15:41,720 --> 00:15:44,760 Speaker 1: they'd placed a bug inside so they could tap into 213 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: a Yasha's conversations, but they didn't tell him was there 214 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:52,680 Speaker 1: was also fifteen grahams something called r d X inside. 215 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,800 Speaker 1: R d X has been used as an explosive since 216 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:00,800 Speaker 1: World War Two. It has no smell, makes it perfect 217 00:16:00,880 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: for jobs like this. The yash worked with explosives. If 218 00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:09,960 Speaker 1: he smelled anything, he might get suspicious. So the uncle 219 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,160 Speaker 1: gets the phone and gives it to his nephew, the 220 00:16:12,240 --> 00:16:16,400 Speaker 1: Yasha's buddy. These really knew that the yash often talked 221 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:19,880 Speaker 1: on one of the nephew's phones. They were hoping that 222 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:23,400 Speaker 1: would be the case again. They began monitoring all the 223 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:27,320 Speaker 1: calls in and out of the nephew's number. The monitoring 224 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 1: was done from a small airplane that circled above the target. 225 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,680 Speaker 1: At eight am one January morning, a call came through. 226 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: The agents listening in recognized the voice. It was a 227 00:16:41,400 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: yasha's father. The call was relaid from the phone to 228 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: the airplane flying above to an Israeli outpost nearby. The 229 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,440 Speaker 1: second voice on the line was confirmed it was the Engineer. 230 00:16:54,400 --> 00:16:57,440 Speaker 1: A signal was sent across the cell phone connection and 231 00:16:57,480 --> 00:17:02,080 Speaker 1: the phone exploded, killing Ayash instantly. The most hated man 232 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:06,359 Speaker 1: in Israel, a Palestinian terrorist yah Yaha Yash, known as 233 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:10,199 Speaker 1: the Engineer, was killed in the Gaza Strip on Friday. 234 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,320 Speaker 1: He was executed by a tiny bomb hidden an immobile 235 00:17:13,359 --> 00:17:18,800 Speaker 1: cellular cold. It's many from to I was excluding and 236 00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:27,440 Speaker 1: destroyed the outside of his head. How many people killed? Yeah, yeah, Yesh. 237 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: We are investigating the case, and this is how then 238 00:17:32,040 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: opposition leader Benjamin Yahoo framed the news. If it's true 239 00:17:36,320 --> 00:17:39,879 Speaker 1: that one of the world's most vicious killers, a person 240 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,879 Speaker 1: who's been responsible for blowing up women and children and davies, 241 00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:48,280 Speaker 1: has been eliminated, I don't think anyone should shed a 242 00:17:48,320 --> 00:17:52,399 Speaker 1: tear of sorrow. I think equally that it's important to 243 00:17:52,440 --> 00:17:54,560 Speaker 1: send a message. I think such a message has been 244 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: sent to all his followers, all would be terrorists, that 245 00:17:59,520 --> 00:18:02,040 Speaker 1: Israel's all arm would reach them, that there is a 246 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: price for terrorism. The a Yash operation reminds me a 247 00:18:06,280 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 1: bit of Mio's work during the Zookers mission. It was 248 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: technician versus technician in the same way that Mio went 249 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:18,159 Speaker 1: mano a mano against the Butcher. The nerd aspect of 250 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:21,560 Speaker 1: espionage is often a sideline. If you go to the 251 00:18:21,600 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 1: International Spy Museum in Washington, d C. They have small 252 00:18:25,640 --> 00:18:30,240 Speaker 1: exhibits on the technology of spying with tiny cameras, the 253 00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:35,159 Speaker 1: Enigma machine, things like that. But here the tech was 254 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: the whole deal. Ayash new bombs, but he never suspected 255 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:42,440 Speaker 1: that Massad would be skilled enough to hide one inside 256 00:18:42,440 --> 00:18:47,440 Speaker 1: a cell phone. The level of sophistication of precision was 257 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:57,240 Speaker 1: a hallmark of the agency doing more with less. Hey, 258 00:18:57,280 --> 00:19:00,400 Speaker 1: this is Stephen Talty, the host of this podcast, Good 259 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:04,639 Speaker 1: Assassin's Hunting the Butcher. This podcast project came out of 260 00:19:04,680 --> 00:19:07,600 Speaker 1: my work on a related book called The Good Assassin. 261 00:19:08,359 --> 00:19:10,439 Speaker 1: If you want to explore other parts of this story, 262 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 1: check it out. It's not just a book version of 263 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 1: the podcast. I spend time on different aspects of the mission. 264 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: There are chapters diving into World War two history that 265 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,800 Speaker 1: we didn't cover in the podcast, and the book works 266 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:26,600 Speaker 1: as a kind of companion to the listening experience. You 267 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: can purchase a copy of The Good Assassin on Amazon, 268 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:43,400 Speaker 1: Apple Books, and on bookshop dot Org. Thanks the Scientist 269 00:19:47,520 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: for this one, let's go inside Syria. For years, Massad 270 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,200 Speaker 1: In the Israeli government had wanted to know if Syria, 271 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,120 Speaker 1: which had been hostile to their Jewish neighbors for decades, 272 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:02,639 Speaker 1: had a nuclear program. They couldn't break through the security 273 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: that the Syrians had put around their atomic research. Was 274 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:09,960 Speaker 1: there anything going on? Were they building plants? Were they 275 00:20:10,000 --> 00:20:16,000 Speaker 1: thinking of building bombs? For Israel? The nuclear option is 276 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,280 Speaker 1: the nuclear option. If any one of their enemies gets 277 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:21,680 Speaker 1: the bomb, it could mean the end of their country. 278 00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: I asked Robert Bart about nukes and how they're figure 279 00:20:25,520 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 1: into the mindsets of spy agencies. It goes back to 280 00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:31,240 Speaker 1: the Second World War when here it was planning to 281 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: use a nuclear bomb on New York City. I mean, 282 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 1: it was just on paper. It never went anywhere. But 283 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,560 Speaker 1: they're more mythical than they aren't real. But there's something 284 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 1: to think about. You know, you can aristolize all sorts 285 00:20:43,400 --> 00:20:46,080 Speaker 1: of toxins and spread them over New York City, and 286 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:49,439 Speaker 1: that's certainly something the Israelitis are worried about. Or putting 287 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,240 Speaker 1: a tactical nuke on the end of the SCUD and 288 00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,399 Speaker 1: firing Tel Aviv. This is why they're going after I 289 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: ran right now, by the way. It's just quite extraordinary 290 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:01,040 Speaker 1: these operations they pulled off r and I just thought, 291 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:04,439 Speaker 1: I never thought anyone could do these things. So clearly 292 00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: the Israelis have put a lot of effort and a 293 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:11,520 Speaker 1: lot of brains on, you know, all this problems, but 294 00:21:11,640 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 1: places like Iran were considered the top priority. Everyone knew 295 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,640 Speaker 1: that the Iranians were trying for a bomb. As for Syria, 296 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,639 Speaker 1: who was on the back burner for Israel if you 297 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,800 Speaker 1: believed they would take the risk. But Massie started noticing 298 00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:31,159 Speaker 1: mysterious things happening inside Syria. Ships would leave ports in 299 00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,840 Speaker 1: Asia and arrive in Syria with unknown cargoes. There were 300 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:41,000 Speaker 1: convoys of trucks criss crossing the country carrying something of 301 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 1: Pakistani nuclear scientists. A Q Khan traveled to Damascus for talks, 302 00:21:47,520 --> 00:21:52,119 Speaker 1: but talks about what There was no evidence on the 303 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:56,639 Speaker 1: ground that anything was happening. Israel spy satellites were picking 304 00:21:56,720 --> 00:22:02,639 Speaker 1: up nothing. Still, some pulit Massad had an uneasy feeling, 305 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:10,600 Speaker 1: but they were in the minority. One guy Massad kept 306 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,879 Speaker 1: an ion was ibraheim Afman, who was the head of 307 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:17,800 Speaker 1: the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria. If anyone knew what 308 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,439 Speaker 1: was going on, it was Athman. In December two thousand 309 00:22:21,440 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 1: and six, Massad got word that Athman would be traveling 310 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,639 Speaker 1: to a European city. The Syrians had given him a 311 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:32,160 Speaker 1: fake passport, but the Israelis knew how to track him. 312 00:22:32,280 --> 00:22:35,280 Speaker 1: Massad didn't want to kill him necessarily, but they wanted 313 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:39,159 Speaker 1: to get inside his head. So as soon as Othman 314 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:42,919 Speaker 1: landed in Europe, the Agency had eyes on him. At 315 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:45,960 Speaker 1: the airport, agents watched him get off the plane and 316 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:49,560 Speaker 1: head to a hotel. They were about a dozen operatives 317 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: involved in the operation. Once they found out what hotel 318 00:22:53,119 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: he was staying at and which room, they got a 319 00:22:55,800 --> 00:22:59,560 Speaker 1: team inside. They planted listening devices and then got out 320 00:23:00,920 --> 00:23:04,600 Speaker 1: from their bugs. The agency learned Offman was planning to 321 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: do some shopping. European cities have goods you can't get 322 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,879 Speaker 1: in Syria, so he was planning a day to blow 323 00:23:10,920 --> 00:23:15,160 Speaker 1: some money. Once he left the hotel, operatives broke into 324 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:20,000 Speaker 1: his room. On the desk was a laptop. Great, maybe 325 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:23,399 Speaker 1: there was something valuable on the hard drive, but the 326 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:26,159 Speaker 1: agents didn't have time to steal the computer, bring it 327 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,359 Speaker 1: to their base and download all the files. So what 328 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,240 Speaker 1: do you do. One of the team members was a 329 00:23:32,280 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: computer expert. He installed software which let the agency track 330 00:23:37,119 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: Offman's activities on the computer without the Syrian knowing it. 331 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: They put the program on the hard drive where it 332 00:23:44,119 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 1: was invisible, cleaned up, and left. The data started to 333 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:53,640 Speaker 1: come in from Offman's laptop, and it was astonishing. There 334 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: were maps, There were blueprints for a nuclear plant. There 335 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:00,320 Speaker 1: were even pictures of the construction in various state ages, 336 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:04,639 Speaker 1: and finally, a snapshot of a guy who looked East Asian. 337 00:24:05,280 --> 00:24:08,240 Speaker 1: When Massad ran the photo through its computers, it turned 338 00:24:08,240 --> 00:24:12,400 Speaker 1: out the guy was a nuclear official from North Korea. 339 00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:17,000 Speaker 1: The Syrians were going nuclear in a big way, and 340 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:21,760 Speaker 1: nobody had known about it. Massad went to work. They 341 00:24:21,840 --> 00:24:24,600 Speaker 1: sent a team inside Syria to collect soil samples and 342 00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 1: other evidence from the building site. When it came back, 343 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,760 Speaker 1: there was no doubt Syria was on the path to 344 00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:37,160 Speaker 1: a bomb. Massad and the Israeli Defense forces began planning 345 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:43,119 Speaker 1: Operation Outside the Box. September six, two thousand seven, a 346 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,840 Speaker 1: fleet of ten F fifteen fighter planes lifted off from 347 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:54,040 Speaker 1: inside Israel. Israel had seized control of serious radar and 348 00:24:54,119 --> 00:24:57,719 Speaker 1: air defenses and hid any sign of the coming attack. 349 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: The F fifteen's aproached the site. When the pilots were 350 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: above the target, they released their payloads. The bomb struck 351 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: the building and the plant was destroyed. The attack had succeeded. 352 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:27,560 Speaker 1: Syria abandoned its nuclear program. The wrong man in Massad 353 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:31,560 Speaker 1: was thrust into the spotlight when Palestinian terrorists stormed the 354 00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,639 Speaker 1: residents of the Israeli team at the Summer Olympics in 355 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: Munich and took eleven Israeli's hostage. Eight members of the 356 00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:43,879 Speaker 1: faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization known as Black September 357 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: barricaded themselves inside the athletes apartments and negotiated for days 358 00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:53,040 Speaker 1: with German authorities. Nearly five dred German security police have 359 00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:55,359 Speaker 1: now sealed off the village and I'm mounting heavy machine 360 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 1: guns in the square there, keeping cameraman and television reportance 361 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:02,119 Speaker 1: and the spectators well away the girls. They demanded the 362 00:26:02,160 --> 00:26:06,320 Speaker 1: release of two d thirty four Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. 363 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,040 Speaker 1: Was the Israeli government refused, really enjoyed in the vide 364 00:26:10,040 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: of the round political rights be happy now to day 365 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: has we everbly shattered and their tragedy the helicopters there 366 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:28,080 Speaker 1: appearing on onboard and there is really offated. When the 367 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 1: terrorists and their hostages were transported to a nearby NATO 368 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 1: air base where they were supposedly going to be flown 369 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:40,439 Speaker 1: to Cairo, disaster struck. A botched German ambush resulted in 370 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:44,240 Speaker 1: the murder of the nine remaining Israeli athletes and coaches, 371 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:48,080 Speaker 1: as well as the deaths of the terrorists. Despite a 372 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:51,880 Speaker 1: few bad decisions by judges, some disappoint boks of petty mistakes, 373 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:54,520 Speaker 1: the Beautic Olympics were on the way into becoming the 374 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 1: Posantist Olympics because the West Germans were to make them solves. Today, 375 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:03,919 Speaker 1: one observed gave them a new name, the Bloody Olympics. Altogether, 376 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:07,720 Speaker 1: seventeen people were slaughtered yesterday too in the Olympic village 377 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,080 Speaker 1: and the other fifteen and the shootout of the airport. 378 00:27:10,520 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: It was a catastrophe for the Olympics, for the Germans 379 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,760 Speaker 1: and for the Israelis. If you doubted that the government 380 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:22,919 Speaker 1: in Jerusalem would respond and that Massad would be the 381 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:27,840 Speaker 1: sharp point of the sword, here's how it. Israeli Prime 382 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:33,399 Speaker 1: Minister Golden my Year explained it. Innocent lives around With 383 00:27:33,440 --> 00:27:40,879 Speaker 1: that stage, the question is can innocent Israeli lives become 384 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:47,280 Speaker 1: a commodity that groups of men and women can just 385 00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: do with them whatever they like. Normally would say that 386 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:56,480 Speaker 1: it's a simple matter of course. But what happens these 387 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:02,120 Speaker 1: men demands the release from for them of men who 388 00:28:02,160 --> 00:28:06,880 Speaker 1: participated in the killing of our people. But they say, alpenmely, 389 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: they make a stake, and now the side over again. 390 00:28:10,440 --> 00:28:15,879 Speaker 1: But it means that people are set free when everybody 391 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,800 Speaker 1: knows that what they intended to do the first opportunity 392 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,159 Speaker 1: they were killing more Israelis. It's a difficult problem. I 393 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 1: don't say it's easy, but if you cannot say, well, 394 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: as long as it's a bounced Asraelis, it's long golden. 395 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:44,560 Speaker 1: My year quickly approved Operation Wrath of God, a covert 396 00:28:44,640 --> 00:28:48,360 Speaker 1: MASSAD operation to hunt down and kill the planners of 397 00:28:48,360 --> 00:28:55,200 Speaker 1: the Munich massacre. Massad began their reprisals in nine three. 398 00:28:55,920 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: Who was an assassination in Rome, a bomb placed in 399 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,520 Speaker 1: a telephone in Paris, another planet under a bed in Cyprus, 400 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: and a third that detonated under a car seat. There 401 00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,720 Speaker 1: was a spectacular military rate in Lebanon, using Zodiac boats 402 00:29:10,960 --> 00:29:16,480 Speaker 1: and agents disguised as women all found their targets, but 403 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 1: the mastermind of the Munich terror operation still eluded Massad. 404 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: That was Ali Hassan Salome, nicknamed the Red Prince. Salom 405 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 1: A was believed to be the operations chief for Black 406 00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: September and the man who planned Munich. The Israelis put 407 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:42,000 Speaker 1: him near the top of the list of targets. Massad 408 00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 1: trece Salome to lily Hammer, a beautiful ski resort town 409 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: in central Norway. They sent an elite squad, fifteen agents 410 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:55,760 Speaker 1: and even the head of Massad, s V Zamir. Some 411 00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 1: reports have said the team came from Cesarea, the same 412 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: unit that Mio and Joseph your Reeve belonged to. The 413 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,560 Speaker 1: agency didn't tell the Norwegians what they were up to, 414 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: which was standard operating procedure. The fewer people who know 415 00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 1: the lower possibility of a leak. Once in lily Hammer, 416 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:18,760 Speaker 1: the Massad agents began following a man they believed to 417 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: be a courier, an intermediary between the Red Prince and 418 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,960 Speaker 1: Black September. Posing his tourists, they followed the man wherever 419 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:30,480 Speaker 1: he went. On one of his errands, the courier headed 420 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,160 Speaker 1: to a local swimming pool. There he met a dark 421 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: haired man. The agent studied the man. They had practically 422 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,600 Speaker 1: memorized a few photos of Saloma that were available. Just 423 00:30:43,720 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: like with Herbert Suckers, they were comparing archival pictures with 424 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,560 Speaker 1: a man in the field, and just like with Zukers, 425 00:30:50,880 --> 00:30:54,960 Speaker 1: the two matched. They believed they'd found the Red Prince. 426 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:00,160 Speaker 1: The operatives acted quickly. They followed the target as they 427 00:31:00,200 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: moved through lily Hammer. The next day he met with 428 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: a blond woman, apparently in Norwegian. The two went to 429 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: see a movie together and then caught a bus. The 430 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:13,160 Speaker 1: operatives telled them closely as the parallel to the driver 431 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 1: to their stop. Then got off the bus and began walking, 432 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 1: apparently toward the house they shared. After the bus pulled away, 433 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:25,600 Speaker 1: the killed team struck. They shot the man thirteen times. 434 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,160 Speaker 1: He fell to the pavement, the blonde woman calling for help. 435 00:31:29,800 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: The agents quickly disappeared. It was a clean operation, fast, 436 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,720 Speaker 1: with no bystanders killed. Except it wasn't the man that 437 00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: Massa had executed in the quiet Norwegian town. Wasn't the 438 00:31:43,600 --> 00:31:48,479 Speaker 1: Red Prince at all. His name was Ahmed Bushiki, a 439 00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:52,280 Speaker 1: Moroccan waiter. The woman who was pregnant at the time. 440 00:31:52,720 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: Was his wife to real it had been a horrible 441 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,440 Speaker 1: mistake and now an innocent man and was dead. It 442 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:04,720 Speaker 1: was the first murder in lilli Hammer in thirty six years. 443 00:32:05,920 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: The killed team left Norway almost immediately, but six other 444 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,680 Speaker 1: Israelis who lingered after the hit were caught and arrested. 445 00:32:14,480 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: One of them apparently broke down under questioning and revealed 446 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,959 Speaker 1: the entire plan to police. It was one disaster after another. 447 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: The Israelis had done what they always accused their enemies of, 448 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,680 Speaker 1: killed someone who done nothing to them. Now they faced 449 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: the consequences. The agency was embarrassed. Five agents went on 450 00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: trial in Norway and were sent to prison. It took 451 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:42,560 Speaker 1: almost twenty five years for Massad to admit its mistake 452 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 1: and for the Israelis to pay a med Bushiki's family 453 00:32:45,720 --> 00:32:51,400 Speaker 1: an undisclosed amount of money. The damage was extensive. The 454 00:32:51,480 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 1: plausible deniability that Massad had always depended on was shredded. 455 00:32:56,640 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: The agency looks sloppy, careless, the new which an investigation revealed, secrets, 456 00:33:02,560 --> 00:33:06,400 Speaker 1: the location of safe houses across Europe, their tactics, even 457 00:33:06,440 --> 00:33:10,480 Speaker 1: the names of some of their agents, and things kept 458 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,280 Speaker 1: getting worse. A year Later, the Israelis believed they traced 459 00:33:14,280 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 1: the Red Prince to Switzerland, where he was going to 460 00:33:17,240 --> 00:33:21,400 Speaker 1: meet some PILO officials in a church. Two Massad agents 461 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:24,120 Speaker 1: walked into the church and spotted three men with dark 462 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:27,760 Speaker 1: hare and Arab features. They later claimed that one of 463 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: them reached for a weapon, the assassin's opened fire, killing 464 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: all three. None of them turned out to be the 465 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:41,080 Speaker 1: Red Prince was another fatal mistake. The head of the 466 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:45,600 Speaker 1: operation called off the hunt for Solemn but incredibly, members 467 00:33:45,640 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: of the killed team continued to pursue him. They believed 468 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:52,840 Speaker 1: they'd found the Prince in Tarifa, Spain. They approached the 469 00:33:52,880 --> 00:33:56,040 Speaker 1: house that their intelligence officers had placed them in, but 470 00:33:56,160 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 1: were intercepted by an Arab security guard. Another your fight. 471 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:05,000 Speaker 1: This time the guard lay dead after the Israeli said 472 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 1: he pointed in a K forty seven at them. Operation 473 00:34:11,120 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: Wrath of God was called off. It would remain in 474 00:34:15,040 --> 00:34:18,200 Speaker 1: a deep freeze for a full five years until it 475 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:23,080 Speaker 1: was resumed under a new Prime minister, but Massad's reputation 476 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:27,520 Speaker 1: would never be the same. Some even suggested that it 477 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,600 Speaker 1: had allowed its obsession with finding them unit killers to 478 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:35,920 Speaker 1: distract it from its main mission protecting the Homeland. I 479 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: asked Robert Baar, the x C I a officer about 480 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:42,560 Speaker 1: Operation Wrath of God, and he had a different take 481 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:47,680 Speaker 1: on the blowback. This was, you know, a great actor 482 00:34:47,800 --> 00:34:52,080 Speaker 1: revenge that was supported across Israel, and they just had 483 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:54,800 Speaker 1: to go right through the list. And you know, killing 484 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:57,200 Speaker 1: the Moroccan and it's a it's a setback that could 485 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:00,719 Speaker 1: happen to anybody. But I don't know away slowed the 486 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,359 Speaker 1: Israelis down. I think the only thing that slowed them 487 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:09,040 Speaker 1: down is sort of reassessments of fascinations. And and that's 488 00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:11,600 Speaker 1: a big question. I mean, they kill you seen it Gaza? 489 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:16,479 Speaker 1: Did it truly decapitate um Us? You know, that's something 490 00:35:16,520 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: you have to ask the Israelis clearly. I mean it's 491 00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:22,600 Speaker 1: it's like Sulamani when they kill him. I think it 492 00:35:22,719 --> 00:35:24,719 Speaker 1: had a great effect on Iran. I mean he was 493 00:35:25,120 --> 00:35:27,920 Speaker 1: he was the de facto leader of Iran. Not how 494 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:32,399 Speaker 1: many those are those are hard calculations assassinations, but killing 495 00:35:32,400 --> 00:35:37,239 Speaker 1: a Moroccan later in Norway in no way page to 496 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 1: Israeli policy radio were just the same scores. They're going 497 00:35:43,239 --> 00:35:45,279 Speaker 1: to advance them to be. It really occupied portions of 498 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:50,239 Speaker 1: the desert when Aaron Forces launched a surprise attack on 499 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:54,360 Speaker 1: Israel in October ninety three, many blamed the agency for 500 00:35:54,440 --> 00:36:02,680 Speaker 1: having provided no advanced warning that is suceeeded in capturing 501 00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:09,200 Speaker 1: the key and overwhelming and movies radio positions. The fireline 502 00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 1: from Diam Kapoor war was one of the most dangerous 503 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:18,839 Speaker 1: moments in Israeli history, and Massad had appeared to be 504 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:38,959 Speaker 1: asleep at the wheel. Hi, this is Stephen Talty, host 505 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,799 Speaker 1: of Good Assassins Hunting the Butcher. The folks that helped 506 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:46,280 Speaker 1: me bring you the show, Diversion Podcasts have just launched 507 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:50,880 Speaker 1: another podcast that I think you'll like. It's called Backstaged 508 00:36:51,160 --> 00:36:54,000 Speaker 1: The Devil in Metal, a deep dive into the history 509 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:57,520 Speaker 1: of mental music, filled with never before heard interviews and 510 00:36:57,640 --> 00:37:00,239 Speaker 1: stories from some of the biggest names of m ZACK, 511 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:05,400 Speaker 1: including Black Sabbath, Judas, Priest Van Helen, and many others. 512 00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:11,440 Speaker 1: It's outrageous, raw and surprising at times. Backstage. The Devil 513 00:37:11,480 --> 00:37:15,399 Speaker 1: in Metal is out now. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts, 514 00:37:15,640 --> 00:37:26,759 Speaker 1: I Heared, Radio app or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Spies, 515 00:37:27,160 --> 00:37:32,439 Speaker 1: never forget if you've got to look at Massad's most 516 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:35,480 Speaker 1: wanted list in two thousand and eight a lebedies man 517 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,480 Speaker 1: named Ahmad Fayez Mugnia who was probably at the top 518 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,800 Speaker 1: or near it. Mugnia was the mastermind in a series 519 00:37:43,840 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: of terror attacks against Israeli's around the world. He was 520 00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,920 Speaker 1: believed to be the chief of staff for Hezbollah, the 521 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:55,480 Speaker 1: Lebanese Shia Islamist political party, and militant group. It was 522 00:37:55,520 --> 00:38:00,400 Speaker 1: a link between Iran and terrorist groups. Robert Barr said, 523 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:04,959 Speaker 1: Mugnia was probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we've 524 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:10,800 Speaker 1: ever run across, including the KGB or anybody else. Massad 525 00:38:10,920 --> 00:38:13,480 Speaker 1: and Mugnia had been involved in the cat and mouse 526 00:38:13,520 --> 00:38:17,920 Speaker 1: game for decades. Massad wanted to kill him, and Mugnia 527 00:38:18,040 --> 00:38:22,239 Speaker 1: knew it. He was incredibly smart and resourceful. Every time 528 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:27,200 Speaker 1: the agency planned an assassination, Nia outwitted them and survived. 529 00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:32,560 Speaker 1: In February two eight, Massad tried again the Massad track 530 00:38:32,640 --> 00:38:36,799 Speaker 1: move Mia around the clock. He lived in Syria and 531 00:38:36,840 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 1: those rare times he emerged on a Damascus street. They 532 00:38:40,239 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 1: got an alert that February. They got worried that Munia 533 00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:46,960 Speaker 1: was staying at a safe house in the city. They 534 00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,279 Speaker 1: couldn't get close to him. With an assassin on a 535 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:53,800 Speaker 1: motorcycle or with poison. They decided on a car bomb. 536 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,360 Speaker 1: Massad and his technical experts allegedly began to sign, build, 537 00:38:58,600 --> 00:39:01,520 Speaker 1: and test the bomb. They removed the spare tire from 538 00:39:01,520 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: a car's trunk and replaced it with a face bear 539 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:08,879 Speaker 1: that actually contained a powerful explosive. They performed test run 540 00:39:09,080 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: after test run. Finally they thought they were ready. The 541 00:39:13,680 --> 00:39:17,239 Speaker 1: main problem was being able to confirm when Mugnia would 542 00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: go to his safe house and how he would exit. 543 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:22,400 Speaker 1: If you're using a car bomb, you need to know 544 00:39:22,440 --> 00:39:28,440 Speaker 1: a person's route before they take it. That was tough. Finally, 545 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:32,400 Speaker 1: on February twelve, Munia headed to the safe house. He 546 00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:35,920 Speaker 1: parked as Missubishi in a nearby lot and emerged from 547 00:39:35,960 --> 00:39:39,200 Speaker 1: the car. It was the anniversary of the nineteen seventy 548 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:44,960 Speaker 1: nine Iranian Revolution, and Munia was there to celebrate. The 549 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:49,480 Speaker 1: bomb car was close to the Missubishi, but as Mougnia emerged, 550 00:39:50,080 --> 00:39:53,239 Speaker 1: Massad's lookouts realized that he was with a bunch of 551 00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:57,480 Speaker 1: other men. Either because these other officials were considered out 552 00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,520 Speaker 1: of bounds, or Israel didn't want to told to be 553 00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:04,320 Speaker 1: that high, they called off the hit. The team's stayed 554 00:40:04,320 --> 00:40:07,120 Speaker 1: in place, They left the car bomb where it was 555 00:40:07,800 --> 00:40:14,839 Speaker 1: and they waited. Finally, late at night, Muvinia came out 556 00:40:14,880 --> 00:40:19,280 Speaker 1: to his car. This time he was alone. An operative 557 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 1: pressed the remote and the bomb tore the car to bids. 558 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:31,720 Speaker 1: Unia was killed the loan casualty. That night, news trickled 559 00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:43,960 Speaker 1: out and international journalists began reporting. A top has Belaw 560 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:47,080 Speaker 1: militant alleged to be the hide a series of attacks 561 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:51,120 Speaker 1: on US, Israeli and Jewish targets has been assassinated his 562 00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:54,200 Speaker 1: middle aged car bombings go. This was a small one 563 00:40:54,239 --> 00:40:56,880 Speaker 1: and in the end only one person was killed, but 564 00:40:57,239 --> 00:41:00,520 Speaker 1: the death of the man involved as rock Dieselmas militants 565 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,280 Speaker 1: in Lebanon and Syria, and it may be the trigger 566 00:41:03,320 --> 00:41:06,920 Speaker 1: for further unrest. A senior commander of the Lebanese based 567 00:41:07,000 --> 00:41:10,680 Speaker 1: Shiite militant group, his Ballah, Immed Mugnia, was one of 568 00:41:10,719 --> 00:41:14,440 Speaker 1: his buller's most deadly operatives. The FBI wanted him alive 569 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:18,160 Speaker 1: and was offering a five million dollar bounty, but overnight 570 00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:21,760 Speaker 1: a car bombing in Damascus claimed his life. His ballah 571 00:41:21,760 --> 00:41:25,200 Speaker 1: has blamed Israel for his death. Israel denies involvement, but 572 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:28,800 Speaker 1: many in the Jewish state and beyond glad that Imed 573 00:41:28,840 --> 00:41:33,640 Speaker 1: Mugnia is gone. Hello, I am Hashima. Lebanon's Zella says 574 00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 1: Israel assassinated one of its top leaders. Israel denies it. 575 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:41,160 Speaker 1: What will the repercussions be? Mad Mania, one of the 576 00:41:41,160 --> 00:41:44,680 Speaker 1: group's top military commanders, died in a car bombing in Syria, 577 00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:47,080 Speaker 1: who was accused by the U S and by Israel 578 00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:49,840 Speaker 1: of being involved in a string of attacks which killed 579 00:41:50,080 --> 00:41:55,040 Speaker 1: hundreds of here's former Knesset member Dannya Tom commenting, I 580 00:41:55,080 --> 00:42:03,279 Speaker 1: think that the organization that finally reached him showed and 581 00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: very high skills, both in intelligence and in operational capability. 582 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:17,279 Speaker 1: I think that the fluent democratic world today achieved a 583 00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:21,360 Speaker 1: very very important goal. Munia may have been the longest 584 00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:25,120 Speaker 1: running target Massad ever went after. It took decades to 585 00:42:25,120 --> 00:42:28,480 Speaker 1: get him. So why agencies tend to have long memories. 586 00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:32,800 Speaker 1: Their files go back many years, and they trace people's 587 00:42:32,840 --> 00:42:38,040 Speaker 1: loyalties and behavior from childhood on. But even from Massad 588 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:42,480 Speaker 1: this was exceptional. As we saw with MEO, some spies 589 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:54,359 Speaker 1: never forget. When you look at the history of Massad operations, 590 00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:58,640 Speaker 1: targeted killings are a big part of the picture. Israel 591 00:42:58,719 --> 00:43:02,560 Speaker 1: sometimes uses the agency less as an intelligence gathering outfit 592 00:43:02,960 --> 00:43:06,719 Speaker 1: than as an instrument of foreign policy. I asked the 593 00:43:06,760 --> 00:43:11,719 Speaker 1: intelligence historian Keith Melton about this. Is it possible that 594 00:43:11,840 --> 00:43:15,400 Speaker 1: Israel sometimes turns to its spies when a diplomat in 595 00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,040 Speaker 1: a suit might be a better solution. I would observe 596 00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:22,319 Speaker 1: that there's a time for diplomacy, and there's probably a 597 00:43:22,360 --> 00:43:28,759 Speaker 1: time or direct action. The problem, I believe becomes you 598 00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:34,000 Speaker 1: can believe that either is always a substitute for the other, 599 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:38,600 Speaker 1: and that isn't true. There are certain instances in which 600 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:44,120 Speaker 1: diplomacy would absolutely the best, but covertly there's instances in 601 00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:49,040 Speaker 1: which direct action might be the only choice to do something. 602 00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:57,040 Speaker 1: Israel uses its intelligence service very, very effectively. They are 603 00:43:57,200 --> 00:44:01,240 Speaker 1: clear in their attention, and they use their intelligence service 604 00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:05,919 Speaker 1: as an instrument of foreign power when it suits them. 605 00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:09,480 Speaker 1: Robert Baar agrees. He gave me some background on other 606 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:13,759 Speaker 1: countries who used their spy agencies as tools of foreign policy. 607 00:44:14,560 --> 00:44:17,480 Speaker 1: It was it was a new war, and with German 608 00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:22,560 Speaker 1: intelligence considering we nothing about Russia in the thirties and 609 00:44:22,640 --> 00:44:25,120 Speaker 1: through the Second World were nothing. The only people who 610 00:44:25,200 --> 00:44:28,080 Speaker 1: knew a little bit about Russia were the Nazis, and 611 00:44:28,120 --> 00:44:31,759 Speaker 1: they were brought into the new German intelligence Service. How 612 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:35,200 Speaker 1: useful they were is very doubtful, but it was better 613 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:37,960 Speaker 1: than zero. Don't forget that by forty six and forty 614 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:42,440 Speaker 1: seven of an existential conflict, and once the Russians nukes 615 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:46,200 Speaker 1: it was even more so. So It's like always when 616 00:44:46,200 --> 00:44:50,240 Speaker 1: when in the Cold War we allied with very bad people, 617 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:53,960 Speaker 1: hoping they would help us against an enemy that could 618 00:44:54,160 --> 00:45:04,080 Speaker 1: destroy us. The General Tartus is an old medieval fort 619 00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:08,960 Speaker 1: built by the Knights Templar on serious Mediterranean coast. This 620 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:13,040 Speaker 1: is where a man named Mohammed Suleiman had a vacation house, 621 00:45:13,520 --> 00:45:17,319 Speaker 1: not far from a luxury beach resort. Suleiman was a 622 00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:20,359 Speaker 1: general in the Syrian Army and one of the main 623 00:45:20,440 --> 00:45:27,800 Speaker 1: contacts to Iran and Hamas Israel wanted him gone. Every summer, 624 00:45:27,920 --> 00:45:32,000 Speaker 1: Suleiman would travel to his seaside vacation home to review files, 625 00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:35,040 Speaker 1: chill out, swim in the ocean. But it wasn't like 626 00:45:35,120 --> 00:45:37,720 Speaker 1: he went there in a convertible with the top down. 627 00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:42,879 Speaker 1: He traveled from Damascus in an armored vehicle with bodyguards. 628 00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:47,239 Speaker 1: More bodyguards were stationed at the beach house. They never 629 00:45:47,280 --> 00:45:49,560 Speaker 1: let him out of their sight. Even going into the 630 00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,800 Speaker 1: water with him when he went for a swim after 631 00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:57,400 Speaker 1: the assassination of Mugnia on a busy Damascus street, Syria 632 00:45:57,560 --> 00:46:01,920 Speaker 1: was taking no chances. On one trip. It was a 633 00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:05,920 Speaker 1: typical August day, hot, not a lot of wind. It 634 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:09,920 Speaker 1: was beautiful. Yachts were passing up and down along the coast. 635 00:46:10,239 --> 00:46:13,640 Speaker 1: People were sunbathing. The rich. We're heading out to an 636 00:46:13,640 --> 00:46:16,560 Speaker 1: offshore island to dine at one of the many fish 637 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:21,320 Speaker 1: restaurants there. Suleiman was enjoying the beach when another yacht 638 00:46:21,360 --> 00:46:25,480 Speaker 1: showed up. It was, according to one report, unusually sleek, 639 00:46:25,960 --> 00:46:28,840 Speaker 1: but there was nothing strange about it. It was sailing 640 00:46:28,840 --> 00:46:31,879 Speaker 1: closer to shore than the others, about fifty yards off 641 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:35,520 Speaker 1: the coast. Maybe its owners wanted to get a better 642 00:46:35,560 --> 00:46:40,719 Speaker 1: look at the houses on the shore. Suleiman's bodyguards weren't alarmed, 643 00:46:41,360 --> 00:46:43,880 Speaker 1: and when their boss wanted to go for a swim, 644 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:47,520 Speaker 1: they went in the water with him. The men were 645 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:51,640 Speaker 1: wading into the ocean when suddenly Suleiman sank into the water. 646 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:55,799 Speaker 1: There had been no noise, not that anyone remembered, but 647 00:46:55,840 --> 00:46:58,640 Speaker 1: when the bodyguards pulled into the beach they found the 648 00:46:58,680 --> 00:47:02,439 Speaker 1: general had bullet in his head and chest and neck. 649 00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:06,839 Speaker 1: He died soon after, and the yacht, which we now 650 00:47:06,880 --> 00:47:10,880 Speaker 1: believe was carrying snipers with especially silence rifles, it sailed 651 00:47:10,880 --> 00:47:18,120 Speaker 1: away from the coast and disappeared. This is straight out 652 00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:22,280 Speaker 1: of a spy movie. The yacht the beautiful Blue Water 653 00:47:23,040 --> 00:47:28,359 Speaker 1: the Silence. Sometimes espionage appears almost to be a magic trick, 654 00:47:29,080 --> 00:47:34,200 Speaker 1: a seemingly impossible thing where you can't tell who did what. 655 00:47:46,920 --> 00:47:51,120 Speaker 1: Most by agencies have a motto. A lot of them 656 00:47:51,160 --> 00:47:55,000 Speaker 1: are what you'd expect. Am I six, the British spy 657 00:47:55,080 --> 00:48:02,280 Speaker 1: agency takes theirs from the Latin Semper cultists, always secret, 658 00:48:02,719 --> 00:48:07,040 Speaker 1: no surprises there. The cias is the work of a nation, 659 00:48:07,400 --> 00:48:11,200 Speaker 1: the center of intelligence, which I've always found bland and 660 00:48:11,320 --> 00:48:15,560 Speaker 1: vaguely corporate. I prefer their unofficial version from the scriptures, 661 00:48:16,440 --> 00:48:19,160 Speaker 1: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall 662 00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:24,800 Speaker 1: set you free. Massad also turned to scripture for their motto, 663 00:48:25,200 --> 00:48:29,000 Speaker 1: or in their case the Torah, the Jewish Bible, where 664 00:48:29,040 --> 00:48:32,400 Speaker 1: no wise direction is the people fall, but in the 665 00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:38,440 Speaker 1: multitude of counselors there is safety. It's less certain than 666 00:48:38,480 --> 00:48:42,279 Speaker 1: the CIA's, not as confident. It refers to the fall 667 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:45,440 Speaker 1: of the people. A nod to the many tragedies in 668 00:48:45,520 --> 00:48:51,640 Speaker 1: Jewish history. It doesn't talk about secrets, only wisdom, and 669 00:48:51,719 --> 00:48:55,279 Speaker 1: that's something that's often hard to judge. Are you eliminating 670 00:48:55,400 --> 00:48:59,200 Speaker 1: risks or increasing them? Are you targeting the mastermind of 671 00:48:59,280 --> 00:49:03,280 Speaker 1: Munich or an innocent waiter walking home with his wife. 672 00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:08,960 Speaker 1: Here's Robert bar once more. I mean, it's like always 673 00:49:09,080 --> 00:49:12,320 Speaker 1: in the Cold War, we allied with very bad people 674 00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:15,880 Speaker 1: hoping they would help us against an enemy that could 675 00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:21,400 Speaker 1: destroy us. And that's the whole, you know, the moral 676 00:49:21,880 --> 00:49:24,840 Speaker 1: dilemma for the United States is can you work with 677 00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:31,759 Speaker 1: these people to save your own skin? What I like 678 00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:35,680 Speaker 1: about Massa's motto is that it seems to acknowledge how 679 00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:40,400 Speaker 1: hard it is to find the truth. That espionage is 680 00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:47,440 Speaker 1: a tough job, not just the tradecraft, but guilt and innocence. 681 00:49:49,480 --> 00:50:15,719 Speaker 1: That's the hardest part. Good assassins. Hunting the Butcher is 682 00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:19,600 Speaker 1: a production of Diversion Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio. 683 00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:24,200 Speaker 1: This season is written and hosted by Stephen Talti, produced 684 00:50:24,239 --> 00:50:28,520 Speaker 1: and directed by Scott Waxman and Jacob Bronstein. Executive producers 685 00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:32,840 Speaker 1: Scott Waxman and Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob Bronstein, 686 00:50:33,239 --> 00:50:38,160 Speaker 1: with editorial direction from Scott Waxman and mangesh At ticket editing, 687 00:50:38,200 --> 00:50:41,720 Speaker 1: mixing and sound designed by Mark Francis, with the voices 688 00:50:41,760 --> 00:50:47,760 Speaker 1: of Nick Afka, Thomas Amory, Angle, Andrew Polk, Mindy Escobar, Leants, 689 00:50:48,080 --> 00:50:53,280 Speaker 1: Steve Rautman and Stefan Brudnitsky. Theme music by Tyler Cash. 690 00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:58,440 Speaker 1: Archival research by Adam Shapiro, thanks to Oran Rosenbaum at 691 00:50:58,520 --> 00:51:40,120 Speaker 1: ut A Diversion Podcasts.