A famous Marine Corps recruitment ad featured the tagline: “We’re looking for a few good men.” That later became the ironic title of Aaron Sorkin’s 1992 hit film, A Few Good Men.
Israel’s Mossad has taken the thought to heart…with a twist. It’s looking for a few good women. And let’s just say they’re not looking for “good women” in the same sense as the Marine ad.
The ad copy adds that the agency is looking for women possessing a “special character.” You can imagine what that means.
Though the ad says the recruits are sought to “run” agents in the field (ketzinot isuf), it’s widely known that the Mossad uses women for two main tasks: as honey pots and as “decoration” for assassination plots. A Mossad agent code-named “Cindy” (aka Cheryl Bentov) lured Mordechai Vanunu into a rendez-vous which led to his kidnapping and trial after he blew the whistle on Israel’s nuclear weapons program. Rather infamously, at several women participated in the Kidon Dubai hit, where it assassinated Mahmoud al Mabouh.
There have been examples of famous female Mossad agents like Tzipi Livni. All we know is that she served in Europe. We don’t know if she served in a traditional female role or had a more substantive mission with the agency.
An Israeli security official scoffed at the ad to me saying: “Mossad is openly recruiting sharmutas (Arabic slang roughly translated as “floozies”)!”
NOTE: I’ll be interviewed on WPKN’s Between the Lines show tomorrow (listen live), Monday at 8:05PM (eastern). The station is heard throughout Connecticut and northern Long Island. I will offer the podcast when it’s available. I’ll be talking about the UN settlement resolution, John Kerry’s attempt to ‘do a Lazarus’ on the two-state solution, and Israel’s ferocious push-back.
This is the 21 century, you have womken fighter pilots in the IDF and you have women doing all types of duties in the Mossad as described in the following article that includes interviews with 5 Mossad female agents.
http://www.globes.co.il/news/article.aspx?did=1000783977
@ Amico: You have FOUR women fighter pilots in the IAF. That’s not a record to boast about.
The article to which you linked includes several discussions with the female agents about their use of sex, flirtation & other forms involving the use of “feminine wiles” in the course of their duties. It does not say anything about the nature of their duties that would lead me to believe they performed senior managerial or executive duties on a par with senior male agents. Can you point to a single woman who’s ever been a Mossad chief or director of a Mossad unit/division? No you can’t.
Do not comment further in this thread. Move on to another thread.
Sharmuta is best translated to whore IMHO.
But if you are a whore for king and country (or Menora and country) – aren’t you perhaps a heroine?
@ lepxii: “Cindy” is no heroine. Besides, exploiting your sex or gender to arrest a real Israeli hero like Vanunu & throw him in prison for the rest of his life isn’t heroism. It’s despicable.
And the policewoman who goes undercover dressed like a prostitute, is that a deplorable trap?
@ Neil: It depends what her mission is. If it’s to arrest and imprison Edward Snowden or Mordechai Vanunu–then no. If it’s to kidnap & assassinate a Palestinian, then no. But if it’s to arrest, try, convict & imprison a murderer, then yes.
If putting a traitor (and one can debate the definition of treason) in prison is despicable – what is your opinion of the US executing nuclear spies (who were in fact framed)?
Death penalty is always wrong, cannot be corrected in case the truth comes to light.
@ Stan: I didn’t say putting a “traitor” in prison was despicable. You did. Nor do I think the Rosenbergs were traitors. Klaus Fuchs had years earlier betrayed far more valuable secrets to the Russians than the Rosenbergs ever did.
@ lepxii
Yes, ‘sharmuta’ is ‘whore’ or ‘bitch’ (ibn sharmuta, son of a bitch) but it’s in no way positive, also when used by Israelis. Left-wing Israelis are regularly called sharmuta by right-wingers in demonstrations, you’re telling us it’s meant positively ?
@Deir Yassin: Yes, those left wingers are heroes, right? Or are they “whores?” Hmm…Depends who you ask.
[comment deleted: snark of that sort will earn you immediate moderation]
I seek clarification here, is the issue that certain governments employ the use subterfuge and women, inter-alia in their intelligence process?
Or is the issue that Israel employs certain tactics that could be classed as being devious?
(I am not being disingenous in this question.)
@Stan
From Wikipedia:
“Tu quoque (/tjuːˈkwoʊkwiː/;[1] Latin for, “you also”) or the appeal to hypocrisy is an informal logical fallacy that intends to discredit the validity of the opponent’s logical argument by asserting the opponent’s failure to act consistently in accordance with its conclusion(s).
Tu quoque “argument” follows the pattern:
Person A makes claim X.
Person B asserts that A’s actions or past claims are inconsistent with the truth of claim X.
Therefore X is false.[2]
An example would be:
Peter: “Based on the arguments I have presented, it is evident that it is morally wrong to use animals for food or clothing.”
Bill: “But you are wearing a leather jacket and you have a roast beef sandwich in your hand! How can you say that using animals for food and clothing is wrong?”[2]
It is a fallacy because the moral character or past actions of the opponent are generally irrelevant to the logic of the argument.[3] It is often used as a red herring tactic and is a special case of the ad hominem fallacy, which is a category of fallacies in which a claim or argument is rejected on the basis of facts about the person presenting or supporting the claim or argument.”
Your argument is all the more fallacious because you know nothing about Richard’s judgment of these executions – but even if he did approve of them in the past your “argument” would still remain a “tu quoque” fallacy.
‘Mossad’ in Hebrew translates to either “institution” or “asylum” (as in mental institution or asylum). Whenever I read about a Mossad exploit, I immediately think to myself that these people really do belong in a mental institution, preferably in a closed ward.
The level of Israeli childishness can be gauged directly from Mossad’s activity. They literally think that killing individuals deemed to be ‘enemy’ makes their country any safer, as if someone like al-Mabouh can’t be replaced. They’ve been assassinating people for decades and they don’t seem to notice it hasn’t made their country safe at all.
I think Einstein said the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Israel is a mental institution where the patients have long ago taken over.
Deir Yassin – I did not mean to imply that all “sharmutas” are heroines. But just as we canonize some killers (who act in the service of their country, following orders, etc.) and vilify other killers (e.g. a civilian serial killer vs. a military sniper) – can’t one make the same distinction regarding whores?
Obviously a hero to one is a villain to another – it’s all a matter of perspective.
We could even hark back to the bible – was Rahab a heroine? It depends if you are an Israelite or a resident of Jericho.
I think the Israeli security official was right given the rape culture seen through the Israeli security apparatus