As Dubai police are digging out every clue of the January assassination of top Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, Mossad, the Israeli spook shop Dubai police claimed as behind the assassination, seems enjoying a surge on the application for its jobs.
Career options in Mossad received an unprecedented popularity since the Dubai assassination, Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot reported.
Though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the assassination, the massive international media coverage of the affair has spurred a dramatic increase in the number of applications sent by Israelis who now seek employment with the intelligence agency, via its official website, said the report.
The exact number of fresh curriculum vitaes (CV) sent to Mossad is unknown. Israel's Prime Minister's Office, who responded on behalf of the agency, said, "We do not make it a habit to comment on media reports about the organization."
No one can tell whether the Dubai assassination has influenced the recruits of Mossad, but for Elad, a 21-year-old veteran of a combat unit in the Israel Defense Force and one of many who recently sent a CV, there might be some relevancy.
"I've always had a dream to serve with Mossad," he told the Yediot Aharonot, "the reason is obvious. It's special, dangerous, thrilling. No one knows exactly what they do, and now I suddenly understand how it works."
For the most part of its history, Mossad employed its own unique ways of tracking down and recruiting qualified personnel. One important method of the agency, which has unlimited access to Israeli army's personnel files, is screening candidates recommended personally by active Mossad members.
Many were shocked when the organization launched an official website a few years ago in an effort to widen the pool of potential candidates. The move was harshly criticized by some of its veteran spies, who claimed that the Mossad is compromising its secrecy through unveiling job descriptions.
The Mossad website, in both Hebrew and English, invites anyone who thinks he has "the right stuff" to consider a career with the agency and submit his or her resume by filling out a series of online forms.
Reference to the online Mossad is given through periodic advertisements published in Israel's daily newspapers. They appeared lately on Feb. 12, almost a month after the assassination. "If you have audacity, wit and sophistication, you will be able to make a difference and realize a personal and national mission," it read.
The advertisement then listed the prerequisites: an academic degree, diversified life experience, high inter-personal abilities, flexible and creative thinking, curiosity, ability to work independently and in a team, and fluency in a foreign tongue other than Hebrew. Preference is given to candidates with a foreign background who are willing to embark on missions abroad immediately following the end of their training.
Mossad, it seems, isn't just in need of spies and field operators. Current job listings include a car mechanics specialist, fluent Arabic and Farsi speakers for an unspecified intelligence job, translators, a quartermaster, a certified electrician and an experienced fitness instructor. |
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