Intelligence is undoubtedly one of the most important determining factors of a war. There have been numerous occasions where an inferior army in numbers and equipment has won, because of intelligence, like the Battle of Britan where the British radar played a significant role in winning the war by allowing the allied fighters enough time to get in the air. For this reason, nowadays, every country has their own intelligence agency. The U.S. has the CIA; Great Britain has MI6 and Russia has the GRU. Usually, the best agencies belong to widely recognized superpowers, but Mossad of Israel sometimes goes under the radar of the average person. Mossad, however, deserves recognition as it is one of the most successful intelligence agencies in the world and has carried out many complicated operations through its innovative intelligence gathering strategies.

  
Mossad is one of three major intelligence organizations of Israel. Its main function is foreign intelligence gathering but specifically: to neutralize military threats to the state of Israel, bring justice to those who have harmed the Jewish people, gather intelligence, retaliate against perpetrators of terror and help Jewish refugees reach the land of Israel (Unpacked Staff) (Noah Tesch). Mossad was formally established in December 1949. At first there were struggles within the organization and there were many bureaucratic conflicts. This was then followed by a failed operation which resulted in an Israeli spy ring getting caught in Baghdad which further highlighted the existing problems with the organization. These problems ceased after the first director quit and Isser Hassar filled in the role. He is responsible for turning Mossad into the successful intelligence power we know today (Noah Tesch).

   
Since then, Mossad has conducted many high-profile and influential missions which have further solidified its position as one of the best intelligence agencies. One of the most famous was the capture of Adolf Eichmann, one of the highest-ranking officers in Nazi Germany and the person who was responsible for the Nazis’ final solution. Mossad used the cover that was provided by the excess number of tourists because of Argentinas 150th anniversary to sneak more agents into the country and capture Eichman illegally since they knew that the Argentinian government would have never of extradited Eichman. The Israeli agents snatched him while he was walking from his home to the bus. They transported him by drugging him and disguising him as an Israeli airline worker who had suffered a head injury (History.com Editors). This creative and covert way of capturing and transporting Eichman further serves to show their efficacy and professionalism during covert operations.

 
There, however, have been failures by Mossad like the Lillehammer affair (1973) that resulted in the death of an innocent Moroccan civilian because of wrong intelligence, which ended in most of the Mossad team that took part in the operation being captured and tried for murder. Another more recent example is the surprise attack of Hamas on Israel which was neglected as a possibility by the Israeli defense force and Mossad (Bergman, Ronen). Even though we cannot overlook the failed operations they are all overshadowed by the many successful challenging missions that Mossad has conducted, especially their significant role in the Six-Day War through operation “Moked” which ultimately led to Israel winning a war with the odds stacked against them. (The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica)

  
One of the most important factors to determine the quality of an intelligence agency is the variety and effectiveness of their intelligence gathering strategies. Mossad places a heavy focus on human intelligence (HUMINT). It not only has the second largest number of official spies and employes in the western world, but it also has a massive worldwide network of informants with many of them being concentrated in the middle east. In this region the spies are planted by the Caesarea unit, an undercover operational branch created in 1970 by an Israeli spy (Younes, Ali). Simultaneously Israel has created the Sayanim network, which is an extensive network of ethnic Jewish helpers worldwide. These helpers are usually not on a payroll, giving Mossad great flexibility and letting them avoid being held accountable. The assistance from these helpers can range from providing important and classified information, to simple actions such as providing medical assistance or transport without requiring legal documentation allowing the Israeli agents to maintain their cover (Ellmer).  

Out of the many intelligence agencies in the world such as MI6 and the CIA, Mossad stands out from the rest because of its high rate of success and very high-profile glamorous covert operations. It is a testament of the success that a well-organized and professional organization can achieve even in challenging environments and still emerge as a beacon of strategic prowess and operational achievement. Through its many innovative human intelligence gathering strategies, its high degree of professionalism and its agent’s dedication to the protection of the state of Israel, it has solidified its position as one of the best intelligence agencies in the world.