The enigmatic Mossad intelligence service conducted the greatest missions of the Israeli Secret Service.
Our coins re-create these defining and dangerous operations that have shaped Israel and the world at large, vividly bringing to life the heroic operatives who risked everything .
OPERATION ENTEBBE
(Operation Thunderbolt)
A rescue mission performed in Uganda - 4,000 kilometers from Israel - on July 4th 1976, for the liberation of 98 Jewish and Israeli hostages.On June 27th, an Air France aircraft was hijacked by Palestinian and German terrorists. The hijackers landed the plane at Benghazi, Libya and flew it from there to Entebbe in Uganda, where all non-Jewish passengers were freed. Israel had tried to develop a dialogue with Ugandan President Idi Amin, who collaborated with the terrorists. Simultaneously, preparations began for a military operation, based on intelligence regarding the situation in the Entebbe Airport.Following the Government’s decision to go forward with the plan, four transport aircrafts took off from Sharm el-Sheikh en route to Entebbe. The raid on the airport resulted in five Israeli casualties including IDF officer Yonatan (Yoni) Netanyahu (brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu). IDF Chief of Staff Mordechai Gur announced it at first as an emergency landing, but it seemed to have been coordinated with Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta. The operation was congruent with Israel’s policy not to negotiate with terrorists, whatever risks are at stake.
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Operation Ezra & Nehemiah
Also known as Operation Ali Baba, was the airlift of more than 120,000 Jews from Iraq to Israel shortly after the founding of the Jewish state.The operation spanned more than a year and saved some 130,000 Iraqi Jews. Flying the Iraqi Jews to Israel lasted several months and was done through a contract with the Near East Transport Company and with help from the Israeli national airline, El-Al. The first planes flew to Israel via Cyprus in mid-May 1951. Several months later, a giant airlift operated directly from Baghdad to Lod airport. Operation Ezra and Nehemia ended at the beginning of 1952, leaving only about 6,000 Jews in Iraq. Most of the 2,500-year-old Jewish community immigrated to Israel. The success of Operation Ezra & Nehemiah helped pave the way for future Israeli airlifts of Jews from the around the world who found themselves in dangerous conditions.
Operation Diamond
The MIG-21 fighter jet was the most advanced Soviet-built military aircraft of the 1960s and was commonly used by Arab air forces and Soviet allies in Asia, making it the main threat to western air forces at that time. Accordingly, the Israeli Air Force and intelligence establishments had long sought to obtain an MIG-21. On August 16, 1966, Iraqi fighter pilot Munir Redfa, escorted by two Israeli Mirage jets, landed an Iraqi Air Force MIG -21 at the Hatzor Air Force Base in Israel. Known as Operation Diamond, the plan to recover a functional MIG-21 fighter jet began in 1963. Initially, the Mossad attempted an operation in Egypt, but this plan backfired.The second attempt to recover a MIG-21 took place in Iraq, and also failed. Following a tip from an Iraqi-born Jew, the Mossad reached out to Iraqi Christian fighter pilot Munir Redfa. Redfa was personally disillusioned because of the poor treatment he endured as a Christian in the Iraqi military. He was especially angry at being forced to attack Iraqi-Kurdish targets. After secretly visiting Israel to view the airfield where he would be landing, engaging in numerous briefings with Israeli Air Force personnel, and receiving a secured plan to remove his family from Iraq, Redfa defected with his MIG-21.
Operation Finale
The Mossad mission to capture Adolf Eichmann, and how the agency laid its hands on one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious war criminals and brought him to trial in Jerusalem. On May 11, 1960, Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was nabbed by a team of Israeli spies after years on the run in Argentina, ending a long manhunt. Ten days later, drugged and dressed as a crew member of Israeli flag carrier El Al, he was smuggled to Israel by Mossad agents and put on trial. Eichmann was in charge of implementing Hitler's Final Solution for the Jewish people, in which six million people died. After the war he was captured by Allied forces but escaped and fled to Argentina. There, a Holocaust survivor whose daughter was dating Eichmann's son became suspicious about the identity of the boy's father, and Israeli intelligence was alerted.Eichmann, who was living in Buenos Aires was bundled into a car on his way home from work by a team of Mossad agents. An El Al plane brought an official Israeli delegation to Buenos Aires as a cover for taking the high-value target back. He was passed off as a sick airline employee, dressed in an El Al uniform and heavily sedated in a first class seat. David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, announced the capture to the Israeli parliament and a stunned world. Eichmann was charged with 15 counts of crimes against the Jewish people, crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership of a hostile organisation. After a trial lasting eight months, during which 99 Holocaust survivors gave evidence, Eichmann was sentenced to death and hanged on 31 May 1962 – the only time in Israel's history that the death penalty has been enacted.
A former Mossad agent Avner Avraham is a renowned expert on Mossad operations who famously worked to reveal and publicize the insider story of the historic 1960 capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. While working as a Mossad agent, Avraham discovered the original documents surrounding Eichmann's capture and trial, and, moved to share his findings with a wider audience, curated the world-famous and headline-making museum exhibit "Operation Finale: The Capture and Trial of Adolf Eichmann" and produced an accompanying documentary. With the story now the subject of a major motion picture-- MGM's Operation Finale starring Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley-- for which Avraham served as a key consultant, Avraham is in-demand for his fascinating insights into this rich chapter of Jewish history and engaging anecdotes on his time as real-life spy.
With Mr. Natan Sharansky,politician, human rights activist and author
With Mr. Dany Shapira, the Israeli test pilot of the MIG-21 fighter jet
With Mr. Isaac Herzog, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel
With Mr. Michel Bacos, Captain of the flight -Operation Entebbe