Michael Harari
Michael "Mike" Harari (1927 – September 21, 2014) was an Israeli intelligence officer in the Mossad. Harari was involved in several notable operations, including the failed Lillehammer affair and the rescue of hostages at Entebbe.
Harari began his intelligence work facilitating illegal Jewish immigration to British-controlled Palestine after World War II. He then spent time in the army and Shin Bet before being recruited by the Mossad in the 1960s. During his time in the Mossad he ran agents in Europe, eventually advancing to the head of the Operations Branch. It was during this time that he helped build and lead teams in Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli response to the Munich Massacre in 1972. In what became known as the Lillehammer affair, Harari led a team into Norway where they believed Ali Hassan Salameh, the chief of Black September operations was living. After identifying and assassinating the target, it was revealed that they had killed an innocent waiter, Ahmed Bouchiki, who only resembled Salameh. While authorities arrested many of Harari's team, he escaped back to Israel. A Norwegian case against him was dismissed in January 1999 because of a lack of evidence.[1]
Despite this setback, Harari later scored two major successes for the Mossad. Before Operation Thunderbolt was launched in July, 1976, to free Israeli hostages at Entebbe International Airport, Harari supposedly took the disguise of an Italian businessman to enter and reconnoiter the airport. He also helped facilitate the use of Kenyan air bases to refuel Israeli planes returning from the rescue mission.[2] In January, 1979, Harari led a team that killed Ali Hassan Salameh in Beirut with a car bomb, the same man he had tried to assassinate in Lillehammer years earlier.
At some later point in time Harari became the Mossad station chief of Latin America but based in Israel. Although he is said to have retired after this service, it is unclear if all his Israeli intelligence connections were severed when he left for Panama. He returned to Israel just before or during the 1989 United States invasion of Panama, which deposed Manuel Noriega and installed the legitimate presidential victor Guillermo Endara. Harari later appeared on Israeli television and denied that he was ever a close advisor of Noriega. He also said that he had escaped by his own means. [3]
Harari was played by actor Moshe Ivgy in Steven Spielberg's 2005 film Munich,[4] which depicts a controversial account of Operation Wrath of God.
Harari died at his Tel Aviv home on September 21, 2014 at the age of 87.
Notes
- ^ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Norway Report on Human Rights Practices, US State Department, Feb. 23, 2000.
- ^ Reeve, 205.
- ^ "Israeli Denies He Served as Noriega Adviser", The New York Times, Jan. 7, 1990. Accessed June 5, 2006.
- ^ Moshe Ivgy, IMDB.com. Retrieved December 228, 2006.
References
- Black, Ian and Morris, Benny. Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. New York: Grove Press, 1991. ISBN 0-8021-1159-9, 276 p.
- Reeve, Simon. One Day in September. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1-55970-547-7
- Scott, Peter Dale and Marshall, Jonathan. Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991. ISBN 0-520-21449-8, 73-4 p.