Mossad

   The foreign intelligence agency of Israel, whose official name is the Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, was formally established on 13 December 1949, although it had predecessors. Mossad is the Hebrew word for "institute." Its current director is Meir Dagan. The Mossad is responsible for intelligence collection, covert operations, and the facilitation of aliyah, or Jewish immigrations to Israel, where they are banned. Along with the Aman (military intelligence) and Shin Bet (internal security), Mossad is a major element of the Israeli Intelligence Community and reports directly to the Israeli prime minister.

   Over the years the Mossad has sometimes surreptitiously aided the Kurds and other times worked against their interests. As early as 1931, Reuven Shiloah, who later became the first director of Mossad, trekked through the mountains of Kurdistan and worked with the Kurds in pursuit of a "peripheral concept" against the Arabs. During the 1960s, Israeli agents trained Kurdish guerrillas as a way to reduce the potential military threat Iraq presented to the Jewish state and also to help Iraqi Jews escape to Israel. This training operation was code-named Marvad (Carpet). Israeli intelligence was also involved in the defection of an Iraqi MIG-21 pilot in 1966 and the successful bombing of the Iraqi nuclear facility at Osirak in 1981. Reports indicate that since 2003, Mossad has had a strategic interest in working with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in order to monitor events in Iran. On the other hand, some believe that Israeli intelligence probably helped Turkey capture Abdullah (Apo) Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in February 1999.