A new documentary, to be produced by the BBC, will follow the story of a Mossad-linked Nazi hunter, the BBC announced on Saturday.
The upcoming documentary will follow the life story of Herbert Dubinsky, later known as Zwy Aldouby, who gained unprecedented access to Ireland’s IRA terrorist group as one of his many accomplishments.
The life of Zwy Aldouby
Aldouby was born in Romania in 1931 and lost many family members during the Holocaust.
After the end of World War II, Aldouby relocated to the British mandate of Palestine, where he joined the organization Haganah, according to the BBC.
The Haganah was a Zionist military group that fought against Arab revolts, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.
"He was in the Palmach," Israeli historian Prof Michael Bar-Zohar told the BBC. "The Palmach were the shock, the elite troops of the Haganah, and he was commander of a small unit, as far as I know.
"He was one of these guys who were taken out of high school at the age of 17 and recruited to the army in order to fight in the War of Independence, and he was very proud of that."
Declassified American documents also proved that Aldouby joined the Shin Bet (the Israeli intelligence service.)
However, the BBC reported that an anonymous source reported to the CIA that Aldouby was using the Shin Bet as a guise to hunt Nazis as part of a Vienna-based Jewish group.
In 1961, Aldouby planned the kidnap of Nazi Leon Degrelle, who was living openly in Spain despite receiving the death sentence in Belgium.
"Degrelle was called the Quisling of Belgium," Bar-Zohar told the BBC. "He was the top Nazi official in Belgium.
"And according to the information which was published, Hitler said that 'If I had a son I would have loved him to be like you'."
The kidnapping failed when Aldouby and his accomplices were caught by Spanish police. He spent three years in prison, consistently denying that the plot had been orchestrated by the Israeli government.
Aldouby went on to become a journalist.
Arriving in Ireland in March of 1972, Aldouby was employed to direct a film about the IRA entitled The Secret Army. He was given this role despite no prior experience as a director.
The film gained Aldouby unprecedented access to the IRA, and he was able to record members unmasked as they planned terror attacks.
The IRA was also being supplied with weapons by Muammar Gadaffi, the enemy of Israel leading Libya, and Aldouby filmed the men receiving weapons from Gadaffi.
"At that point, Gaddafi was selling or giving arms to terrorists that were attacking Israel, and Gaddafi was also giving arms to the IRA, and Israel at this point was in a very precarious state," Ilan Aldouby, the son of Aldouby, told the BBC. "So my father, if he worked with or collaborated with the Mossad or Israeli intelligence, it would be a clear fit."
Former IRA members told the BBC that the group had been unaware of Aldouby’s intelligence history.
The BBC will also release the documentary filmed by Aldouby on March 27.