Yoav Shacham

Yoav Shacham was an Israeli grain trader and alleged spy who significantly influenced Uri Geller's early life and aspirations. Shacham was a resident at the hotel in Nicosia, Cyprus, run by Geller's stepfather, Ladislas Gero¹.

Shacham, described as tough-looking and powerfully built, practiced martial arts in the hotel garden, which intrigued a fourteen-year-old Geller. Geller, seeking to impress Shacham, demonstrated his ability to bend metal spoons and keys. Shacham, impressed, offered to teach Geller martial arts¹.

Geller confided in Shacham, claiming he could read his mind and knew he was an Israeli spy. Shacham, whose cover was compromised, presented Geller with a challenge: to join the Israeli Army as a paratrooper, work hard, become the best soldier, attend officer training school, and then find him. Shacham promised that only then would he get Geller into the Mossad (Israel's intelligence agency). This undertaking gave Geller a sense of purpose¹.

Geller diligently followed Shacham's instructions, joining the Israeli army in 1965 and entering officer training school. However, his dream was shattered in November 1966 when a national newspaper reported that Major Yoav Shacham had been killed in action during a skirmish in a Jordanian border town¹. Geller's opportunity to do secret government work for Mossad seemingly died with his friend, though he would later have connections to Israeli intelligence¹.