Reuven Shiloah

Reuven Shiloah (1909-1959)

Reuven Shiloah was born in Jerusalem. He spoke Arabic and was, by both education and deed, an expert in Middle East affairs. He was entrusted with secret missions and in 1949 then Prime Minister and Defense Minister David Ben-Gurion appointed him the first head of the Mossad, a post he held until 1952. He then took up a senior post at the Israeli Embassy in Washington and became a political adviser to the Foreign Minister.

From his youth, Shiloah was involved in covert Yishuv affairs and was close to its leaders. He was a confidant of David Ben-Gurion and Moshe Sharett, especially in political matters. His driving ambition was to free the nascent State of Israel from its regional and international isolation, and, with this in mind, he established covert relations with Western intelligence services.

Shiloah was also active in intelligence collection; his spectacular coup was obtaining the Arab League plan to invade Mandatory Palestine. Shiloah was an exceptional personality whose thinking and methods were highly controversial. Innovation, initiative and contribution to the intelligence community and the State of Israel were widely acknowledged to be the hallmarks of his career.