by Isser Harel
The next morning I gave the men of the force instructions to act as if nothing had happened and to make ready for the capture operation on the day we had appointed – May 10, 1960.
On May 4 Avrum and Ilani went out in the morning to see a house recommended by one of the real-estate agents. Judging by the description we were given, it should have been the answer to all our prayers. Even the district was right, for although the house was far from the capture area, the approach to it was easy and the road from the house to the airport was a good one. When they got there Avrum and Ilani saw that the agent hadn’t exaggerated the virtues of the place. It was spacious, with several wings, and stood in a large garden which hid it from the eyes of the neighbors. For our requirements it was the peak of perfection – but its perfection included a servant who was both watchman and gardener.
When I heard about it I went with Avrum and Kenet to see it for myself. It was wonderful. It might have been specially planned as a safe house for such an operation as ours. The structure was asymmetrical, with a maze of rooms in which a number of persons could disappear; many hiding places would delay even police inspection.
It was awkward that the house was a few hours’ drive from Klement’s house, but this defect could become an advantage once the captive was brought safely to the new house. I thought that even if there were an immediate hue and cry after the capture, it was doubtful that it would extend to an area so far removed from Klement’s home.
Everything was fine, except for the watchman-gardener. Needless to say, we couldn’t bring a prisoner to the new house and keep him there without this watchman’s knowledge; and even if we did manage to delude him about what was going on under his very nose, we had to anticipate the contingency that he might afterward reconstruct events which seemed peculiar to him at the time and perhaps also be able to identify all or some of the occupants of the house.
This worrisome problem was doubly important in view of the necessity of keeping our prisoner under safe house arrest for a longer period than we had expected before the special flight was postponed, and though I didn’t know at that juncture how we were going to solve it, I wasn’t prepared to let the house go. I thought it could at least serve as an alternative in case of need. I hoped we might still find a way of getting rid of the watchman somehow, if not for the whole period of the operation then at least for part of it. So I told Ilani to rent the house.
We gave this safe house, about two hours’ drive from Tira, the code name Doron (Gift).
15
KENET AND EZRA spent the whole morning of May 4 in another survey of the target area. They checked possible approaches and marked out routes for an orderly retreat – or an emergency getaway, in case of failure.
Toward evening the operational detail went to the target area. On the road between the center of San Fernando and Klement’s house two policemen were stopping all cars, inspecting vehicle registrations and drivers’ licenses, and searching some of the cars. When they saw that the members of the detail were foreigners they allowed them to continue.
Beginning at six-thirty, Avrum, Kenet, and Ezra boarded three consecutive number 203 busses at their point of origin in Carupa. Avrum and Ezra traveled as far as Bancalari without coming across Klement. When Kenet climbed on the bus at Carupa he found Klement sitting there. So it was now evident that Klement’s bus journey started at this point, but the question remained: Where had he come from? Or was he perhaps working in Carupa?
Kenet stayed on the bus as far as the San Fernando stop and then got off. He didn’t want to risk continuing to the kiosk with Klement, nor did he want to travel on in the emptying bus right up to the end of the line. He knew he would still have to do more roaming around in the neighborhood and had no desire to call attention to himself.
In the meantime, Avrum and Ezra went back to their car, which they had parked in the vicinity of Bancalari, and started driving along Route 202 toward the kiosk and the Klement home. When they reached the corner of Garibaldi Street they saw Klement walking toward his house – this was the seventh time.
All the effort expended in tracking Klement’s starting point had one aim: to find out if there might be an alternative site of capture, farther from the man’s house,
For two days we had been waiting for Rafi Eitan and Eli Yuval at the planned meeting places, and their failure to appear was beginning to cause us a certain amount of anxiety – not that we were concerned about their safety; we knew that fellows like that don’t ‘get lost.’ We were, however, worried that their lateness might affect the timetable of the operation. Furthermore, the men of the advance party were already exhausted and needed reinforcements to share the burden and the responsibility.
This evening, however, Avrum’s vigil, at Café Opera, was not in vain. At exactly nine o’clock Rafi and Eli walked into the café. They looked tired and their clothes were a mess, for they had come straight from the airport without changing, but broad smiles spread over their faces as they caught sight of Avrum. They related their adventures in a few sentences: at first Eli had trouble with his documentation, then they had difficulty getting seats on a plane so soon before the anniversary celebrations; and to crown it all Rafi had had an attack of food poisoning and couldn’t eat anything but toast for several days.
Still, in spite of their fatigue, they were impatient to hear a full report. They had left Israel immediately on receipt of Avrum’s message that Klement’s whereabouts were known and conditions were favorable for his capture, and during the journey they had been cut off from all sources of information. Now, listening to Avrum’s progress report, their fatigue seemed to vanish, and after a light meal they begged Avrum to take them on an immediate tour of the Klement neighborhood.
He tried to persuade them that they were too exhausted, but they would not be put off. Late at night the three of them went on a reconnaissance of San Fernando, and on the way Rafi told Avrum about the equipment he had prepared which was due to arrive on the special plane.
The morning of May 5 was devoted to a thorough discussion at Maoz, with all the members of the task force present – except Yitzhak, who was still running around tirelessly looking for houses and cars. This was my first meeting with Rafi and Eli since their arrival.
We analyzed the results of the surveillances and their effect on the detailed planning of the capture. Each man gave a detailed progress report on his own field of competence -equipment, safe houses, cars. As this information was summed up, the task force passed from the preparations stage to the actual planning of the operation.
That afternoon Avrum took Rafi and Eli on a daylight reconnaissance of the target area and afterward visited the two safe houses, Tira and Down.
In the evening Eli made his first surveillance on the railway embankment, with Avrum again acting as guide. Once again Klement appeared at the usual time, and Eli had his first view of Ricardo Klement.
At this point I turned my attention to the arrangements for Eichmann’s prolonged imprisonment. I knew that the difficulties would be many and varied, but we had no choice. We had to be sure that the house appeared to be the home of innocent tourists, that there would be no shortage of food for the prisoner and his guards, and that the external cover could be maintained, especially for the neighbors. This meant having a woman on the premises, so I transmitted an urgent message to Drori to send us Dina Ron immediately.
May 5 was also the day Shalom Dani arrived in Buenos Aires with all his precious equipment. When he set out he was laden with numerous suitcases, packages, and boxes marked FRAGILE, and both hands were full of bags and bundles. The airline employee who handled the belongings and papers of the thin, bespectacled passenger with the refined and somewhat bashful expression, didn’t have to look at his passport to know his profession: the canvases, paints, brushes, and an easel protruding from his baggage spoke for themselves.
The weight was way above the allowance. The clerks tried to be accommodating but were forced to make him pay a considerabl
e excess; they were apologetic when they had to tell him how much it would cost to freight his baggage such a great distance. But Shalom wasn’t concerned about the expense; he had one concern and only one: that his beloved cargo reach its destination safely.
He’d had a difficult time. With near superhuman effort he had collected the equipment he needed and conscientiously packed it all himself. Part of his luggage consisted of legitimate tools and materials. His problem was how to conceal among them a complete set of strange and unusual instruments which constituted the workshop of a forger of documents. Shalom didn’t rest until he had packed his materials in such a way that they could pass frontier controls and inspections in perfect safety.
From the moment the flight began he did little but sleep. He knew very well that the success of the operation would depend to a large extent on the success of his documentation, and this success would have to depend on his physical ability to withstand all the demands that would be made on him. He had experienced enough operations in faraway lands, cut off from contact with the home base, to know what was in store for the documentation man in such cases. He was determined to stand up to every test, because this operation was more important in his eyes than all previous ones.
The crew members were courteous and indulgent to the young artist. They could see he was very tired and didn’t want to be pestered, so they left him alone when he was reluctant to get out for a bit of exercise at the intermediate stations; the plane made stops in Lisbon, Dakar, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and Montevideo, but Shalom mostly preferred to remain in the cabin and guard his valuable equipment. He got off the plane only once on the way, and that time took all his hand luggage with him.
The eccentric artist had no trouble clearing his baggage through customs at Buenos Aires. Two hours after the plane landed Shalom Dani was at Maoz, with all his tools and accessories.
After cabling the airline in Israel about the unavoidable postponement of the special flight, Shimoni and Klein carried on with their surveillance at the airfield. Klein soon became thoroughly familiar with the airfield, its points of access and all its installations. As an added bonus, he got to be friendly with several of the men responsible for fueling, ground services, maintenance, loading and unloading – and also with the police and customs people. Following my instructions, Shimoni and Klein looked for the best place to park the plane. I explained to them that we required a spot far from the airport buildings and inquisitive eyes. They discovered that the maintenance area allotted to the private Argentine airline was relatively far from the center of the field. It was simplicity itself to explain to the airport authorities that our airline was interested in leaving the plane in the maintenance area of a company which had Britannia parts available. Our operational team inspected the proposed parking site and found it suitable.
While Klein was widening his network of connections at the airfield, Shimoni was trying to obtain permission for the special plane to carry passengers on the homeward journey from Buenos Aires. I thought it would seem strange to the Argentine authorities if nothing was done about this, as no airline would be content to have a plane return empty from such a long flight. For the time being, it was only a question of obtaining permission; the decision to sell tickets for the actual flight could be put off till later.
On the morning of May 5 Shimoni received a cable from El Al in Israel saying that the suggested change of schedule would present great difficulties and they were therefore not inclined to authorize it – unless they were told that such an authorization was imperative. Shimoni brought the cable to me for instructions. I told him that, in my opinion, there was no hope of influencing the protocol officials to change their decision, and any attempt to press them was liable to put an undesirable strain on our relations with them. I repeated my earlier argument that it was inadvisable for the flight to become the subject of undue discussion. I therefore told Shimoni to inform the airline in unmistakable terms that there was no alternative but to arrange the flight in accordance with the wishes of the hosts – to land on May 19. We took it for granted that the directors would understand that the cable was sent with my knowledge and that its contents were dictated by unalterable operational necessity. Sure enough, the afternoon of May 6 Shimoni brought me the management’s reply confirming the new date of the flight.
Meanwhile, Dani had unpacked his baggage at Maoz and started setting up his workshop. He hadn’t seen a single street or house in Buenos Aires by daylight, but there he was already hunched over a table covered with forms, seals, certificates, and papers.
Zev Keren worked in the next room. His associates never ceased to marvel at his sensible solutions – simple and easy to put into practice – to the technical problems they brought him. Zev would occasionally glance into Shalom’s room to see if everything was all right or if he needed anything, and sometimes he would spend a few minutes watching his friend work. He was astounded to see how in a few minutes a piece of paper changed into a document indistinguishable from the original Shalom was copying. Shalom didn’t need printed forms, he could draw printed letters so perfectly that only a laboratory inspection could detect that the paper had never been in contact with a printing press.
Rafi Eitan supervised all operational and technical problems at Maoz. He checked to see that everything was progressing according to plan and that every detail was being given the requisite attention in the order of precedence which he, as commander of the operation, could decide on better than the others.
Zev and Shalom left Maoz only to purchase essential equipment and materials. All who came there brought food for these two, who were so engrossed in their work that they had no thoughts for themselves.
I visited them frequently to see how things were going. Shalom would discuss in detail his problems and explain the solutions he devised. It was impossible not to feel a deep affection for this wonderfully modest man who never asked for anything and who never complained. Although no stray visitors were anticipated, the implements of all kinds scattered throughout the flat established beyond doubt that the place belonged to an artist. The stands, paintings, frames, and palettes lying helter-skelter were better evidence than a hundred witnesses.
The morning of May 6 Kenet and Ezra organized a reconnaissance in the vicinity of our new house Down to find a safe route for taking the captive from there to the airport.
That same morning I went to see a building that was for sale in the city itself. Since Tira and Down we hadn’t had a single decent offer, despite all the efforts of Yitzhak and Ilani, but we hadn’t given up trying to find something more suitable. This one was a new residential building consisting of several apartments. It was appropriate only for taking a prisoner into a building in one of the centers of the town and getting him out again later, but during my tour of the place it suddenly struck me that it could prove to be a valuable possession if the operation took an unexpected turn. I walked all over, upstairs and downstairs, inspecting the means of access from floor to floor and from unit to unit, to the astonishment of my companions who couldn’t understand why I was so interested in the structure of a building that didn’t seem to meet our requirements.
But the idea that flashed through my mind was that if we should have to hold the prisoner in Buenos Aires for a long time, this place could be used as a fortress and secure hiding place. What I thought was that a totally ‘innocent’ family would live in one apartment, and we would install an inside passage from there to another apartment, which would supposedly be unoccupied. In the second apartment we could build a hideout which could, be entered only from the first apartment. The size and interior layouts of these apartments made them particularly suitable for the kinds of alterations I had in mind. Through the ‘innocent’ family in the first unit we could get supplies and maintain communication with the outside world. I estimated that in an emergency we would even be able to carry out the alterations while the prisoner was already inside. I also foresaw no difficulty in bringing in an ‘operational�
� family who would lead a seemingly normal life and whose presence in Buenos Aires would appear reasonable and natural.
I was planning all this as a form of insurance in case a mishap resulted in pursuit. Furthermore, if a last-minute hitch prevented us from flying Eichmann out on the special plane, we might have to keep him hidden for a few weeks until he could be taken out by sea. In such an eventuality, I thought, it would be easier to hide in a populated area. And I was considering another function for this building: if there was such a massive response to Eichmann’s disappearance that roads to the other safe houses became dangerous, this one could be used as an emergency refuge.
To keep the building available for us for several weeks, I told the agents that we liked the place, but before we could make a final decision, we had to get in touch with relatives overseas. In the meantime, we wanted an option to purchase and an exclusive right to make use of the building until the reply came from overseas. The owners agreed, after fixing the amount to be paid in case the sale did not go through.
The keys were handed to us the same day. The code name this time was Ramim (Heights).
Avrum and Rafi spent their day scouring the city for cars, for it had become obvious that Yitzhak couldn’t handle this job alone. The frequency of our reconnaissances in the target area necessitated changing cars often. Since we had to spread our business over several rental agencies, and since we were always afraid that these agencies might be connected in some way, we had to assume different identities each time. This put an added burden on the men and also demanded the preparation of appropriate documents on short notice. Every time a car was rented a large deposit had to be paid. Clients ordinarily arranged this through a bank or the firms they worked for, but we were compelled to pay cash, and generally in foreign currency. The mere fact that we had such large sums to deposit was, of course, enough to make us noticeable.
