A couple of weeks ago a Mossad internal investigation came up with no faults in Ben Zygier’s recruitment and training, and non in his psychiatric assessment. In other words, Mossad claims there was no way of predicting or preventing his rogue activity or his death.
Myself and my colleagues from Der Spiegel have spent the last couple of months meeting with people who knew him before his recruitment, such as his bosses in the law firm where he got his apprenticeship and his fellow Kibbutz members , all were surprised he made it to a top secret role in Mossad (for those who missed the story of our ‘adventures’ you can find it in my last post, here). To me, it still seems like Mossad may have been too eager to turn a blind eye on his weaknesses, in face of all of the advantages his foreign passport and looks could offer, only to end up with a security breach and a very sad, very Jewish tragedy.
There are, however, those who claim otherwise. In a second post in this series, I chose to focus on an interview I made with a Mossad psychiatrist who takes part in the candidates’ screening process. Although he did not meet Zygier himself, he took a firm stand behind his colleagues decision process on this case. There was no telling how this would evolve, according to him.
The talk unveils parts of the recruitment process, but mostly sheds light on what it means to suffer failure in a competitive environment like Mossad.
You can find the interview on my Website, here.