Mossad's Deadliest Mission: The Hunt for al-Wazir | Real Crime

[Music] he is the master terrorist behind dozens of murderous attacks on innocent civilians his hands are covered with Jewish blood as far as Israel's concerned he was an arch terrorist there is no choice but to take him out tasked with the operation is Israel's Elite Special Forces Unit Sarah matkal is nothing short of legendary or mythical but with their target hiding in an enemy Nation 1500 M from Israel this will be one of the most ambitious operations ever mounted you go in you kill him you go out perfect assassination this is the true story of

the CET Matt cow mission to kill Abu jahad l [Music] [Music] in the dead of night three terrorists infiltrate the Israeli border this was a raid by uh Palestinians they armed themselves from a secret weapons cache that the PLO had in Egypt carrying AK-47s they evade the Israeli border patrols they crossed Israel's Southern neev desert their presence remains a secret until when they reach a remote desert [Music] road they hijack a passing car Israeli intelligence received reports about the car hijacking they now know armed gunmen are on the loose inside Israel but they have no

idea what their target is this uh triggered an enormous security Alert in southern Israel roadblocks were put up an hour later the gunman's car is cited approaching a high security area it was not far from Demona which is the site of Israel's nuclear reactor it becomes clear that the terrorists are planning to attack the Demona reactor Israel's most important military facility yes the one where Israel has nuclear weapons but has never admitted that they have nuclear weapons with the top secret facility at Risk army units race to intercept the terrorists before they can reach their

target realizing that Israeli forces are closing down on them the Palestinians suddenly change their plans the group kidnapped a bus that was bringing Bas from the Demona nuclear reactor back home some of the passengers managed to escape but 11 are [Music] trapped 10 are women Israeli Security Forces surround the bus and try to negotiate with the terrorists but the gunmen are not interested in negotiating then they turn their weapons on the hostages now the security forces have to go in you know from here if you're not going to respond more people going to die first

they get into position [Music] then they strike in a matter of seconds Israeli soldiers take over the bus killing all three of the [Music] terrorists but quick as they are they are not fast enough three of the workers at the Demona plant were killed two of the victims are young mothers it becomes known as the mother's bus attack even in a nation used to terrorism this is still a shocking [Music] act the Demona bus attack was different from what was going on this one was such a horrific attack that uh targeted not only innocent people

but mothers and women that's really was the most raw nerve in Israel but even as the mourners gather Israeli intelligence agencies have already identified The Man Behind the attack the man they are after is Abu jahad in Arabic Abu jahad means father of the struggle the Israelis know that this is a title used by a leading Palestinian Commander iard is a n like a lot of Palestinian names his real name is Khal wazir Abu Jihad is the legendary militant commander of the the PLO in the Palestinian organization of of course he was admired as one

of their top leaders he is the number two man in the Palestinian Liberation Organization and heads its military Wing Abu jiad was in charge of operations of Al Fat under Abu jahad's command Al fata have undertaken dozens of attacks on Israel he had organized and planned some quite significant Palestinian actions innocent people have been killed often in brutal circumstances as far as Israel's concerned he was an arch terrorist Abu Jihad was a very dangerous man Abu jahad is such a threat to Israel that for 20 years they have been trying to take him out the

hunt for Abu Jihad was conducted throughout the years there were numerous attempts on his life all of them failed Israeli military intelligence first tried to kill Abu jahad in Damascus with a Car Bomb they missed a decade later the Israeli Air Force tried to kill him in an air strike on Beirut but again he walked away the mother's bus attack is proof that the master terrorist has reared his head once more but the threat he poses may be worse than just terrorism the Israelis believe that Abu jahad is also behind the biggest challenge to their

Authority that they have ever faced for 3 months the Palestinian population of Israel has been in Revol V there was this Uprising against their rule there were large crowds of people often young people throwing stones at Israeli forces had elements of an armed Uprising it's military was in the West Bank dealing with a wide array of uh of protests it has become known as the intera the uprising and Israel believes that the hand that controls it is Abu jahad's he claimed responsibility for the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada he said I was the one ordering

the troops ordering the demonstrators to go to the [Music] street Israel cannot allow the Insurrection to continue the intifada caused an enormous International damage to Israeli Prestige Worldwide they felt they have to get back at Abu Jihad they felt that he couldn't be allowed to get away with that and the man who decides to deal with Abu jahad is yak Rabin Israel's Minister of Defense Rabin who was basically leading the Israeli intelligence and security forces Rabin was quite a hard liner he was a military man through and through his whole concept of Peace was based

based on the fact that Israel had to be strong and it had to defend itself he also believe very strongly in targeting those terrorists that were attacking Israelis Rabin decides that Israel must kill Abu [Music] Jihad but immediately Rabin faces a problem Abu jahad is a long way from Israeli Shores Israeli intelligence have traced Abu jahad to Tunis North Africa 1500 mil from Israel the city has become the new headquarters for the Palestinian Liberation Organization that was the the place where the the pl headquarters was far away from Israel on the coast of Africa Abu

Jihad and other key Palestinian leaders have homes in a quiet suburb of the Tunisian Capital he lived with his family in a villa in a Beachside neighborhood of Tunis being so far away from Israel Abu jiad felt quite confident and safe he didn't think that Israeli intelligence would be able to get so far so remotely from Israel but he is wrong [Music] Abu Jihad is already under the watchful eye of Israel's intelligence service mosad J these people are followed these people are tracked they knew where he was Israel's intelligence agency carried out surveillance of the

area of Tunis where abujad was living along with other PLO leaders 4 days after the mother's bus attack rabine orders mosad to come up with a way to kill Abu jahad initially the agency is confident that they can do it themselves they told defense minister Rabin that they could come up with an operational plan to assassinate Abu Jihad in Tunisia within 30 days mosad come up with various alternatives for killing Abu Jad by a sniper by exploding his car by planting a booby trap explosive where he was driving from his house to his office by

poisoning him by uh firing rockets on his house all sorts of possible operations but rabine rejects them all none of these options guarantee that Abu jahad will be killed with the intera Raging they simply cannot afford to miss as far as rabine is concerned there is only one way to ensure success to kill him at Point Blank Range and it was decided that Abu jiad is going to be killed in his house but killing the pl's military commander in his home 1500 mi from Israel will be no easy task far harder to Target somebody in

Tunis than in somewhere that is you know 20 minutes flying time or just across one of Israel's borders and so at the end of the day mosad came toin and said we are not able to do this alone skilled assassins as they are getting a hit team inside Abu jahad's house without being discovered is beyond even the Mossad so rabine now calls upon a highly secretive Special Operations Brigade famed for their ability to strike at Israel's enemies wherever they may try to hide when Israel wants to strike Israeli leaders turn to a special unit of

the Israeli military the immediate candidate to perform the assassination is the general staff reconnaissance unit but in Israel they are known by another name in English they are known as the unit but in Hebrew they call them the S matal Sarah mkal in Israel is nothing short of legendary or mythical it's essentially the top unit in the Army it's the sort of by word for an elite unit there are others but that's the sort of so Unit Model after the British SAS SEAL Teams are similar to it Delta Force is similar to it like these

other special forces units the CET matcal are experts at killing people they're thought of as assassination Specialists they're willing to sacrifice everything for their country Commandos train intensively in survival skills Marksmanship and hand-to-hand combat their job is to go on Special Operations that are considered beyond the scope of your regular troops only the very best of the Israeli military are recruited into the cat matar you're looking in Elite unit for a person that in no time can concentrate and do the things fast you're looking for a person that will never give up on himself these

men have the reputation for accomplishing things getting things done that reputation was Ed by a legendary operation that took place in 1976 terrorists hijack an Air France plane with more than 100 Israeli and Jewish civilians on board the plane is diverted to the Ugandan Capital andbe when uganda's dictator Idi Arin decides to cooperate with the terrorists Israel calls on the cat matcal the unit cat matkal took something like a few weeks to train on the model of the airlane to fly to anbe and to give the right solution for the incident that solution is for

the cat matcal Commandos to disguise themselves as members of the Ugandan Army once on the ground the unit strikes they went in there did a counterterrorist mission over a, miles from home killed the terrorist got out of there alive 102 hostages were rescued and returned to Israel with only three civilian casualties that lightning raid of course became legendary and that was the beginning of their reputation as being a hardcore unit Rabin believes there is no other unit better suited for the task of taking out Abu jahad so he puts in a call to a man

who had been one of the architects of the anbi mission he is Israel's most decorated soldier and a living legend a hood Barack El Barak was a head of s mkal one of the most famous command of he was in a position then as being a chief of staff or head of military intelligence very serious guy very smart guy very sharp guy very decorated guy rabine orders Barack to draw up a plan for the cyat matcal to assassinate Abu jahad it will be known as operation show of force now Barack demonstrates one of the Hallmarks

of the CED matcal meticulous planning the key will be finding out as much as he can about conditions on the ground they more than anybody know the importance of intelligence and good intelligence despite the distance if everything was carefully looked at in advance there was a reasonable chance that they could be able to get away with first Barack has mosad send more agents to Tunisia previously Mossad had been simply keeping tabs on Abu jahad now they are tasked with Gathering detailed information on his every movement the mosad sent people into uh Tunisia posing as either

tourists or business people very routine again for the mad they were sent to Tunisia to check all various questions that came from s matal posing as Lebanese Arabs the new team liaz with the agents already embedded in Tunis the agents monitor Abu jahad's Journeys around the city Israeli intelligence was updated of the the tiniest details of Abu Jihad daily uh routine and daily daily schedule the agents listen in on telephone calls to his home the Mad would use electronic means to intercept Communications and listen in so they were confident that they would know when Abu

Jihad is at home watching and listening to his every move the Mossad team soon learn the Vital Information that Barack needs to launch his operation who is in the house with Abu Jihad how the house is built who is sleeping in each room how many Gs how far is the police station they know the height of the perimeter walls the types of Windows doors and locks the distance between the rooms they soon know every aspect of the villain's defenses they know exactly where he is and on what floor of the building and when he goes

to sleep and when he comes when he goes and where his bodyguard is going to be [Music] Etc armed with the intelligence from mosad back in Israel Barack begins to draw up plans for the operation and so say matal was starting to plan how to to take out Abu Jihad the plan Barack develops is to send in a small team of Commandos to Assault The Villa under cover of Darkness but it will only work if it is carefully choreographed the preparation and planning is the most important thing in a mission for the Special Forces Soldier

or the Special Forces Unit they construct their plan using the det Ed mosad intelligence and they built a small model which is an exact copying of the house Barack marks out the guard posts and points of Entry they get all their intelligence together and then they have to figure out the best route in to that [Music] Target different strategies for the assault are debated in order to minimize the risk of failure the soldiers are smart and they have a lot of experience and if they have a good idea then the idea is taken the plan

is changed once this is agreed the Commandos Mark out the exact footprint of the [Music] villa and practice the assault again and again that was something that Israeli intelligence and the sayat call Commandos frequently did they never wanted to leave anything to chance like every other secret or Special Operation you should train train for the exact steps for the exact performance of yourself and others and and so [Applause] on but expect unexpected the next stage is to practice the mission in real conditions say matal asked few people to donate a house in Israel not far

away from the beach for rehearsals house is quite similar to that of Abu Jihad and again and again practice the assault in Israel before embarking on the mission whilst the Commandos are practicing for the assault on the Villa Barack turns his attentions to one outstanding issue that means getting the commander unit the 1500 miles to Tunisia safely and secretly all arms of Israeli power would be involved here uh the mosad uh the military intelligence the Navy the Air Force Barak mobilizes the entire Israeli military first the Navy will take the Commandos from Israel to Tunisian

Waters in missile boats it was a huge out made of ships airplanes cargo ships carrying helicopters above them bar back orders the Air Force to be ready with an emergency evacuation planal is under the coverage of the Air Force in order to be evacuated if something really bad happens it is an almost unprecedented mission in its size and ambition this was a huge operation thousands of soldiers and Intelligence Officers from the Navy mosad military intelligence [Music] having arranged how to get the Commandos to Tunisia Barack now focuses on a very particular problem the nearest Landing

Beach is 2 and 1/2 miles from The Villa this presents him with two problems the first is how to get S matal to the house and the second was how to get them back safely and Al after the assassination how can Barac get the team through the Tunisian streets without them being detected by either the Palestinians or the Tunisian police bear in mind Tunisia is a an Arab uh country and not a democratic State it's a sort of a police state far away from Israel they'd have to get there quickly without drawing attention so they

need an insertion [Music] plan so Barack comes up with an ingenious method to get the Commandos to and from the Villa without being detected first they will arrange a distraction to clear the area of police we're expecting local forces to intervene so you give an notice to the police uh the local police that something [Applause] happens far away on the other side of the city so everyone is concentrated there you have time to to go next the Mossad agents on the ground will rent cars and drive them to the beach front there they will collect

the Commandos and Ferry them to a location near to the villa those rented cars were placed on the beach in Tunis uh to make sure that no suspicions would be aroused the mosad agents will park the cars near Abu jahad's home but the Commandos will have to walk the final few yards to The Villa on foot this is when they will be most exposed to get them the last few hundred yards Barack turns to his own experience [Music] expences 15 years earlier Barack was involved in one of the most remarkable missions in the history of

the saret matar the unit was sent into Beirut the heart of enemy territory they were sent to kill the men behind the slaughter of 11 Israeli athletes of the Munich Olympics to infiltrate the city undetected Barack and the others employed a very unusual disguise some of them are dressed as women in order not to distract attention that just a group of men is walking in the street it's always easier to have men and women together their disguises allow the unit to disperse through the city undetected and launch multiple synchronized attacks [Music] at the end of

that operation 15 known terrorists were dead now barack's team will play the same trick in Tunisia in order to get to Abu jahad's Villa undetected the Israelis felt that they could do that even in Tunisia even 1500 miles away so that Playbook was turned to once again this leaves Barack with one final decision to choose the man to lead the mission he chooses Nahum Lev the deputy chief of the cat matkar nakum Lev his Deputy one of the most Brave and legendary figures and different figures in the history of s matkal to lead the operation

having read all the available intelligence Lev declares that Abu jahad is a dead man walking he said you know I read the file on Abu Jihad I knew how many Jews how many brother Israelis he killed I knew that his hands are covered with Jewish blood he deserved to [Music] die Lev's task is to be the first man into the villa and to locate Abu jahad Lev and his men now embark on the 1500 mile journey to Tunisian Waters the quarter Century Chase for Abu jahad is almost over at a military base south of Tel

Aviv a specially adapted passenger jet takes off Bound for Tunisia the Israelis used a electronic warfare aircraft converted Boeing Barack will command the operation from the plane which has been turned into a flying control center a few hours later the plane reaches Tunisian airspace Barack now orders the Mossad team to the beach the Mad was waiting with the rented cars by the shore waiting for the S mkal people to come [Music] ashore with the Mossad agents in place the order is given for the cat matcal to land they are taken ashore by members of flotilla

13 Israel's Navy Seals to minimize sound commanders Row the last few hundred meters to shore the Israelis landed in the dead of night they were picked up by the mosad people nobody was there when it came to Tunisian security immediately the Commandos change into their tourist disguises they're all changing very quickly they change their clothes to civilian clothes some of them are dressed as women the whole group uh mosad flotilla 13 and S matala waiting at the beach for the final goahead as they wait for a green light the commanders learn from Barack there's a

problem Israeli intelligence have intercepted a phone call to Abu jahad someone from the PLO headquarters called Abu Jihad and said that they were warned by apparently a European intelligence service that the Israelis are thinking of killing a PLO senior figure barak's fear is that if Abu jahad suspects he might be the senior figure being targeted he may flee Tunis immediately the Israelis were quite afraid that he's going to take this threat seriously araq Demands a report from the mosad team watching The Villa is Abu jahad at home or has he fled Tunis the agents report

that his Mercedes has been seen arriving at the Villa but they cannot confirm that Abu Jihad was in the car they saw people going out of Abu Jihad house and getting into the house but they didn't see their face while Barack waits to find out where Abu jahad is he orders the Mossad agents of the beach to take the cat matcal to their position near the Villa quite rapidly they launched the force the sayal force from the beach to Abu Jad house at about 1:00 in the morning the three vehicles that contained the Israel Commandos

went into this neighborhood called City [Music] buade one vehicle containing eight Israeli Commandos actually went to the front of the house but Barack still cannot order the Commandos to launch their assault even after forces left the beach and went on to the house we still did not have the right Assurance to go in they were waiting there for the final approval of the commanders of the operation that Abu Jihad is indeed at home these are the actual words from Secret radio communications between the units as they wait for the order to proceed this is Richard

I want to tell you it is possible that there are some people who are not sleeping in the office okay Richard I understand they use code names and speaking English instead of Hebrew in case anyone is listening Israeli Commandos were sitting with their Uzi submachine guns and pistols between their legs just waiting for the signal to proceed without absolute certainty that the target is at home Barack cannot give the order to strike they assured the minister of defense that they will know for sure that Abu Jad is in the house before launching the assault it

is now that Barack shows the cat matc's real quality he has a backup plan Israel is famous for being adjustable we change views we change uh Behavior we change actions according to time and persons involved that's aite unit a few days previously Barack had ordered an operation in the Palestinian territories they raid a house in Gaza and arrest a dist relative of Abu Jihad a lawyer now in a secret underground basement in Tel Aviv a call is made to Abu jahad's Villa using a specially diverted line something that would look like a phone call from

Italy to Abu jihad's office in his home making the call is an Israeli agent who pretends to be a Palestinian informing Abu jahad of his relatives arrest masaku Abu it was shouting and cursing Abu Jihad Abu Jihad you must help they have arrested Abu again this son of a is Zionist they have arrested Abu and they are torturing him then they hear the voice on the other end of the line the speaker says who is this please come down we'll make sure everything is okay we'll help AB don't don't worry the agent has to keep

keep the person on the phone talking listening in are three Arabic experts who have been trained to recognize Abu jahad's voice each one of them had to raise his right arm when he's 100% confident that this is Abu Jihad speaking from the other side of the line as the three soldiers listen to The Voice first one and then another raise their right hand into the [Music] air finally the third hand is raised it was approved and confirmed and corroborated that Abu jiad is in the house finally Barack can give the order to strike Bard Bard

this is Richard you can leave the station you can leave the station do it fast I say it again do it fast Lev the commander of the operation and another Commando dressed as a woman begin the Final Approach To The Villa disguised as a romantic couple they walk through the busy streets hidden in plain sight nobody would think twice looking at these guys their task to to approach The Villa undetected and take out the guard on the gate so they were PA walking in the street carrying a chocolate box but the innocuous looking chocolate box

Lev carries actually conceals a gun they had a weapon hidden under a box of chocolates it's not going to be in a holster and it won't be slung around the neck Lev and his partner now approach the entrance to the Villa where the guard is sat in Abu jahad's black Mercedes [Music] they uh got close to the driver of Abu Jihad that was still sitting in the car the woman distracts the guard by asking for directions they pulled out the map and they wanted to ask him some sort of tourist request as the guard looks

over the map Lev Acts [Music] now the other Commandos make their move the eight Commandos swiftly assaulted the house they went to the backyard and came to the [Music] door it made some noise and Abu Jad heard it in the Upper Floor [Music] Lev and his accomplice concentrate on the stairs will lead to Abu jahad the other team go to take out the remaining bodyguards with the bodyguards dealt with Lev and his partner close in on the main target one of the Assassins of say matkal was going up the stairs a young officer of who

was chose by to be the first one to come in the Commando hears someone at the top of the stairs is it Abu jahad or an innocent member of his family the commander knows that he will have to identify the Target in an instant the Commando reacts instinctively [Music] and then other people from the unit came and shot Abu Jihad as well 70 bullets hit Abu Jihad and his right hand which had held the pistol was nearly severed but as they are firing Abu jihad's wife suddenly appears scream Hal Halas stop it stop it don't

to see that he's already dead but even with everyone's nerves on edge discipline holds even when the unexpected happened the wife did not get hurt we will avoid shooting even on the expense of getting hurt instead Lev orders her to face the wall and with Abu jahad confirmed dead the commanders depart once it was finished they rushed into the cars back to the beach back to the boats and [Music] home the entire operation has been accomplished in a matter of minutes at dawn when Tunisian investigators and a PLO team went out to see what happened

all they found were the three rented vehicles and footprints on the sand as the Commandos Journey back to Israel they know that even by their own high standards operation show of force is an outstanding achievement Abu Jihad who as far as the Israelis were concerned was the main planner of the inapa they were out to stop was dead [Music] but the mission hadn't been quite Flawless despite all the intelligence gathered there was something they had missed at the time of the raid Abu jahad's Garder was sleeping in the basement of the [Music] Villa this innocent

man had been killed alongside Abu jahad's bodyguards soon news of the operation reaches Israel when the uh the troops were on their way home it was already published that someone killed Abu Jihad in his house Israel has never formally admitted to killing Abu jiad but there there was never really any doubt about it but there is a strange twist to this Tale the news of Abu jihad's death does not have the effect rabine had hoped for it's all very well being clever at uh killing Palestinian leaders but the PLO didn't disappear the intifa didn't stop

in fact the violence gets worse news of Abu jahad's death triggers the bloodiest day of protests since the interfa began and in a bizarre development the Israelis learned that despite his claims Abu jahad had never had anything to do with the in father in fact he was lying he didn't know that the intifa is going to break up he the p and they sort of jumped on the wagon after it started claimed responsibility for something that they had none involved in whatsoever and the reaction of Israelis wasn't what rabine had expected either there was quite

a lot of comment in Israel that well this was brilliantly executed Mission by our boys at the end of the day did it make much difference in the big picture not really but one difference it did make was to the career of the man in charge of the operation ahood Barack it's hard to overstate what a legendary career he's had in the years after the Tunisian Mission Barack was made chief of the general staff and in 1999 the Israeli people showed their admiration for the cyat matal when they elected this former leader of the unit

to become Israeli Prime Minister the Israeli public though it doesn't know much about precisely what sayat matal has done well the Israeli public knows that it's a trustworthy group of men who get things done [Music]