Shin Bet

(Shabak)

   Acronym for Sherut Bitahon Klali (General Security Services); the organization responsible for the prevention of hostile secret activity in Israel, including espionage and sabotage. It was founded in 1948 and headed by Isser Harel until 1954. Carmi Gillon was named head of the Shin Bet in early 1995, replacing Yaa-cov Peri; however, Gillon was forced to resign less than one year later following the November 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and was replaced by the former chief of the Israeli navy, Ami Ayalon. In 2002, Ayalon retired and was succeeded by Avi Dichter; he was in turned succeeded by Yuval Diskin in June 2005. Though badly shaken by controversies surrounding the Rabin assassination and a number of other operational failures in the first two years of the Al-Aksa intifada, as well as by greater public scrutiny of its methods of operation, the Shin Bet remains an important component of Israel's intelligence and national security community.