Israel Matzav

Livni the Mossad agent house sitter

You may recall that back in June I blogged an article by Uzi Mahnaimi in the Times of London that claimed that foreign minister Tzipi Feigele Livni was 'a Paris agent for the Mossad' and that she 'traveled throughout Europe in pursuit of Arab terrorists.' You may also recall that at the time I quipped that "now we know whom Uzi Mahnaimi is backing to be the next Prime Minister of Israel."

On Tuesday, the truth came out, and Livni was anything but a swashbuckling secret agent for the Mossad in Paris in the 1980's. In fact, she was a house sitter, according to a report presented on tonight's Mabat News Magazine by Channel 1's investigative reporter Ayala Hasson.

According to the report, Livni served in Mossad between 1980 and 1984, between the ages of 22 and 26.

Livni, according to Hasson, was hired to live in a Paris apartment simply so that the property would not remain empty. Intelligence agencies customarily hire low level agents to man apartments abroad so as not to raise municipalities' suspicions in case the properties remain abandoned and unused. Such agents need only to generate monthly utility bills to create the appearance that there is an active resident in the property.

After her sojourn in Paris, Livni returned to Israel to participate in a course which would qualify her as a field operative. While she was successful in the course, she did not conclude it, leaving the training - and the agency - in order to marry.

Unusually, Mossad issued a response corroborating Hasson's findings.

The next time I blog a Sunday Times of London piece and give an "Uzi Mahnaimi alert," please take the alert more seriously than the article. The man has a tendency to blow things out of proportion.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:33 PM