Reports Accuse Israeli Spy Agency of New Bungle

Already reeling from the fallout over a failed assassination bid in Jordan, Israel’s spy agency has fumbled another secret mission, this time in Switzerland, Israeli television reported late Wednesday.

While details of the latest incident remain sketchy, local television reported that one or more agents from the Mossad intelligence service were caught trying to plant bugging devices in an Iranian embassy in Switzerland. At least one operative was arrested.

The reports, if confirmed, would deal another embarrassing blow to Israel’s fabled spymasters, who are facing one of the most serious crises in agency history. Mossad chief Danny Yatom was forced to quit Tuesday amid a growing chorus of demands that the intelligence service undergo a major overhaul to restore its devastated credibility.

Yatom was found by an official inquiry to have mishandled the planning and execution of an attack in September on the political leader of the militant Islamic group Hamas. The target, Khaled Meshaal, was injected with poison by Mossad agents who intercepted him on a street in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Although Meshaal survived, the attack enraged Jordan’s King Hussein and very nearly wrecked relations between Israel and its closest Arab ally.

The Israeli investigation into the Meshaal matter put the blame on the Mossad chief, which undoubtedly precipitated his departure from office, ending a 35-year career. But analysts here suggested that the bungled operation in Switzerland may have been the last straw.

“The failure, whose details cannot yet be published, was not the main reason, but it made the difference,” the best-selling Yediot Aharonot daily said.

Neither officials nor initial news reports gave many details of this most recent incident involving the Mossad, which apparently occurred last week. Israel’s independent Channel 2 television reported Wednesday night that one person was arrested while “monitoring” an Iranian embassy in Switzerland. It said diplomatic overtures to obtain the agent’s release were ongoing. Army Radio reported that there may have been more than one agent involved.

The Swiss prosecutor’s office scheduled a news conference today to detail what Swiss officials described as an espionage affair linked to Israel.

The reports were reminiscent of the Mossad’s attempt seven years ago to bug the Iranian Embassy in Cyprus. Two agents serving as lookouts during that operation let their guard down while searching for a bathroom and failed to notice an approaching police car, the story goes.

Members of the Israeli parliament’s secret services committee were briefed on the Swiss case earlier this week, but only after they first raised it with Yatom after hearing about it from other sources, according to committee member Uzi Landau, a lawmaker from the ruling Likud Party.

Some members were said to be angry that it appeared Yatom was concealing the information from the committee, which has sole oversight powers for intelligence matters.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who acknowledges problems within the Mossad but defends the agency’s record, would neither confirm nor deny the newest reports, saying, “I don’t intend to comment on all sorts of headlines in the newspapers.”

The same investigation that blamed the Mossad’s troubles on Yatom cleared Netanyahu, who approved the Meshaal mission as a way to go after a Hamas leadership responsible for suicide bombings that have killed dozens of Israelis. Opposition politicians charged that Yatom was being used as a scapegoat and demanded that Netanyahu be held accountable.

Netanyahu is considering the names of potential candidates to replace Yatom as head of the Mossad. His choice will say much about how deeply he can institute reform in the beleaguered spy agency. Rumored candidates come primarily from Israel’s defense establishment.

“The Mossad’s problem is not only who will sit at the top,” Yossi Melman, an analyst who specializes in military and security affairs, wrote in Wednesday’s Haaretz newspaper. “The agency needs a serious shake-up, structural changes, a redefinition of its mission and, especially, better control and supervision.”