Seduction, Surveillance, and Subversion: A Gendered Study of Mossad’s Ideological Warfare through the Cases of Sylvia Rafael and Catherine Shakdam

Abstract

The following research Article describes a gender centered account of the exemplary operational strategies of the Israeli intelligence facilitation firm the Mossad through the documented life of two women i.e., Sylvia Rafael and Catherine Perez-Shakdam. Based on archival information, memoirs, declassified records, and reliable media investigations, the paper will analyze the use of gender and identity construction and ideological orientation in human intelligence (HUMINT) operations. One of the participants of the Cold War, the undercover Israeli campaign after the Munich massacre was Sylvia Rafael who worked under the alias of a journalist to help locate the desired targets. Catherine Perez-Shakdam is a contemporary political commentator who was a contributor to Iranian state media, subsequently publicly denounced her religious identity, raising concerns with the manipulation and control of ideology and access. It does not make speculative conclusions, yet the paper presents patterns in the use of gendered identity in intelligence that can be verified. It forms part of the critical research in the field of intelligence in wondering how the traditional and non traditional facets of espionage become grown-up reliant on the performative identity within the notionally sensitive political set ups.