photo: spiegelonline
A once passionate zionist, a man who worked for the Mossad under the name ben Zygier, was found hanged of an apparent suicide two years ago in an Israeli prison.
But who was this man? And why was an Isreali agent in jail?
His death arose much curiosity when it reached the news agencies. And soon the truth about this imprisonment became clear. The once fervent believer had become a turncoat and was passing secrets to Hezbollah.
His death was mysterious too. Although there were three separate ccv cameras in his cell, no one in the security monitoring towers noticed that the prisoner had not moved for hours.
In fact, by the time the guards took him down from his homemade noose of sheets, he was already cold. The maximum security prison in which he had been held in Ramla district, was a place where he was sent to be forgotten by the whole world. The proportion of prisoner to guard there is staggering. It is 2:1. Two prisoners, one guard.
Zygier, who is an Australian national, was placed in a cell designated for enemies of the state. Israel's gag order on the case only stoked the conspiracy theorists' curiosity and their willingness to believe that there was foul play involved.
But the case is more complex than that. In fact Zygier did what no other Israeli citizen had ever done: betray Israel to its most dangerous enemy.
He had started with good intentions. He was at the onset, imbibed with a sense of duty to the country of Israel, although he remained an Australian citizen. His father was a well liked Jewish businessman in Melbourne, and Zygier grew up in an orthodox fashion, duly attending zionist organizations and Jewish schools.
But his dream was to become a spy. He abandoned his career as a lawyer and moved to Isreal, where he joined the kibbuts at Gazit, near the Galilee sea.
His friend from Australia, who also moved to Isreal to join the kibbutz, said it was unthinkable that he had committed suicidie, for he was a remarkable man.
But how did Zygier enter the ranks of the most secretive service in the world? Easily. He was taken in at a time when the Mossad was reaching out to individuals outside its usual sphere of research. And Zygier was a perfect candidate. Australian law permits its citizen a change of name and a new passport with the changed name. Zygier had three such passports.
Zygier was given the usual battery of tests, background, psychological, etc. So he must have fit the bill. After an intensive one-year training program, he was sent to Europe in 2005, where his job was to infiltrate companies that were believed to do business with Iran and Syria.
He soon found his target, and although the company's principals admit that he was inexperienced, he was kept due to his incredible skills and obvious talent.
Not long after, he had risen so high in the company's ranks, that he was dealing directly with customers.
But things took an ominous turn in 2006. Zygier seems to have hit a slump. He card little, and was fighting with his partners. At that point he was fired.
He then went on to other companies, in a repeat of the same m.o., but he was never able to deliver on his promise, at least not at the level that Mossad would have liked him, or he would have been able, to.
At this point, Zygier was called back to the Mossad headquarters and given a desk job at one of its divisions, responsible for analysis and information.
But the transfer did not sit well with Zygier. He soon fell into the disillusionment that the tedious task engenders. And that is when he turned.
His tenure as a turncoat would soon be cut short though, when the clamorous capture of a Lebanese double agent occurred, a hero in Lebanon and above suspicion for most, Ziad al-Homsi. This prisoner was a very important pawn in the dangerous chess game between Hezbollah and Isreal.
When Hamzi was arrested, the castle of cards that was the Lebanese secret agency collapsed, revealing several Isreali spy rings in Lebanon. One of the people snared in the net was one Mustafa Ali Awadeh, an important mole within Hezbollah.
The Mossad was stymied and was incredulous at the velocity with which the carefully placed moles had been eradicated. Then the Mossad got a break. The person responsible for turning the agents in was a man that had traveled to Australia, a double agent told. That was all it took to realize who the culprit was. Zygier's arrest soon followed. At his arrest he was found with a CD containing crucial information about the network.
Some people think that Mossad made a mistake in hiring him, that his personality was not suitable to the dark, sometimes tedious work he was to do.
What then motivated this man to change sides? There was no monetary concern in the switch. And the only people who could probably answer these questions, his own parents, they are staying mum.
Whatever secrets he may have had, they went with him to the grave. Including the one surrounding his suicide at the young age of 34.
Source: Spiegel 3.27.13
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