Swiss Mess Sinks Mossad Chief

JERUSALEM: Revelations of a bungled bugging operation in Switzerland appear to have been calculated to ensure the resignation of Danny Yatom, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, says TIME Jerusalem bureau chief Lisa Beyer.

Yatom, who resigned on Tuesday, had been held responsible for a failed assassination attempt on a Hamas leader in Jordan, a debacle for which Israel paid a heavy political price. But his decision to quit may have been helped by revelations in the Israeli media that Mossad had plunged Israel into yet another diplomatic crisis after a bugging operation in Switzerland. Today, the Swiss government announced the arrest of a Mossad agent caught last week trying to bug foreign nationals on Swiss soil.

In itself, the Swiss mishap is not a major scandal, says Beyer. But the story was leaked to ensure Yatom’s resignation: “You expect the Mossad to bug people, and you assume that from time to time they’ll get caught. But with Yatom clinging to his position following the disaster in Jordan, this story proved to be the last straw.” Expect Israeli spooks to be read the riot act by his successor.