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Aliza Magen, who spent some 40 years working for the Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency, eventually serving as deputy under three of its directors, making her the highest-ranking woman in the organization’s history, died on April 14 in Jerusalem. She was 87.
Her death was announced in a statement by the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Mrs. Magen joined the Mossad directly after her mandatory military service and worked there her entire career. For more than 20 years she served undercover in various posts around Europe, where she was tasked with running agents and collecting intelligence.
She participated in some of the Mossad’s biggest operations, though many of the details of her work remain classified. She was fluent in German, and one of her first operations was a multiyear effort to undermine, assassinate or turn German scientists who were building missiles for Egypt, which could have devastated Israel during a war. From her base in Austria, she helped recruit a former top-ranking Nazi officer to become a Mossad asset. Read full obituary