By Way of Deception

BY WAY OF DECEPTION 93say hello, and they'd begin conversing in Arabic. It wouldn't takelong for this guy sitting between them to interject. They'd know hisbackground, too, so they'd direct the conversation toward hisinterests.Gil might then say to the oter, "You're meeting your girlfriendlater?" The oter would reply, "Yes, but she's bringing her girlfriendalong and we can't do it in front of her. Why don't you come, too?"Gil would say he couldn't, he was busy. At that point, their subjectwould more than likely announce that he was free — and so set offon the road to recruitment."Think of it this way," Gil went on. "If this was all happening inHebrew in some bar in Paris, you might have been recruited.People are always drawn to others speaking their language in aforeign country."The trick of making the initial contact is to make it appear sonatural that if the subject looks back at it, nothing seems odd.That way, if it doesn't work, you haven't burned him. He mustnever be allowed to think of himself as a target. But before youever approached him in that Paris bistro, you would have turnedhis file inside out, discovered everything you could about his likesand dislikes, and also about his schedule for that night — asmuch as you could do to remove the element of chance and,therefore, risk.Our next major lecture was given by Yetzak Knafy, who broughtalong a series of charts to explain the logistical support that theTsomet (katsa recruiting department) receives in operations. It'senormous, beginning with the sayanim, and going on throughmoney, cars, apartments, and so on. Yet the main support ispaper backup. The katsa might say he owns a company thatmanufactures bottles, or that he's an executive with a foreignbranch of IBM. That company is a good one; it's so big that youcan hide an IBM executive for years. We even had some IBMstores, offering emergency support. We had workers and an office— the whole thing — and IBM didn't know.But setting up a business, even a phony one, is not that simple.You need business cards, letterhead, telephone, telex, and more.The Mossad had package companies ready