Mossad tight-lipped regarding former agent killed in Italian boating accident

By World Israel News Staff

The former agent of Israel’s Mossad national intelligence agency who was killed in a boat accident in northern Italy on Monday was laid to rest at a closed ceremony at the military cemetery in Ashkelon Wednesday afternoon.

Fifty-four-year-old Erez Shimoni, a retired Mossad agent, was among the four killed when a boat capsized in Italy’s Lake Maggiore, on the southern edge of the Alps.

According to a report the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 10 other Israeli intelligence agents – both active and retired – were also on the boat, along with a number of Italian agents.

The report claimed the remaining 10 agents were quickly flown back to Israel after the incident.

Just before Shimoni’s funeral Wednesday, the Mossad released a brief statement through the Prime Minister’s Office, eulogizing Shimoni, while offering no details of his personal life or career and declining even to confirm Shimoni’s identity.

“The coffin of the Mossad retiree who was killed in the boating tragedy, due to inclement weather, on Lake Maggiore in northern Italy, arrived in Israel this morning. Due to his service in the agency, no further details are available,” the statement read.

“The Mossad has lost a dear, dedicated and professional colleague who, for decades, devoted his life to the security of the State of Israel, even after his retirement. The Mossad mourns the loss and shares in the grief of the family, which it will continue to support and embrace.”