Sasson Itzhayek

Sasson Itzhayek was born in 1934 in Baghdad

Sasson Itzhayek was born in Baghdad in 1934 to Rosa and George. He had 5 older sisters and a younger brother, Yehezkel. His family name was originally Sahayek.

He finished high school in Baghdad. In February 1951 he moved to Israel with 2 of his sisters in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, and the rest of the family followed later.

He was drafted in 1952 into the listening unit of the Intelligence Corps, then called Unit 515 and later Unit 8200. He began as a translator and took part in an improvised listening team during Operation Kadesh. After officer training he moved to the unit's code-breaking center.

He worked on breaking the codes of armies and armed groups that fought Israel, and was among the first to use computers for this work. In 1972 he received the Israel Defense Prize, and he served as deputy commander of the center from 1972 to 1976. He commanded the center from 1976, set up a large computer center, and created training methods and a special course for code breakers.

He retired from the army in April 1983. He also received the head of Military Intelligence prize for creative thinking. He died in 1984.