Ex-Mossad chief: I broke the law ‘doing what I was doing’

Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy recently told Jewish students in London that he had broken the law “doing the things I was doing,” but declined to give specifics.

“There is no such thing, I believe, as absolute justice. Sometimes justice for you is injustice for somebody else. We have to recognize it,” the London-born ex-spymaster told Jewish students during a talk at King’s College, London.

A video of the comments was aired Thursday by Israel’s Channel 2 television. The talk was part of a program by the Israel-based “Gesharim” (bridges) organization, which works to bring together young Jews from around the world.

“I studied law… I finished law with distinction, which helped me learn how to break the law when I needed to so every so often,” Halevy said dryly, earning a round of laughter.

“Did I break the law when doing the things I was doing? Yes. I won’t tell you how many times I broke the law because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in jail,” he said.

Born in the UK in 1934, Halevy moved to Israel with his family in 1948. He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and spent almost 30 years working for the Israeli intelligence agency. He was a fierce critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to the recent Iran nuclear deal, some aspects of which, he maintained, could be good for the Jewish state.