Ram Ben-Barak (Hebrew: רָם בֶּן־בָּרָק, born 1 April 1958)[1] is an Israeli politician and former member of the Israeli security forces. He served as deputy director of the Mossad and director general of the Ministry of Intelligence Services and the Ministry of Strategic Affairs.[1]
Ram Ben-Barak | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Ben-Barak in February 2018 | |
| Faction represented in the Knesset | |
| 2019–2020 | Blue and White |
| 2020– | Yesh Atid |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1 April 1958 Nahalal, Israel |
He has served as a member of the Knesset for Yesh Atid since April 2019.
Early life
editBarak was born and raised in Nahalal,[1] Israel, to a Jewish family. In 1976 he joined the IDF and served as a combat soldier and as an officer in the Sayeret Matkal commando unit.[1] In his last position he served as commander of the Counter Terrorism Division until his release in 1981.
Career
editIn 1984 he joined Mossad.[1] In April 1991, he was arrested in Cyprus along with three other agents of the Mossad, posing as tourists during the operation to install listening devices at the Iranian embassy in Nicosia. They were convicted of trespassing, fined and returned to Israel. From 2009 to 2011 he served as deputy head of the Mossad.[1] He was loaned to the IDF and served as coordinator of special operations.
He served as an advisor to the Israeli Embassy in Washington and a visiting research fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.
From November 2018 until he entered Israeli politics in April 2019, he was a member of the advisory board of Shibumi, an international business intelligence firm that was founded by veterans from Israel's intelligence community.[2]
Additionally, from January 2018 served as the chairman of the board at "Eye-Minders".[3]
On 15 January 2018, he announced he was joining the Yesh Atid party[4] and became a member of the Knesset in April 2019.
In October 2023, Ben-Barak announced that he would run in Yesh Atid's first leadership primary election, challenging incumbent leader Yair Lapid;[5] on 28 March 2024, however, Ben-Barak lost the election to Lapid by 308 votes to 279.[6]
Personal life
editBen-Barak studied at the National Defense College and political science at the University of Haifa, where he obtained an MA in government and national security.[4] He is married with three children and lives in Nahalal.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Members of the 25th Knesset". www.knesset.gov.il. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
- ^ "Shibumi Strategy Ltd".
- ^ "Eye-Minders | Cedibility Assessment | Threat & Deception Detection". Eye-Minders. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ a b Bachner, Michael (15 January 2018). "Ex-deputy Mossad chief joins centrist Yesh Atid party". The Times of Israel.
- ^ Tov, Michael Hauser (2 October 2023). "Israeli opposition leader Lapid's Yesh Atid party to hold first-ever primary for party leader". Haaretz. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ Sokol, Sam (28 March 2024). "In surprise primary result, Lapid holds on to party leadership by a mere 29 votes". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
External links
edit- Ram Ben-Barak on the Knesset website