David Kimche: Spymaster who established Mossad as a force in international espionage

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The British-born Israeli spymaster David Kimche, known as "the man with the suitcase", was involved in many foreign escapades, including the Iran-Contra affair, which shook the Reagan administration in the 1980s. He was one of the founding fathers of the Israel intelligance agency Mossad, creating their research department and recruiting and directing operatives all over the world.

Born into a Zionist London family in 1928, Kimche, a descendant of aristocratic Swiss Jews, was one of nine siblings. At 18 he moved to Palestine and fought in the 1948 war for independence which led to the creation of the state of Israel. After the war, after failing to pass an entrance exam for the Israeli foreign ministry, Kimche pursued a degree in Middle Eastern studies at Jerusalem's Hebrew University and worked for a while as a night editor at the Jerusalem Post.

In 1953, he joined the newly formed Mossad intelligence agency, and was one of those who determined its doctrine and designed its modus operandi. He was involved in virtually every aspect of Mossad and, employing a combination of cunning and charm, climbed the organisation's ranks over two decades to become its deputy director.

With his British accent, aristocratic European mannerisms and low-key personality, Kimche was a rare breed among his Mossad colleagues. At that time most were either Eastern European apparatchiks or Israeli-born military officers. In that environment Kimche, who was not tied to any of the political cliques that dominated the Israeli security service, developed a reputation as a detached and sophisticated professional. He was regarded as urbane and brilliant. His first major role was the exposure of Avri Elad, an Israeli intelligence officer who betrayed his comrades in Egypt. Elad was subsequently sentenced to 10 year's imprisonment.

Thereafter, Mossad sent him abroad where, in the 1950s and 1960s, he appeared mainly in Africa and Asia, either as an Israeli diplomat with the cover name David Sharon or, at other times, as a British businessman. Journalists who covered Africa remember "Sharon" as a source of information (and disinformation) on the politics of the newly emerging states. Kimche's activities were part of an Israeli effort to establish ties with non-Arab countries on the "periphery" of the Middle East, such as Iran and Turkey. He travelled frequently to Iran during the Shah's reign, where he developed a close friendship with Ya'akov Nimrodi, the Israeli military attaché in Tehran, who became an arms dealer after his retirement.

Nicknamed "the man with the suitcase" by his colleagues, Kimche would appear in African states a day or two before a major coup and leave a week later after the new regime was firmly in control, often with the aid of Israeli security teams. One of Israel's protégés in Africa was the infamous Ugandan dictator Idi Amin.

As many developing nations, under the influence of Egypt's President Nasser, adopted an increasingly hostile attitude toward Israel, Kimche's reach expanded and nowhere appeared off-limits or too small. He used Israeli aid packages, which included military training and support (financed occasionally by the CIA), to establish Israeli footholds and allies in countries as far afield as South East Asia and Central America. He also located Mossad listening stations in the Horn of Africa. Even the former British island of Zanzibar, off the coast of Africa, was targeted, and in 1964, when Kimche was "visiting", a bloody coup ensued and the Sultan was deposed. Israel's influence allowed thousands of Africans to study at Israeli educational institutions. In return, Israel won blocking votes in the UN. Kimche was, however, disappointed when 34 African nations severed relations after the 1967 Six Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. He nonetheless maintained unofficial channels that served Israel well when the diplomatic tide turned after 1991.

As deputy head of Israel's intelligence and counter-terrorism agency until 1980, Kimche was heavily involved in Operation Wrath of God, the scheme to eliminate the terrorists who had murdered 11 members of the 1972 Israeli Olympic team in Munich. Mossad employed some of the most sophisticated methods seen thus far in this type of work, including booby-trapped mattresses and remotely detonated telephones. The agency wanted terrorists the world over to see that no aggressor was safe, no matter where they were.

In the 1970s, Kimche played a central role in establishing Israel's secret ties with the Christian Phalangists in Lebanon, which provided the groundwork for Israel's military invasion of that country in 1982. He was later disappointed by their performance and betrayal.

In 1980, following a disagreement with his boss, Yitzhak Hofi, Kimche left Mossad. He was offered the editor's job with the Jerusalem Post but the newspaper's editorial staff rebelled against the nomination of a former intelligence official, with one writer comparing it to the selection of a former CIA head as the editor of The New York Times. Kimche then accepted the offer to serve as the director general of Israel's foreign ministry, a position he held until 1986. He led Israel's delegations in negotiations with Egypt and Lebanon and worked to reinstate diplomatic ties with African states.

In 1982, however, events seemed to overtake Kimche and the Israelis and threatened to undo much of their work. In September, the Lebanese president was assassinated and the Israeli-backed Christian militia got out of hand, massacring Palestinian refugees at Sabra and Chatilla. Kimche none the less managed to negotiate a US-mediated treaty with Lebanon, although Beirut annulled the agreement within a year.

Throughout the Reagan presidency, from 1980 to 1988, Kimche was one of the leading figures in the efforts to cement a "strategic alliance" between Israel and the United States. In 1985, with American hostages taken in Lebanon, Kimche suggested to the US national security adviser, Robert McFarlane, that moderate elements in Iran could influence Hizbollah to help free them. To facilitate the process, but violating an international arms embargo, Israel agreed to sell arms to Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran. Some of the profits from the deals were funnelled to sponsor CIA-backed Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. The affair proved deeply damaging and led to the indictment of more than a dozen administration officials including, most notably, the former US marine Oliver North. He had formulated the plan of diverting the funds to the Contras but was seen by many as the fall guy.

Kimche was also implicated in "running" Jonathan Pollard, a US naval officer arrested in 1985 for spying on America. The affair derailed Kimche's dream of becoming the chief of Mossad. He resigned from his foreign ministry post to enter "private business" in Africa and the Persian Gulf, while continuing to serve in various public roles. In later years he sought peace settlements with the Palestinians and in 1997 co-founded the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace. He also criticised successive governments for slowing down the peace process.

Kimche wrote several books: in 1960 he co-authored, with his brother Jon, Both Sides of the Hill, detailing the diplomatic and military history of the 1948 war of independence. Among his other titles was The Last Option: the quest for peace in the Middle East (1988).

In 2003, he controversially co-launched a campaign promoting Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and later that year was revealed as a key architect of the Geneva accords, the unofficial Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative. He was later the president of the Israel Council of Foreign Relations, and in 2008 he signed a petition supporting talks with Hamas. Ultimately, David Kimche believed that Israelis and Palestinians could co-exist peacefully.

Martin Childs

David Kimche, spymaster and diplomat: born London 14 February 1928; twice married (four children); died Tel Aviv 8 March 2010.