Avi Dichter

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Avi Dichter

Avraham "Avi" Dichter (Hebrew: אבי דיכטר) (born: December 4, 1952) is an Israeli politician, former head of the Shabak, and member of the Knesset. He is number five on Kadima's list.

Dichter was born in Ashkelon and was a member of Hashomer Hatzair. During his military service, he served in Sayeret Matkal, and refused the offer of his unit commander, Ehud Barak, to participate in an Officer Course (a position entailing less direct combat situations). He received the Israeli equivalent of a Medal of Honor for his role in rescuing a team from behind enemy line.

After his release from the IDF, he joined the Shabak and studied the Arabic language. In 1992, he was appointed to head the Shabak's southern sector, during which time Hamas chief bombmaker and leader Yahya Ayyash was killed. In 1996, shortly after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Dichter was appointed to head the Shabak's Protection Branch (the Israeli equivalent of the Secret Service), and in 1999, he was nominated as Deputy Director of Shabak.

In 2000, he was nominated by his former commanding officer, Prime Minister Ehud Barak, as Director of Shabak. This was during the Al-Aqsa Intifada period, which was an especially demanding time for the organization, which spearheaded counter-insurgency and intelligence operations. Along with being a staunch advocate for targeted killings of terrorist leaders, Dichter was one of the founders of the West Bank barrier.

In May 15, 2005, Dichter finished his five-year term as head of Shabak and retired from the service. He was replaced by his Deputy Director, Yuval Diskin. There was some speculation that he was not given a second term due to his opposition to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan. Following the end of his tenure as Shabak leader, Dichter took a three months sabbatical in the United States at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington. Upon his return to Israel, Dichter praised Sharon's disengagement plan and announced that he was joining Kadima. Dichter’s participation in Kadima represents his first foray into politics. He was elected to the 17th Knesset in the legislative election of 2006, and as of May 4, 2006, he is Minister of Internal Security.

At Israel's cabinet meeting on May 4, 2006, Dichter called for the re-occupation of parts of the Gaza Strip to prevent ongoing Qassam attacks on the western Negev,^[1] and in the midst of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict Dichter expressed support for an operation against Syrian targets in Lebanon.^[2]