What is the Mossad?

The Mossad is the Israeli intelligence agency, that was developed in 1949 after the recommendation was made by Reuven Shiloah to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. Ever since, the Mossad has been involved in covert operations that comprised of kidnappings and assassinations to ensure "National Security". The agency has been internationally criticized for some tactics that have been frequently used in foreign countries.

Failed operations

• In July 1973, Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer, Norway, was killed while walking with his wife. He had been mistaken form Ali Hassan Salameh, one of the leaders of Black September, the Palestinian group responsible for the Munich massacre, who had been given shelter in Norway. The Mossad agents had used fake Canadian passports, which angered the Canadian government. Six Mossad agents were arrested, and the incident became known as the Lillehammer affair.

• In 1997, two Mossad agents were caught in Jordan, which had signed a peace treaty with Israel, on a mission to assassinate Sheikh Khaled Mashal, a leader of Hamas, by injecting him with poison at a pro-Hamas rally in Amman. Again, they were using fake Canadian passports. This led to a diplomatic row with Canada and Jordan, and Israel was forced to provide the poison antidote and release around 70 Palestinian prisoners, in particular the Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, in exchange for the Mossad agents, who would otherwise have faced the death penalty for attempted murder. In March 2004, 7 years after he was released, the handicapped Yassin was killed in an Israeli helicopter airstrike.