Eliezer Tsafrir

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Eliezer (Ge'isi) Tsafrir ( Hebrew אליעזר "גייזי" צפריר; * 1933 in Iran ) is an Israeli author of Kurdish descent. He was an employee of the Israeli foreign intelligence service Mossad and became known through various statements and reports about secret activities of the Mossad in northern Iraq and Iran. He is considered an expert on the question of the attitude of the Iranian people towards the Iran-Israel conflict and the Iranian nuclear program .

Life

Overview map of the geographical location of Israel (marked in green) and the Kurdish northern Iraq (orange) , in which Tsafrir is said to have worked for the Israeli Mossad.

Eliezer Tsafrir was used as a young officer by the Mossad in Kurdish Northern Iraq , according to his own statements and various media reports as well as representation in several non-fiction books . Tsafrir, who himself is of Kurdish descent, is said to have infiltrated Iraq from Iran with the help of the Iranian intelligence service SAVAK . He is said to have worked in the 1960s and 1970s as head of a Mossad delegation in Iran and Iraq, and above all in "Iraqi Kurdistan ". In the late 1970s, during the last reign of the Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , Tsafrir is said to have succeeded Merhav as the last Mossad chief in Tehran .

After there was a change of office in Israel based on the Israeli model in September 1986 and Prime Minister Shimon Peres was replaced by Yitzchak Shamir , Tsafrir was replaced some time later by the new Prime Minister Shamir, who knew him from previous joint activities at the Mossad, as an advisor for Arabs Matters consulted. One of the main focuses of Tsafrir's work was to prevent the spread of the Intifada in Israeli territory within the 1967 borders.

In 1992 Tsafrir retired. He lives in a suburb of Tel Aviv .

Author, interview partner, speaker

Since retiring from active service, Tsafrir has published several books , some of which are autobiographical, as well as a novel in which he processed his experiences and also dealt with contemporary historical topics such as the 1982 Lebanon War . The publications "of the former Mossad agent and government advisor Tsafrir" as a "witness of dramatic historical events" ( Haaretz ) met with public interest; some of them received further editions and some were also published as e-books . His biography Śaṭan gadol, Śaṭan ḳaṭan, published in 2002. mahpekhah u-miluṭ be-Iran ( Eng . Big Satan, Little Satan. Revolution and flight in Iran ) was u. a. by the Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz extensively reviewed (review Quote: English "this book is fascinating, and is recommended reading for anyone who is interested in Israeli-Iranian relations on the eve of the revolution.") and in the same year at a seminar on Begin -Sadat-Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) at Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv put up for discussion.

In addition, Tsafrir has since given numerous interviews and comments in the Israeli and foreign media . So Tsafrir was z. B. Interviewed by journalist Matti Friedman for Associated Press (AP) in 2008 ; the AP report (in English) about the interview and Tsafrir's statements appeared a. in USA Today . According to a report in the German-language program of the Iranian state news broadcaster IRIB in July 2010, which refers to interview statements by Tsafrir on the Israeli army radio, Tsafrir is now said to have "admitted espionage for Israel in Iraq, especially in the north of the country".

In February 2012, Swiss television (SF) reported on the regular information program 10vor10 about the conflict between Iran and Israel and the Iranian nuclear program. a. the following statement was quoted by Tsafrir:

“There are several organizations active in Iran, as active as possible! The Mossad, the British MI6 , the American CIA . For their purposes they are mainly used by the Kurdish minority! "

- Eliezer Tsafrir : in the information broadcast 10vor10 of Swiss television (SF) on February 23, 2012

Also in February 2012, Tsafrir was interviewed by the Israeli radio station Arutz Sheva on the Iran-Israel conflict and the Iranian nuclear program . The radio interview with Tsafrir, about which the broadcaster later reported on its website, took place in the run-up to a symposium at the Truman Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem , in which Tsafrir then took part as a speaker and took a position on the question of the attitude of the Iranian people. According to Arutz Sheva's online report, Tsafrir et al. a., he believes that ultimately there will be no choice but to carry out a military attack on the Iranian nuclear facilities:

"Former Mossad official Eliezer Tsafrir, who was the last person to serve in the agency's office in Iran, said […] he believes there will ultimately be no choice other than to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities."

- Elad Benari : Expert: There Will be No Choice, Other than to Attack Iran , on Arutz Sheva's website on February 27, 2012 (English)

In addition, Tsafrir has been invited as a speaker to various forums , meetings and scientific conferences in Israel and abroad. Tsafrir also works as a research associate at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at the Israeli private university Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya and as a consultant for security services.

Publications

  • "אנא כורדי. 75 שנות מולא מוצטפה ועוד 4000. רומן מלחמה ומילוט בכורדיסטאן “(Hebrew: Ana Kurdi. 75 shenot Mula Mutsṭafah ṿe-ʻod 4000. roman milḥamah u-miluṭ be-Kurdisṭan ). הוצאת הד ארצי / Hed Arzi Publishing House, Or Jehuda 1999, LCCN  99-426830 (Hebrew; novel; also published in 1999 by the same publisher as an e-book in Hebrew, see information on the various editions at WorldCat ).
  • "שטן גדול, שטן קטן. מהפכה ומילוט באיראן “(Hebrew: Śaṭan gadol, Śaṭan ḳaṭan. Mahpekhah u-miluṭ be-Iran ). ספרית מעריב / Sifriyat Maʻariv, Or Jehuda 2002, LCCN  2003-546710 (Hebrew; biography; also published in 2002 by the same publisher as an e-book in Hebrew, see information on the various editions at WorldCat; English review in the Haaretz ).
  • "פלונטר. ״שוטר תנועה״ בסבך הלבנוני "(Hebrew: Plonter:" shoṭer tenuʻah "ba-sevakh ha-levanoni ). Miśkal / Yedioth Acharonoth Books , Tel Aviv 2006, ISBN 965-482-214-8 ;
    Another edition was published in 2006 by הוצאת כרמל / Carmel Publishing, Jerusalem (Hebrew; report on the Lebanon campaign in 1982 ; also published in 2006 by Yedioth as an e-book in Hebrew, see information on the various editions at WorldCat).
  • together with Farnūsh Rām: Persian شيطان بزرگ ، شيطان کوچک. خاطرات آخرين نماينده اطلاعات موساد در ايران Shayṭān-i buzurg, shayṭān-i kūchak. khāṭirāt-i ākharīn namāyandah-i iṭṭilāʻātī-i Mūsād dar Īrān. Shirkat-i Kitāb, Los Angeles 2007, ISBN 978-1-59584-053-0 (expanded, Persian-language edition of Śaṭan gadol, Śaṭan ḳaṭan. Mahpekhah u-miluṭ be-Iran , Or Jehuda 2002).

literature

  • Trita Parsi: Treacherous Alliance. The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Yale University Press, New Haven 2007, ISBN 978-0-300-13806-1 , et al. a. Pp. 53-55, 77-79, 129, 288, 294, 300, 310, 360 (English).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c cf. Achille Casanova : “10vor10” -Post “Israel sees great danger in Iran” was appropriate  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Final report of the ombudsman of SRG Deutschschweiz from April 30, 2012 on a petition against the 10vor10 contribution Israel sees great danger in Iran (broadcast on February 23, 2012). Retrieved April 24, 2013.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.srgd.ch  
  2. ↑ a b c Elad Benari: Expert: There Will be No Choice, Other than to Attack Iran . On the Arutz Sheva website on February 27, 2012; English, accessed May 1, 2013.
  3. ^ Trita Parsi: Treacherous Alliance. The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Yale University Press, New Haven 2007, ISBN 978-0-300-13806-1 , pp. 49-60, 77-81 (English; excerpt from Google Books ).
  4. ^ A b Yossi Melman, Meir Javedanfar: The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the State of Iran. Basic Books, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-7867-2106-1 , pp. 79-80 (quote: “'To a certain degree, we were the masters of SAVAK', says Eliezer Tsafrir. As a young officer Tsafrir served as a Mossad liaison to the Kurdish headquarters in the mountainous northern region of Iraq. He arrived there by infiltrating Iraq from Iran with the help of SAVAK. A decade later he was the last chief of the Mossad station in Theran, in the Sha's last days. ”) (English; excerpt from Google Books ).
  5. ^ Philip HJ Davies, Kristian C. Gustafson: Intelligence Elsewhere. Spies and Espionage Outside the Anglosphere. Georgetown University Press, Washington 2013, ISBN 978-1-58901-957-7 , pp. 155–156, note 57 (quotation: “Eliezer Tsafrir, who had been a senior Mossad official, revealed that Israeli-Kurdish relations were so good that Israel had military advisers in Iraqi Kurdish regions during the period 1963–75 and the Kurds had assisted in the movement of Jews from the areas to Israel as far back as the 1950s. Reuters February 21, 1999. ") (English; excerpt from Google Books ).
  6. ^ Trita Parsi: Treacherous Alliance. The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Yale University Press, New Haven 2007, ISBN 978-0-300-13806-1 , p. 288, footnote 29 (English; excerpt from Google Books ).
  7. ^ Ronen Bergman: The secret war with Iran. The 30-year covers struggle for control of a "rogue" state. Oneworld, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-1-85168-622-3 , p. 18 (English; excerpt from Google Books ).
  8. ↑ Julia Brauch: National Integration after the Holocaust. Israel and Germany in comparison (=  Campus Research , Volume 876). Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-593-37622-9 , p. 210, footnote 48 (also dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin 2004).
  9. ↑ Ori Stendel: The Arabs in Israel. Sussex Academic Press, 1996, ISBN 1-898723-24-9 , p. 33 (English; excerpt from Google Books ).
  10. ^ A b Matti Friedman ( Associated Press (AP) ): Mossad man remembers slain militant . In: USA Today of February 19, 2008; English, accessed May 1, 2013.
  11. ↑ a b David Arbel: Just minutes before midnight . In: Haaretz of August 30, 2002; English, accessed May 2, 2013.
  12. ↑ Winds of Change in Iran? ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: BESA Bulletin No. 15 of February 2003, ed. from the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA) at Bar-Ilan University , Tel Aviv; English, accessed May 2, 2013.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.biu.ac.il
  13. ↑ a b Information on Eliezer Tsafrir at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) at the Israeli private university Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzlia ; Retrieved May 2, 2013.
  14. ↑ (IRIB): Israel is spying in northern Iraq . Report of July 5, 2010 in the German program of the Iranian state news channel IRIB . Retrieved April 24, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Tsafrir, Eliezer
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tsafrir, Ge'isi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli author and Mossad contributor
DATE OF BIRTH 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Iran