The Israel Security Prize will be awarded to the Mossad team that broke into the Iran nuclear archive and smuggled out secret documents, Channel 12 reported Sunday night.The secret documents, which were smuggled out of Iran in 2018, included 55,000 pages and 183 CDs. According to reports, they were taken out in one night but some documents had to be left behind because they were too heavy.A committee headed by Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the decision to award the prize, citing the significant risk that was involved in the operation.
The prizes are given to Israelis recognized for improving the state’s security and maintaining its power and qualitative advantage on the battlefield, technologically and operationally.A previous winner of the Israel Security Prize was the developers of the Iron Dome anti-rocket system.In a nationally televised broadcast in 2018, Netanyahu described the hiding place of the documents. “This is where they kept the atomic archives. Right here. Few Iranians knew where it was, very few, and also a few Israelis,” Netanyahu said. “Now, from the outside, this was an innocent-looking compound. It looks like a dilapidated warehouse. But from the inside, it contained Iran’s secret atomic archives locked in massive files,” he said.“And here’s what we got. Fifty-five thousand pages. Another 55,000 files on 183 CDs. Everything you’re about to see, is an exact copy of the original Iranian material,” he said, adding: “You may want to know where are the originals? Well, I can say they’re now in a very safe place.” Yaakov Lappin, Greer Fay Cashman, Seth J. Frantzman and JTA contributed to this report.