Meir Amit

1921 -

Israeli business executive, former director of Military Intelligence and head of the Mossad.

Born in Mandatory Palestine, Meir Amit joined the Haganah underground in 1936 and rose in its ranks. He commanded a regiment in the 1948 Arab - Israel War and made the army his career. From 1949 to 1951 he commanded the Golani Infantry Brigade, and later served as head of the Instruction and Southern Commands. During the 1956 Sinai - Suez War he served as chief of military operations of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) General Staff. In 1958 he commanded the Central Command, but a parachuting accident hospitalized him for a year. From 1959 to 1961 he studied economics and business at Columbia University and in May 1961 was appointed director of military intelligence. In March 1963, following the resignation of Isser Harel, he was appointed head of the Mossad, a position he held for five years. He was instrumental in strengthening ties with the Kurdish rebels in Iraq and with the Morocccan and Iranian intelligence services. He also modernized the Mossad.

On the eve of the Arab - Israel War of 1967 he was sent to Washington to ascertain America's intentions. In a meeting with U.S. defense secretary Robert McNamara, Amit realized the United States had no plan of action to relieve the seige of Israel and would not be averse to Israel's launch of a preemptive strike, a move he strongly urged the Israeli cabinet to adopt. When Amit asked MacNamara what he would do if he were in Amit's place, MacNamara said, "Go home, that's where you belong." Israel launched its strike two days after Amit's return from the United States.

Amit retired from the Mossad in 1968 and headed Koor Industries until 1977. That year he was a founding member of the Democratic Movement for Change, a centrist party seeking electoral reform. Elected to the Knesset in 1977, he served briefly as transport minister in the first Menachem Begin government. He resigned his post in September 1978, claiming that Begin was not doing enough to bring about peace with Egypt. Later he realized his mistake, when Begin and Anwar al-Sadat signed a peace treaty in 1979. Since 1978 he has held managerial posts in various high-technology industries in Israel and has written two autobiographical books.

Bibliography

Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. New York: Ballantine, 2003.

Raviv, Dan, and Melman, Yossi. Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990.

— MARTIN MALIN UPDATED BY MERON MEDZINI

Meir Amit
Date of birth	17 March 1921 (1921-03-17) (age 88)
Place of birth	Tiberias, Mandate Palestine
Knesset(s)	9th
Party	Alignment
Former parties	Dash, Shinui
Gov't roles (current in bold)	Minister of Transportation Minister of Communications

Meir Amit (Hebrew: מאיר עמית‎, born 17 March 1921) is a former Israeli politician and general. He served as Director of the Mossad from 1963 to 1968, before entering politics and holding two ministerial positions.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Notes 3 References 4 External links

Biography

Born in Tiberias as Meir Slutzki during the British mandate, he fought for the Haganah during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In the late 1950s Amit studied in the United States, earning a business degree from Columbia Business School. After returning to Israel, Amit entered the Israeli intelligence community, first as a Major General at the head of IDF Intelligence in 1961, and then as Mossad Director in 1963.

As Director, he orchestrated some of the Mossad's greatest successes, including the spy Eli Cohen who penetrated the highest levels of the Syrian government. It was also during his time that the Mossad engineered the defection of a Maronite Iraqi pilot who flew the then new Mig-21 from Iraq to Israel. Amit is particularly known for his success in expanding Israel's human intelligence (HUMINT), especially in the Arab world. During the lead up to the Six-Day War in 1967, Amit had a network of informants that permeated the entire Egyptian military, providing key details for Israel's pre-emptive strike on Egyptian air bases and subsequent ground offensive. Amit also built close personal ties with the CIA.

Since his retirement from the Mossad, he has continued to be an active voice in the intelligence community, and done work for the Israeli government. Following the lead of other former generals, Amit joined the Dash party and served in the Knesset. In 2003, he was awarded the Israel Prize for his lifetime achievements and special comtribution to society and the State of Israel.

He is currently the chairman of Israel's Center for Special Studies. In a recent 2006 interview with reporter Aaron Klein, Amit assessed the current problem of Islamic terrorism. He said that he views the conflict as World War III, a widespread attempt to impose Islamic beliefs across the world.^[1] He has also called for the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who has repeatedly threatened to destroy Israel.^[2] In a 2008 interview with Klein, Amit advocated military action to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The comments from Amit were considered significant since, until the interview, he had refused to support an attack against Iran. [1]

One of his cousins was the Jewish Russian poet, Boris Abramovich Slutski.

Notes

1. ^ 'We're on the eve of World War III' excerpts of interview
2. ^ Klein, Aaron. "Former Mossad chief: Assassinate Ahmadinejad", World Net Daily, February 14, 2007. Retrieved February 14, 2007.

References

• Oren, Michael B. Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-19-515174-7, 145-6 p.
• Thomas Gordon. Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. ISBN 0-312-25284-6, 58-60 p.

External links

• Meir Amit Knesset website

v • d • e Heads of the Central Command Ayalon (1948–52) · Avidar (1952–53) · Ayalon (1954–56) · Tzur (1956–58) · Amit (1958–59) · Geva (1960–66) · Narkis (1966–68) · Ze'evi (1968–72) · Efrat (1973–77) · Levi (1977–81) · Or (1981–83) · Lipkin-Shahak (1983–86) · Barak (1986–87) · Mitzna (1987–89) · Mordechai (1989–91) · Yatom (1991–93) · Tamari (1993–94) · Yatom (1994) · Birn (1994–95) · Dayan (1996–98) · Ya'alon (1998–2000) · Eitan (2000–02) · Kaplinsky (2000–04) · Naveh (2005–07) · Shamni (2007–)

v • d • e Heads of the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate Be'eri (1948–49) · Herzog (1949-50) · Gibli (1950-55) · Harkabi (1955–59) · Herzog (1959–62) · Amit (1962–63) · Yariv (1964–72) · Zeira (1972–74) · Gazit (1974–78) · Saguy (1979-83) · Barak (1983-85) · Lipkin-Shahak (1986-91) · Saguy (1991–95) · Ya'alon (1995–98) · Malka (1998–2002) · Ze'evi-Farkash (2002–06) · Yadlin (2006-)

v • d • e Directors of the Mossad Shiloah (1949-52) · Harel (1952-63) · Amit (1963-68) · Zamir (1968-74) · Hofi (1974-82) · Admoni (1982-89) · Shavit (1989-96) · Yatom (1996-98) · Halevy (1998-2002) · Dagan (2002-)

v • d • e Communications Ministers of Israel Nurock (1952) · Burg (1952–58) · Barzilai (1958–59) · Mintz (1960–61) · Sasson (1961–67) · Yeshayahu (1967–69) · Rimalt (1969–70) · Peres (1970–74) · Uzan (1974) · Rabin (1974–75) · Uzan (1975–77) · Begin (1977) · Amit (1977–78) · Moda'i (1979–80) · Aridor (1981) · Tzipori (1981–84) · Rubinstein (1984–87) · Yaacobi (1987–90) · Pinhasi (1990–92) · Shahal (1992–93) · Aloni (1993–96) · Livnat (1996–99) · Ben-Eliezer (1999–2001) · Rivlin (2001–03) · Sharon (2003) · Olmert (2003–05) · Itzik (2005) · Hirschson (2006) · Atias (2006–2009) · Kahlon (2009–)

v • d • e Transportation Ministers of Israel Remez (1948-50) · Yosef (1950-51) · Pinkas (1951-52) · Ben-Gurion (1952) · Serlin (1952-53) · Sapir (1953-55) · Aran (1955) · Carmel (1955-59) · Ben-Aharon (1959-62) · Bar-Yehuda (1962-65) · Carmel (1965-69) · Weizman (1969-70) · Peres (1970-74) · Yariv (1974) · Yaacobi (1974-77) · Begin (1977) · Amit (1977-78) · Landau (1979-81) · Corfu (1981-88) · Katsav (1988-92) · Kessar (1992-96) · Levy (1996-98) · Yahalom (1998-99) · Mordechai (1999-2000) · Lipkin-Shahak (2000-01) · Sneh (2001-02) · Sharon (2002) · Hanegbi (2002-03) · Lieberman (2003-04) · Sheetrit (2004-06) · Mofaz (2006-09) · Katz (2009-)

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