Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT)
A view of the headquarters of Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) in the capital Ankara on January 5, 2020.
Turkey's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) has rescued a renowned Palestinian hacker from the Israeli Mossad spy agency seeking to kidnap or possibly kill him.

MIT rescued Omar A, who was behind the disruption of Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system in 2015 and 2016, in an international operation and offered him protection as he was targeted by Mossad in Turkey and Malaysia.

The young Gazan hacker was sought by the Israeli regime for a long time after his hacking of the Iron Dome helped al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, launch missile strikes against Israel at the time.


Omar, a computer programming graduate of the Islamic University of Gaza, moved to Istanbul in 2020 after Mossad identified him as the one behind the disruptions. MIT was aware of his residence in Turkey due to his background as a hacker.

In an attempt to deceive him, Mossad offered him jobs at software companies several times but Omar, suspicious of Israel's involvement, rejected the offers.

Omar was about to accept to join a team for an online project in June 2022 and to travel abroad for the project as Mossad was intent on taking him to Tel Aviv for interrogation. But MIT contacted him and warned him against the scheme.

The Palestinian hacker decided to take a vacation in Malaysia in September 2022. The Istanbul branch of MIT's counter-intelligence department intervened again and installed tracking software on his cellphone after warning him against a possible abduction while abroad.

Indeed, he was kidnapped days later in Kuala Lumpur and was taken to a remote cabin some 50 kilometers (31.06 miles) from the Malaysian capital.

There, he was interrogated and tortured by suspects working for Mossad and was questioned on the methods he employed to infiltrate Iron Dome.


Comment: In violation of the laws of Malaysia?


When MIT became aware of the abduction, Turkish officials contacted Malaysian authorities and through tracking software, helped them pinpoint the location where Omar was held.

Malaysian security forces raided the house and rescued Omar. Eleven suspects were arrested in connection with his abduction. Omar returned to Turkey and was taken to a safe house provided by MIT.

Turkey's MIT has earlier uncovered similar Mossad plots to spy on Palestinians in the country.

Back in July, Turkish authorities said they had uncovered and disrupted a vast "ghost" Mossad spy network centered in Istanbul, following months of surveillance.

The substantial efforts by Turkey's MIT exposed 56 operatives allegedly spying on non-Turkish citizens in Turkey in the service of Mossad.

The vast network consisted of citizens from various West Asian countries.

The findings by MIT revealed that the Mossad agents would gather information about foreigners through various surveillance methods, vehicle movements using GPS, and hacking into password-protected networks using Wi-Fi and location tracking devices.

These Mossad spies also used several fake websites in multiple languages, mainly Arabic, to secure technical locations and real IP addresses of the targeted individuals.

Also in May, Turkish media outlets reported that local authorities had managed to arrest 11 people accused of being part of a Mossad-led network.

Turkey has also broken Mossad-aligned spy rings in 2022 and 2021.