Foreign reports about the mysterious death of an Australian-Israeli Mossad agent who died in an Israeli prison two years ago have sparked a rare backlash against the country’s well-respected security agencies.
Critics have accused the government of trying to cover up the affair and are demanding a full investigation, fuelling a debate about balancing national security and freedom of information in a country that prides itself as a vibrant democracy.
“Israel is a democracy in its basis, but it doesn’t adapt itself to the modern age actually,” Avigdor Feldman, a lawyer who met the man dubbed “Prisoner X” shortly before his death, said on Thursday.
The sensational saga has dominated public discourse in Israel since it was first reported by Australia’s public broadcaster on Tuesday. According to the report, an Australian-born Israeli man, Ben Zygier, who worked for Israel’s Mossad spy agency was mysteriously imprisoned by Israel in 2010 and hanged himself several months later in a maximum-security cell. Zygier also used the names Ben Alon and Ben Allen, the report said.
Despite a whirlwind of foreign media reports easily accessible on the Internet, Israel maintained a gag order on the case for 24 hours. Late on Wednesday, Israel acknowledged parts of the story, saying it had held a dual Israeli citizen under a false name for security reasons, and that he died in prison in 2010 from an apparent suicide.
The Israeli announcement did not identify the man and left key questions unanswered: What crime was Zygier accused of? Why was he confined to severe isolation? How did he commit suicide when he was under 24-hour surveillance? And why was the case hidden from the public for more than two years, even after it was reported in Australia?