I read about the assassination of the Hamas official in Dubai earlier this year, and was struck by the amateurish nature of it. The Dubai police made a great presentation and were able to finger the members of the assassination team quite quickly. The Mossad looked stupid. I have no experience in spycraft but I have been to Dubai. It is totally on the water and very easy to blend into. Why did the Israelis just not sneak into Dubai onboard a ship? Why fly into Dubai and leave a paper trail?

Now here we have a flotilla blunder, where the Israelis miscalculated the situation and now we have a bunch of people dead, who did not need to die. Mossad could be faulted here because they should have made it their business to know about the ships in the flotilla and the intentions of the people on board the ships. The Israeli military went in thinking the ship passengers were  a bunch of peaceniks but instead got attacked.

Whenever an organization makes multiple mistakes I start thinking about what has changed in the organization. Has Mossad’s  goals changed? No. Has their incentive program changed? I don’t know. Has their recruitement strategy changed? I think so.

Here is an article that talks about how Mossad is ‘modernizing’ its recruitment strategy. I think this is the culprit here. Comparing employment with the  Mossad with employment at a for-profit company isn’t a valid comparison. Plus, if you try to recruit for the Mossad the way you recruit for a private sector company, you are going to get recruits not suited for the job. Recruits who will think differently and eventually undermine he organization. The article is dated from 2001, that is enough time for recruits from that time to come on board, act in a tactical capacity and eventually move up to strategy. And now, we see the results of that strategy. Again, this is all speculation on my part.

I promise no more posts about the Mossad or Israel for at least a month.