RANAN LURIE'S cartoons have graced the columns of leading newspapers and magazines of the world. They have been hard-hitting, though his right-wing political bias comes through frequently. During his heyday in international journalism, Lurie could pick up the telephone and speak to many leading Western statesmen and international personalities. Few of them knew that Lurie was a "double agent", working for the Israeli secret agency Mossad and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States.
The Guinness Book of Records has described Lurie as the world's most popular caricaturist whose works have appeared continuously for 20 straight years on a regular basis in more than a thousand papers in 103 countries. His political cartoons have appeared in publications like Time, Newsweek, Foreign Affairs, Asahi Shimbun and Die Welt.
According to articles that have appeared in the Israeli media, Lurie has admitted that he was recruited at an early age by the Israeli security agencies. Mossad realised that the talented young cartoonist could be launched into the international media scene, where he could turn out to be a useful asset.
Mossad provided the springboard into international journalism for the young Lurie by purchasing a weekly magazine in Israel. Lurie was given a prominent profile in the magazine. Its circulation was artificially boosted by Mossad, which purchased its copies in bulk. The Israeli authorities saw to it that the soaring circulation of the magazine was attributed mainly to the journalistic skills of Lurie.
If reports appearing in the Israeli media are to be believed, Lurie's earlier exploits for the Israeli security services before he became a media star had made him a prized asset. Lurie, posing as an Australian journalist, had gained access to the Egyptian Navy's flagship "Domiat". His assignment was to find out whether the Egyptians had begun to use the naval radar supplied by the Soviet Union. Lurie successfully accomplished the mission.
According to reports in the Israeli media, Lurie's most notorious act of daring was in 1956. He, along with two other secret agents of France and Britain infiltrated the Egyptian Army's headquarters two days before the launch of the Suez war on October 27, 1956. The trio found out that the top brass of the Egyptian military had flown to Damascus to coordinate a joint Arab response to the invasion being planned by Israel, France and Britain. They also found out the exact time when the Egyptian generals would be flying back, aboard their Soviet-built Ilyushin-14.
On the night of October 29, 1956, the plane was shot down by Israeli fighter planes over the Mediterranean Sea, killing the entire general staff of the Egyptian Army. Their bodies were never found. It is another story that the joint Israeli-French-British military adventure in 1956 ended in a fiasco.
The CIA soon found out about Lurie's secret life as an Israeli agent embedded in the upper crust of American society. Mossad was left with no choice but to share its prized asset with the CIA. Lurie continued in international journalism, happily supplying information to two masters at the same time. Lurie is now busy writing a book about his duplicitous career.
In interviews to the Israeli media, he has expressed no regrets. His story will add credibility to the widespread belief that Western and Israeli security services have infiltrated key sectors of the media in many countries, including developing ones.
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