Soviet spy who duped Israel dies at 97

Published December 2, 2015
A file picture taken on September 3, 1998 shows Israeli Marcus Klingberg speaking on the phone in Beersheva. ─ AFP
A file picture taken on September 3, 1998 shows Israeli Marcus Klingberg speaking on the phone in Beersheva. ─ AFP

JERUSALEM: The man considered the Soviet Union’s most successful spy in Israel before being unmasked more than 30 years ago has died in Paris at the age of 97, his daughter said on Tuesday.

Marcus Klingberg was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1983 for having passed information to Moscow on Israeli biological weapons research.

He had worked as deputy head of the Israeli Institute for Biological Research and managed to avoid detection for years before finally being found out with the help of a double agent.

His case was so sensitive that his arrest, trial and conviction were kept secret for more than a decade afterward.

“He was a Communist who acted out of conviction and gratitude to the Red Army (of the former Soviet Union) for having allowed him to fight the Nazis who massacred his entire family in Poland (during World War II),” daughter Sylvia Klingberg said.

Klingberg had always maintained that his motivation for spying was ideological and not financial.

Born in Warsaw into an ultra-Orthodox Jewish family, Klingberg fled Poland during the Nazi invasion in 1939 and made his way to the Soviet Union, where he studied medicine.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2015

Opinion

Editorial

‘Source of terror’
Updated 29 Mar, 2024

‘Source of terror’

It is clear that going after militant groups inside Afghanistan unilaterally presents its own set of difficulties.
Chipping in
29 Mar, 2024

Chipping in

FEDERAL infrastructure development schemes are located in the provinces. Most such projects — for instance,...
Toxic emitters
29 Mar, 2024

Toxic emitters

IT is concerning to note that dozens of industries have been violating environmental laws in and around Islamabad....
Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...