Silent Assassins, Loud Profits: Israel’s Sinister Cinema Scheme

There’s a scene in the movie Munich where Eric Bana’s character is being briefed by the case officer about his upcoming mission. The Mossad officer looks across the table and says “We are a small country without a lot of money, so I need receipts for everything.”

Bana’s character, a dutiful and patriotic member of Mossad, did exactly as he was told. But he should have said “They are going to make a movie about this event whose profits will exceed the cost of this operation by nearly 100x, so get off my back.”

Regardless of how civilized we believe ourselves to be, at the end of the day might is still right. When politics fails violence is what decides the big questions. As we so tragically witnessed in Rwanda The UN’s peacekeeping force is far too weak to even put a dent in an ongoing genocide. As Clausewitz said: war is nothing but the continuation of politics by other means.

We are still apes and whomsoever has the largest club wielded the most expertly still takes the spoils. I have an affinity for the jewish people, not because of their beliefs but because of what they have accomplished. Despite the odds they have survived in an inhospitable climate against far greater foes. A classic David and Goliath story. David after all was jewish.

I became fascinated with Mossad, Israel’s premier defense agency, last year after reading about the exploding pager story. I knew they were proficient Nazi hunters but had failed to realize a central fact: Israel had turned covert operations into a profit center and a propaganda tool.

Israel is a country of 10 million people surrounded by 1 billion Muslims. They have had 7 major conflicts since their founding in 1948 and they have emerged victorious in every single one. Much of their military success is due to their top notch spy operations which occasionally are profitable endeavors. The sequence follows this pattern:

1. Israel executes top secret spy operation which is amazingly intricate and successful.
2. The operation gains world notoriety.
3. A movie is produced that turns a tidy profit.
4. The financial backers and directors of the film are often Jewish who funnel money back to Israel via donations.

They may not recognize the messiah when they see him but this is just the kind of swashbuckling swagger that I love to see. As an added bonus these high profile stories often humiliate and discourage their enemies, making future attacks less likely. So here is a brief history of Mossad’s greatest hits, pun intended.

Eli Cohen:

In 1960 a Mossad agent after spending years undercover is appointed chief advisor to the Syrian defense minister and provided key military information to Israel over a four year period. This intelligence was crucial in Israel’s swift victory in the 1967 Six Day war against against Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. He was eventually discovered and publicly executed. The Netflix miniseries The Spy recounts this tale.

Adolf Eichmann Extraction:

in 1960 Mossad received intelligence that Adolf Eichmann, one of the key architects of the holocaust, was living in Argentina under a fake identity. They captured him and brought him back to Israel and put him on trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. A number of films have been made about this event most recently Operation Finale directed by Jewish director Chris Weitz.

Acquiring a State of the Art Russian Fighter Jet:

in 1966 the Israelis convinced a disgruntled Iraqi pilot to land his plan in Israel for a bounty of $1 million dollars, citizenship and protection for his family, and a cushy lifetime sinecure. An HBO movie, Steal the Sky, was made about this operation.

Munich Massacre:

At the Munich Olympics in 1972 members of the terrorist organization Black September kidnapped 11 Israeli Athletes. Their demands were the release of Palestinian hostages in Israel and a plane to safely ferry them to Egypt. The situation ended in a shootout with German authoritities. All hostages were killed along with the terrorists and one German police officer. Israel then began an operation to kill everyone who had leadership roles in planning the attack. Operation Wrath of God ended up killing most of the senior level officials involved.

Steven Spielberg directed the 2007 film Munich which depicts Operation Wrath of God, it is a great film. Steven Spielberg is a well known supporter of Israel and has given over $100 million in support of Jewish causes.

Entebbe Raid:

in 1976 Palestinians hijacked a plane containing 102 Israeli citizens and landed the plane in Uganda, Their demands were also the release of hostages. Within 3 days the Israelis mounted a rescue mission. Complete with a customized black Mercedes designed to look like the Ugandan Presidents. This allowed them to enter the airport without tipping off the terrorists or local airport security. All hijackers were killed and all hostages were rescued safely. One Israeli soldier was killed, the man leading the operation: Yoni Netanyahu, The brother of current Israeli Prime Ministers Benjamin. A total of 5 movies were made about this event. The most recent, The Last King of Scotland, is an excellent film and the raid is touched on at the end of the movie.

Sabotage of Iran’s Nuclear Facilities:

Israel has subverted Iran’s nuclear development many times throughout history but in 2021 at a nuclear research facility in Natanz a Mossad agent with a USB drive input malicious code into the system. The code sped up the centrifuges that were enriching uranium to the point that they exploded. The code only did this at night so that there were no witnesses of the “accident.” This is why IT implores you not to insert USBs into work computers. No movies have been produced on this as it was a recent event.

The Exploding pagers:

In 2024 over 3000 Hezbollah agents were severely injured when their pagers simultaneously exploded all over Lebanon. Hezbollah had previously had problems with Israelis intercepting their communications so they decided to implement a low tech solution: pagers. Mossad heard of this and infiltrated their supply chain. They created a fake shell company based in Hungary which manufactured, marketed, and sold these pagers. They underbid on a contract Hezbollah had out for 5000 pagers. The low bid secured them the contract, it turns out even terrorists cannot pass up a good deal. The pagers contained a small amount of C4 around the battery that could be remotely detonated. The amount of C4 was small to reduce the incidence of injuries to bystanders. 3 years later the signal was sent and all of these pagers simultaneously exploded injuring hezbollah agents all over Lebanon. First a message was sent that looked to be of high importance, this was so the pager was more likely to be in the agents hands when it exploded a few seconds later. The footage from overwhelmed hospitals is shocking and can be found online. This event is too recent to have any movies made and perhaps never will due to the gruesomeness and collateral damage.

Hamas Leader Assassination:

In 2024 Ismail Haniyeh was attending the inauguration of the new Iranese President. Bombs exploded in the guest house where he was staying at 2am in the morning. Mossad had bribed security agents at the facility to plant bombs under the bed in the room where he was to stay later that night. This was the house where he usually stayed on visits to Iran. Mossad had agents in the trees surrounding the compound watching his room and when the lights went out they exploded the device. No movies as of yet.

I wonder if the would be film directors have considered reaching out to Mossad directly for more source material. This article itself serves as further propaganda that Mossad is the greatest spy agency on earth. I don’t care. I am a fan and simply in awe. As Daniel Craig’s character in Munich said after another successful assassination: “Don’t fuck with the Jews.”