Kidon
Encyclopedia
Kidon is the name of a department within Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

's Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....

 that is allegedly responsible for assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...

 and kidnapping
Kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...

. Kidon is suspected of being behind a number of assassinations in the Operation Wrath of God
Operation Wrath of God
Operation Wrath of God ,This title was an invention of later writers, and was most likely not used by the Mossad itself. also called Operation Bayonet, was a covert operation directed by Israel and the Mossad to assassinate individuals alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in the...

 campaign carried out by Israel after the 1972 Munich massacre
Munich massacre
The Munich massacre is an informal name for events that occurred during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Bavaria in southern West Germany, when members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and eventually killed by the Palestinian group Black September. Members of Black September...

. Given the secret nature of the unit, there is almost no reliable information available.

Unconfirmed claims

According to Israeli author Aaron Klein
Aaron Klein
Aaron Klein is an American author, Middle East correspondent, head of the Jerusalem bureau for WorldNetDaily , columnist for The Jewish Press, and a radio talk show host who, among other things, is known for interviewing middle eastern political figures, along with various leaders of terrorist...

, Kidon was known as Caesarea until a reorganization in the mid-1970s.

According to Gordon Thomas, Meir Amit
Meir Amit
Meir Amit was an Israeli politician and general. He served as Director of the Mossad from 1963 to 1968 before entering politics and holding two ministerial positions.-Biography:...

, who directed Israel's intelligence service, the Mossad
Mossad
The Mossad , short for HaMossad leModi'in uleTafkidim Meyuchadim , is the national intelligence agency of Israel....

, stated that all actions done by the Kidon unit were sanctioned by the prime minister. Training for the unit can take as long as two years. All candidates are recruited from Mossad's ranks. A special training base exists somewhere in Israel's Negev
Negev
The Negev is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The Arabs, including the native Bedouin population of the region, refer to the desert as al-Naqab. The origin of the word Neghebh is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'...

 desert.

Assassination teams usually consist of at least four members. One member is responsible for target tracking. Another member is assigned the role of transporter who must safely and secretly move the team to and from the target. The last members are the executioners. In addition to the core teams, there are many other agents that play a part in the operation. They are known as "sayanim"—the Hebrew word for "helpers". Operations can take from months to years in planning and execution.

According to Yossi Melman
Yossi Melman
Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist.Yossi Melman graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University...

, due to the time and expense, assassinations are relatively few. Most media reports of mysterious deaths are wrongly attributed to the Kidon unit. The Kidon unit is very compartmentalized and is separate from the rest of the Mossad. Most members of the Kidon unit only last a few years due to the nature of the work and the psychological and emotional stress. In addition to black ops, the Kidon unit can also operate in other capacities in order to assist the needs of the Mossad.

In popular culture

Kidon is referred to in the NCIS
NCIS (TV series)
NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...

season 6 episode "Legend (Part 2)" when they suspect a Mossad agent visiting the US is part of the Kidon group. In the last episode of the same season, "Aliyah", officer Ziva David
Ziva David
Ziva David is a fictional character from the NCIS television series by CBS Television, portrayed by Chilean actress Coté de Pablo....

's boyfriend Michael Rivkin is stated to have been a Kidon member. Officer David is shown to be a part of Kidon as well.
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