Avraham Ahituv

Who was Avraham Ahituv?

Avraham Ahituv, born Avraham Gottfried was a German-born Israeli civil servant, having served as Director of the Shabak, the Israel Security Agency, from 1974 to 1980.

Ahituv's family immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1935. In 1946 Ahituv joined the Haganah while a student in the Kfar Ha-Ro'eh seminary, where he completed his high school matriculation test. In 1949 Ahituv joined the Internal Intelligence Service, founded during the Israeli War of Independence and later became the Israel Security Agency. During the conflict period, Gottfried changed his name to Ahituv. Through the 1950s Ahituv served in the Arab division of the Shin Bet. Ahituv was instrumental in adopting a policy of "practical moderation" in relation to the Israeli Arab demographic. This policy was to enable full integration of the Israeli Arab population into Israeli main stream society. Ahituv authorized the use of lies in Israeli courts to cover confessions obtained by torture. In August 1982 a controversial report appeared in The Washington Star, indicating that Ahituv's resignation was caused by the intervention of Prime Minister Begin in the investigations in the bombing of Palestinian town mayors by Jewish extremist groups. The allegation was denied by both Begin and Ahituv. After Ahituv testified that his resignation had been submitted before the spate of bombs, the Knesset defense dismissed the Washington Star report as "groundless" and having "no basis in fact".