He stole a MiG-21 and fled to Israel: The story of "Operation Diamond"
60 years since the Mossad and Air Force's "Operation Diamond," in which an Iraqi fighter pilot defected with his plane to Israel. We look back at the nearly cinematic plot, featuring invisible ink, messages transmitted via radio songs, and a family brought to the country under a cover story.
August 16, 1966. The Kol Yisrael announcer in Arabic waits for the news to end, while the record of Lebanese singer Sabah, featuring the song "Marhabtein" (Welcome Twice), is ready on the turntable. The lyrics contained a hidden message: "We have come, house of the beloved, the long-awaited meeting has arrived... We have reached your doorstep, and we have woven together the threads of love and joy."
Iraqi fighter pilot Munir Redfa turned off his radio and headed to his airbase. He boarded the most advanced fighter jet Russia had supplied to Iraq—the MiG-21, the dream of Western intelligence and a major threat to Israel. Redfa took off, carrying technical manuals, and landed hours later at the Hatzerim airbase.
He was greeted by Shaike Barkat, head of Air Force Intelligence. "Because of your eyes, I knew you would keep your promise," Redfa told him. The operation was led by Colonel Zeev Liron, a fighter pilot and Holocaust survivor seconded to the Mossad.
Meanwhile, in Europe, Mossad agents managed to convince Redfa's wife, Betty, to fly to Israel, despite her initial refusal. The operation was highly classified; the Mossad even forged letters from an anonymous pilot seeking asylum to confuse Iraqi authorities.
The Clue
In 1963, Mossad chief Meir Amit asked Air Force commander Ezer Weizman how he could help. "Bring me a MiG-21," Weizman replied. The lead was found in Iran by Yaakov Nimrodi, who located a Jewish merchant whose Christian Iraqi mistress revealed that her brother-in-law was a pilot being forced to bomb Kurds, which he refused to do.
Redfa met Israeli navigator Yehuda Porat in Europe. After undergoing conversion training, Redfa was smuggled into Israel for a test flight. To signal the "green light" for his defection, the Mossad used specific songs broadcast on Kol Yisrael, a technique dating back to the illegal immigration era of the 1940s.
American Enthusiasm
After landing, the Redfa family was settled in Tel Aviv under the cover of being Iranian Jewish refugees. Legendary test pilot Danny Shapira studied the MiG-21, identifying its blind spots, which proved invaluable during the Six-Day War. The plane was later transferred to the U.S. for study, and Shapira helped train American pilots fighting in Vietnam.
Though the Redfa family eventually moved abroad due to integration difficulties, the Mossad continued to support them for years. Today, the MiG-21, painted with the number 007 as a tribute to the Mossad, is on display at the Air Force Museum in Hatzerim.
