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Israel's 'Man of Shadows,' who tricked U.S. nuclear inspectors, dies at 95
Israel's 'Man of Shadows,' Who Tricked U.S. Nuclear Inspectors, Dies at 95
Benjamin Blumberg, anonymous to most of the public, held some the most sensitive security positions in the country for three decades
Ofer Aderet
Aug 30, 2018 11:06 AM
2comments Subscribe
Blumberg in a rare interview with Raviv Drucker, from the program "The Captains.""The Captains", Channel 10
A golden age for the Mossad: More targets, more ops, more money[/paste:font]
Benjamin Vered, originally Blumberg, who died on Wednesday at 95, held the most sensitive security positions in Israel for three decades. Some of the operations he orchestrated ā at times with the help of producer Arnon Milchan ā resembled scenes from a Hollywood thriller.
In 1968, according to foreign media, Benjamin Blumberg ran a global operation to smuggle āyellow cakeā (natural uranium) to the nuclear reactor in Dimona. The ācake,ā originating in the Congo, was loaded in Antwerp on a ship owned by a Mossad-owned straw company and moved at sea to an Israel-bound Zim ship. At the same time, Blumberg somehow made sure American inspectors, who were sent to the reactor, didnāt notice what was going on there behind the scenes.
To really understand Israel and the Middle East - subscribe to Haaretz
āIt was an unusual story. A complete success,ā he said in a rare television interview broadcast by Raviv Druckerās program The Captains. Most of the interview did not survive the censorās scissors.
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For decades Blumberg was completely unknown, and the public didnāt know his name or see his face. And for good reason. Between the 50s and the 80s, Blumberg held some of the countryās most classified posts that dealt with building Israelās military, scientific and technological might.
He was the Defense Ministryās security officer in charge of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the nuclear reactors in Dimona and Nahal Sorek, the Institute for Biological Research at Ness Ziona and head of a Shin Bet department and the Lakam intelligence agency, which became the acquisition branch for most of Israelās defense industries.
In 2005 part of the mystery surrounding him was dispelled, when journalist Yossi Melman wrote a large profile story on him in Haaretz, entitled āDiscreteā
In his case, the phrase ātook many secrets to the grave with himā is no clichĆ©.
Blumberg as a teenager at the Mikve Israel schoolMoti Kimchi
āAll his life Blumberg was a man of shadows. His flinching from the media bordered almost on loathing. His might was in his silence,ā Melman wrote about him.
Blumberg was born in 1923 in Mikveh Israel. His maternal grandfather was one of the founders of the agricultural school. His father was the caretaker. One of his teachers was David Leibowitz, inventor of the Davidka mortar. As a boy he joined the Haganah. At 15 he left home and moved in with Giora Zaid, son of the mythological Alexander Zaid, a founder of the Jewish defense organizations Hashomer and Bar Giora, at Sheik Abreik. āZaid introduced me to the Druze in the area. Thanks to them I learned Arabic,ā he said.
In the War of Independence he commanded the security of the potash factory in Kalya, on the Dead Sea shores. Later he was one of the first to join the Shin Bet, when the service was a unit in the IDF. At the end of the ā50s, when the nuclear research center in Dimona was first being built, he was appointed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Defense Ministry director general Shimon Peres as the reactorās security officer.
āI wasnāt keen, but there was no choice. What Ben-Gurion wants ā you do. You could not say no to Ben-Gurion,ā Blumberg told Drucker in an interview.
āI knew him in the defense ministry, he was discrete and knew how to keep a secret, so I promoted himā¦I believed in him and trusted him and he didnāt disappoint me, carrying out his job in an extraordinary way,ā Peres said of him later.
Blumberg later became the security director of the entire defense establishment, known by the acronym of malmab. āI recruited defense officers and issued regulations. Before that there was one big confusion, it wasnāt simple. I had to persuade the directors of the military industries that they need security,ā he said in an interview to Sara Leibowitz-Dar, published in Maariv in 2012.
Benjamin BlumbergMoti Kimchi
Some of Blumbergās duties were carried out as part of a covert unit later called the Bureau for Scientific Relations (Lakam). In their book Spies Against Armageddon (2012), Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv wrote that the unit was so secret, it was even hidden from then Mossad head Isser Harel.
Melman wrote that throughout the ā60s Blumberg personally accompanied the important deliveries of equipment and materials to and from the reactor. He was also the top professional authority on examining staff recruited to the reactor.
The unit Blumberg set up and headed expanded beyond Israelās borders. āI set up a special unit in Germany. A whole office with a big system,ā he told Drucker. Under his orchestration, he had āscientific attachesā sent to Israeli embassies in Europe and North Africa. These engineers, physicists and chemists, were assigned to covertly monitor scientific and technological developments in the countries they were posted in.
The operations Blumberg was involved in are hair-raising. In 1961, after Israel was forced to agree to visits by American inspectors to Dimona, Blumberg made sure to āsee to it that the inspectors donāt find out what really happened,ā as Foreign Minister Abba Eban explained later, according to a foreign source.
Over the years partial information was published about the operations Blumberg took part in. Some reports said that in 1968 Lakam people and the Mossad moved 200 tons of natural uranium from a freight ship that sailed from Belgium under a Liberian flag to an Israeli ship. Lakam under Blumberg was also involved in bypassing the arms embargo France had imposed on Israel following the Six Day War. At his direction, Lakam smuggled the Cherbourg boats, held in France, and the production plans of the Mirage fighter jets, to Israel.
Milchan was among the individuals who aided Blumberg. In the ā60s Milchan, then less than 30, operated dozens of straw companies in numerous countries as a cover for the Lakamās activity. In an interview to Fact (Uvda) with Ilana Dayan in 2013 Milchan said Blumberg had tasked him with various missions, some of which had still not yet been revealed.
For example, when the Dimona reactor engineers needed production plans of secret facilities, Milchan went to the German plant that produced them and recruited the engineer who had access to the safe.
Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona REUTERS
Later, in 1979, according to foreign media, Israel cooperated with South Africa in a nuclear experiment in the Atlantic Ocean. In return, it was reported, Israel assisted the apartheid regime in whitewashing its image by using Milchanās connections in the media and movies. āLetās help those who can help us,ā Blumberg told Milchan.
Another mission Milchan received from Blumberg eventually led to closing Lakam down. Milchan set up a company in California that dealt with smuggling to Israel equipment for assembling nuclear bombs. The affair exploded following an FBI investigation, but Milchan escaped unscathed. Another partner Milchan recruited for the Lakam was businessman Eliyahu Saharov, who, according to Melman, led daring operations to obtain materials for Israelās nuclear program.
āBlumberg attended all those junctures of decisions that shaped Israelās strategy and defense view,ā Melman wrote about him in Haaretz. āIsraelās nuclear policy shapers, headed by prime minister and defense minister Ben-Gurion, his assistant and Defense Ministry director general Shimon Peres and a handful of scientists who worked with them, needed a reliable, devoted, loyal, secret-keeping operative. So they gave him even more power than they perhaps intended one man to have.ā
āHis contribution to the stateās security is invaluable, he carried out magnificent covert work,ā Peres once said about him.
In 1981 Blumberg was fired by then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. Later he was one of the founders of the electronics plant Optomic Technologies.
Israel's 'Man of Shadows,' who tricked U.S. nuclear inspectors, dies at 95
Israel's 'Man of Shadows,' Who Tricked U.S. Nuclear Inspectors, Dies at 95
Benjamin Blumberg, anonymous to most of the public, held some the most sensitive security positions in the country for three decades
Ofer Aderet
Aug 30, 2018 11:06 AM
2comments Subscribe
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Blumberg in a rare interview with Raviv Drucker, from the program "The Captains.""The Captains", Channel 10
A golden age for the Mossad: More targets, more ops, more money[/paste:font]
Benjamin Vered, originally Blumberg, who died on Wednesday at 95, held the most sensitive security positions in Israel for three decades. Some of the operations he orchestrated ā at times with the help of producer Arnon Milchan ā resembled scenes from a Hollywood thriller.
In 1968, according to foreign media, Benjamin Blumberg ran a global operation to smuggle āyellow cakeā (natural uranium) to the nuclear reactor in Dimona. The ācake,ā originating in the Congo, was loaded in Antwerp on a ship owned by a Mossad-owned straw company and moved at sea to an Israel-bound Zim ship. At the same time, Blumberg somehow made sure American inspectors, who were sent to the reactor, didnāt notice what was going on there behind the scenes.
To really understand Israel and the Middle East - subscribe to Haaretz
āIt was an unusual story. A complete success,ā he said in a rare television interview broadcast by Raviv Druckerās program The Captains. Most of the interview did not survive the censorās scissors.
Keep updated: Sign up to our newsletter
Email*
For decades Blumberg was completely unknown, and the public didnāt know his name or see his face. And for good reason. Between the 50s and the 80s, Blumberg held some of the countryās most classified posts that dealt with building Israelās military, scientific and technological might.
He was the Defense Ministryās security officer in charge of Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, the nuclear reactors in Dimona and Nahal Sorek, the Institute for Biological Research at Ness Ziona and head of a Shin Bet department and the Lakam intelligence agency, which became the acquisition branch for most of Israelās defense industries.
In 2005 part of the mystery surrounding him was dispelled, when journalist Yossi Melman wrote a large profile story on him in Haaretz, entitled āDiscreteā
In his case, the phrase ātook many secrets to the grave with himā is no clichĆ©.
Blumberg as a teenager at the Mikve Israel schoolMoti Kimchi
āAll his life Blumberg was a man of shadows. His flinching from the media bordered almost on loathing. His might was in his silence,ā Melman wrote about him.
Blumberg was born in 1923 in Mikveh Israel. His maternal grandfather was one of the founders of the agricultural school. His father was the caretaker. One of his teachers was David Leibowitz, inventor of the Davidka mortar. As a boy he joined the Haganah. At 15 he left home and moved in with Giora Zaid, son of the mythological Alexander Zaid, a founder of the Jewish defense organizations Hashomer and Bar Giora, at Sheik Abreik. āZaid introduced me to the Druze in the area. Thanks to them I learned Arabic,ā he said.
In the War of Independence he commanded the security of the potash factory in Kalya, on the Dead Sea shores. Later he was one of the first to join the Shin Bet, when the service was a unit in the IDF. At the end of the ā50s, when the nuclear research center in Dimona was first being built, he was appointed by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Defense Ministry director general Shimon Peres as the reactorās security officer.
āI wasnāt keen, but there was no choice. What Ben-Gurion wants ā you do. You could not say no to Ben-Gurion,ā Blumberg told Drucker in an interview.
āI knew him in the defense ministry, he was discrete and knew how to keep a secret, so I promoted himā¦I believed in him and trusted him and he didnāt disappoint me, carrying out his job in an extraordinary way,ā Peres said of him later.
Blumberg later became the security director of the entire defense establishment, known by the acronym of malmab. āI recruited defense officers and issued regulations. Before that there was one big confusion, it wasnāt simple. I had to persuade the directors of the military industries that they need security,ā he said in an interview to Sara Leibowitz-Dar, published in Maariv in 2012.
Benjamin BlumbergMoti Kimchi
Some of Blumbergās duties were carried out as part of a covert unit later called the Bureau for Scientific Relations (Lakam). In their book Spies Against Armageddon (2012), Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv wrote that the unit was so secret, it was even hidden from then Mossad head Isser Harel.
Melman wrote that throughout the ā60s Blumberg personally accompanied the important deliveries of equipment and materials to and from the reactor. He was also the top professional authority on examining staff recruited to the reactor.
The unit Blumberg set up and headed expanded beyond Israelās borders. āI set up a special unit in Germany. A whole office with a big system,ā he told Drucker. Under his orchestration, he had āscientific attachesā sent to Israeli embassies in Europe and North Africa. These engineers, physicists and chemists, were assigned to covertly monitor scientific and technological developments in the countries they were posted in.
The operations Blumberg was involved in are hair-raising. In 1961, after Israel was forced to agree to visits by American inspectors to Dimona, Blumberg made sure to āsee to it that the inspectors donāt find out what really happened,ā as Foreign Minister Abba Eban explained later, according to a foreign source.
Over the years partial information was published about the operations Blumberg took part in. Some reports said that in 1968 Lakam people and the Mossad moved 200 tons of natural uranium from a freight ship that sailed from Belgium under a Liberian flag to an Israeli ship. Lakam under Blumberg was also involved in bypassing the arms embargo France had imposed on Israel following the Six Day War. At his direction, Lakam smuggled the Cherbourg boats, held in France, and the production plans of the Mirage fighter jets, to Israel.
Milchan was among the individuals who aided Blumberg. In the ā60s Milchan, then less than 30, operated dozens of straw companies in numerous countries as a cover for the Lakamās activity. In an interview to Fact (Uvda) with Ilana Dayan in 2013 Milchan said Blumberg had tasked him with various missions, some of which had still not yet been revealed.
For example, when the Dimona reactor engineers needed production plans of secret facilities, Milchan went to the German plant that produced them and recruited the engineer who had access to the safe.
Israel's nuclear reactor in Dimona REUTERS
Later, in 1979, according to foreign media, Israel cooperated with South Africa in a nuclear experiment in the Atlantic Ocean. In return, it was reported, Israel assisted the apartheid regime in whitewashing its image by using Milchanās connections in the media and movies. āLetās help those who can help us,ā Blumberg told Milchan.
Another mission Milchan received from Blumberg eventually led to closing Lakam down. Milchan set up a company in California that dealt with smuggling to Israel equipment for assembling nuclear bombs. The affair exploded following an FBI investigation, but Milchan escaped unscathed. Another partner Milchan recruited for the Lakam was businessman Eliyahu Saharov, who, according to Melman, led daring operations to obtain materials for Israelās nuclear program.
āBlumberg attended all those junctures of decisions that shaped Israelās strategy and defense view,ā Melman wrote about him in Haaretz. āIsraelās nuclear policy shapers, headed by prime minister and defense minister Ben-Gurion, his assistant and Defense Ministry director general Shimon Peres and a handful of scientists who worked with them, needed a reliable, devoted, loyal, secret-keeping operative. So they gave him even more power than they perhaps intended one man to have.ā
āHis contribution to the stateās security is invaluable, he carried out magnificent covert work,ā Peres once said about him.
In 1981 Blumberg was fired by then Defense Minister Ariel Sharon. Later he was one of the founders of the electronics plant Optomic Technologies.
