---
category: "Military"
tags:
  - Person
summary: "Lieutenant Colonel in Israeli Military Intelligence who commanded Unit 8200's code-breaking department and recruited Ari Ben-Menashe."
updated: 2026-10-12
---

According to [[Ari Ben-Menashe]], Lieutenant Colonel [[Sasson Yishaek]], also known as Lt. Col. Sasson, was a key figure in [[Israel|Israeli]] Military Intelligence. Ben-Menashe wrote that he was the number-two person in the code-breaking department of [[Unit 8200]] and later became its commander, replacing [[Reuben Yirador|Col. Yirador]].[^1]

Ben-Menashe wrote that Lt. Col. Sasson recruited him into Military Intelligence in 1973, offering him a special position in connection with his military service, and that Sasson was involved in the incident where Ben-Menashe broke the [[Iran|Iranian]] diplomatic code. He wrote that Sasson court-martialed him for insubordination when he refused an assignment to the [[Rome]] listening station, a decision that Ben-Menashe wrote was later overruled by the Director of Military Intelligence.[^1]

### Footnotes
[^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. TrineDay, 19th, 1992.