Today we talked about Mossad’s operation in which he had to steal the MiG-21 aircraft by entering Iraq. In the 60s, Russia had started manufacturing MiG-21 aircraft, replacing the MiG-19. It belonged to the supersonic jet category, which was known to dodge enemies. By buying these planes from Russia, Egypt, Syria and Iraqi Air Force were harming Israel.
Israel launched an Operation Diamond to find the break of these planes. In 1960, this operation started from Egypt and its command was given to an officer named Jean Thomas. But the Mossad got a big blow at first. Two people, including Jean Thomas, were captured for spying and planning to steal the plane. Then he was hanged. Mossad’s Operation Diamond ended.
In its second attempt, Mossad thought of launching this operation from Iraq itself. This time Mossad agents met the Iraqi pilot in connection with the acquisition of the aircraft and lured money. The Iraqi pilot agreed but in a few days he reneged on his promise. This was the second blow for the Mossad. Then four years later, in 1964, Mossad spoke to an Iraqi Christian pilot, Munir Redfa.
Munir was a pilot in the Iraqi Air Force but was fed up with the job. He was not being promoted on time as he was a Christian and wanted to leave the country. Mossad’s female spy made lucrative offers to Munir and Munir agreed. After this, Munir met with Israeli officials in Europe and understood the whole plan. Apart from this, Munir was assured of $1 million, full-time employment in Israel and the safety of his family members.
Munir was troubled by his job but had good knowledge of aircraft and flying. On 16 August 1966, Munir refueled the MiG-21 aircraft and proceeded to the far west as planned. During this time he reached Jordanian airspace, where he received a warning from the Iraqi Air Force not to take the plane beyond it. Munir stopped his radio transmission.
Within minutes, Munir rammed the MiG-21 into Israeli airspace and there were already two Mirage ships ready to assist him. Munir Redfa made a safe landing of the MiG-21 aircraft in Israel. On the other hand, Munir’s family was also brought to Israel by Mossad agents on the pretext of holidays. It is said that when the MiG-21 plane landed at the Israeli airbase, the fuel in it was almost exhausted.
After this incident, Iraqi and Russian authorities demanded the return of the plane, but Israel did not agree. Immediately upon questioning, Israel changed the name of the MiG-21 to ‘007’. The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad ran Operation Diamond for 6 years and finally the MiG-21 aircraft was stolen from Iraq and brought to Israel. After this, the responsibility of studying the aircraft was given to the aircraft experts of Israel so that they could understand about its nuances.