March 25, 2013

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – An Australian-Israeli dual citizen who worked as a Mossad agent before hanging himself in a Tel Aviv prison unwittingly tipped off Lebanese authorities leading to the arrest of two Hezbollah supporters who were spying for Israel. 

Ben Zygier, the Hashomer Hatzair graduate who became infamously known as Prisoner X, leaked highly classified information in a botched attempt to try and recruit a spy for the Mossad, according to an expose in Der Spiegel..

Zygier, who had been returned from the field to a desk job at Mossad headquarters, was attempting to restore his reputation in the spy agency by attempting to turn an enemy into an ally, according to the magazine.

In the end, however, he was outfoxed by Hezbollah, who managed to extract from him the name of two Lebanese men working for Mossad –  Ziad al-Homsi and Mustafa Ali Awadeh, who were arrested in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years in jail.

The report said Zygier started working with the Mossad in 2003 but was ordered back to Israel in 2007 because he was not delivering for the spy agency. He returned to Melbourne and operated independently in an attempt to restore his reputation, the magazine claimed. But as he tried to prove his bona fides to a man linked to Hezbollah who he wanted to become a double agent, he was the one who became the double agent, leaking the classified information.

On December 15, 2010, the 34-year-old father of two was found dead in his cell.

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