Israel Beer (also spelled Yisrael Bar,[1] also known as Captain José Gregorio, 9 October 1912 – 1 May 1966) was an Austrian-born Israeli citizen convicted of espionage.
On March 31, 1961, Beer, a senior employee in the Israeli Ministry of Defense, was arrested under suspicion of espionage for the Soviet Union.
[1] His true identity, his personal history before emigrating to Palestine, and the circumstances of his recruitment to the KGB (which he never admitted), have all remained unknown to this day.
During interrogation, Beer repeated the story but Isser Harel, Director of Mossad and also in charge of Shin Bet, calmly told him, "You are a liar."
There, he took part in training and in planning until the outbreak of the 1947–1949 Palestine war, but was found to have lacked basic soldiery skills - which led Moshe Dayan to question Beer's claims that he fought in Spain, let alone as a commander and colonel.
He requested discharge from the IDF in 1949 because of his failure to be promoted to a new position in the Operations Division, in direct subordination to the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces.
He bitterly claimed that he was not promoted because his credibility was in question because of his connection with Mapam, a democratic socialist party that rivaled the ruling, Labor Zionist Mapai.
During his Mapam activity, Beer was closely associated with Moshe Sneh, the leader of the Left Faction, a group which identified itself with the Soviet Union and communism.
Beer used his new status in the Ministry of Defense to his advantage, to create the impression that he had a very close relationship with Ben-Gurion and that he was one of his confidantes and advisers.
Furthermore, he had the habit of spending lunch breaks in the General Staff base, where he would meet senior officers and exchange updates and opinions.
From 1958, Beer began to develop close connections in Europe, including Germany, France, the United Kingdom and other Western countries.
Furthermore, he embarked on several trips to those countries, which created the impression that he was on a government mission and so obtained the aid of military attachés and Ministry of Defense delegations.
Despite the explicit prohibition of the head of the Mossad, Isser Harel, which was conveyed to him by the director general of the Ministry of Defense, Beer, during a visit to Germany, in 1960 met with the Chief of Federal Intelligence Service of West Germany, General Reinhard Gehlen, who was a prime target for Soviet intelligence.
In September 1956, prior to the Kadesh operation, Harel had a second conversation with Beer, as a precautionary measure carried out in cases of "individuals with questionable loyalties".
The following evening, on March 30, 1961, at approximately 08:00, Beer was observed walking in the area of the previous meeting, carrying a heavy briefcase.
Beer initially denied all accusations of contact with foreign diplomats but later, he admitted to having connections with Soviet intelligence as well as to his operator, Sokolov.
In September 1956, when he was summoned for the meeting with Isser Harel, he mentioned his acquaintance with Lousiev and was warned again regarding the continuation of his relationship with the Soviet.
During further stages of the intelligence relationship with Beer, Sokolov demonstrated increasing interest in security matters related to Israel.
According to Beer, he was shocked and began to reconsider the relationship, which had begun on a political background but had turned into "the work of an actual mole".
He even contemplated, he claimed, turning to Shin Bet, but he did not do so because of Harel's hostile approach towards him and the harsh words between them after his meeting with the German general.
In response to pressure from the Soviet operator, Beer provided him the plans of an American army base that had been built in Turkey by an Israeli company, Solel Boneh.
Beer claimed in his defense that he had acted out of the hope to turn the Soviet orientation in the Middle East in Israel's favour.