Israel’s Mossad spy agency ventures online to recruit

As reported in 'The Japan News' The Associated Press This screen grab from the Mossad, Israeli Secret Intelligence Service, website taken Monday, shows its home page with a link to a job application.

The Associated Press TEL AVIV (AP) — It used to be that if you wanted to join one of the world’s most secretive espionage organizations you had to sneak into a foreign embassy, answer a cryptic newspaper ad or show up in a nondescript building in Tel Aviv to meet a shadowy recruiter. Now all it takes to apply for a job at Israel’s Mossad spy agency is a click of the mouse. The typically hush-hush Mossad revamped its website last week to include a snazzy recruiting video and an online application option for those seeking employment. With versions in Hebrew, English, French, Russian, Arabic and Persian, the sleek site looks to revolutionize the way Israel’s legendary agency seeks out potential agents after generations of backdoor, cloak-and-dagger antics. “We must continue to recruit the best people into our ranks so that the Mossad might continue to lead, defend and allow for the continued existence of the state of Israel,” Mossad Chief Tamir Pardo said in a statement announcing the launch. “The Mossad’s qualitative human capital is the secret of our success.” The Mossad, Hebrew for “The Institute,” is short for the “Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations.” It is the global arm of Israel’s vaunted intelligence community and believed to be behind some of the most daring counterterrorism covert operations of the past century. Only a few have come to light, such as the killing of the leaders of Black September — the Palestinian group behind the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games — and Israeli assassinations across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Alongside its successes, the Mossad has also been exposed in some failures, most notably a 1997 botched attempt to kill future Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal in Jordan when a pair of agents were caught in the act. There’s more to the Mossad than its James Bond aura, however, and you are more likely to land a job in its technology, cyber or administration departments than you are to become an international man — or woman — of mystery. But the site alludes to its secretive nature with a video showing satellites and drones hovering as well as men and women dressed in suits hacking into computers and carrying out surveillance operations. The Mossad has no spokesperson and cannot be contacted directly, with all media inquiries going through the prime minister’s office. Aside from its initial announcement, the agency has been tightlipped about their new media strategy as well. But at least one former operative thinks the outreach is a good idea. “It’s the 21st Century. This gives them the chance to reach the kind of people they have never reached before,” said Gad Shimron, who served in the Mossad for a decade and later wrote “Mossad Exodus,” a book about its secret operation to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel.