Isser Harel
Isser Harel ( Hebrew איסר הראל; born in January 1912 in Vitebsk , Russian Empire ; died February 18, 2003 in Tel Aviv ; born as Isser Halperin ) was the head of the Israeli intelligence service Mossad .
Life
Harel was born under the name Isser Halperin into a wealthy family of vinegar manufacturers in Vitebsk. The exact date of birth is unknown because the relevant documents were lost during the October Revolution . After the revolution, during which Vitebsk was fiercely contested, the Soviet government confiscated the property of the Halperin family. In 1922 she emigrated impoverished to Daugavpils (Dünaburg) in Latvia , where Halperin went to school. During this time he joined a Zionist youth organization. At the age of 16 he began training in agriculture to prepare for emigration to Palestine and work in a kibbutz .
After the massacre of Jews in Hebron in 1929 , the group to which Halperin belonged decided to emigrate as quickly as possible and support the armed struggle for a Jewish state. In 1930 Halperin turned 18 and thus entitled to a visa for the trip to Palestine, which he began immediately. In Palestine he lived in a kibbutz for five years and then founded a company to trade in oranges.
Isser Harel belonged to the Jewish Hagana underground army during World War II and from 1942 headed the Shai department, the Hagana intelligence service, in Tel Aviv. After the war he was involved in the manhunt for Adolf Eichmann , increasingly in a leading position. In 1948 he directed the sinking of the Altalena . In 1952 David Ben Gurion appointed him director of the Mossad. In 1957 Harel was appointed head of all Israeli intelligence services. In 1960 he had Eichmann kidnapped from Argentina . After that he dealt increasingly with Josef Mengele . He himself traveled to Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay to find the fugitive war criminal. In addition, Harel cooperated closely with the CIA , to which he mainly passed on information about the Soviet Union, led a propaganda campaign against the left-wing Israeli Mapam party , cooperated with the secret services of Iran and Turkey against the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1957 and allowed Iraqi Kurds with him Equip weapons.
After the murder of German engineers in Egypt by the Mossad, David Ben Gurion dismissed Harel as Mossad director in March 1963 under international pressure. This aroused bitter resistance, especially from right-wing members of the Israeli parliament and was one reason for Ben Gurion's resignation in June 1963. Isser Harel then became an advisor to the new Prime Minister Levi Eschkol . From 1969 to 1973 he was a member of the Knesset for the National List .
Isser Harel had a daughter from his first marriage. He described the hunt for Adolf Eichmann in the book Das Haus in Garibaldistrasse .
Film adaptations
The hunt for Eichmann has been filmed several times. In Operation Finale (2018), Harel is portrayed by Lior Raz . Jeffrey Tambor took on this role in The Man Who Chased Eichmann from 1996 .
Fonts
-
The House on Garibaldi Street . German, London 1975, ISBN 0-233-96672-2 .
- The house on Garibaldistrasse . Translation by Marianne Lipcowitz. Ullstein, Berlin 1975, ISBN 3-550-07320-8 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Isser Harel in the catalog of the German National Library
- Obituary for Isser Harel , The Times v. February 20, 2003
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
|
Re'uwen Schiloach |
Director of the Mossad 1952–1963 |
Meir Amit |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Harel, Isser |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Halperin, Isser (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli secret service agent, head of the Israeli secret service |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 1912 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vitebsk |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 18, 2003 |
| Place of death | Tel Aviv |