The Man Who Caught Eichmann

Stand for Israel  |  July 5, 2023

Most of those who stand for the Jewish state know of Israel’s capture of Adolf Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust, including how Israel’s famed Mossad pulled off one of the most daring episodes of international espionage—nabbing and flying Eichmann back from South America so he could stand trial for war crimes in the Holy Land. It has been the subject of books and major motion pictures. But did you know this week’s Israeli You Should Know—Rafi Eitan, the leader of the Eichmann operation?

A Native Israeli Hero

Born in British-mandate Palestine to Jewish olim (immigrants) from Russia, Rafi Eitan grew up in a small farming community called Kibbutz Ein Harod. At the age of 12, Rafi joined the Haganah (the precursor to today’s IDF) in order to defend his community from Arab attacks.

After graduating high school, Rafi joined the Haganah’s elite unit, the Palmach, with whom he helped smuggle into Israel Jewish refugees from Europe who had fled the Nazis. While doing this, Rafi befriended Yitzhak Rabin, who later became Prime Minister of Israel. Rafi’s most famous operation during his time in the Palmach was when he blew up the British radar on Mount Carmel, which was used to track ships carrying Holocaust survivors. To do so, Rafi crawled underground through the Haifa sewers, which earned him his lifelong nickname of “Rafi the Stinker.” It was also during his service that Rafi was injured and became nearly deaf, a condition that forced him to rely on the use of hearing aids for the rest of his life.

During Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, Rafi served in the IDF’s intelligence unit. After the war, he commanded the Shin Bet, and later served as Chief of Coordination between the Shin Bet and Mossad. It was in this role that Rafi would earn his greatest claim to fame in Israel – the capture of Adolf Eichmann.

Capturing Eichmann

Israeli intelligence identified Eichmann, alive and well, living in Buenos Aires, Argentina. On May 11, 1960, Rafi led a group of Mossad agents on a daring kidnapping raid—nabbing the Nazi war criminal as he got off a bus. Rafi and the other Israelis captured Eichmann, held him in a safehouse in Argentina for 10 days, and then secreted him away on an El Al plane, all of them disguised as El Al employees. Once in Israel, Eichmann was tried for his crimes—which directly led to the deaths of 6 million Jews—and was ultimately executed.

Rafi retired from his intelligence career in 1972, devoting his life to farming and raising tropical fish. But in 1978, he was called back to serve Israel when Prime Minister Menachem Begin asked him to be his advisor on terrorism. It was in this role in 1981 that he helped plan and implement the secret Israeli attack on Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor.

From 2006 to 2009, he served in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, before retiring to a life of sculpting. In 2010, he said of his career, “In principle, when there is a war on terror you conduct it without principles. You simply fight it.”

Eitan passed away at the age of 92 in his homeland, the Holy Land, and was buried in Netanya.