Speaker 1: Diversion podcasts. A note this episode contains descriptions of graphic violence.
Speaker 1: Listeners discretion is advised. So Massad's mission to assassinate the
Speaker 1: butcher of Latvia was the success it achieved its subjective
Speaker 1: It changed how we think about the Holocaust in genocide law,
Speaker 1: and it changed the lives of countless people, including the
Speaker 1: people you've met in the last ten episodes. But the
Speaker 1: Zookers operation barely scratches the surface of what Massad has
Speaker 1: done over the years, and it's more than seventy years
Speaker 1: of existence. Massad has been, by its own definition quote
Speaker 1: involved in special operations, an activity in the service of
Speaker 1: the State of Israel, such as the pursuit of Nazi criminals.
Speaker 1: Massad has also rescued Jews and the diaspora from dangerous
Speaker 1: situations and resettled them in Israel. The most famous of
Speaker 1: these operations was the four covert evacuation of approximately eight
Speaker 1: thousand Ethiopian Jews out of Sudan in Operation Moses. Massad
Speaker 1: also tells us that they are quote a key factor
Speaker 1: in the war against terror directed at Jewish and Israeli
Speaker 1: targets abroad. So for this episode, I want to look
Speaker 1: at some of the most important and spectacular operations the
Speaker 1: agency has carried out. I want to tell you about
Speaker 1: some missions you've probably never heard of, but then shape
Speaker 1: them Middle East and even our world. I'm Stephen Talty,
Speaker 1: and this is good Assassin's hunting. The butcher is rather
Speaker 1: assassinated one of its top leaders. He was executed by
Speaker 1: a coney bomb hidden in a mobile cellular telephone. There's
Speaker 1: a time for diplomacy, and there's probably a time for
Speaker 1: direct action. Normally it's a simple matter, and that's the
Speaker 1: moral dilemma. Can you work with these people to save
Speaker 1: your own skin? Episode eleven, Massad's Greatest Hits and Misses
Speaker 1: the jet. Let's start with an operation in which the
Speaker 1: target wasn't even human. In three, the Israelis decided they
Speaker 1: had to have a meg. At the time, the MiG
Speaker 1: was the most advanced Soviet fighter plane and the latest model.
Speaker 1: The MiG had been purchased by Israeli's neighbors and enemies, Egypt,
Speaker 1: Syria and Iraq. If it came to war, Israel would
Speaker 1: be facing these fighter jets in the skies. They had
Speaker 1: to know everything about them, so forget about stealing blueprints
Speaker 1: or getting blurry photos from inside some hangar. They wanted
Speaker 1: to steal an entire plane. There was a problem, however,
Speaker 1: if you didn't have the plane, you couldn't fly it,
Speaker 1: So Massad would have to convince an air pilot to
Speaker 1: steal the plane for them. That was much harder than
Speaker 1: just going after the hardware. The mission began in the
Speaker 1: early sixties. A Massad agent named Gene Thomas offered an
Speaker 1: Egyptian pilot one million dollars to hijack his own aircraft
Speaker 1: fly it to Israel. That would be about nine million
Speaker 1: dollars today. It was a fortune. But the pilot said no,
Speaker 1: and then he went to his bosses and told them
Speaker 1: about the offer. Thomas, the Massad agent, along with four others,
Speaker 1: were arrested. Months later, Thomas and two of his accomplices
Speaker 1: were hung, while the others received extensive prison terms. Who's
Speaker 1: a complete failure, But for Massad the MiG was worth
Speaker 1: another try. In the mid nineteen sixties, they moved the
Speaker 1: mission's focus away from Egypt to Iraq and actually tried
Speaker 1: to convince two pilots to get in the plane and
Speaker 1: fly it again. The pilots refused. Finally, in nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: six and Iraqi born Jew named Yusuf got in touch
Speaker 1: with Massad. This is one of the strengths of the
Speaker 1: agency's In countries around the world, there have been examples
Speaker 1: of Jews willing to help Massa. I asked Keith Melton
Speaker 1: about this. Melton is the intelligence historian an author of
Speaker 1: several books on espionage we've heard from in previous episodes.
Speaker 1: At one time, the total of number intelligence officers they had,
Speaker 1: and this was thirty years ago, it was only twenty
Speaker 1: four officers, so they had a very small service. But
Speaker 1: they had the ability to look for other Jewish supporters
Speaker 1: virtually anywhere they could go in the world. If you
Speaker 1: needed a check cash, you needed to arrange a safe house,
Speaker 1: if you needed a rental car. They had an established
Speaker 1: contact within the synagogue, within a group in almost any
Speaker 1: country they could go. So this guy Yusuf told aside
Speaker 1: about this other guy named red fu Red Phone was
Speaker 1: a pilot who flew the Big any One. He was
Speaker 1: a Christian whose religion had caused his military career to
Speaker 1: stall out. Only Muslims were getting promoted, so red Fot
Speaker 1: was piste off. He was also angry that he had
Speaker 1: been forced to fight against Iraqi Kurds, whom he had
Speaker 1: no problem with. He was ready to turn against Iraq.
Speaker 1: Massad sent a female agent to entice red Fot into
Speaker 1: the deal. She got him to travel to Europe, where
Speaker 1: he could meet with her handlers. There they offered the
Speaker 1: pilot one million dollars, full Israeli citizenship and a good job.
Speaker 1: Red Fot had some conditions. Knowing that Iraq's government would
Speaker 1: take revenge on his relatives, he demanded that Israel get
Speaker 1: them out of the country at the same time he
Speaker 1: was stealing the plane. Massad agreed, but there were obstacles.
Speaker 1: Red foot superiors didn't trust him. He was considered a
Speaker 1: troublemaker and he was a Christian. They only allowed him
Speaker 1: to fly a MiG equipped with two small fuel tanks,
Speaker 1: which would theoretically prevent him from taking it all the
Speaker 1: way to Israel. If he crashed on the way to
Speaker 1: tell Aviv, the mission would be a failure. Massad made
Speaker 1: the final arrangements. Red Fust's wife, who had no idea
Speaker 1: what was going on, was given tickets to Paris with
Speaker 1: her children. There, she was contacted by Massad and told
Speaker 1: the whole story. She threw a fit, threatening to go
Speaker 1: to the Iraqi embassy and tell them everything, but her
Speaker 1: handlers finally convinced her to agree to the plant. Reda's
Speaker 1: other family members were secretly escorted to Iraq's Iranian border,
Speaker 1: where Kurdish guerillas guided them to safety. From there, they
Speaker 1: were taken to Israel, but Redfa was still in Iraq.
Speaker 1: Finally he was given permission to take the plane up
Speaker 1: on a training mission. He pointed the nose towards Jordan's
Speaker 1: air traffic control in Jordan's contacted the Iraqis, who was
Speaker 1: a big flying over their territory. What was going on?
Speaker 1: The Iraqis, not imagining anything was wrong, told them their
Speaker 1: pilot was just getting some airtime in with the MiG.
Speaker 1: Redford turned the plane towards Israel. When he finally landed,
Speaker 1: it was found that the two small gas tanks only
Speaker 1: had a few drops of fuel left. The mag was
Speaker 1: put to use. Israeli pilots trained against it learned how
Speaker 1: to fight it in the air. The next year, Israel
Speaker 1: and Syria went into battle over the Golan Heights. Was
Speaker 1: the Israeli Mirages against the MiG twenty ones There's my
Speaker 1: age applied. This film reportedly showing the dog fight and
Speaker 1: the sky between the Mirage jets and Syria's Russian built makes.
Speaker 1: The cameras were mounted on the Israelian fighters and recorded
Speaker 1: these dark air battles Kale Israel shot down six of
Speaker 1: the Syrian planes and lost none of their own, and
Speaker 1: then they could get an Iraqi pilot. I mean that's
Speaker 1: not easy to do. That's Robert bar, a former CIA
Speaker 1: case officer an author of many books on espionage. The
Speaker 1: movie Siriana was based on one of Bear's books, and
Speaker 1: the character played by George Clooney was based on him.
Speaker 1: I mean, we had a pilot that defected the Japan
Speaker 1: and make pilot. We got one of the air planes
Speaker 1: as well. But you know, getting hard equipment like that
Speaker 1: and figuring out what the avionics and the radar and
Speaker 1: the rest of it was extremely important for them and
Speaker 1: it was a worthwhile operation. Was it was quite amazing.
Speaker 1: What interests me about this mission is the human aspect.
Speaker 1: Getting an agent to betray his country is hard, but
Speaker 1: getting them to leave their country is even harder. Look
Speaker 1: how difficult it was to get the butcher out of Brazil.
Speaker 1: Some espionage sources find their lives aren't really disrupted. Their
Speaker 1: children stay in their schools, Their wives or husbands are oblivious.
Speaker 1: But Redfa had to give up everything and move his
Speaker 1: extended family out of their homeland. It's really something of
Speaker 1: a miracle Massad was able to find someone like him
Speaker 1: and to convince him to make the leap to Israel.
Speaker 1: I asked Robert bart about using someone's emotions to get
Speaker 1: what you need. Well, it's helpful to go after a
Speaker 1: press minority anywhere in the world. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: look at the KGB, most a lot of the defectors
Speaker 1: were from Ukraine. A lot of Israeli sources in Europe
Speaker 1: were Jewish who sympathized with the israel elements existence. And
Speaker 1: the same way with Christians who were oppressed and had
Speaker 1: no chance of ever, you know, holding positions of power.
Speaker 1: And that's not to mention, you know, once these Islamic
Speaker 1: groups came and started pressing, now that they would gravitate
Speaker 1: to the United States or Israel. Mio had played on
Speaker 1: the butcher's emotions brilliantly, and now these Raelis had done
Speaker 1: it again. The engineer. Now let me take you to
Speaker 1: the nineties. Sometimes Massad targets terrorists. Sometimes it's political operatives,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it's people who betrayed their country. It's rare
Speaker 1: that the agency goes after a technician. But the engineer
Speaker 1: wasn't like other technicians. Yah Yah Ayash was a number
Speaker 1: one bomb maker for Hamas. Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni
Speaker 1: Islamic militant fundamentalist organization. Ayasha's nickname was the Engineer, and
Speaker 1: he was a master of building explosives. His skill is
Speaker 1: even more impressive because dynamite, which is a favorite of
Speaker 1: bomb makers for its stability and power, was hard to
Speaker 1: get in the West Bank and Gaza Strip where Yosh
Speaker 1: did his work, So he used a mix of acetone
Speaker 1: and detergent, ingredients found easily in many household cleaners. When
Speaker 1: you put them together, they make acetone peroxide. This stuff
Speaker 1: is powerful, but it's also highly unstable. In fact, it's
Speaker 1: called the mother of Satan. You can guess why. People
Speaker 1: who work with the Mother of Satan usually don't live
Speaker 1: very long. But Ayash had an extensive and impressively lethal career. Well.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Raelis went after arm stealers, especially ones
Speaker 1: that were supplying Iraq. They were very interested in the
Speaker 1: people who could make airplane bombs. And they went after them.
Speaker 1: Some of these people were assassinated in Jordan's and the
Speaker 1: rest of it. I mean, they essentially viscerated the Palestinians,
Speaker 1: the leadership as well as the technicians. That's Robert bar again.
Speaker 1: A Yash built bombs for Hamass suicide attacks. The Mahola
Speaker 1: Junction bombing in the Afuller bus massacre, it was at
Speaker 1: lunchtime when the bomb went off, cutting down shoppers waiting
Speaker 1: at a bus stop in a fullah town center. It's
Speaker 1: believed that the bomber himself was among the eight who died.
Speaker 1: The attack was time to mark the end of the
Speaker 1: Islamic morning period for the victims of the Hebron massacre.
Speaker 1: Whoever planned the bombing took plenty of casualties, at least
Speaker 1: fifty people injured, many of them. The Disnegoff Street bus massacre,
Speaker 1: also in n at the time the deadliest suicide bombing
Speaker 1: in Israeli history, with twenty two civilians killed and fifty injured.
Speaker 1: It had happened in Disnengoff Street, the city's commercial heart
Speaker 1: and a place where people normally sit in cafes and relax. Today,
Speaker 1: though the bloodied survivors and those in shock, stumbled onto
Speaker 1: the pavement as passers by came to their aid was done.
Speaker 1: The Yash was also behind the Hadara Central Station massacre
Speaker 1: again and many more Hamas claimed responsibility for the deadliest
Speaker 1: terrorist attack in Israel for sixteen years. Police combed the
Speaker 1: wreckage trying to prove their hunch that the person who
Speaker 1: took so many lives was a suicide bomber. The engineer
Speaker 1: was killing Israeli's inside Israel civilians right in the heart
Speaker 1: of the country. He later branched out and built bombs
Speaker 1: for other groups, including Islamic Jahad. He was like a
Speaker 1: one man bomb factory. Massad had to get him out
Speaker 1: of the picture and to cut off the supply of
Speaker 1: explosives for these attacks. The agency worked with shin Bet,
Speaker 1: the Internal Security Age see on the mission. They even
Speaker 1: had the cooperation of the Palestinian Authority, the official Palestinian
Speaker 1: government body that controls the Gaza Strip and West Bank,
Speaker 1: in tracking a Yasha's movements. The break came when the
Speaker 1: agents realized that Yash kept returning to a certain apartment
Speaker 1: owned by a buddy from his childhood days. This childhood
Speaker 1: friend the Israelis had worked with his uncle they knew him,
Speaker 1: and they blackmailed him into cooperating with the operation. The
Speaker 1: agents gave the uncle a cell phone. They told him
Speaker 1: they'd placed a bug inside so they could tap into
Speaker 1: a Yasha's conversations, but they didn't tell him was there
Speaker 1: was also fifteen grahams something called r d X inside.
Speaker 1: R d X has been used as an explosive since
Speaker 1: World War Two. It has no smell, makes it perfect
Speaker 1: for jobs like this. The yash worked with explosives. If
Speaker 1: he smelled anything, he might get suspicious. So the uncle
Speaker 1: gets the phone and gives it to his nephew, the
Speaker 1: Yasha's buddy. These really knew that the yash often talked
Speaker 1: on one of the nephew's phones. They were hoping that
Speaker 1: would be the case again. They began monitoring all the
Speaker 1: calls in and out of the nephew's number. The monitoring
Speaker 1: was done from a small airplane that circled above the target.
Speaker 1: At eight am one January morning, a call came through.
Speaker 1: The agents listening in recognized the voice. It was a
Speaker 1: yasha's father. The call was relaid from the phone to
Speaker 1: the airplane flying above to an Israeli outpost nearby. The
Speaker 1: second voice on the line was confirmed it was the Engineer.
Speaker 1: A signal was sent across the cell phone connection and
Speaker 1: the phone exploded, killing Ayash instantly. The most hated man
Speaker 1: in Israel, a Palestinian terrorist yah Yaha Yash, known as
Speaker 1: the Engineer, was killed in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
Speaker 1: He was executed by a tiny bomb hidden an immobile
Speaker 1: cellular cold. It's many from to I was excluding and
Speaker 1: destroyed the outside of his head. How many people killed? Yeah, yeah, Yesh.
Speaker 1: We are investigating the case, and this is how then
Speaker 1: opposition leader Benjamin Yahoo framed the news. If it's true
Speaker 1: that one of the world's most vicious killers, a person
Speaker 1: who's been responsible for blowing up women and children and davies,
Speaker 1: has been eliminated, I don't think anyone should shed a
Speaker 1: tear of sorrow. I think equally that it's important to
Speaker 1: send a message. I think such a message has been
Speaker 1: sent to all his followers, all would be terrorists, that
Speaker 1: Israel's all arm would reach them, that there is a
Speaker 1: price for terrorism. The a Yash operation reminds me a
Speaker 1: bit of Mio's work during the Zookers mission. It was
Speaker 1: technician versus technician in the same way that Mio went
Speaker 1: mano a mano against the Butcher. The nerd aspect of
Speaker 1: espionage is often a sideline. If you go to the
Speaker 1: International Spy Museum in Washington, d C. They have small
Speaker 1: exhibits on the technology of spying with tiny cameras, the
Speaker 1: Enigma machine, things like that. But here the tech was
Speaker 1: the whole deal. Ayash new bombs, but he never suspected
Speaker 1: that Massad would be skilled enough to hide one inside
Speaker 1: a cell phone. The level of sophistication of precision was
Speaker 1: a hallmark of the agency doing more with less. Hey,
Speaker 1: this is Stephen Talty, the host of this podcast, Good
Speaker 1: Assassin's Hunting the Butcher. This podcast project came out of
Speaker 1: my work on a related book called The Good Assassin.
Speaker 1: If you want to explore other parts of this story,
Speaker 1: check it out. It's not just a book version of
Speaker 1: the podcast. I spend time on different aspects of the mission.
Speaker 1: There are chapters diving into World War two history that
Speaker 1: we didn't cover in the podcast, and the book works
Speaker 1: as a kind of companion to the listening experience. You
Speaker 1: can purchase a copy of The Good Assassin on Amazon,
Speaker 1: Apple Books, and on bookshop dot Org. Thanks the Scientist
Speaker 1: for this one, let's go inside Syria. For years, Massad
Speaker 1: In the Israeli government had wanted to know if Syria,
Speaker 1: which had been hostile to their Jewish neighbors for decades,
Speaker 1: had a nuclear program. They couldn't break through the security
Speaker 1: that the Syrians had put around their atomic research. Was
Speaker 1: there anything going on? Were they building plants? Were they
Speaker 1: thinking of building bombs? For Israel? The nuclear option is
Speaker 1: the nuclear option. If any one of their enemies gets
Speaker 1: the bomb, it could mean the end of their country.
Speaker 1: I asked Robert Bart about nukes and how they're figure
Speaker 1: into the mindsets of spy agencies. It goes back to
Speaker 1: the Second World War when here it was planning to
Speaker 1: use a nuclear bomb on New York City. I mean,
Speaker 1: it was just on paper. It never went anywhere. But
Speaker 1: they're more mythical than they aren't real. But there's something
Speaker 1: to think about. You know, you can aristolize all sorts
Speaker 1: of toxins and spread them over New York City, and
Speaker 1: that's certainly something the Israelitis are worried about. Or putting
Speaker 1: a tactical nuke on the end of the SCUD and
Speaker 1: firing Tel Aviv. This is why they're going after I
Speaker 1: ran right now, by the way. It's just quite extraordinary
Speaker 1: these operations they pulled off r and I just thought,
Speaker 1: I never thought anyone could do these things. So clearly
Speaker 1: the Israelis have put a lot of effort and a
Speaker 1: lot of brains on, you know, all this problems, but
Speaker 1: places like Iran were considered the top priority. Everyone knew
Speaker 1: that the Iranians were trying for a bomb. As for Syria,
Speaker 1: who was on the back burner for Israel if you
Speaker 1: believed they would take the risk. But Massie started noticing
Speaker 1: mysterious things happening inside Syria. Ships would leave ports in
Speaker 1: Asia and arrive in Syria with unknown cargoes. There were
Speaker 1: convoys of trucks criss crossing the country carrying something of
Speaker 1: Pakistani nuclear scientists. A Q Khan traveled to Damascus for talks,
Speaker 1: but talks about what There was no evidence on the
Speaker 1: ground that anything was happening. Israel spy satellites were picking
Speaker 1: up nothing. Still, some pulit Massad had an uneasy feeling,
Speaker 1: but they were in the minority. One guy Massad kept
Speaker 1: an ion was ibraheim Afman, who was the head of
Speaker 1: the Atomic Energy Commission of Syria. If anyone knew what
Speaker 1: was going on, it was Athman. In December two thousand
Speaker 1: and six, Massad got word that Athman would be traveling
Speaker 1: to a European city. The Syrians had given him a
Speaker 1: fake passport, but the Israelis knew how to track him.
Speaker 1: Massad didn't want to kill him necessarily, but they wanted
Speaker 1: to get inside his head. So as soon as Othman
Speaker 1: landed in Europe, the Agency had eyes on him. At
Speaker 1: the airport, agents watched him get off the plane and
Speaker 1: head to a hotel. They were about a dozen operatives
Speaker 1: involved in the operation. Once they found out what hotel
Speaker 1: he was staying at and which room, they got a
Speaker 1: team inside. They planted listening devices and then got out
Speaker 1: from their bugs. The agency learned Offman was planning to
Speaker 1: do some shopping. European cities have goods you can't get
Speaker 1: in Syria, so he was planning a day to blow
Speaker 1: some money. Once he left the hotel, operatives broke into
Speaker 1: his room. On the desk was a laptop. Great, maybe
Speaker 1: there was something valuable on the hard drive, but the
Speaker 1: agents didn't have time to steal the computer, bring it
Speaker 1: to their base and download all the files. So what
Speaker 1: do you do. One of the team members was a
Speaker 1: computer expert. He installed software which let the agency track
Speaker 1: Offman's activities on the computer without the Syrian knowing it.
Speaker 1: They put the program on the hard drive where it
Speaker 1: was invisible, cleaned up, and left. The data started to
Speaker 1: come in from Offman's laptop, and it was astonishing. There
Speaker 1: were maps, There were blueprints for a nuclear plant. There
Speaker 1: were even pictures of the construction in various state ages,
Speaker 1: and finally, a snapshot of a guy who looked East Asian.
Speaker 1: When Massad ran the photo through its computers, it turned
Speaker 1: out the guy was a nuclear official from North Korea.
Speaker 1: The Syrians were going nuclear in a big way, and
Speaker 1: nobody had known about it. Massad went to work. They
Speaker 1: sent a team inside Syria to collect soil samples and
Speaker 1: other evidence from the building site. When it came back,
Speaker 1: there was no doubt Syria was on the path to
Speaker 1: a bomb. Massad and the Israeli Defense forces began planning
Speaker 1: Operation Outside the Box. September six, two thousand seven, a
Speaker 1: fleet of ten F fifteen fighter planes lifted off from
Speaker 1: inside Israel. Israel had seized control of serious radar and
Speaker 1: air defenses and hid any sign of the coming attack.
Speaker 1: The F fifteen's aproached the site. When the pilots were
Speaker 1: above the target, they released their payloads. The bomb struck
Speaker 1: the building and the plant was destroyed. The attack had succeeded.
Speaker 1: Syria abandoned its nuclear program. The wrong man in Massad
Speaker 1: was thrust into the spotlight when Palestinian terrorists stormed the
Speaker 1: residents of the Israeli team at the Summer Olympics in
Speaker 1: Munich and took eleven Israeli's hostage. Eight members of the
Speaker 1: faction of the Palestinian Liberation Organization known as Black September
Speaker 1: barricaded themselves inside the athletes apartments and negotiated for days
Speaker 1: with German authorities. Nearly five dred German security police have
Speaker 1: now sealed off the village and I'm mounting heavy machine
Speaker 1: guns in the square there, keeping cameraman and television reportance
Speaker 1: and the spectators well away the girls. They demanded the
Speaker 1: release of two d thirty four Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
Speaker 1: Was the Israeli government refused, really enjoyed in the vide
Speaker 1: of the round political rights be happy now to day
Speaker 1: has we everbly shattered and their tragedy the helicopters there
Speaker 1: appearing on onboard and there is really offated. When the
Speaker 1: terrorists and their hostages were transported to a nearby NATO
Speaker 1: air base where they were supposedly going to be flown
Speaker 1: to Cairo, disaster struck. A botched German ambush resulted in
Speaker 1: the murder of the nine remaining Israeli athletes and coaches,
Speaker 1: as well as the deaths of the terrorists. Despite a
Speaker 1: few bad decisions by judges, some disappoint boks of petty mistakes,
Speaker 1: the Beautic Olympics were on the way into becoming the
Speaker 1: Posantist Olympics because the West Germans were to make them solves. Today,
Speaker 1: one observed gave them a new name, the Bloody Olympics. Altogether,
Speaker 1: seventeen people were slaughtered yesterday too in the Olympic village
Speaker 1: and the other fifteen and the shootout of the airport.
Speaker 1: It was a catastrophe for the Olympics, for the Germans
Speaker 1: and for the Israelis. If you doubted that the government
Speaker 1: in Jerusalem would respond and that Massad would be the
Speaker 1: sharp point of the sword, here's how it. Israeli Prime
Speaker 1: Minister Golden my Year explained it. Innocent lives around With
Speaker 1: that stage, the question is can innocent Israeli lives become
Speaker 1: a commodity that groups of men and women can just
Speaker 1: do with them whatever they like. Normally would say that
Speaker 1: it's a simple matter of course. But what happens these
Speaker 1: men demands the release from for them of men who
Speaker 1: participated in the killing of our people. But they say, alpenmely,
Speaker 1: they make a stake, and now the side over again.
Speaker 1: But it means that people are set free when everybody
Speaker 1: knows that what they intended to do the first opportunity
Speaker 1: they were killing more Israelis. It's a difficult problem. I
Speaker 1: don't say it's easy, but if you cannot say, well,
Speaker 1: as long as it's a bounced Asraelis, it's long golden.
Speaker 1: My year quickly approved Operation Wrath of God, a covert
Speaker 1: MASSAD operation to hunt down and kill the planners of
Speaker 1: the Munich massacre. Massad began their reprisals in nine three.
Speaker 1: Who was an assassination in Rome, a bomb placed in
Speaker 1: a telephone in Paris, another planet under a bed in Cyprus,
Speaker 1: and a third that detonated under a car seat. There
Speaker 1: was a spectacular military rate in Lebanon, using Zodiac boats
Speaker 1: and agents disguised as women all found their targets, but
Speaker 1: the mastermind of the Munich terror operation still eluded Massad.
Speaker 1: That was Ali Hassan Salome, nicknamed the Red Prince. Salom
Speaker 1: A was believed to be the operations chief for Black
Speaker 1: September and the man who planned Munich. The Israelis put
Speaker 1: him near the top of the list of targets. Massad
Speaker 1: trece Salome to lily Hammer, a beautiful ski resort town
Speaker 1: in central Norway. They sent an elite squad, fifteen agents
Speaker 1: and even the head of Massad, s V Zamir. Some
Speaker 1: reports have said the team came from Cesarea, the same
Speaker 1: unit that Mio and Joseph your Reeve belonged to. The
Speaker 1: agency didn't tell the Norwegians what they were up to,
Speaker 1: which was standard operating procedure. The fewer people who know
Speaker 1: the lower possibility of a leak. Once in lily Hammer,
Speaker 1: the Massad agents began following a man they believed to
Speaker 1: be a courier, an intermediary between the Red Prince and
Speaker 1: Black September. Posing his tourists, they followed the man wherever
Speaker 1: he went. On one of his errands, the courier headed
Speaker 1: to a local swimming pool. There he met a dark
Speaker 1: haired man. The agent studied the man. They had practically
Speaker 1: memorized a few photos of Saloma that were available. Just
Speaker 1: like with Herbert Suckers, they were comparing archival pictures with
Speaker 1: a man in the field, and just like with Zukers,
Speaker 1: the two matched. They believed they'd found the Red Prince.
Speaker 1: The operatives acted quickly. They followed the target as they
Speaker 1: moved through lily Hammer. The next day he met with
Speaker 1: a blond woman, apparently in Norwegian. The two went to
Speaker 1: see a movie together and then caught a bus. The
Speaker 1: operatives telled them closely as the parallel to the driver
Speaker 1: to their stop. Then got off the bus and began walking,
Speaker 1: apparently toward the house they shared. After the bus pulled away,
Speaker 1: the killed team struck. They shot the man thirteen times.
Speaker 1: He fell to the pavement, the blonde woman calling for help.
Speaker 1: The agents quickly disappeared. It was a clean operation, fast,
Speaker 1: with no bystanders killed. Except it wasn't the man that
Speaker 1: Massa had executed in the quiet Norwegian town. Wasn't the
Speaker 1: Red Prince at all. His name was Ahmed Bushiki, a
Speaker 1: Moroccan waiter. The woman who was pregnant at the time.
Speaker 1: Was his wife to real it had been a horrible
Speaker 1: mistake and now an innocent man and was dead. It
Speaker 1: was the first murder in lilli Hammer in thirty six years.
Speaker 1: The killed team left Norway almost immediately, but six other
Speaker 1: Israelis who lingered after the hit were caught and arrested.
Speaker 1: One of them apparently broke down under questioning and revealed
Speaker 1: the entire plan to police. It was one disaster after another.
Speaker 1: The Israelis had done what they always accused their enemies of,
Speaker 1: killed someone who done nothing to them. Now they faced
Speaker 1: the consequences. The agency was embarrassed. Five agents went on
Speaker 1: trial in Norway and were sent to prison. It took
Speaker 1: almost twenty five years for Massad to admit its mistake
Speaker 1: and for the Israelis to pay a med Bushiki's family
Speaker 1: an undisclosed amount of money. The damage was extensive. The
Speaker 1: plausible deniability that Massad had always depended on was shredded.
Speaker 1: The agency looks sloppy, careless, the new which an investigation revealed, secrets,
Speaker 1: the location of safe houses across Europe, their tactics, even
Speaker 1: the names of some of their agents, and things kept
Speaker 1: getting worse. A year Later, the Israelis believed they traced
Speaker 1: the Red Prince to Switzerland, where he was going to
Speaker 1: meet some PILO officials in a church. Two Massad agents
Speaker 1: walked into the church and spotted three men with dark
Speaker 1: hare and Arab features. They later claimed that one of
Speaker 1: them reached for a weapon, the assassin's opened fire, killing
Speaker 1: all three. None of them turned out to be the
Speaker 1: Red Prince was another fatal mistake. The head of the
Speaker 1: operation called off the hunt for Solemn but incredibly, members
Speaker 1: of the killed team continued to pursue him. They believed
Speaker 1: they'd found the Prince in Tarifa, Spain. They approached the
Speaker 1: house that their intelligence officers had placed them in, but
Speaker 1: were intercepted by an Arab security guard. Another your fight.
Speaker 1: This time the guard lay dead after the Israeli said
Speaker 1: he pointed in a K forty seven at them. Operation
Speaker 1: Wrath of God was called off. It would remain in
Speaker 1: a deep freeze for a full five years until it
Speaker 1: was resumed under a new Prime minister, but Massad's reputation
Speaker 1: would never be the same. Some even suggested that it
Speaker 1: had allowed its obsession with finding them unit killers to
Speaker 1: distract it from its main mission protecting the Homeland. I
Speaker 1: asked Robert Baar, the x C I a officer about
Speaker 1: Operation Wrath of God, and he had a different take
Speaker 1: on the blowback. This was, you know, a great actor
Speaker 1: revenge that was supported across Israel, and they just had
Speaker 1: to go right through the list. And you know, killing
Speaker 1: the Moroccan and it's a it's a setback that could
Speaker 1: happen to anybody. But I don't know away slowed the
Speaker 1: Israelis down. I think the only thing that slowed them
Speaker 1: down is sort of reassessments of fascinations. And and that's
Speaker 1: a big question. I mean, they kill you seen it Gaza?
Speaker 1: Did it truly decapitate um Us? You know, that's something
Speaker 1: you have to ask the Israelis clearly. I mean it's
Speaker 1: it's like Sulamani when they kill him. I think it
Speaker 1: had a great effect on Iran. I mean he was
Speaker 1: he was the de facto leader of Iran. Not how
Speaker 1: many those are those are hard calculations assassinations, but killing
Speaker 1: a Moroccan later in Norway in no way page to
Speaker 1: Israeli policy radio were just the same scores. They're going
Speaker 1: to advance them to be. It really occupied portions of
Speaker 1: the desert when Aaron Forces launched a surprise attack on
Speaker 1: Israel in October ninety three, many blamed the agency for
Speaker 1: having provided no advanced warning that is suceeeded in capturing
Speaker 1: the key and overwhelming and movies radio positions. The fireline
Speaker 1: from Diam Kapoor war was one of the most dangerous
Speaker 1: moments in Israeli history, and Massad had appeared to be
Speaker 1: asleep at the wheel. Hi, this is Stephen Talty, host
Speaker 1: of Good Assassins Hunting the Butcher. The folks that helped
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Speaker 1: The Devil in Metal, a deep dive into the history
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Speaker 1: I Heared, Radio app or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Spies,
Speaker 1: never forget if you've got to look at Massad's most
Speaker 1: wanted list in two thousand and eight a lebedies man
Speaker 1: named Ahmad Fayez Mugnia who was probably at the top
Speaker 1: or near it. Mugnia was the mastermind in a series
Speaker 1: of terror attacks against Israeli's around the world. He was
Speaker 1: believed to be the chief of staff for Hezbollah, the
Speaker 1: Lebanese Shia Islamist political party, and militant group. It was
Speaker 1: a link between Iran and terrorist groups. Robert Barr said,
Speaker 1: Mugnia was probably the most intelligent, most capable operative we've
Speaker 1: ever run across, including the KGB or anybody else. Massad
Speaker 1: and Mugnia had been involved in the cat and mouse
Speaker 1: game for decades. Massad wanted to kill him, and Mugnia
Speaker 1: knew it. He was incredibly smart and resourceful. Every time
Speaker 1: the agency planned an assassination, Nia outwitted them and survived.
Speaker 1: In February two eight, Massad tried again the Massad track
Speaker 1: move Mia around the clock. He lived in Syria and
Speaker 1: those rare times he emerged on a Damascus street. They
Speaker 1: got an alert that February. They got worried that Munia
Speaker 1: was staying at a safe house in the city. They
Speaker 1: couldn't get close to him. With an assassin on a
Speaker 1: motorcycle or with poison. They decided on a car bomb.
Speaker 1: Massad and his technical experts allegedly began to sign, build,
Speaker 1: and test the bomb. They removed the spare tire from
Speaker 1: a car's trunk and replaced it with a face bear
Speaker 1: that actually contained a powerful explosive. They performed test run
Speaker 1: after test run. Finally they thought they were ready. The
Speaker 1: main problem was being able to confirm when Mugnia would
Speaker 1: go to his safe house and how he would exit.
Speaker 1: If you're using a car bomb, you need to know
Speaker 1: a person's route before they take it. That was tough. Finally,
Speaker 1: on February twelve, Munia headed to the safe house. He
Speaker 1: parked as Missubishi in a nearby lot and emerged from
Speaker 1: the car. It was the anniversary of the nineteen seventy
Speaker 1: nine Iranian Revolution, and Munia was there to celebrate. The
Speaker 1: bomb car was close to the Missubishi, but as Mougnia emerged,
Speaker 1: Massad's lookouts realized that he was with a bunch of
Speaker 1: other men. Either because these other officials were considered out
Speaker 1: of bounds, or Israel didn't want to told to be
Speaker 1: that high, they called off the hit. The team's stayed
Speaker 1: in place, They left the car bomb where it was
Speaker 1: and they waited. Finally, late at night, Muvinia came out
Speaker 1: to his car. This time he was alone. An operative
Speaker 1: pressed the remote and the bomb tore the car to bids.
Speaker 1: Unia was killed the loan casualty. That night, news trickled
Speaker 1: out and international journalists began reporting. A top has Belaw
Speaker 1: militant alleged to be the hide a series of attacks
Speaker 1: on US, Israeli and Jewish targets has been assassinated his
Speaker 1: middle aged car bombings go. This was a small one
Speaker 1: and in the end only one person was killed, but
Speaker 1: the death of the man involved as rock Dieselmas militants
Speaker 1: in Lebanon and Syria, and it may be the trigger
Speaker 1: for further unrest. A senior commander of the Lebanese based
Speaker 1: Shiite militant group, his Ballah, Immed Mugnia, was one of
Speaker 1: his buller's most deadly operatives. The FBI wanted him alive
Speaker 1: and was offering a five million dollar bounty, but overnight
Speaker 1: a car bombing in Damascus claimed his life. His ballah
Speaker 1: has blamed Israel for his death. Israel denies involvement, but
Speaker 1: many in the Jewish state and beyond glad that Imed
Speaker 1: Mugnia is gone. Hello, I am Hashima. Lebanon's Zella says
Speaker 1: Israel assassinated one of its top leaders. Israel denies it.
Speaker 1: What will the repercussions be? Mad Mania, one of the
Speaker 1: group's top military commanders, died in a car bombing in Syria,
Speaker 1: who was accused by the U S and by Israel
Speaker 1: of being involved in a string of attacks which killed
Speaker 1: hundreds of here's former Knesset member Dannya Tom commenting, I
Speaker 1: think that the organization that finally reached him showed and
Speaker 1: very high skills, both in intelligence and in operational capability.
Speaker 1: I think that the fluent democratic world today achieved a
Speaker 1: very very important goal. Munia may have been the longest
Speaker 1: running target Massad ever went after. It took decades to
Speaker 1: get him. So why agencies tend to have long memories.
Speaker 1: Their files go back many years, and they trace people's
Speaker 1: loyalties and behavior from childhood on. But even from Massad
Speaker 1: this was exceptional. As we saw with MEO, some spies
Speaker 1: never forget. When you look at the history of Massad operations,
Speaker 1: targeted killings are a big part of the picture. Israel
Speaker 1: sometimes uses the agency less as an intelligence gathering outfit
Speaker 1: than as an instrument of foreign policy. I asked the
Speaker 1: intelligence historian Keith Melton about this. Is it possible that
Speaker 1: Israel sometimes turns to its spies when a diplomat in
Speaker 1: a suit might be a better solution. I would observe
Speaker 1: that there's a time for diplomacy, and there's probably a
Speaker 1: time or direct action. The problem, I believe becomes you
Speaker 1: can believe that either is always a substitute for the other,
Speaker 1: and that isn't true. There are certain instances in which
Speaker 1: diplomacy would absolutely the best, but covertly there's instances in
Speaker 1: which direct action might be the only choice to do something.
Speaker 1: Israel uses its intelligence service very, very effectively. They are
Speaker 1: clear in their attention, and they use their intelligence service
Speaker 1: as an instrument of foreign power when it suits them.
Speaker 1: Robert Baar agrees. He gave me some background on other
Speaker 1: countries who used their spy agencies as tools of foreign policy.
Speaker 1: It was it was a new war, and with German
Speaker 1: intelligence considering we nothing about Russia in the thirties and
Speaker 1: through the Second World were nothing. The only people who
Speaker 1: knew a little bit about Russia were the Nazis, and
Speaker 1: they were brought into the new German intelligence Service. How
Speaker 1: useful they were is very doubtful, but it was better
Speaker 1: than zero. Don't forget that by forty six and forty
Speaker 1: seven of an existential conflict, and once the Russians nukes
Speaker 1: it was even more so. So It's like always when
Speaker 1: when in the Cold War we allied with very bad people,
Speaker 1: hoping they would help us against an enemy that could
Speaker 1: destroy us. The General Tartus is an old medieval fort
Speaker 1: built by the Knights Templar on serious Mediterranean coast. This
Speaker 1: is where a man named Mohammed Suleiman had a vacation house,
Speaker 1: not far from a luxury beach resort. Suleiman was a
Speaker 1: general in the Syrian Army and one of the main
Speaker 1: contacts to Iran and Hamas Israel wanted him gone. Every summer,
Speaker 1: Suleiman would travel to his seaside vacation home to review files,
Speaker 1: chill out, swim in the ocean. But it wasn't like
Speaker 1: he went there in a convertible with the top down.
Speaker 1: He traveled from Damascus in an armored vehicle with bodyguards.
Speaker 1: More bodyguards were stationed at the beach house. They never
Speaker 1: let him out of their sight. Even going into the
Speaker 1: water with him when he went for a swim after
Speaker 1: the assassination of Mugnia on a busy Damascus street, Syria
Speaker 1: was taking no chances. On one trip. It was a
Speaker 1: typical August day, hot, not a lot of wind. It
Speaker 1: was beautiful. Yachts were passing up and down along the coast.
Speaker 1: People were sunbathing. The rich. We're heading out to an
Speaker 1: offshore island to dine at one of the many fish
Speaker 1: restaurants there. Suleiman was enjoying the beach when another yacht
Speaker 1: showed up. It was, according to one report, unusually sleek,
Speaker 1: but there was nothing strange about it. It was sailing
Speaker 1: closer to shore than the others, about fifty yards off
Speaker 1: the coast. Maybe its owners wanted to get a better
Speaker 1: look at the houses on the shore. Suleiman's bodyguards weren't alarmed,
Speaker 1: and when their boss wanted to go for a swim,
Speaker 1: they went in the water with him. The men were
Speaker 1: wading into the ocean when suddenly Suleiman sank into the water.
Speaker 1: There had been no noise, not that anyone remembered, but
Speaker 1: when the bodyguards pulled into the beach they found the
Speaker 1: general had bullet in his head and chest and neck.
Speaker 1: He died soon after, and the yacht, which we now
Speaker 1: believe was carrying snipers with especially silence rifles, it sailed
Speaker 1: away from the coast and disappeared. This is straight out
Speaker 1: of a spy movie. The yacht the beautiful Blue Water
Speaker 1: the Silence. Sometimes espionage appears almost to be a magic trick,
Speaker 1: a seemingly impossible thing where you can't tell who did what.
Speaker 1: Most by agencies have a motto. A lot of them
Speaker 1: are what you'd expect. Am I six, the British spy
Speaker 1: agency takes theirs from the Latin Semper cultists, always secret,
Speaker 1: no surprises there. The cias is the work of a nation,
Speaker 1: the center of intelligence, which I've always found bland and
Speaker 1: vaguely corporate. I prefer their unofficial version from the scriptures,
Speaker 1: And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
Speaker 1: set you free. Massad also turned to scripture for their motto,
Speaker 1: or in their case the Torah, the Jewish Bible, where
Speaker 1: no wise direction is the people fall, but in the
Speaker 1: multitude of counselors there is safety. It's less certain than
Speaker 1: the CIA's, not as confident. It refers to the fall
Speaker 1: of the people. A nod to the many tragedies in
Speaker 1: Jewish history. It doesn't talk about secrets, only wisdom, and
Speaker 1: that's something that's often hard to judge. Are you eliminating
Speaker 1: risks or increasing them? Are you targeting the mastermind of
Speaker 1: Munich or an innocent waiter walking home with his wife.
Speaker 1: Here's Robert bar once more. I mean, it's like always
Speaker 1: in the Cold War, we allied with very bad people
Speaker 1: hoping they would help us against an enemy that could
Speaker 1: destroy us. And that's the whole, you know, the moral
Speaker 1: dilemma for the United States is can you work with
Speaker 1: these people to save your own skin? What I like
Speaker 1: about Massa's motto is that it seems to acknowledge how
Speaker 1: hard it is to find the truth. That espionage is
Speaker 1: a tough job, not just the tradecraft, but guilt and innocence.
Speaker 1: That's the hardest part. Good assassins. Hunting the Butcher is
Speaker 1: a production of Diversion Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This season is written and hosted by Stephen Talti, produced
Speaker 1: and directed by Scott Waxman and Jacob Bronstein. Executive producers
Speaker 1: Scott Waxman and Mark Francis. Story editing by Jacob Bronstein,
Speaker 1: with editorial direction from Scott Waxman and mangesh At ticket editing,
Speaker 1: mixing and sound designed by Mark Francis, with the voices
Speaker 1: of Nick Afka, Thomas Amory, Angle, Andrew Polk, Mindy Escobar, Leants,
Speaker 1: Steve Rautman and Stefan Brudnitsky. Theme music by Tyler Cash.
Speaker 1: Archival research by Adam Shapiro, thanks to Oran Rosenbaum at
Speaker 1: ut A Diversion Podcasts.