Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir gave his unqualified backing Thursday to the outgoing head of Mossad, who has become the subject of unwanted publicity as a result of a High Court of Justice decision.
Israel’s supreme court ruled this week that the Tel Aviv weekly Ha’ir could publish an article highly critical of the organization and its current chief, who is about to resign.
Shamir said he had “full confidence” in him and regretted that he had been “unfairly pilloried” by some of the media.
The news media reported, meanwhile, that a behind-the-scenes battle is being waged over the appointment of a new Mossad chief.
According to various newspaper accounts Thursday, massive pressure is being put on Shamir to name the Mossad choice for the job instead of outside candidates.
The stories impute political motives to the opponents of the outsiders, stressing that they come from the right-wing side of the political spectrum.
Shamir, himself a former senior Mossad operative, is said to be more deeply involved in the appointment than even his position as prime minister would warrant.
Meanwhile, Israelis are waiting for the Ha’ir article due to appear Friday, though much of it has been leaked.
Ha’ir is published by the Shocken company, which also publishes the daily Ha’aretz.
The reporter alleged that the Mossad head, whose identity is a state secret, is being ousted because of a series of mishaps to Mossad operations abroad in recent years.
According to the reporter, the departing Mossad head was originally a compromise candidate, not particularly brilliant, who over the years had tried to keep the top-secret organization clear of awkward situations, such as the Jonathan Pollard spy case and the Iran-Contra affair.
Benn alleges that the Mossad chief did not initiate many projects on his own and as a result, Mossad’s former image of dash and brilliance faded.
In an unrelated development, it was disclosed this week that the government appointed a new head of the Shin Bet, the internal security agency. His identity is also a secret.
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