Efraim Halevy

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Joining us from Israel, we will have Efraim Halevy. A lawyer and an Israeli intelligence expert, Halevy was the ninth director of Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel, responsible for intelligence collection, covert operations, and counter-terrorism He also served as the 4th head of the Israeli National Security Council. Above all, Halevy may be remembered for his part in bringing about the Israel–Jordan peace treaty.

Halevy served as the envoy and confidant of five Prime Ministers: Yitzhak Shamir, Yitzhak Rabin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak and Ariel Sharon. He took an active part in a special mission by Rabin in forging the Israel–Jordan Treaty of Peace. After the failure of the Mossad operation to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in 1997, he took an active part in Benjamin Netanyahu's mission to return the Mossad men captured in Jordan, and to settle the crisis with the King of Jordan.

In December 2014 Halevy was interviewed by The Times of Israel. He claimed that Israel would never have peace unless Palestinians were treated with dignity as equals. He was critical of Benjamin Netanyahu and Naftali Bennett and their policies, especially regarding Jerusalem. He underscored the importance of the upcoming 17 March 2015 elections, which from his perspective "constitute an unprecedented opportunity to determine Israel's policy vis-à-vis the peace process.

On June 8 2021, Efraim Halevy participated in the Tracing his father’s escape during the Holocaust, Rick Salomon found himself drawn into the histories of lesser-known heroes of WWII, a Japanese diplomat who signed thousands of visas that rescued Jews from certain death.

Rick Salomon, spent six years working with the Consulate General of Japan to obtain access to the original visa documents where copies are on display at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.

On June 9 2021, Rick Salomon participated in the Hamas & Gaza: Where Does Israel Go From Here? Event