Adolph Schwimmer
Adolph Schwimmer was an Israeli arms dealer and confidant of Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. He played a key role in the Iran-Contra affair.[1]
Early Life
Schwimmer was born in the United States in 1917. He worked as an engineer for Lockheed and Transworld Airlines and later served in the US Air Force.[2]
After meeting Holocaust survivors in postwar Europe, he became involved in the covert arms trade in Czechoslovakia, starting a cargo airline which shipped weapons to the emerging state of Israel. He became an officer in the Israeli air force but returned to the United States in 1949. In 1950, he and his company, Service Airways were convicted of illegally exporting planes and spare parts to Israel, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Panama. The FBI believed that he had supplied the communist Czech government with a training plane and radar unit in return for use of an airfield at Zatek.[3]
He then created Intercontinental Airways, a US repair center for Israeli aircraft.[4]
Israel Aircraft Industries
In 1951, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres persuaded Schwimmer to return to Israel and set up an aircraft manufacturer, which was known first as Bedek and later as Israel Aircraft Industries.[4]
Peres advisor
From 1984 to 1987, Schwimmer served as a special advisor to Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres for a nominal fee.[4]
External Resources
- Amir Oren and Haaretz service, Al Schwimmer, founder of Israel Aircraft Industries, dies at 94. Haaretz, 11 June 2011.
Notes
- ↑ Lawrence E. Walsh, Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up, W.W. Norton, 1997, p.5.
- ↑ Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.257.
- ↑ Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, pp.326-327.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman, Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community, Houghton Mifflin, 1991, p.327.
