Mossad Flooded With Applications After Arab Spring
Who said the Arab world has something against the Mossad?
A wave of Arab volunteers has asked to join Israel’s spy agency, according to an article published in Sunday’s Yediot Aharanot. Under the headline “They All Want To Be Agents,” the newspaper reports that Israel’s foreign ministry has received “thousands” of e-mails since the start of the Arab Spring, a notable increase in correspondence that has originated mostly in the Arab countries of north Africa — in particular Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco — as well as Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
The letters have come through Al Tawasul, the Arabic-language Web site of the Israeli foreign ministry, and have also made requests ranging from employment to loans. Adel Hinou, an Arabic-language spokesman for the ministry, tells the newspaper that the writers have included “important individuals who would never have dared to contact us [previously], such as members of Arab parliaments [and] members of political movements.” Their reasons vary, but included an Iraqi software specialist who cited Israel’s “respect for individual liberties” as his motivation for requesting political asylum.
Other letter writers pursued different agendas, with one asking for a loan to pay his sick father’s medical expenses, and another requesting help so he could meet an Israeli woman he met on Facebook. Some simply want jobs or to study at Israeli universities, while an Egyptian claiming to have invented an agricultural aid said he would turn to Iran if he didn’t hear back from Israel “within five days.”
Hinou says he sends a response to every letter writer, but that “most are polite rejections.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion Yes, the attack on Gov. Shapiro was antisemitic. Here’s what the left should learn from it
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.