חשיפה: קצין המודיעין שהתאבד בכלא הצבאי לאחר שהואשם בריגול הוא סרן תומר אייגס (25) מחיפה
Every man has a name given him by God and by his mother and father.
…Every man has a name given him by the sea and by his death.
NOTE: “Drew” if you read this please contact me with an updated e mail address or via another social media platform. I am eager to speak with you.
Israel news media are reporting that an officer in the IDF intelligence directorate AMAN, committed suicide in his cell in a military prison last month. He had been secretly arrested in September. An Israeli source told me that the deceased’s identity was unintenionally revealed in a chat room used by prison personnel. A separate Israeli security source has confirmed he was Capt. Tomer Eiges, 25 from Haifa. Eiges was a computer technology specialist serving in military intelligence.
On his LinkedIn page there are more than a score of endorsements from former bosses and work colleagues who describe him as a youthful genius in his field. They only reinforce the tragedy of his death. He wrote about his work at the last job he held before entering the IDF:
Researched advanced techniques of gathering information & fraudulent user activity detection using front-end and back-end resources.
Developed and maintained existing realtime infrastructures with high-availability, high-throughput & low-latency requirements incorporating many different environments with emphasis on both performance and visibility.
Wrote and maintained tests for many different systems written in different language while also helping maintain/improve the main alerting & visibility system.
In 2004, a different Israeli intelligence agent who worked for Mossad was secretly arrested, tried and convicted of betraying Israel to Iran. Amir Oren profiled his story for Haaretz in a report that was censored and removed from the internet by the military censor. This man, whose identity has never been revealed, didn’t commit suicide. He served his sentence and returned to his wife and family. What I wrote then about him holds doubly true about Eiges, because he lost his life:
Every man deserves a name. Every man deserves the deeds of his life no matter how good or bad. No man, no state, no security apparatus has the right to steal these things from any man. Except in Israel. There, the State may take everything from you. They may even do this if you were once one of them. Especially if you were once one of them.
If you were once one of them and betrayed them you can lose everything. Your name, your deeds, your family, your freedom, your life.
In death, Eiges’ punishment continues as he was excluded from burial in a military cemetery.
A few years ago, Ilana Dayan asked to profile me for an Uvdah segment that focused in part on the case of the Mossad spy. Needless to say, I was excited to be featured on Israel’s top news magazine. I traveled to Washington DC and spent two days interviewing with her. The segment never aired and neither the producer nor anyone with the program ever told me why. Needless to say, it was very frustrating.
Returning to Eiges, the security source would not expand on the charges against Eiges. If anyone reading this knows more about the case, please contact me. This is exactly the sort of information the Israeli public deserves to know. They are paying for the army to protect them. If it fails, as it did in this case, the public should know why.
The case is under military censorship as the IDF does not want anyone to know about his acts of espionage, who he spied for; and it does not want anyone to know how the prison jailers could allow a detainee to commit suicide right under their noses. Yet another example of military censorship covering the asses of the army and protecting it from embarrassment.
Apparently, the Israeli prison system has learned nothing from the 2010 suicide of Ben Zygier under similar circumstances. Zygier worked for the Mossad. He inadvertently betrayed Israeli security secrets to Hezbollah agents (according to one version of the story), was secretly arrested. In the months waiting for his trial, he was held incommunicado in a secluded cell and permitted no contact with other human beings. During this period, Zygier’s wife told him she was divorcing him. Shortly after he hung himself in the shower, right under the noses of his jailers who were supposed to be monitoring video surveillance cameras.
Of course, there are examples of Israeli spies who served their time and were released from prison. Though the lives of many of them have, by and large, been as miserable as those who never made it out alive. Among them are Mordechai Vanunu (not a spy, but arrested for betraying nuclear secrets), Marcus Klingberg, and Prisoner X2, a Mossad officer who betrayed secrets to Iran.
[comment deleted: read the comment rules before commenting. This is not a hasbara website. If that’s your purpose you’ve come to the wrong place.]
Take a look at his Github for a clue to what he may have been working on in the IDF
@ Github: It’s been scrubbed of anything useful or interesting
thank you for posting this information and keeping us sane. those who fear the light of day are hiding the worst things. RIP.
He was killed by the regime
The story has broken in Israel (channel 12).
The claim is that there was an indictment but no trial yet.
Suicide was hinted but not stated specifically.
Absolute denial of treason or espionage but not allowed to say what he was accused of.
Investigation in progress as to how he was found dead in his cell.
His parents re involved to clear his name
according to channel 12 news tonight – the officer was NOT charged with espionage
@ Dan Meier: Then Channel 12 is using a different source than I am. But I’ll take my source over theirs any day of the week.
An intelligence officer who died in prison two weeks ago “was not charged with espionage or treason and had not been in contact with or used by a foreign agent,
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/intelligence-officer-who-died-in-prison-was-not-charged-with-espionage-670062
Richard. How did you (wrongly) conclude that Eiges was accused of espionage?
@ Mighty Whitey: How did you wrongly conclude that the Jerusalem Post is a credible news source? And how did you wrongly conclude that my source was wrong?
I’m moderating you because your attitude is just too fucking annoying. Keep trying to needle me and you’ll be banned.
[comment deleted: you are now banned. NO One accuses me of blood libel against Israel. NO ONE!]
I posted the following comment on Haaretz’s story about this. To other correspondents I would ask, if Tomer Eiges was not charged with espionage why the secrecy? What have they got to hide? Instead of nitpicking Shai and Mighty Aphrodite might like to address themselves to the real problem which is Israel’s pervasive censorship – hardly the stuff of a democracy is it?
Haaretz Comment
What kind of democracy is it that imposes sweeping gag orders on the publication of information about the original indictment and now the death of this Intelligence Officer?
His name is Tomer Eiges, 25. Why doesn’t Haaretz for once actually stand up to this sweeping censorship and challenge it instead of going along with it meekly. Censorship and democracy, except in war time are incompatible.
Israel is not at war although it would like people to think so.
The whole story can be found at Richard Silverstein’s blog
https://www.richardsilverstein.com/2021/06/01/breaking-idf-intelligence-officer-accused-of-espionage-commits-suicide-in-military-prison/
The way you get rid of censorship in Israel, not just censorship of news but censorship of Israel’s history is by defying it not going along with it.
By complying with these gag orders you are going along with it. Shame on you. Papers like the Rand Daily Mail in South Africa had more courage.
It is clear and obvious
Tony, You may wish to look up in a dictionary the meaning of nitpicking.
I reported what was said on channel 12 without any expressed opinion or criticism.
Thank you, Tony. As usual…
So a soldier in an army you normally consider and compare to the Nazis duddenly becomes as saint because he is faulted by the system?
All of a sudden poetry about grieving Jewish Israeli mothers.. This mother’s pain is greater only because you got a chance to slander the IDF?
@ Dan G: I told you to read the comment rules. You apparently didn’t. A cardinal rule is if you disagree with me, do not attempt to characterize my views. You will invariably either lie or just plain get it wrong.
I dare you to find anywhere I’ve said that I “normally consider and compare” the IDF to the Nazis. And if you don’t come up with any examples, you will apologize for your lies. And if you don’t come up with examples and don’t apologize this will be the last comment you publish here.
I do not permit anyone to mischaracterrize my views. Least of all someone like you.
I didn’t say Tomer Eiges was a Saint. But my point was to say he was not a criminal. I refuse to permit the national security state to grind up its youth and spit them out on the altar of perpetual war.
You will also apologize for the false claim I have slandered the IDF. I have not. I have criticized the censorship of the state and the tragedy of such a cult of secrecy used to grind up victims like Zygier, Klingberg, Eiges and others I have profiled here.
Your next comment rule violation will bring moderation.
they killed him and tell lies to his parents
not sure what’s so important to publish his name.
and i think one should be very naive by thinking that this was a suicide rather than a murder.
@ Ilan: The family disagrees with you as they made clear by thanking me for giving him a name and a face. See my 2nd post in which I quote a close relatives statement. If your child died in a military prison, would you want him or her to remain nameless & faceless? Especially if you loved them and believed them to be good human beings worthy of memorializing??
There is a Mossad agent in the Israeli Judicial System,who has been trying to fight for his rights for serving Mossad and Shin Bet,but the Israeli Courts persecute him,since they are blinded to help the Israeli Ministry of Defence,
since the judges are afraid fir their own career!!!!
He us such a gentleman,and it us a shame!!!
Why not share the name instead of hiding in secrecy? Light is the best disinfectant and his best chances for justice.
No country in the world except Israel ? Really? its not like US has dozens of black sites . What a hypocrite
“No one is more hated than he who speaks the truth.” – Plato
Just a thought – poison in prison. Perhaps he was used by the Russian Mafia and not Russian Intel…
The Israeli system does not puts enough emphasize psychology. When giving young geeks such secrets and high clearance- need to make sure the young person has the maturity and responsibility needed, regardless of his talent. Yes, pity on the young man…