On May 23, 1960, then- Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion stood at the podium in the Knesset and solemnly said: "A short time ago one of the most notorious Nazi war criminals, Adolf Eichmann, was discovered by the Israeli security services. Adolf Eichmann is already under arrest in Israel and will shortly be placed on trial."
The announcement shocked Israelis and the world alike. It should have. No country was known to be actively pursuing war criminals. Such an operation -- locating and seizing Eichmann in Argentina -- seemed beyond the ability of an inexperienced, ragtag spy agency such as the Mossad. And such a trial, on the part of a hardly disinterested young nation, would be audacity itself.
Read Full Article »The announcement shocked Israelis and the world alike. It should have. No country was known to be actively pursuing war criminals. Such an operation -- locating and seizing Eichmann in Argentina -- seemed beyond the ability of an inexperienced, ragtag spy agency such as the Mossad. And such a trial, on the part of a hardly disinterested young nation, would be audacity itself.
