Eitan, Rafael (Rafi)

(1926- )

   Leader of the Gil (Gimla'ey Israel LaKnesset, "Pensioners of Israel to the Knesset") Party. He was born in Kibbutz Ein Haron and grew up in Ramat HaSharon. He was educated at the Agricultural School in Givat HaShloshah and the London School of Economics, where he received a B.S.E. in economics. As a teenager, he joined the Hagana and then shifted to the Palmah upon the completion of high school in 1944. He became involved in various clandestine activities involving the illegal immigration of Jewish refugees (Aliya Bet). During the War of Independence (1948-49), Eitan served in military intelligence; after the war, he worked in Israel's intelligence community. In 1960, Eitan headed the joint interagency operation that captured Adolf Eichmann. During 1964-66, Eitan headed an operation in which armaments sold and delivered by Germany to the Egyptian government of Gamal Abdul Nasser "disappeared." He was also involved in the secret planning of Israel's attack on the Osirak (Osiraq) nuclear reactor in Iraq in June 1981.

   Eitan was appointed advisor on terrorism to Prime Minister Menachem Begin in 1978 and in 1981 was named head of the Ministry of Defense's Bureau of Scientific Relations (Lekem). In that capacity, he became one of the "handlers" of Jonathan Pollard, the American civilian naval analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel. Eitan resigned over the "Pollard affair," but he was asked to lead the Gil (Pensioners') Party in the Knesset elections on 28 March 2006. The party of the retirees won seven Knesset seats and joined Israel's 30th government, headed by Kadima, with Eitan serving as minister responsible for pensioner affairs.