Shin Bet sets up 'Chinese unit'

Report: Shin Bet sets up 'Chinese unit'



Academic paper by Shin Bet commander reveals Israel seeking improved intelligence gathering on China


An academic paper submitted by a senior Shin Bet official studying at Derby University revealed that Israel’s internal intelligence agency has launched a unit specializing in China.


Set up few months ago, the unit has launched a recruitment scheme for collecting and analyzing intelligence on China.


“The Chinese Unit†is recruiting fluent speakers of Chinese and Hebrew for a starting salary of NIS 8,000 (USD 1750). Successful recruits may sign a 4-year contract which will see their salary rise to NIS 9,000.


“The Chinese Unit was set up in the wake of the economic boom in the Far East over the last few years, and improved trade relations especially in the military and technological fields,†the paper read.


The paper added that since trade relations between Israel and China started in the mid-90s under the initiative of Israeli millionaire Shaul Izenberg, the Shin Bet and Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Department (SIBAT) have been able to inspect and control trade activities.


SIBAT is responsible for procurement, contractual, legal, financial and economical aspects of IDF activities.


“Over the last five years the annual trade of China is estimated in billions of dollars with different government and private mediators whose activities is difficult to monitor, in particular China’s purchase of advanced military technologies," the paper read. "The recruitment campaign includes students who studied in China over the last few years and who speak the language and are familiar with the culture.â€

(12.26.05, 14:03)

For those who are unfamiliar, Shin Bet is the Israeli internal security service, not to be confused with Mossad (Israeli intelligence agency).

The Shin Bet mostly deals with human intelligence gathering operations within Israel and nearby Arab areas.

Israel established diplomatic relations with the PRC in 1992, but trade relations and military sales had existed prior to that. For an example, the Python-3 (PL-8) AAM.


In 1983, the Israeli daily Davar published a story on an Egyptian military delegation which was in China to purchase upgraded Soviet tanks, and found out they had been upgraded in Israel, and killed the deal. By the mid-1980s, published reports claimed that in this period, Israel had sold $3 billion in weapons and military technology to the PRC

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I hear that Shin-Bet is something like the NSA of Isreal. Is this true?

Mossad also spelled Mosad, in full Mossad Merkazi Le-modiin U-letafkidim Meyuhadim (Hebrew: “Central Institute for Intelligence and Security”), one of the five major intelligence organizations of Israel, being concerned with espionage, intelligence gathering, and covert political operations in foreign countries.

Mossad is the most important Israeli intelligence agency, and its head reports directly to Israel's prime minister.

The Mossad maintains numerous Israeli secret agents in Arab and other nations, and its operatives are believed to have carried out undercover operations against enemies of Israel and former Nazi war criminals living abroad.

In 1960, for instance, Mossad agents kidnapped the former Nazi Adolf Eichmann from Argentina and brought him to Israel to stand trial for war crimes.

Mossad agents are thought to have tracked down and assassinated the Arab guerrilla leaders responsible for the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

In 1976 Mossad agents rescued the hostages of a skyjacked Israeli airliner that was being held at Entebbe, Uganda. Mossad has also been linked with several assassinations of Palestinian leaders in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Isser Harel, who founded the Mossad in 1951 and served as its director until 1963, is credited with building the Mossad into a professional organization.

ISRAELI INTELLIGENCE

The state of Israel, since its creation in 1948, has met its obvious need for intelligence and counterintelligence with services that have gained a first-class reputation. One mark of their professionalism is that less is known about them than about other systems.

They constitute five major organizations.

1) The Central Institute for Intelligence and Security has a director who is chairman of a committee presiding over the entire Israeli intelligence system. The Central Institute operates primarily in foreign areas. Popularly known as Mossad, it carries out foreign espionage and covert political operations. The numerous Israeli secret agents living in Arab lands, for example, are under the supervision of Mossad. Its director is responsible to the prime minister.

2) A second agency is the Shin Bet, after the Hebrew initials for General Security Services. Its main function is internal counterintelligence. Shin Bet is an investigative agency concerned with potential sabotage, Arab terrorist activities, and security matters having a strong political flavour.

3) A third major Israeli agency is the Intelligence Corps of the Defense Forces, commonly referred to as Military Intelligence. Some see it as a rival to Mossad, and conflicts between them have been reported. Its chief is the military intelligence adviser to the defense minister.

4) The Research Department of the Foreign Ministry is a fourth agency. This relatively small unit focuses on political information, including policy-oriented studies and the evaluation of information supplied through diplomatic channels.

5) The fifth member of the system—the Special Investigations Department of the Israel Police Force—is concerned with criminal investigations inside Israel's boundaries.

*

Israel's successes in wars with Arab countries may be attributed in some measure to the efficiency of its intelligence system. But it has not been without its scandals. The most dramatic was the “Lavon affair,” which led to the resignation of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. This is said to have been an attempt in 1954 to blow up American and British information offices in Egypt in order to arouse Western public opinion against the Egyptians. But for the most part the secret services of Israel have operated without exposure and with frequent success.

Israeli intelligence has the advantage of a cosmopolitan population, providing persons whose language and experience enable them to pose as citizens of Chicago, Munich, London, Rome, or even Cairo. Recruitment is thought to be from three main sources: the Haganah, the one-time illegal Jewish army in Palestine, with its allied intelligence agency; ex-members of the Irgun and Stern groups from the prestate era; and the newer immigrants.

Defense said:

In 1976 Mossad agents rescued the hostages of a skyjacked Israeli airliner that was being held at Entebbe, Uganda. Mossad has also been linked with several assassinations of Palestinian leaders in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

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Entebbe Raid (July 3–4, 1976) is the rescue by an Israeli commando squad of 103 hostages from a French jet airliner en route from Israel to France that, after stopping at Athens, had been hijacked on June 27 by Palestinian terrorists and flown to Entebbe, Uganda.

At Entebbe, the hijackers freed those of the 258 passengers who did not appear to be Israeli and held the rest hostage for the release of 53 fellow terrorists imprisoned in Israel, Kenya, West Germany, and elsewhere.

In response, Israel, on July 3, dispatched four Hercules C-130H cargo planes carrying 100–200 soldiers and escorted by Phantom jet fighters.

After flying 2,500 miles from Israel to Uganda, the Israeli force rescued the hostages within an hour after landing. Seven of the terrorists were killed, and 11 MiG fighters supplied to Uganda by the Soviet Union were destroyed; the Israelis lost one soldier and three hostages during the operation.

On the return trip the Israeli planes met an awaiting hospital plane and refuelled at Nairobi, Kenya. The success of the Entebbe raid substantially boosted Israeli morale.

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