Compensation for Zygier wife, children
MONEY paid by Israel to the family of alleged Mossad agent Ben Zygier (pictured) will go to his wife and children, The AJN understands.
MONEY paid by Israel to the family of alleged Mossad agent Ben Zygier (pictured) will go to his wife and children, The AJN understands.
The Israeli government announced last week that it would pay four million shekels ($1.2 million) to the Zygier family following extensive negotiations, according to JTA.
The money will be paid over a four-year period.
Ben Zygier, known as “Prisoner X”, committed suicide in an Ayalon prison cell in December 2010, following his arrest in January that year after allegedly unwittingly thwarting a top-secret mission.
In a statement released last week, the Israeli Justice Ministry said: “The reasons the state agreed to pay this sum stemmed from its desire to avoid a court hearing in which details that could harm national security might be revealed.”
The Ministry said the payment, which comes with a confidentiality clause, was not an admission of fault for Zygier’s death.
The AJN first revealed that the Zygier family was in compensation discussions with the Israeli government in July.
Documents obtained by Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz at that time revealed discussions between Zygier’s family and state lawyers, in which family lawyer Roy Blecher said Zygier’s death could have been prevented if not for “others’ negligence”.
A prosecutor’s report released in April this year found that there was evidence that Zygier died after committing suicide as a result of failures by the Israel Prison Service.
A Melbourne native and the son of former B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission executive director Geoffrey Zygier, Ben Zygier made aliyah in 1994.
He was allegedly recruited into the Mossad in the early 2000s.
Following his death in December 2010, his body was returned to Melbourne.
With JTA.
GARETH NARUNSKY
comments