Flickr - Israel Defense Forces - Gilad Shalit Salutes Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

David Meidan (; born 1955) is a former

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

official, serving as Israeli Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

's coordinator on the issue of

POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...

s and

MIA Mia, Mía, MIA, or M.I.A. may refer to: Music Artists * M.I.A. (rapper) (born 1975), English rapper and singer * M.I.A. (American band), 1980s punk rock band from Orange County, California * MIA. (German band), a German rock/pop band formed i ...

s. Served as personal representative of Prime Minister Netanyahu in the

Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange The Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange (; ), also known as Wafa al-Ahrar () ("Faithful to the free"), followed a 2011 agreement between Israel and Hamas to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for 1027 prisoners — almost all Palestinia ...

- negotiations for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier

Gilad Shalit Gilad Shalit (, ''Gilˁad Šaliṭ'' ; born 28 August 1986) is a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who, on 25 June 2006, was captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border. Ham ...

, and was perceived as bringing closure to the deal. Recently, Meidan was also appointed as special envoy to Turkey in an effort to bring back warm relations between

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

Biography

Born in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

to Nathan and Rose Mosseri. In 1957, he made

Aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

with his family to

. Served in the army in

Unit 8200 Unit 8200 (, ''Yehida shmone matayim'' "Unit eight two-hundred") is an Israeli Intelligence Corps unit of the Israel Defense Forces responsible for clandestine operation, collecting signal intelligence (SIGINT) and code decryption, counteri ...

. In the Mossad, he served in part as a Collecting officer in the "Tzomet" division, responsible for recruiting and activating agents and was responsible for several branches of the Mossad abroad. In 2006 he became head of the Mossad's "Tevel" division, the branch responsible for External Relations with peer organizations around the world. In his capacity he was involved in activities related to Gilad Shalit, who was captured by

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

in June 2006. In April 2011, Meidan was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as successor to Hagai Hadas as his representative in the negotiations to release Gilad Shalit, and was a key member of the Israeli delegation who worked with government officials in Egypt outlining the deal for Shalit's release. As part of his role he met with the various parties, and was in touch with the Shalit family. After six months of activity in this position, an agreement between Israel and Hamas was reached, signed on 6 October 2011, in which Shalit was released in return for the release of 1,027 Palestinians terrorists imprisoned in Israel. After the swap-deal was approved by the Government of Israel, Meidan went to Egypt to coordinate the technical arrangements of the swap. He was the first Israeli representative to receive Gilad Shalit at

Kerem Shalom border crossing Kerem Shalom border crossing (, "Vineyard of Peace"; , ''Karem Abu Salem'') is a border crossing at the junction of two border sections: one between the Gaza Strip and Israel, and one between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. It is used by trucks car ...

. In November 2011, he was appointed coordinator on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the issue of POWs and MIAs. Meidan is married to Daphne, and a father of two daughters.

References

External links

Ron Ben-Yishai Ron Ben-Yishai (; born October 26, 1943) is an Israeli journalist. A veteran war correspondent, Ben-Yishai has covered many military conflicts in several different regions. In 2018, he won the Israel Prize, Israel's most prestigious civic honor ...

Behind the scenes of the Shalit deal

Yediot Ahronot (, ; lit. "Latest News") is an Israeli daily mass market newspaper published in Tel Aviv. Founded in 1939, is Israel's largest paid newspaper by sales and circulation and has been described as "undoubtedly the country's number-one paper."

, 13 October 2011 {{DEFAULTSORT:Meidan, David People of the Mossad 1955 births Living people Unit 8200 alumni Israeli people of Egyptian-Jewish descent Egyptian emigrants to Israel Israeli Mizrahi Jews