Page 344 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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324———Scutari, Richard (1947– )

Founded in 1957, Sayeret Matkal is known for See also COUNTERTERRORISM; MOSSAD.
several spectacular hostage rescues. In 1972, Sayeret
Matkal freed hostages on a Sabena airliner at Tel Aviv Further Reading
Airport. Commandos disguised as maintenance per-
Bruck, Connie. “The Commando: Ehud Barak Took Huge
sonnel took control of the airliner from members of Risks and Trusted No One. Now He Is Alone.” The
Black September during Operation Isotope. New Yorker, April 17, 2000.
In a 1976 mission, Sayeret Matkal worked with other Goodman, Hirsh. “How the Israelis Snatched the Sheik.”
Israeli Defense Force units to free hostages from an Air U.S. News & World Report, August 14, 1989.
France plane that had been hijacked by Palestinian ter- “Sayerot Mat’kal.” Jewish Virtual Library, 2002, http://
rorists and flown to Entebbe, Uganda. The unit used a www.us-israel.org/jsource/Terrorism/sayerot.html.
black Mercedes that was a perfect copy of Ugandan Zonder, Moshe. Sayeret Matkal. Jerusalem: Keter, 2000.
leader Idi Amin’s personal car to fool local troops.
Rescue force leader Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, brother
of former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, SCUTARI, RICHARD (1947– )
was killed as he brought the hostages to safety.
On May 15, 1974, a Sayeret Matkal hostage rescue
mission at an Israeli school went horribly wrong. The head of security for the white supremacist
Members of Nayef Hawatmeh’s Democratic Front for group the Order, Richard Scutari was the last to be
the Liberation of Palestine had taken over the school brought to justice after an FBI investigation led to the
in the northern town of Maalot, and held dozens of group’s downfall.
teachers and students hostage. When Sayeret Matkal Born on April 30, 1947, he lived in Port Jefferson,
stormed the school, Democratic Front members began New York, until 1956, when his family moved to
firing at the hostages. At least 20 people, many of Florida. He dropped out of high school to join the
them children, were killed. Some were killed or Navy, where he learned how to dive. After leaving the
wounded in the exchange of fire between Sayeret military, he worked as a diver until 1979 when he
Matkal and the Democratic Front. started a construction business with his brother. He
The unit has also engaged in many counter terror joined the American Pistol and Rifle Association
attacks and assassinations. In 1973, Sayeret Matkal (APRA), a survivalist gun club, and while attending a
commando Ehud Barak (who served as Israel’s prime national meeting in 1980, was introduced to the race-
minister from 1999 to 2001) led a raid into Lebanon based theology Christian Identity.
dressed as a woman. The unit assassinated three Scutari started his local unit of the APRA unit, and
Palestinian leaders during the mission, called Opera- throughout the early 1980s taught shooting and com-
tion Spring of Youth. Barak, who joined the unit at age bat in Port Salerno, Florida. In 1982, he was invited to
18, rose to the leadership of Sayeret Matkal. Benjamin the compound of the Covenant, the Sword, and the
Netanyahu, also later a prime minister of Israel, Arm of the Lord (CSA), a survivalist group that prac-
served under Barak in Sayeret Matkal. ticed Christian Identity, to teach hand-to-hand com-
The unit is credited with the 1988 assassination bat. That same year, his construction business failed;
of Palestine Liberation Organization second-in- in 1983, when Andrew Barnhill offered him a month’s
command Khalil Wazir, known as Abu Jihad. He was salary to come to Washington State and join him in the
gunned down inside his Tunis home. However, Abu Order, he accepted.
Jihad’s assassination has also been attributed to the The Order’s founder, Robert Jay Mathews, used
Mossad, Israel’s secret service. Scutari’s knowledge of the voice stress analyzer to
In July 1989, Sayeret Matkal reportedly kidnapped interview potential recruits and screen for informants.
Hezbollah spiritual leader Sheik Abdul Karim Obeid Mathews assigned him the code name “Mr. Black” and
from his southern Lebanon home. According to press made him the head of internal security. Although
reports, five Sayeret Matkal members were killed in Scutari joined the group relatively late, informants later
1992 at the Tse’elim base when a rehearsal of Iraqi testified that he participated in much of its criminal
president Saddam Hussein’s assassination turned activity, including the June 1984 assassination of Denver
deadly—a guided missile was accidentally fired on radio talk show host, Alan Berg. Scutari and Mathews
the base. served as lookouts while Order member Bruce Pierce