Maj. Gen. Danny Yatom, who until recently served as Prime Minister Shimon Peres’ military secretary, took over this week as head of the Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency.
Yatom, 51, replaces Shabtai Shavit, who headed the agency for seven years.
Shavit, whose identity was released for publication last week, is to become head of Israel’s Maccabi health fund.
Shavit joined the Mossad in 1964.
The handover took place in a ceremony at the Prime Minister’s Office.
An official announcement in March of Yatom’s appointment ended a policy of keeping secret the names of serving Mossad chiefs.
In a letter of gratitude to the departing agency head, Prime Minister Peres wrote:
“Only [a] few people … know how important you contribution was to the security of Israel, the battle against terror, the establishment of diplomatic ties with many countries and the ability of Israel to move forward toward peace.”
Yatom served in the army for 33 years and was a member of the elite commando unit of the General Command.
Yatom took part – along with Prime Minister-elect Benjamin Netanyahu – in the unit’s storming of a hijacked Belgian airliner in 1972.
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