IDFWO_British

The Truth
Behind
Israel’s Man
of Mystery
Ze’ev Gur-Arie’s life has the
makings of a Hollywood film.
The wife of the late Mossad
agent honours his memory by
telling his intriguing story
A dapper Ze’ev Gur-Arie seen during his time as a secret
agent for the Mossad.
“
• BY PLIA KETTNER
People can say whatever they want
about him, but life with Ze’ev was
certainly never boring,” says Naomi
Gur-Arie, referring to her late husband,
Ze’ev Gur-Arie. This is undoubtedly an understatement,
considering Gur-Arie had
been an Israeli spy in Egypt and one of the
most colourful and fascinating characters
in the history of the Israeli intelligence
world.
A Hollywood film could be made about
the life of Gur-Arie, or Wolfgang Lotz, as
he was named at birth. It was a life full of
tension, drama and action that could have
given James Bond a run for his money.
It involved secrets, money, alcohol, and
a love of beautiful women, all of which
played a role in Gur-Arie’s pro-Israel activity.
Later in life, he was recognised as an
IDF disabled veteran who died as a result
of his operational activity. No one will forget
what he did for the State of Israel.
Gur-Arie was born in 1921 in Germany
to Helene and Hans, who were involved in
theater; obviously, he inherited his excellent
acting skills from his parents. When
he was nine years old, his parents divorced
and he remained with his mother. In 1933,
when the Nazis came to power, the two
fled Germany and moved to Palestine.
Gur-Arie went to live at the Ben-Shemen
Youth Village, where he became experienced
in guarding defence patrols on
armoured vehicles, as well as how to ride
a horse. All of these skills helped him tremendously
later in life.
“He had no problem
getting people to like him
– in real life, as well as part
of his job,”
Naomi Gur-Arie
When Gur-Arie was 16, he forged a new
identity with a different birth date so that
he could enlist in the British military. He
served for six years, and when Israel was
established he joined the newly formed
IDF, where he served in a number of different
positions. But the big turnaround
came when Avraham Shalom (who would
go on to become head of Shin Bet – Israel
Security Agency) recommended that he
be hired as a Mossad agent, which provided
him with the opportunity to put his
acting skills to great use.
It was in this role that Gur-Arie was able
to take advantage of all the skills he’d been
honing for years. A good Mossad agent
needs to know how to camouflage himself,
to be a great actor who knows how
to get people to talk so that he can garner
information. “He was extraordinarily
skillful,” Naomi says with a smile. “He had
no problem getting people to like him – in
real life, as well as part of his job.”
In 1960, Gur-Arie began working as an
Israeli spy in Egypt. One day, during a train
ride from Paris, where his first wife and son
were stationed while he was working for
the Mossad, Gur-Arie met and fell in love
with a German woman named Waltraud
Neumann. Two weeks later they were
married, even though he was still married
to his Israeli wife, Rivka. To the displeasure
of his Mossad handlers, Waltraud accompanied
Gur-Arie back to Cairo. He was
never one to let others tell him what to do.
Gur-Arie’s cover story was that he used
to breed horses and he’d come to Egypt to
establish a riding club outside Cairo, which
became a magnet for senior army and police
officers. He used the club to network
with elite circles, and in later years he was
nicknamed The Spy on the Horse. Egyptian
high society was drawn to him like a
magnet, and soon enough Gur-Arie had
become a close associate of the Egyptian
Police Commissioner, the chief of military
16 IDFWO MARCH 2018