ABSTRACT
Intelligence collection, processing, distribution and consumption had been an important part of Jewish history since Biblical times. The most notable spying mission in this history was that of the 12 spies who were sent by Moses to the land of Canaan that was promised to the Jews by God. Until today this mission is a fine example of the intricate web between high-quality intelligence collection about the nature of the country, which was defined by the spies as ‘a land of milk and honey’; popular political pressure by the Israelites, who feared confronting the strong enemy that inhabited the land; motivated biases in the estimation process, which led ten of the spies to yield to the pressure and reassess the land as ‘a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof’; and a mistaken leadership decision by Moses, which ultimately left him and his people deep in the desert for another 40 years (Numbers 13). Some Biblical lessons have been adapted by Israel’s more modern spies. For years the motto of the Mossad was ‘For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war’ (Proverbs 24:6). This was later replaced by ‘Where no counsel is, the people fall, but in the multitude of counselors there is safety’ (Proverbs 11:14).
