Head of the Mossad by Shabtai Shavit

Author:Shabtai Shavit [Shavit, Shabtai]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Published: 2020-09-30T00:00:00+00:00

After some discussion, it was agreed that the captain would fill out the flight plan details according to the route of the cover story, namely Shanghai to Azerbaijan to Nairobi to Tel Aviv. The journalists would be informed about Jakarta near the time of landing. The following day, Friday, we took off from Shanghai as planned. During the flight, the prime minister went to the back of the plane to talk to the members of the press. One of the journalists accompanied him back to the front, and Yitzhak introduced him to me and asked that I brief him so that he could fill in the rest of the journalists in turn. I briefed him and answered all of his questions completely frankly, doing my best to convince him that we had left the media in the dark only for lack of any other choice. I will not attempt to describe all of the journalists’ reactions from that moment until the end of the journey, but I will mention that one of them threatened that upon the return to Israel he would file a lawsuit for kidnapping and imprisonment against his will.

The blue-and-white plane with the Star of David on it, which for the first time in history arrived in the largest Muslim country in the world, was a little ahead of schedule. The control tower instructed us to wait for a landing permit, which left us circling over the city of Jakarta. We eventually landed near the VIP guest hall. I will never forget the looks of astonishment on the journalists’ faces when the plane door opened and the first people to enter were Hebrew speakers. These were, of course, members of the Mossad’s advance team. Waiting in the parking lot was a limousine convoy sent by our hosts, along with security guards and escorts. They were joined by the prime minister’s own security guards. The Indonesians had also determined that the two leaders be joined at the meeting by only one other person each, and the prime minister decided that I would be his “plus one.” I got into the waiting limousine along with him, and the motorcade set out for President Suharto’s private home. Eitan Haber and Danny Yatom displayed exceptional loyalty to their boss and managed to sneak into the limousine convoy by pretending to be security guards. Being typical Israelis, they anticipated that if they could get to Suharto’s house they would probably be able to somehow get into the meeting, but their hopes were dashed; as “security guards,” they stood on watch throughout the meeting on the porch of the house facing the street.

President Suharto greeted us at the entrance to his house, which looked to us like a modest home in a middle-class neighborhood. The two leaders shook hands and bowed to each other. We were led into the meeting room and seated on armchairs in a small sitting area. From the start, the atmosphere of the meeting was relaxed, intimate, and informal. We were served cups of tea and left alone.

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