how to say “undercover Israelis” in Hebrew
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מִסְתַּעֲרְבִים
This one’s for Shimon K.
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| אֵלִי כֹּהֵן
Eli Cohen
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The Israeli intelligence agencies are among the most effective and notorious in the world. One tactic employed by these agencies is sending an Israeli spy into enemy territory to live as one of them.
Since most of Israel’s enemies are Arab countries (Iran being an exception), the term for this undercover Israeli is מִסְתַּעֲרֵב. 
Employing a variation of the reflexive-intensive הִתְפַּעֵל verb form, the word מסתערב itself combines:
1. the ס (s) sound appearing in many of the words involving espionage – מַסְוֶה, disguise (mahs-VEH); סָמוּי, concealed (sah-MOO-ee); etc.
with
2. the root of the word for Arab, ע.ר.ב (a.r.b)
An example:
הַמִּסְתַּעֲרֵב הַמְּפֻרְסָם בְּיוֹתֵר בַּהִסְטוֹרְיָה הוּא אֵלִי כֹּהֵן.
The most famous mistaarev in history is Eli Cohen.
Though the word מסתערב usually describes activity among Arabs, the term has come to refer to Israeli espionage in other societies as well.
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