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Senior Israeli politicians spied for Russia

October 27, 2016 at 10:00 am

MK Elazar Granot, Israeli spy for Russia [qudsn.ps]

Smuggled classified documents revealed that the main security agency for the Soviet Union, the KGB, had recruited a network of agents in Israel, including 3 members of the Knesset, major generals and Shin Bet officer, to spy for them, Israel’s Ynet News reported yesterday.

The documents were smuggled to the West by former KGB agent Vasili Mitrokhin who was a senior official in the Soviet intelligence agency, Ynet News said, noting he and his family defected to Britain in 1992, with the trove of document.

Before he defected, Mitrokhin spent 20 years copying the documents and hid them under his simple rural home in the suburbs of Moscow.

One of the senior Israeli agents recruited by the KGB, according to Mitrokhin’s documents, was MK Elazar Granot, who served in the foreign affairs and defence committee and as secretary-general of an Israeli party.

The documents also revealed the KGB recruited a major general who was a member of the Israeli General Staff. The UK, where Mitrokhin landed, passed this information to the Israeli Shin Bet.

Ynet News reported a former Shin Bet official claiming the organisation did not take action against Granot because he was sick and died a very short time later and they wanted to avoid causing the army any embarrassment.