15. The Spy Who Burrowed Deep Into the Israeli Government
Austrian-born Israeli officer Israel Beer, or Yisrael Bar, (1912 – 1966), rose to prominence as an expert on Israeli military history. That expertise secured him a high-ranking position in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, which commissioned him to write a book on the Israeli War of Independence. It also won him a place in the inner circle of Israeli prime minister David Ben Gurion, whose trusted confidant and advisor he became.
Beer arrived in Palestine in the late 1930s with an impressive martial resume. He had graduated from the Austrian military academy, and served as a commissioned officer in the Austrian army. He then fought in the Spanish Civil War with the International Brigades, where he was known by the nom de guerre “Colonel Jose Gregorio”. In between his martial exploits, Beer found the time to get a doctorate in literature from the University of Vienna. It was all bunk, and the real Israel Beer had died many years earlier.