Avraham Shalom
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Avraham (Shalom) Ben-Dor[1] was born in 1928 in Vienna, Austria, immigrated to Israel in 1939, and moved to Tel Aviv, where he resides until the present. In 1946 he was recruited to the "Palmach" and served in the maritime force in Kibbutz Yagur and Kibbutz Ma'oz Hayyim. Upon the outbreak of the Israeli War of Independence he fought in the battles of Mishmar Ha-emeq and Operation Hiram, as well as in Lod, Ramle, Latrun and in the battles of the Negev. He was discharged from the IDF at the end of 1949 and in 1950 he was recruited to the Israeli Security Agency (ISA, Shin Bet).
Shin Bet service
1950 - positioned in the Operations Division in Haifa,
1951 - took a leave of absence in order to complete his matriculation exams. He returned to the ISA a few months later in order to command the operations unit in the south until its closure.
1952 - appointed commander of the Jerusalem Operations Division.
1954 - sent by Isser Harel on a mission to Europe, where he was stationed for three years.
1959 – returned to the ISA Operations Division following an additional two year of leave of absence during which he served in the position of operations officer and deputy director of a division in the Mossad, following which he was appointed head of the Operations Division.
1972 - appointed commander of the Security Division following the Munich Olympics Massacre.
1980 - appointed ISA Director
1986 – retired from the ISA following the expose of the "Bus 300" Affair
Avraham Ben Dor and Rafi Eitan were legendary figures in the world of espionage. Together they led the team that kidnapped Adolf Eichmann in Buenos Aires in 1960 and brought that war criminal before the bar of Israeli justice. Eight years later, the same two Mossad operatives appeared at an Apollo, Pa., nuclear processing plant, and following their visit 587 pounds of U.S. weapons-grade uranium was reported missing.
Avraham Ben Dor, using the alias Avraham Shalom, rose to the top of the internal security service, Shin Bet. When Alex Libek, former photographer of "Haaretz” provided evidence that his men murdered a couple of Palestinian terrorist prisoners, his agency was caught trying to frame an army commander; however, Avraham Ben Dor and his aides resigned and received a presidential pardon.
Mr Avraham Ben Dor is suspected of aiding the cover-up of Rafi Eitan who when U.S. officials talked to under a grant of immunity believe he lied to them; as a result, a grand jury in Washington Two Israeli diplomats were spirited out of the US of A as the Pollards were caught.
On Friday, November 14, 2003, Yediot Achronot, one of the leading tabloid newspapers in Israel, published an interview with four former heads of the Israeli General Security Services (GSS) conducted by Alex Fishman and Sima Kadmon. In that interview, the former Security Chiefs warn of an impending "catastrophe" for Israel and urge the public to rally behind a document created by Ami Ayalon and Sari Nusseibeh that sets out the principles of a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. The blunt language and statements of grave concern are particularly striking because the GSS is the non-political nerve center of Israeli intelligence, and is the agency responsible both for gathering intelligence and for preventing terrorist attacks - including by such controversial means as targeted killings and other preventive measures. While the interview has been widely quoted, rough translations have only appeared on isolated list servers and websites, and the full power of the meeting - called "historic" by its participants - has often been diluted.[2]
| Preceded by Avraham Ahituv |
Director of the Shabak 1980–1986 |
Succeeded by Yossef Harmelin |
