From its earliest years, Israel sought to build its intelligence-gathering capabilities on listening-devices attached to the communication networks of its Arab neighbours.

However, planting these devices, and their routine servicing and replacement of batteries, was a dangerous mission. The capture of a five-man team sent to replace a battery in Syria, in 1953, the torture of its members and the suicide of another, became a national trauma.

Failure in Syria led to the establishment of special-forces units with expertise on long-range cross-border operations, undetected behind enemy lines. Many of the early recruits to the most illustrious of these units, Sayeret Matkal — General Staff Reconnaissance Patrol Unit — were Mizrahi Jews who spoke Arabic as a mother tongue and would be capable of operating under