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“Sayeret Matkal: Israel’s Top-Secret Elite Commando Unit” – with Aviram Halevi

Episode 608 Published 2 years, 5 months ago
Description

Summary

Lt. Col. (ret.) Aviram Halevi (LinkedIn) joins Andrew (TwitterLinkedIn) to discuss Israel’s top secret commando unit, Sayeret Matkal. Aviram formerly served as Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Sayeret Matkal. 


What You’ll Learn

Intelligence

  • The origins of Sayeret Matkal
  • Collaboration across Israeli intelligence 
  • Operation Spring of Youth & the Entebbe Raid
  • Intelligence & hostage retrieval

Reflections

  • The value of teamwork
  • No room for fear 

And much, much more …


Episode Notes

This week on SpyCast, Andrew was joined by Aviram Halevi, former Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s top-secret elite commando unit. Aviram served over two decades in various branches of Israeli intelligence, and recently co-wrote the book Sayeret Matkal: The Greatest Operations of Israel's Elite Commandos. Andrew and Aviram discuss the origins and history of the unit, including the stories of some of Sayeret Matkal’s most notable operations. 

And… 

Sayeret Matkal’s motto is “Who Dares Wins” – A motto first used by Britain’s Special Air Service during World War II. Since then, 11 other elite special forces units have also adopted the saying.


Quotes of the Week

“What makes [Sayeret Matkal] so unique? The fact is that these people, and you mentioned that before, we are not rambos and there is no ramboism in the unit in Sayeret Matkal. On the contrary, the basic building block of the Sayeret is the team. The team is what you're kind of imprinted with once you get drafted. And this will be your designation forever. I'm team Raz. Raz was my commander, and my soldiers are team Aviram for the rest of their lives.” – Aviram Halevi.


Resources 

SURFACE SKIM

*SpyCasts*

*Beginner Resources*

DEEPER DIVE

Books

  • Sayeret Matkal: The Greatest Operations of Israel's Elite Commandos, A. Shur & A. Halevi (Skyhorse, 2023)
  • No Mission Is Impossible: The Death-Defying Missions of t
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