Yosef Harmelin

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Yosef Harmelin ( Hebrew יוסף הרמלין; * 1922 in Vienna ; † 1994 ) was an Israeli diplomat .

Life

There is hardly any biographical data on the Internet about the temporary head of Shin Bet , the Israeli domestic secret service. Yosef Harmelin immigrated to Palestine in 1939 . He first went to the children's and youth village Ben Shemen and is said to have founded the kibbutz Neve Yam in the north .

Harmelin enlisted in the British Army , which used him in World War II . In May 1946 he became an employee of the Schin Bet . of the Israeli domestic intelligence service in Tel Aviv, in 1964 Levi Eschkol appointed him its head. Harmelin suggested ending martial law for Arab Israelis , which happened in 1966. After Munich was taken hostage , there were dismissals at Schin Bet. Harmelin demanded that the terminations be withdrawn and threatened to resign. He hired Avraham Shalom to lead the Protection Department. In 1975 he left the secret service.

In 1978 Harmelin joined the foreign service and was the last Israeli ambassador to Tehran from 1978 to 1979 . From 1979 to 1981 he was ambassador in Pretoria to Pieter Willem Botha .

On April 12, 1984, four members of the PLO hijacked the 300 bus from Tel Aviv to Ashkelon with 41 passengers heading for the Gaza Strip . The bus was stopped by the IDF and border troops near Dier-el-Balah, about 15 kilometers from the Gaza Strip . At dawn, the bus under the command of Yitzchak Mordechai was stormed, a passenger and two kidnappers were killed. Two other kidnappers surrendered unharmed to the security authorities. They were photographed by journalists as they got off the bus and beaten by passers-by, whereupon the military censor prohibited the publication of the photos. The two kidnappers were then driven away in a caravan belonging to the Shin Bet and shot in a remote location.

The Israeli daily Hadashot reported on the incident. Before a commission of inquiry, representatives of the Shin Bet alleged that the prisoners of war had been slain under the command of General Yitzchak Mordechai. Yitzchak Mordechai contradicted this representation. As a result, a commission was set up to improve the Schin Bet's interview methods.

Harmelin headed the Shin Bet secret service again from 1986 to 1988. It was said that he refused to use any violence when questioning arrested persons.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This reference to Ben Shemen and Neve Yam can be found in the English WIKIPEDIA article EN: Yosef Harmelin , without further citing the source
  2. ^ Ephraim Kahana, Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence , p. 110
predecessor Office successor
Uri Lubrani Israeli ambassador to Tehran from
1978 to 1979
Itzhak D. Unna Israeli ambassador in Pretoria
1979 to 1981 		Eliyahu Lankin
personal data
SURNAME Harmelin, Yosef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES יוסף הרמלין (Hebrew)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH 1994