Peri was born in
Tel Aviv during the
Mandate era, and grew up in
Netanya. Before he changed his name, he was born as Yaakov Pirzoner. His parents were Yiddish speakers, originally from Poland. He was exempted from service in the
Israel Defense Forces due to a systemic heart murmur. Peri attended the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem and
Tel Aviv University, gaining a BA. Peri started his career as an orchestral trumpeter before joining the Shin Bet. In 1966 he joined Shin Bet, and initially trained to be a field officer working in the Arab sector. In 1972 he was appointed to a senior position in the Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria Command, and in 1975 became head of the Shin Bet's training division. In 1978 he became head of its Northern Command, before returning to the Jerusalem, Judah and Samaria Command to head it in 1981. In 1987 he became Deputy Director of the Shin Bet, before becoming Director the following year. He was CEO of
Cellcom Israel from 1995 until 2003, and in 2012 he featured in a documentary film,
The Gatekeepers and discussed the main events of his tenure in the Shin Bet. and was re-elected as the party won 11 seats. In February 2018 Peri resigned from the Knesset, after two investigative reports on the
Uvda television program by Omri Assenheim exposed the fact that he had never served in the IDF and alleged that he leaked information on a corruption investigation to
Aryeh Deri when he was head of Shin Bet. Peri denied having leaked information to Deri, but after initially claiming that he had never hidden the fact he did not do military service, he admitted to lying for decades about having done military service, claiming that he had lied due to the social stigma of not serving at the time. In December 2019, CGI Group was hired to help find the 18th century jewels and diamonds stolen in a heist from the Dresden Green Vault museum in November 2019. The German media called the daring robbery, "the largest robbery of historic jewels in modern Germany". In January 2020, the Israeli firm received several letters offering to sell them two of the stolen jewelry. The CGI Group says its investigators were offered the items via the dark web. Peri is a fluent
Arabic speaker, having learned it in school and during his Shin Bet service. ==References==