Israel’s one of the three major intelligence organizations, Mossad/Mosad has executed some of the fiercest operations known to mankind. The agency is known to have successfully pulled off a great number of covert operations, neutralizing significant threats against the nation. Mossad is also infamous for vehemently opposing the notion of turning the other cheek in case of a tussle with other countries, consequently encouraging revenge-driven assassinations.
Below are the top 5 famed Mossad’s greatest hits -:
- Revenge for the murders of Israeli athletes at 1972 Munich Olympics
On September 5th, 1972 the world witnessed one of the most scandalous death incidents. 11 Israeli Olympic athletes were killed in their sleep during the Munich Olympics. The harrowing carnage was executed by the Black September Palestine Liberation Organization operatives, the arch-rivals of Israel. Israel’s Mossad’s aggressive retaliation ensued a wave of assassinations of suspected Black September operatives across Europe. The first hit was executed on 16th October 1972 where two Mossad agents shot a suspected PLO representative in Rome. Following the initial attack, the operation was no longer covert, consequently to which the Mossad and the Israel Defense Forces joined hands and led several other assassinations including the execution of the point-person of Black September Mohammad Yusuf al-Najjar.
The operation was brought to fruition by 1979, but several traces of the same were witnessed even in the 1990s.
- The Syrian Nuclear Reactor Saga
The unfriendly neighbor of Syria was apprehended to have had a clandestine nuclear program, which obviously posed a huge risk for Israel. In furtherance of getting a sure confirmation regarding Syria’s nuclear program, a team of Mossad agents was dispatched to perform surveillance in Europe. The intelligence suggested that a top Syrian official, Ibrahim Othman, head of Atomic Energy Commission of Syria, was in Europe. The Mossad agents, therefore, kept a strict tab on the hotel and airport, and upon seizing a suitable opportunity, the agents accessed Othman’s laptop which contained the blueprints and pictures of the Syrian nuclear facility which attested the IDF intelligence. The material gathered by Mossad and IDF intelligence led to a successful air strike destroying the Syrian Nuclear Facility in 2007.
- Assassination of Terrorist Imad Mughniyeh
Imad Mughniyeh was possibly the most wanted terrorist by Mossad and Israel for the last few decades. Imad had his name listed for numerous terror activities, especially car bombings, airplane hijacks, etc. Imad was the leading military commander for Hezbollah and worked in furtherance of bridging the gap between Iran and the Lebanese group. After multiple failures of assassinating Imad, it was only in February 2008 that Mossad finally got hold of him when he visited a safe-house apartment in Damascus.
- Neutralizing Iran’s Nuclear Program
After Syria, it was Iran whose Nuclear activity irked Israel. However, in order to avoid the need for a military strike, Mossad tried to slow Iran’s activity by assassinating a range of Iranian scientists before and after 2010. However, the most audacious cutting-edge plan to neutralize the Iran nuclear program was the joint effort by Mossad and CIA in the form of cyber virus Stuxnet.
The cyber worm destroyed nuclear centrifuges in the 2009 and 2010 attacks and is referred to as one of the most dramatic cyber-attacks of all time.
- Hanging of Arch-Nazi Adolf Eichmann
Probably the first historically famed operation executed by the Mossad. Adolf Eichmann ran Hitler’s Final solution that led to the murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. Although, he managed to abscond from the Allied Forces to Argentina, a holocaust survivor in Argentina tipped Mossad about Eichmann’s location. About a dozen Mossad agents nabbed Eichmann in Argentina which eventually led to his interrogation and series of questioning. Adolf Eichmann was lastly tried and hanged in 1962.