Politicsאפרים הלוי

Ephraim Halevy

Efraim Halevy is an Israeli intelligence officer and diplomat who was the 9th director of the Mossad, from 1998 to 2002.

born 1934Directing the MossadRole in the Israel-Jordan peace treatyTies with King Hussein

Born: 2 December 1934, London
Occupation: diplomat, pedagogue, journalist, politician
Education: Hackney Downs School, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Ephraim Halevy was born in 1934 in London

Halevy was born in London in 1934 to an Orthodox Jewish family. His father Elazar was an ordained rabbi and a Zionist activist in the Mizrachi movement. He moved to Israel in April 1948.

He studied at a religious high school in Jerusalem and earned a master's degree in law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. From 1955 to early 1958 he was president of the National Union of Israeli Students. From 1957 to 1961 he edited a journal published by the Chief Education Officer.

He joined the Mossad in 1961 and headed several of its branches over the years. He built a close relationship with King Hussein of Jordan and took part in shaping the peace treaty with Jordan on a mission for Yitzhak Rabin. From 1990 to 1995 he was deputy director of the Mossad.

In 1996 he became Israel's ambassador to the European Union in Brussels. He was appointed director of the Mossad in March 1998 after Danny Yatom resigned. In October 2002 he became head of the National Security Council and resigned in 2003 after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon did not accept his recommendations.

He later taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and headed its Shasha Center for Strategic Studies. In 2006 he published his autobiography, Man in the Shadows. He is married to Hadassah and has 2 children.