Ronen Bergman’s Yediot expose about Ben Zygier
Ronen Bergman, Israel’s leading intelligence correspondent published a new report in Der Spiegel today (this is a teaser and here a summary–in German) that details the cause of Ben Zygier’s arrest. I have confirmed through my own Israeli source that Bergman’s account of Zygier’s fate is correct.
According to Bergman, Zygier was dispatched to Europe in 2005, two years after he began his Mossad training and shortly after completing it, to recruit agents within companies that did business with Iran. Another Der Spiegel reporter has already revealed that one of the companies was located in Milan. Bergman claims that Zygier penetrated the company by taking a job as head of Accounts Payable. Zygier had no previous experience in the field, but picked up the routine quickly. However, he quickly lost motivation and almost cost the company the loss of one of its biggest clients. As a result, he was fired.
Zygier never succeeded in penetrating Iran. After two and a half years in Europe, the agency brought him home to a Mossad desk job. His new job embittered and frustrated him. He then decided to take a study leave (an arrangement provided in the standard Mossad contract). Study leaves usually do not provide for entering programs outside Israel. But the agency permitted him to do so. Bergman claims Zygier enrolled in law school, but all previous testimony I’ve read says it was business school.
One of the Israeli bloggers who’s written most extensively about Zygier is Yehuda Bello. I read his account (Hebrew) and found it to be dramatic, detailed, and vivid. For that reason, I thought it read like fiction. But Bello did get some key details of the Australian portion of this story correct. Bergman adds much more.
Prominent Lebanese politician and Israeli spy, Ziad al-Homsi, betrayed by Ben Zygier
After enrolling, the Mossad discovered that Hezbollah had identified a Mossad agent at the school. It appears that Zygier himself was the source of the leak. He either befriended or was befriended by a source to whom he revealed that he was a Mossad agent whose assignment dealt with Iran. He also revealed false information to the source, saying he’d been to Iran and had been sent to other Middle Eastern countries by the organization.
The Australian intelligence agency discovered this and was angered that the Mossad had sent an agent who was active on Australian soil. As a result, Zygier was summoned back to Israel. His explanations of his conduct were unsatisfactory and the case was handed to the Shin Bet. In the course of this investigation, it discovered that while he was on desk assignment in Israel, in an attempt to prove himself worthy of being returned to the field, he established contact with a Hezbollah agent in a Balkan country. He attempted to “turn” the agent to work for Israel. But instead of leveraging information from the Hezbollah operative, Zygier himself revealed information to him. This information was used by Lebanese security to identity two high level spies who were working for Israel and captured with telecommunication and encryption devices. One of them was a prominent politician in the Hariri camp.
In 2009, Haaretz reporter Amos Harel wrote (Hebrew) a heavily censored article about the spy catastrophe in Lebanon. He used the term Eysek Bish (“Bad Business”) which is the colloquial phrase used to describe one of the Mossad’s most disastrous failures (also known as the Lavon Affair). In other words, the Lebanese mess was a major setback for Israeli efforts to penetrate Hezbollah. Former Haaretz editor, Hanoch Marmari, revealed this (Hebrew) in his own piece published by Seventh Eye.
Given all of this, it’s much easier to understand the tragedy that befell Ben Zygier and why he may’ve killed himself in prison. It’s a huge burden to know that you not only let your country down, but that your actions led to the imprisonment of Israeli intelligence sources. In light of this, the severity of his actions become more understandable.
This English-language report summarizes the account of the Israeli spy ring Zygier compromised. Here is a later report that summarizes the account of a number of other exposed spy rings.
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Bergman is anything else but reliable and BTW Esek Habish wasn’t done by the Mossad but by AMAN. This fact is really easy to check and doesn’t need some insider: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavon_Affair
[comment deleted for comment rule violation–comments must make a argument of substance related to the post]
Very interesting.
At least in Hebrew there is a distinction between the Lavon affair (“Haparashah”) which derived from the “Eseq Bish” but not the event itself. This is nitpicking, to be sure, but I’m only mentioning it because I’m assuming Harel’s allusion is intended to draw parallels between Zygier and Avri Elad (the adventurous character, the hostile neighbor state, the solitary confinement, etc.) which are not as emphasized when diverting the attention to the Lavon affair, i.e. the political aftermath of the EB.
If Z committed suicide, it was after learning how serious his own misdeeds were seen by Mossad/Shin-Bet. If he was killed, his killers were presumably those who (in the other reading) were teaching him the seriousness of his misdeeds. Not much of a difference. And I don’t care. Maybe some people do care.
The Hariri name appeared above, and makes me wonder if any of this is connected to (or sheds any light on) the Hariri assassination.
If there is any similarity with an older affaire, I’d rather compare it with the Manbar scandal.
Ronen’s story sounds for many reasons like pure fiction and isn’t logical.
Even if the report is true, and Ben Zygier has exposed top-level sources in Lebanon – his secret arrest was still a scandal. The Israeli public deserves to know what the Mossad is doing in his name. Every kid in Lebanon knows that Israel is using spies to get information about Hezbollah, so the facts do not come as a surprise.
If Ben Zygier did stupid things in his career, the Mossad will have to clean its dirty laundery in the public eye, or decide to leave him alone. Secret trials, leading to secret suicides, are the biggest NO-NO we can think of, as citizens.
Why are you making apologies for the zionists? I guess you too can’t be trusted!!
If this account is true, and also assuming that it’s the full story if it is, then in effect Zygier was arrested and jailed because Mossad’s management of a rookie agent was extremely slack. If he made some mistakes, then they should have tightened supervision over him, rather than relax it completely until disaster ensued, which is what they seem to have done.
Giving essentially amateur sources in the enemy camp an encryption device, of any form, is like handing over a death sentence with rope attached. Could have been found without Zygier’s input.
The wikipedia article was heavily edited by the very people with a stake to edit out certain facts. There’s an army of israeli and zionist Jews whose job it is to act as the wikipedia “clean team”. While not entirely untruthful, the edited entries are air-brushed to serve the more palatable version to the world. Since you chose to bring up wikipedia on this matter, I will assume you have your reasons and we will attribute to your comment(s) what credibility they deserve.
One of the conjectures I read is that the truth and the means for the haririr assassination started leaking out as collateral of the arrests of Mossad’s agents. While they themselves may have been involved only peripherally in the planning of the assassination, some of the agents arrested – especially the ones high placed politically – provided cover to the official” story about hezbollah’s involvement.
Note that just about the ONLY piece of evidence pointing in a direction related to hezbollah were cell phone records from the day of the assassination. It is hardly a coincidence that some of the arrested spies were communication officials, and at least one or more may have had a hand in “arranging” the call records so they point in the desired direction. .
Those who have been and are in lebanon will be able to verify that there’s hardly anyone there – no matter how lowly or high a citizen – who doesn’t know that the assassination was a false flag operation planned by Mossad but executed by locals, for the most part.
No, I don’t have proof. If I did i would be in trouble, no? what I do have is high plausibility of the scenario with israeli intelligence as the master mind of the murder. It’s not just the qui bene part of it. It’s the fact that after so much investigation and finger pointing, the public is not the wiser and just about everyone gave up on arresting and/or bringing to “justice’ the perpetrators as fingered by the bought and paid for UN commission. If there was any fire behind that smoke, we can rest assured that the noise for accountability by hezbollah would be deafening. The noise isn’t there because the case is not only flimsy but by now, Hezbollah has no doubt secured the confessions of the malfeasants – including means and methods – and probably has a few trump cards it can threaten to unveil should the noises get any louder.
So the compromising of mossad’s agents had truly devastating consequences for the agency. It not only lost trusted agents it took years to cultivate but has exposed Israel to credible accusations of having been the mastermind behind Hariri’s murder. If Zygier had anything to do with that exposure, however inadvartently – he is no doubt being much praised in certain corridors as an agent for justice – divine or otherwise.
Uri, see my theory above as to the likely reasons there was absolutely no possibility of providing Ben Zygier a public trial, and even a private trial would have been dangerous because of the possibility of leaks. If it was just an accidental exposure of lebanese agents, as you say, that would not exactly come as a shock to anyone in Israel, and Zygier would be seen as primarily negligent and perhaps, as Bello likes to point out, a victim of his own over-zealous tendency to bravura. If, however, there was a high likelihood that any public or even private trial would bring to light information that can implicate the Mossad in the planning – and masterminding the execution – of the Hariri murder, then it doesn’t matter that Zygier’s ‘crime’ did or did not merit the treatment he was given; the paramount concern in keeping him hidden and under wraps is that he himself came to know the truth about haririr and, no matter his intentions of keeping those revelations secret – the potential blow-back is severe enough to where Zygier’s life is dispensable.
Dana, You may believe whatever you want to. The sole reason I quoted Wikipedia was to prove that in the Esek Habish it was AMAN involved and not the Mossad. This is a well documented fact and no sane person will claim something different.
In my earlier comment about Ben Zygier, my suspicion was a link to the Hariri bombing massacre in Beirut in 2005 …
Sorry, not the Mavi Marmara, this would not be embarrasing enough. Israel’s national security at risk would mean Lebanon/Hezbollah/Syria/Iran … think of assassinations carried out in Lebanon. Ben Allen – lawyer – telecom – spy network – false evidence/witnesses – STL investigation – Hariri bombing. Look at the 2010 timeline of the STL investigation in Lebanon. See also the early 2010 reporting by Jason Koutsoukis: ASIO targets new spy suspects.
I’m with you all the way Dana. The Israeli spynetwork in telecom enabled the Mossad to cover tracks after the Hariri bombing. My suspicion is also the bombing was executed with the involvement of locals, however the Mossad went along for the piggy-back ride, nothing here to see! Move along …
Rafic Hariri and Saudi Prince Alaweed were in tough competition (and bribery) for telecom contracts in Lebanon. The prince had ties to local Sunni extremists. I never quite understood the role of the prince behind the political scene in the country. The goal of Al Sham is closer due to the Sunni led opposition forces in Syria, with backing from Qatar and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. The protector of Hariri was King Fahd where the crown-prince was the protector of Alaweed.
[insulting other commenters is a comment rule violation–you stand on the cusp of losing your commenting privileges]
Thanks for the “nitpicking.” It’s quite all right as I’m not as familiar in every nuance with Israeli history going back to the 50s.
I stand corrected. I wrote the post very quickly and this was one of the facts I added from memory rather than first researching it. Thanks for the correction.
I guess not. I’m nothing but a tool of Zionist colonial oppressors! Glad you found me out.
Richard: “He attempted to “turn” the agent to work for Israel. But instead of leveraging information from the Hezbollah operative, Zygier himself revealed information to him.”
Hmmmm, does that sound credible to you? Or even half-way credible?
Sure, I can believe that a spy may attempt to turn another spy, and do so without prior authorization.
Maybe they succeed, and maybe they fail, but the attempt itself may be worth a go.
But one thing you would never try is to “turn” someone by blabbing *your* secrets to *him*. What is that ever going to achieve other than to impress upon him that “Whoah! Who is this idiot? Why would I ever want to work for him?”.
All that gumpf may simply be a way of placing all the blame on Zygier because – du’oh! – the alternative is too painful to admit.
Because maybe, just maybe, the very first time Zygier and his Hezbollah friend met that dude introduced himself with “Hello, my name is Ahmed, I’ve been assigned as your handler”.
You too believe in the superior chosen ones. Otherwise, why care more about that Zygier that the thousands of Palestinians children your fellow Jews have killed in the name of your god?
Weel ,that’s settled than.
Zygier ,an inexperienced kid,sent to infiltrate companies in Germany doing bussiness with Iran as his first assignment,was a traitor.
And you believe this rubbish,Zygier can’t speak anymore,good riddance,right?
If a Mossad agent goes off the rails ,the Mossad will take of that themselves,not Shin Bet or Ramle prison.
Total psy-op.
Your source isn’t Mossad,and it’s better to stay away from anybody claiming to be Mossad,as they serve masters you don’t wanna know.
Mossad and Shin Bet will never collaborate.
“Nothing is more dangerous than sincere ignorance,and conscientious stupidity. ”
Martin L. King jr.
Imagine you were a spook.
Now, imagine that you attempt to convince a rival spook Over To Your Side by giving over *your* secrets *to* him.
Think about it: you are attempting to “turn” someone by exposing your breathtaking incompetence to him.
Which – du’oh! – isn’t likely to engender any confidence from that wannabe confidant.
It really just beggars belief that anyone with any training in spycraft would be that hopeless.
Isn’t it much more likely that Zygier was handing Israeli secrets over to that Hezbollah spook because he had already been recruited by Hezbollah?
As in: Zygier wasn’t an incompetent Mossad agent. He was a competent Hezbollah agent. And that dude wasn’t being approached *by* Zygier, he was Zygier’s *handler*.
That makes much more sense.
I don’t believe Zygier was a traitor. Only that he was in way over his head, that he was mentally unstable, had delusions of self importance, and was unsuitable for the job.
Please avoid all the ominous warnings & comments on my sources. You don’t know what you’re talking about.
The whole story is a fake.
An Aussie boy infiltrating Iran and Hezbollah,after living in israel?
You think the Irani are idiots?
That’s not how Mossad works,that’s not what they use blue -eyed Aussie boys for.
He was Mossad,did something damaging to Israel and started talking.
Shin Bet failed to keep him alive.
The rest is spin and damage control.
If he was unsuitable for the job,they wouldn’t have given him a task that even the most expierienced agents would have trouble with.
I know nothing about your sources,the warning about staying away from Mossad is a general one.
first dibs to you Oui. i didn’t catch that comment on the hariri case before. Also, interesting about Rafic and the prince. Lebanese politics is really convoluted. Maybe a bit too much so for the israelis who are trying to tweak local salafists to generate conflicts, and sometimes it kind of blows up in their face..
I have to agree with some people here that at least parts of the story as Der Spiegel supposedly tells it (and we haven’t seen yet the whole story, just summaries, right?) don’t add up. For those who think Zygier was “turned’ for real, i ask – what’s the motivation? what’s the psychology behind a dedicated zionist Australian suddenly changing sides? so that part somehow doesn’t wash and I gather Yehuda bello doesn’t believe it either.
But there’s even more here than meets the eye. bello claims that Zygier in Milano was not our Ben Alon/Zygier, but one who adopted the Zygier persona and got cover for it from the “real” Zygier, on Mossad’s instructions. For some reason this claim seems plausible, maybe because Ben Zygier, Mr. x’ was already a trained lawyer – what would he be doing as head of “Accounts payable”? in what universe does a law degree – from Australia of all places – qualify one to handle accounts? It’s OK to tell stories and to invent cover tales, but for crying out loud, there has to be at least a shred of plausibility here! Bello claims to have spoken with many people and family members who knew Zygier over the years he was supposed to be in Europe, and found some things that did not add up. There are claims that maya his wife, never called him (Ben) when he was supposedly in Europe. He always called here, even complaining about the weather in Europe. Others claim to have met him both in Australia and in England. Of course, all these friends and relatives could be lying. But the one thing I am not buying is the role as Accounts manager. If it was a normal company, this just isn’t likely, based on everything I know about lawyers and accountants.
The other part that doesn’t add up (ie, we have no idea really what happened) is the role of the Australian spy agencies. Something brought Zygier to their attention and something caused someone(s) there to disclose details to a reporter in 2009. Now what reason would there be for a spy agency (ASIO) to leak information to a reporter on the understanding that he will go and dig stuff up? when does an intelligence agency do that? remember – this happened in 2009 – BEFORE the Dubai murder.
Conclusion, we’ll get to read no doubt more when the full der spiegel story comes out. But from the bits in the summaries provided (both hebrew and English) something is still way not adding up.
This wasn’t just a “nuance” of the Israeli history. This was one of the largest affairs mainly in the ’60s, Therefore it was called then “The Affair”.
The “nuance” I referred to was my mistaken statement that the Mossad arranged it & your correction it was Aman. That’s all I meant.
@Lydda: No, sorry I don’t believe Jews are “chosen ones.” Sorry to burst your anti-Semitic bubble. As for who I care about: I care about Israelis and Palestinians. I care about justice. If injustice is done to a Palestinian or an Israeli, I care about it equally.
No one kills anyone in the name of “my God.” I don’t recognize settlers or Israeli extremists as speaking on behalf of Judaism, at least not as I practice it.
Why should Zygier know the identity of the Israeli spies by the Hizballah?
The real story is very simple: Zygier was suspected that he leaked info to the Australian authorities, but he was innocent. The Mossad isn’t capable of admitting this and Zygier had to die in order that this grave mistake will come out.
Is it coincidence that his death prevented a good lawyer (A. Feldman) from getting the file?
Now Feldman doesn’t talk anymore. Why?