PikiWiki Israel 34031 Amiram Nir garden in Ramat Gan

Amiram Nir (; 8 December 1950 – 30 November 1988) was an Israeli journalist. He had also been a terrorism advisor to two Israeli prime ministers, and played a role in the

Iran–Contra affair The Iran–Contra affair (; ), also referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the Iran Initiative, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that centered on arms trafficking to Iran between 1981 and 1986, facilitat ...

. He married

Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes Judy Shalom Nir-Mozes (; born 14 August 1958) is an Israeli socialite, investor and talk show host. Early life Judy (Judith) Mozes was born in Ramat Gan to Paula and Noah Mozes, owners of the ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' newspaper, their third child afte ...

in 1982.

Career

Nir served as

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

' campaign manager in 1977 and as party spokesman for Peres' party. He subsequently became a correspondent for Israeli television, and in 1982 was military correspondent for Channel One.Sara Leibovich-Dar, ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'', 26 February 2003
She who must be obeyed
/ref> He also rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

reserves. In November 1984 Nir was appointed to the new post of counterterrorism advisor under Prime Minister

, remaining in the position under Peres' successor

Yitzhak Shamir Yitzhak Shamir (, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh prime minister of Israel, serving two terms (1983–1984, 1986–1992). Before the establishment of the State of Israel, ...

. In the position of Counter-terrorism Advisor Nir played a key role in the Israeli response to the 1985 hijacking. Nir also played a role in the

. When the matter became public in late 1986 he was forbidden by the Israeli government from speaking to US authorities. He resigned from the Israeli government in March 1987, after public criticism of his role in the affair (and with his US contact

Oliver North Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Sec ...

attempting to pin the blame on Nir) made him feel "neutralized of his authority".Bergman (2008:128-129) In mid-1988 Nir spoke to

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the honorific title of associate editor though the Post no longer employs ...

of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', saying that he was considering how best to sell the Irangate story.Ephraim Kahana (2006),
Historical Dictionary of Israeli Intelligence
', Scarecrow Press, p210-212

Death and conspiracy theory

On November 30, 1988, the

Cessna T210 The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general-aviation light aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986. Development The early Cessna 210 (21 ...

that Nir was traveling in crashed during an attempted emergency landing in

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

, Mexico after one the plane's engine failed during a flight from

Uruapan Uruapan () is the second largest city in the Mexico, Mexican state of Michoacán. It is located at the western edge of the Tarascan Plateau, Purépecha highlands, just to the east of the Tierra Caliente (Mexico), Tierra Caliente region. Since the c ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. Nir and one other passenger, Pedro Espinoza Hurtado, were killed instantly in the crash; the pilot, Guillermo Cuahonte, and a third passenger, Adriana Stanton, sustained serious injuries to their heads and bodies. Nir's body was tentatively identified by the passport on his body containing the name "Amiram Nir Nisker". His body was also identified in the crash wreckage by Pedro Curchet, an Argentinian associate of Nir who worked for the avocado-exporting venture, Eupasa. Officials initially reported that Nir and Stanton had registered for the flight under an assumed name, but this was later reported not to have been true. Nir was buried in

Kiryat Shaul Cemetery Kiryat Shaul Cemetery () is a 320-dunam (32 hectares) Jewish burial ground in Northern Tel Aviv near the neighborhood of Kiryat Shaul. On the east side of the cemetery is a large military cemetery. Founded in 1943, it includes more than 80,000 gr ...

in Tel Aviv. Given his connections to the Iran–Contra scandal, Nir's death sparked conspiracy theories that he was murdered to prevent him from revealing embarrassing details about then-

President-elect of the United States The president-elect of the United States is the candidate who has presumptively won the United States presidential election and is awaiting inauguration to become the president. There is no explicit indication in the U.S. Constitution as to wh ...

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

. In his 2008 book ''The Secret War with Iran'',

Ronen Bergman Ronen Bergman (; born June 16, 1972) is an Israeli investigative journalist and author. He previously wrote for ''Haaretz'', and as of 2010, was a senior political and military analyst for ''Yedioth Ahronoth''. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his co ...

said that after Nir's death there was an organized effort of burglaries targeting documents in the homes and offices of people involved in the Iran–Contra affair, including Nir's widow. One of two survivors of the plane crash, the Canadian Adriana Stanton, said in an Israeli television interview in 2009 that she had seen Nir alive and well after the crash. On a different Israeli television program in 2014, Nir's son Nimrod stated that after years of investigating his father's death, he believed it was an assassination and suggested Bush was responsible. ''

'' said there was "no proof" for the allegations and ''

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 ...

'' has called them "unsubstantiated".

References

External links

*"Un Accidente Mexicano
IIIIIIIVV
- Diego Enrique Osorno's five-part series in ''

Milenio ''Milenio'' is a major national newspaper in Mexico, owned by Grupo Multimedios. It is published in 11 cities across Mexico, including Monterrey, Mexico City, Guadalajara, León, Pachuca, Puebla, Villahermosa, Tampico, Torreón, Toluca, an ...

'' about the death of Nir {{DEFAULTSORT:Nir, Amiram 1950 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Israeli journalists Iran–Contra affair Israeli television journalists