Kedmi Yakov

Kedmi Yakov Date of Birth

5 March 1947

Kedmi Yakov Professional field/official position

Former Israeli diplomat

Kedmi Yakov biography

KEDMI Yaakov (b. 1947) is a former director of the Israeli secret service Nativ. Born in Moscow, he studied at the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers. He became famous for passing through a police guard on February 19, 1967, and entering the Israeli embassy in Moscow, where he applied for repatriation. Israeli diplomats refused because they considered him a KGB agent. Yaakov repeated his action several more times before receiving consent from Israel for repatriation.

In May 1968, he publicly renounced Soviet citizenship and in February 1969, received permission to emigrate. In those days, Soviet authorities issued only a few leave permits and only for the family reunification. However, Yaakov had no relatives in Israel. Given the fact that he was not prosecuted for his open anti-Soviet expressions, he could indeed collaborate with the KGB.
In Israel, Yaakov Kedmi continued his studies at the Haifa Technion, Tel Aviv University and College of National Security. He served in the Israeli army, where he met the future Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Together, they took part in the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
After the war, he worked at Sohnut, an organization involved in the repatriation of Jews to Israel, and was its representative in Vienna. He also held various positions in the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He was a member of the Herut party, and in 1978, on the recommendation of the party’s leader and Prime Minister Menachem Begin, he joined Nativ, a special service that transported Eastern Bloc Jews to Israel, often by illegal methods.
In 1988-1990 he was an employee of the Israeli Foreign Ministry consular group at the Embassy of the Netherlands in Moscow.
In 1992, Yitzhak Shamir, Begin’s successor and the head of the government, appointed Kedmi the director of Nativ.
Between 1997 and 1999, Kedmi’s relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu deteriorated sharply. Nativ got involved in several corruption scandals and Netanyahu intended to disband the organization. Finally, Nativ was deprived of the special status, and Kedmi resigned.