Yosef Harmelin

Yosef Harmelin (1922-1994) was twice head of Israel's Shin Bet security agency. 
==Early Life==
Harmelin was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1922. He was a member of the Zionist youth movement "Young Maccabi".Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013. Following the Anschluss with Germany, his parents fled to Mexico.Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Every Spy a Prince: The Secret History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.167.
Harmelin instead immigrated to Israel in 1939, with the Youth Immigration program, and arrived at the Ben Shemen youth village, and later became a member of Kibbutz Neve Yam. In 1948 he joined the IDF and fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013. 
==First period at Shin Bet==
Harmelin joined the Shin Bet in 1949 and served in several senior positions. He was appointed Deputy Director in 1960, and Director in 1964.Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013.
Harmelin supported the abolition of military administration in Arab areas of Israel in 1966, with the aim of encouraging Arabs to integrate into Israeli society.Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013. 
Harmelin represented Shin Bet at a Varash meeting on 19 June 1967, where the agency acquired responsibility for the occupied territories conquered in the Six Day War.Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Every Spy a Prince: The Secret History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.168. 
In 1971, Harmelin agreed that his men would lie to the Israeli courts.Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Every Spy a Prince: The Secret History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.297.
He retired in 1974.Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013.
==Subsequent career==
In the twelve years between his two periods in the ISA, Harmelin served as chairman of an oil company; Israeli ambassador in Iran and South Africa; and the supervisor of the security establishment in the office of the State Comptroller.Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013.
His term as ambassador to Iran ended with his evacuation via a US aircraft during the Islamic Revolution of 1979.Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Every Spy a Prince: The Secret History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.299.
==Return to Shin Bet==
Harmelin returned as head of the Shin Bet in 1986 in order to rehabilitate the organization following the "Bus 300" Affair and the Landau Commission.Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013.Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Every Spy a Prince: The Secret History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.299. His appointment, despite the fact that many of the practices condemned by the Landau Report had developed during his first term, was intended to restore morale at the agency.Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Every Spy a Prince: The Secret History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.299. 
Following the outbreak of the first Intifada in late 1987, Harmelin reported that Shin Bet's informer network was crumbling, and sought to divert blame to politicians for failing to find a resolution. he set up a new department within Shin Bet monitoring political trends among the Palestinians.Yossi Melman and Dan Raviv, Every Spy a Prince: The Secret History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, pp.386-287.
 He retired once more in 1988. He died in 1994 at the age of 72.Yosef Harmelin, Israel Security Agency, accessed 9 April 2013.
==Notes==
Harmaelin, YosefHarmelin, Yosef