Legendary Israeli Mossad agent Rafi Eitan dies at 92
(Photo by Yoav Lemmer-Pool/Getty Images)
JERUSALEM (AP) - Rafi Eitan, a legendary Israeli Mossad spy who led the capture of Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann, has died. He was 92.
Eitan died Saturday in Tel Aviv. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned Eitan as a "hero of the Israeli intelligence services."
The 1960 operation to capture Eichmann in Argentina and bring him to trial in Jerusalem was perhaps the Mossad's most historic mission. It brought to life the horrors of the Nazi "Final Solution" of which Eichmann was the architect.
Eitan was also known for handling Pentagon spy Jonathan Pollard, a U.S intelligence analyst who passed information to Israel in the 1980s, an espionage affair that embarrassed Israel and severely tarnished its relations with the United States.
Later in life Eitan entered politics and served as a Cabinet member.