Israel's Defense Forces have seemingly gained some kind of control over the invasion of Hamas terrorists at its borders.
After fixing the vast majority of the 80 border breaches within 48 hours, attention has turned to rescuing hostages and making sure any terrorists still inside Israel are stopped. However, for many, the thought of “what if?” remains, and that “what if?” tends to rely on the fact that Israel's forces are one of the most well trained in the world.
But if things had turned out far worse, Israel does have one ace up its sleeve. The secret service agency known as Mossad is one of the most elusive in the world.
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For many, the name of Mossad has only ever been heard in TV shows such as Fauda or the film Operation Finale starring Sir Ben Kingsley. However, in reality not much is known about the super secretive agency . . . but what we do know when ex-Mossad agents tell all is more than eye-opening.
Palestinian terrorist Wadie Haddad was responsible in the planning and carrying out of several plane hijackings involving Israeli airline El Al. He was so notorious for his love of hijackings that the organisation he was working for, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, kicked him out.
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He was a known associate of neo-Nazis, and was known to be the organiser of the Entebbe hijackings in Jun 1976, which saw 248 passengers held hostage, but just one killed and five wounded after a miracle rescue by Israel. But Haddad, who was also allegedly a Russian KGB agent, was finally assassinated by Israel in 1978 after Mossad took advantage of the bloke's love of chocolate.
According to Israeli journalist Aaron Klein's 2006 book Striking Back, Haddad was taken out after eating a box of Belgian chocolates coated with a very slow-acting and undetectable poison. But it wasn't just chocolates – the poison was in his toothpaste as well.
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Mossad somehow managed to gain access to his home, and switched out his normal toothpaste for an identical-looking tube that contained a harmful toxin developed by the Israeli Institute of Biological Research. This meant that every time he ate a chocolate or brushed his teeth, a small amount of poison went into his bloodstream, causing him to have a very, very slow death.
Several reports claim he was heard screaming in pain during his final 10 days, which he spent in hospital, resulting in being sedated before eventually dying.
The Munich massacre, which saw Palestinian terrorists slaughter 12 of Israel's 1972 Summer Olympics team, is one of the most famous terror attacks of the last 50 years. But the assassinations enacted by Mossad after it are less well-known.
One of which was the killing of Mahmoud Hamshari, who was representing the Palestine Liberation Organisation in France a few months after the attack.
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He was accosted by an Italian journalist who went to his apartment and lured him out so that they could interview him. While out, Mossad agents entered the home and installed a bomb underneath his desk telephone – it was 1972 after all.
And on December 8, 1972, the journalist who was actually an agent of Mossad, had arranged to call him . . . resulting in the bloke picking up the phone and setting off the bomb after Mossad sent a detonation signal down the phone line. Hamshari was mortally wounded, but lived long enough to tell detectives what had happened before dying in hospital a few weeks later.
The killing was part of the Wrath of God assassinations, which saw Mossad take out several of those involved in the Olympic killings, and was even the subject of the 2005 film Munich. As well as Mossad, Israel also has the Shin Bet organisation up its sleeve, which performs a similar role to that super secret agency.
Neither have yet been involved in the latest conflict . . . that we known of.
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