Haim Eshed alternatively

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

as Chaim Eshed (; born 1933) is an Israeli

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aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

and

astronautics Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the practice of sending spacecraft beyond atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science is its overarching field. The term ''astronautics' ...

at various

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research institutions. A retired brigadier general in Israeli Military Intelligence, Eshed was director of space programs for Israel Ministry of Defense for nearly 30 years, is former

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of the Space Committee of the National Council for Research and Development for the Ministry of Science, Technology and Space and a member of the steering committee of Israel Space Agency. Eshed is responsible for the launch of 20 Israeli made satellites, and he is widely cited as the father of Israel's space program. In 1967, Eshed was awarded the Chief of Staff Citation, the highest non-combat decoration awarded by the IDF. Throughout his career he also received the Israel Defense Prize - the highest civilian defense honor of the State of Israel - three times, but the reasons remain classified. Eshed served at the highly secretive Unit 81, which provided technological solutions to the IDF's Military Intelligence Directorate. In 2020, Eshed became notable for promoting a UFO conspiracy theory claiming that world governments were secretly working with aliens.

Career

Eshed holds a bachelor's degree in

electronics engineering Electronic engineering is a sub-discipline of electrical engineering that emerged in the early 20th century and is distinguished by the additional use of active components such as semiconductor devices to amplify and control electric current flow ...

from Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, as well as a master's and doctorate in

aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

. In 1979, as a colonel in Israel's Military Intelligence Directorate, Eshed proposed the establishment of an independent satellite capability in order to collect intelligence from the Sinai after the withdrawal of Israeli forces. He was space director during the 2007 launch of the spy satellite Ofek-7, which he said would help with "the Iranian issue". When he retired in 2011, he was described in Israeli media as the father of Israel's space capabilities programme.

Extra-terrestrial claims

In December 2020, Eshed claimed in an interview with Israeli national newspaper '' Yediot Aharonot'' that the

United States government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

had been in contact with extraterrestrial life for years and had signed secret agreements with a "Galactic Federation" in order to perform experiments on Earth, and that there is a joint base underground on Mars where they collaborate with American astronauts. He also stated that US president

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was aware of this and was "on the verge" of informing everyone of their existence, but was stopped by the "Galactic Federation", who wished to prevent

mass hysteria Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for c ...

. The interview, in

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, gained traction after parts were published in English by ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

''. UFO investigator Nick Pope told

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that the

ufology Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy ( or ), is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary claims, extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial hypothesis, extrate ...

community wanted to know whether Eshed's account is

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or secondary information:

"Either this is some sort of practical joke or publicity stunt to help sell his book, perhaps with something having been lost in translation, or someone in the know is breaking ranks."

The book is ''The Universe Beyond the Horizon: Conversations with Professor Haim Eshed'' written by author Hagar Yanai, published in November 2020. In the book, Eshed makes claims that include stories of how aliens prevented potential nuclear disasters, including an unspecified nuclear incident during the

Bay of Pigs Invasion The Bay of Pigs Invasion (, sometimes called or after the Playa Girón) was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in April 1961 by the United States of America and the Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front ...

. In 2020, Isaac Ben-Israel, then current chairman of the Israel Space Agency, remarked to ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist Dav ...

'' that although Eshed is the father of Israel's space capabilities, he went "too far" with his claims, and it is unlikely that human-alien encounters are occurring. He added that for decades Eshed fancied unconventional interpretations of incoherent space signals that most consider to be of natural origin. In response to queries by NBC News, a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

spokesperson reaffirmed that "we have yet to find signs of extraterrestrial life".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eshed, Haim 1933 births Living people Israeli astronomers Israeli conspiracy theorists Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni Israeli soldiers Israeli colonels People of the Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel) Israel Defense Prize recipients Space program of Israel UFO conspiracy theorists