The Relevance Of The Mossad: Beyond The Veil Of Secrecy, Blunders And Misconceptions

"Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in abundance of counsellors there is safety."

This is not just a motto; but the guiding principle of Israel's espionage agency Mossad. In the past several decades, which have been punctuated by battles, bloodshed, brutality and boldness, Mossad has got the status of a legend.

In layman language, The Mossad is to the people of Israel what a lion is to its pride. A lion that sleeps with an eye open.

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Any lethargy can cause grievous injury to the state of Israel.

For logic dictates that with enemies on every possible side, the lion of Zion can (and has been, as seen recently), come under attack. Then whether it's Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and others; it doesn't matter.

The Jewish state isn't exactly a hot favourite topic among its Arab neighbourhood that with Israel's slightest dropping of anchor, can pounce on the Jews and everything that belongs to them.

That, unfortunately, has been the trend of things back in the day. And that, sadly, isn't likely to change anytime soon the way the Middle East is engulfed in tremendous acrimony or should one say, savagery?

In these last seven and a half decades, it rose from being a tiny gathering of an underground military squad or a zionist paramilitary organisation formerly known as the Haganah into being the spy agency with a global foothold that evokes fear into the minds of Israel's enemies.

Once, it hardly had anything that could be considered even remotely close to being some sort of a budget, and here it is today. At least, the Wikipedia page suggests that on an annual basis, the government of Israel pumps no fewer than USD 2.7 or 2.8 billion into ensuring that Israel's protector of its people can be ably equipped.

During these years of the Mossad growing in financial size and scale, the Israeli intelligence has successfully created worldwide networks that allude to the classic Israeli vision: "To work towards safeguarding the Jews."

The common belief is that it is not a good idea to be in the bad books of the Mossad of they will find you wherever you may be in hiding and settle scores.

There was a time in the day where thanks to Simon Wiesenthal and his pertinent Jewish Documentation centre, Israel was able to seek tremendous assistance in the post-WWII world; the former victim of Nazi tyranny established in Vienna, Austria the one of a kind repository of Jews that helped not only trace down ferocious Nazi hunters, but also helped understand the depth of the massacre endured by one of the richest cultures on the face of the earth.

Whether it is the capture of the dreaded Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the final solution who was eventually brought to justice in Israel, or the recruiting of Otto Skorzeny, a former Nazi officer of some repute that the Mossad eventually convinced to play on their side; the secret intelligence agency has done many a time, the unthinkable and shook minutes and bended notions.

But what's known well and truly understood is that The Mossad has grown so significant in size and in the size of its operations, many of which are controversial, that is implausible to expect them to fail.

Which also explains why ill-conceived stunts riddled in absolute failure such as the unfortunate killing of the innocent waiter (who resembled Ali Hassan Salameh, the mastermind of Black September) at Lillehammer, Norway happened.

Which also explains the botched up operation that Mossad, not immune to failure, conducted wherein they all but killed a dreaded enemy in Khalid Mashal, only for their agents to get caught and in having to offer an antidote to the poison that finally saved a prominent leader of Hamas.

But while those are some of the several failures of the Mossad, which commands a sterling reputation in its ability to gather information, convert it into usefulness to the nation-state of Israel, there are also cordial truths about the Tel Aviv-headquartered Espionage service.

It's a service that fuels fear into the minds of Israel's opponents, many of which have actually been removed by way of letter bombs and by other methods involving subterfuge.

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Powerful, pulsating and at times, pedantic in equal measure, the Mossad has blazed a trail for many to follow

How can an intelligence agency that is clearly known for safeguarding its Jewish citizens as also often crossing the line in safeguarding the very people not occupy a polarising persona is a pertinent question?

This is an agency that everyone and anyone today openly talks about in the reference of the tragic state of affairs that took over the Middle East starting October and November and continue to this day.

This is an agency that somehow suffered intelligence failure, only to fight back in a manner utterly damaging. A manner of fightback too powerful for the people of Palestine, Gaza to bear that today some of the world's most known figures are finding it hard to perhaps even justify their support to a country we know as Israel but one that to its detractors has become a nation with swathes of blood on hands, and that's blood of innocents!

Wish such a nightmare would never have happened in the first place; wish the world we inhabit that also obviously involves countless innocent children should never have been exposed to trauma and blood.

But then wishful thinking and a false sense of security, it ought to be said, have often been Israel's greatest detractors, right?

The spy agency saw some dreadful events in the past wherein Mordechai Vanunu managed to expose the secrets of Israel's covert Dimona nuclear power program to the world and yet, found himself trapped, rather honeytrapped by the very nation he went against.

That's even if he was trying to direct the world's attention to Israel's ominous program. Interestingly, and Israel's critics ought note, the country has not once used an iota of anything close to nuclear power on anyone, not that doing so would be the wisest thing to do (ever).

Israel, a land of countless technological and scientific breakthroughs, and not to forget, a country with giant talent in the sphere of finance, banking and even filmmaking, has constantly embraced a barrage of opponents from any possible side wherever it casts its eye.

Who can ever forget that period of time where Gerald Bull had supplied the Super Gun to a once-upon-a-time enemy of Israel: Saddam Hussain?

Eventually, despite issuing multiple warnings to the Canadian engineer, who was the creator of the dangerous weapon to not pose a threat to Israel, the then Belgium-based man was eliminated by the Mossad.

Many, to this day, wonder if the obnoxious Ghislaine Maxwell's father Robert Maxwell was done in by Mossad, a man who once back in the day, spied for Israel and with sufficient information to base one's belief on the notion?

Truth is, Israel's hardly lived ever a single year of peace, let alone months of decades marked by something that is the most important human ambition: peace, what else?

And in this part of the 21st century where Geopolitical crises are often, where terms like machine gun are more often heard than magic shows for kids and where violence is but the order of the day given the upheaval the Middle East is regrettably a part of, it is highly unlikely whether the world's only Jewish state will get to see bright sunshine.

Not that it doesn't deserve it. Not that its Arab neighbours don't deserve it. Not that the likes of the great Golda and David Ben Gurion or Moshe Dayan would not have wanted it. Ditto for the brave Meir Dagan or the gutsy Rafi Eitan and the venerable Shabtai Shavit, all of whom are no longer around today; their demise somewhere pointing at a huge void in Israeli leadership.

"Bombing Iran would be not the wisest of ideas," the late Mossad spy chief Dagan had exclaimed back in the day. He was known for his close involvement during the time the Mossad developed the Student to derail Iran's nuclear program, the end purpose of which, it is believed, is to remove Israel from the face of the earth.

Had Shabtai Shavit been there, one wonders if a thing or two could have been said to Bibi Netanyahu about the complex situation in the Middle East?

Couldn't Golda have handled things with far more resoluteness (and) the concern and poise of a great leader that she truly was? What would Moshe Dayan or Shimon Peres have done in Israel in the context of its present-day situation?

Truth is what the Mossad and its homeland, Israel's great leaders of the past could or could not have done lies in the ebb of the 'what could' or uncertainty, as one would put it.

Who knows what things are today and what might be the gravity of the actual situation in the war zones of the Middle East without standing there; we can conveniently wax lyrical from our comfort zones.

But it's a different story altogether out there when one steps out in the open to solve the complex puzzle that is the overwhelming job of intel gathering and keeping an eye on an enemy that measures in dozens.

No?

Which is why, perhaps somewhere, it makes sense to have talked about one of the world's deeply respected as also feared spy agencies on this very date: December 13.

For it was many moons ago, circa 1949, when The Mossad was created to look after Israel's external security.

Today, seven and a half decades since its creation and of course, amid a climate of tensity, not an awful lot has changed.

The fears, the strife and the concerning environs bloodied by human blood and terrible loss of lives pose the big but inevitable question: what next? Where all will The Mossad's daredevils, including the Katsas, the Kidons and the members of Unit 8,200 and of course, their close aides, the IDF go in further safeguarding the Jewish state that's no stranger to upheaval.

What will become the future of Israel as we know it?

Questions, there are many.

But akin to a spy thriller of epic proportions that turns out to be a nail-biter, there are no certain answers.

However, there's hope. Let's just hope that the sleuths and spies, watchers and fighters can also engage diplomacy and tactfulness in their covert operations to save an already embittered land with further episodes of bitterness.

May peace be upon everyone anywhere in the Middle East.

Yes, the world needs undercover agents to be guarded at all times against public enemies and creatures who spread terror. But the world also needs, over and above, anything else, peace.

The writer is a New Delhi-based freelance contributor. The views expressed in the article are author's own.