Quick Facts
Biography
Yaakov Nimrodi (Hebrew: יעקב נמרודי, born 1926, Baghdad) is an Israeli businessman and former Israeli intelligence officer. Nimrodi, the father of Ofer Nimrodi, has been the chairman of Maariv, which he acquired in 1992.
Life
Nimrodi was born in 1926 in Baghdad, and grew up in poverty with nine siblings after his family emigrated to Palestine. Nimrodi joined the Palmach in 1948 as an intelligence officer and later the Mossad, and in 1956 was appointed the IDF military attaché and Israel Defense Ministry representative in Tehran. Here he was involved in Israel's large-scale arms sales to Iran in the 1960s. "No Israeli representative in Iran during the shah's regime was more significant or influential than Nimrodi." During this time Nimrodi provided "advice and training" to Iran's SAVAK secret service.
Nimrodi returned to Israel after the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979, but continued to be involved in arms trading, including a $135m sale of arms to Iran in 1981. Nimrodi played a central role in the early stages of the Iran-Contra affair. He published a book on the affair in 2004.
In 1987 Nimrodi took control of the Israel Land Development Company for $26m, and in 1992 Nimrodi acquired Maariv and became its chairman.
Books
- התקווה והמחד: פרשת איראנגייט, Maariv Publishing, 2004 (Irangate: A Hope Shattered)