Sylvia Raphael Schjødt (born 1 April 1937 – 9 February 2005) was a

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n-born

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 ...

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 ...

agent, convicted of murder for her involvement in the

Lillehammer affair The Lillehammer affair (, ''Parshat Lillehammer'', Norwegian: ''Lillehammer-saken'') was the murder of Ahmed Bouchikhi, a Moroccan waiter and the brother of the French musician Chico Bouchikhi, by Mossad agents in Lillehammer, Norway, on 21 ...

in Norway.

Biography

Sylvia Raphael was born in Graaf Reinet,

to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

father and Christian mother. She was raised as a Christian. In 1963, after witnessing an

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

incident in her native country, she immigrated to

. She lived on a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

and later worked as a teacher before moving to

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, where she was recruited by

. Raphael married her Norwegian

defense attorney A criminal defense lawyer is a lawyer (mostly barristers) specializing in the defense of individuals and companies charged with criminal activity. Some criminal defense lawyers are privately retained, while others are employed by the various ...

Annæus Schjødt Annæus Schjødt (7 March 1888 – 12 October 1972) was a Norwegian lawyer. He is best known as the prosecutor of Vidkun Quisling. Personal life He was born in Kristiania as a son of Attorney General Annæus Johannes Schjødt (1857–1923) ...

. In 1977, she was deported but two years later obtained a residence permit. In 1992, she settled in her native South Africa. She died in February 2005, aged 67, from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

. Raphael is buried in the cemetery of

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Ramat HaKovesh Ramat HaKovesh () is a kibbutz in central Israel. Approximately 7 kilometers northeast of Kfar Saba and south-west of Tira. The kibbutz falls under the jurisdiction of Drom HaSharon Regional Council. In it had a population of . Etymolog ...

Espionage career

After training she attained the rank of “combatant,” the highest rank for a Mossad agent, which qualified Raphael to operate in foreign countries. She was sent to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in the guise of a

freelance journalist ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

with a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

passport in the name of real-life Canadian

photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...

Patricia Roxborough. When the Israeli government decided to track down the

Black September Black September (), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by Hussein of Jordan, King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fight ...

operatives who committed the Munich massacre in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, in 1972, Raphael provided valuable intelligence that led to the killing of three. She was then assigned to a

team.''The Times Online'' obituary
/ref> This was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals involved in the 1972 Olympics Munich massacre called

Operation Wrath of God Operation Bayonet () was a covert operation directed by Mossad to assassinate individuals they accused of being involved in the 1972 Munich massacre. The targets were members of the Palestinian armed militant group Black September and operati ...

. Raphael was part of a group of Mossad agents who murdered

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

-born

waiter Waiting staff (British English, BrE), waiters () / waitresses (), or servers (AmE) are those who work at a restaurant, a diner, or a Bar (establishment), bar and sometimes in private homes, attending to customers by supplying them with food an ...

Ahmed Bouchiki (brother of Chico Bouchikhi) in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, on 21 July 1973, in a case of mistaken identity that became known as the

. The agents claimed to have mistaken Bouchiki for

Ali Hassan Salameh Ali Hassan Salameh (, ; 1 April 1941 – 22 January 1979; code name: Abu Hassan) was a Palestinian militant who was the chief of operations for Black September and founder of Force 17. He was assassinated in January 1979 as part of an assass ...

, the chief organizer for Black September who had planned the Munich massacre. Raphael was arrested shortly after the killing. On February 1, 1974, the

Eidsivating Court of Appeal The Eidsivating Court of Appeal () is one of six courts of appeal in the Kingdom of Norway. The Court is located in the city of Hamar, with jurisdiction over the Eidsivating judicial district (), comprising the counties of Innlandet, Østfold, a ...

convicted her of planned murder (the most serious murder conviction under Norwegian law),

espionage Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information ( intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ...

, and use of forged documents. Despite being sentenced to five-and-a-half years in

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

, she was released after serving 15 months and

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its Sovereignty, sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or ...

from Norway as a foreign criminal in May 1975, as foreigners convicted of serious crimes are routinely deported after serving their sentences.

Commemoration

PikiWiki Israel 45172 Sylvia Rafael square in Migdal

A roundabout named after her was erected in the Israeli town of Migdal. In 2016, director Saxon Logan compiled a documentary movie on her life called ''Sylvia: Tracing Blood.'' In 2023, an exhibit of her photography opened at the

Yitzhak Rabin Center The Yitzhak Rabin Center is a library and research center in Tel Aviv, Israel, built in memory of assassinated Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Designed by Israeli architect Moshe Safdie, it sits on a hill commanding a panoramic view of Yark ...

in Tel Aviv presenting her output as a photojournalist. The show includes portraits of

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

and

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

, scenes of flooding in Yemen, social unrest in Djibouti, as well as daily life in Lebanon and Jordan.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raphael, Sylvia 1937 births 2005 deaths Trials in Norway People convicted of murder by Norway South African emigrants to Israel Israeli people convicted of murder Israeli assassins Israeli schoolteachers Israeli people imprisoned abroad South African people imprisoned abroad People from Tel Aviv People from Cape Town Israeli spies Israeli emigrants to Norway Deaths from leukemia in South Africa People deported from Norway Mossad agents convicted of crimes Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre South African people of Jewish descent Women spies

Biography

Espionage career

Commemoration

References

Further reading

External links