Editing Is Paris Burning: CLAUS (section)

== Background ==

Born in 1930 in Berlin to a middle-upper-class doctor of Jewish descent, formerly named Schlüssel. David's family fled Germany in 1934 for Britain. Before their exile David's family had been fairly secular but during the War they became ardent Zionists. They emigrated to British Palestine in 1946 and changed their surname to Ben-Asher to commemorate David's grandfather, who died in the Shoah.

David Ben-Asher fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war initially as an enlisted solider, and was eventually promoted to an NCO role. After the war, he spent time studying at university to become a pharmacist but never completed his education. Instead, he was recruited into the Mossad in 1953 as a field agent. His foreign language fluency led him to be posted to Western Europe through the mid-50s. He was eventually promoted into the fledgling "Caesarea" division, specializing in the kidnapping and assassination of Israel's enemies.

(I have not chosen an Instigating Incident for David, as I'd like to go with the angle that his knowledge of the Unnatural is limited/non-existent, and he has not knowingly done work for Delta Green in the past.)

Roger Carlton is an English businessman of the same age as David, and they went to school together in London, and Roger is now living in Paris with his family. He is the only person in Paris besides David's handler that knows his true identity. Roger is married to a Frenchwoman, Celeste, and has two small children with him. Roger lives an entirely normal life in Paris and has no connections to the intelligence or Unnatural worlds (as far as David knows). He represents a "normal life" that David can't have, and he makes it a point to connect regularly with Roger and get together for coffee or to listen to sports on the radio together. Roger understands that David is doing some kind of spy work, though David has let slip enough subtle hints to make Roger think it's for MI6 rather than Mossad. And he certainly doesn't talk to Roger about the assassinations.

Baruch Frankel, David's Mossad handler. Baruch is the closest thing to a Mossad station chief in Paris. As a much smaller intelligence agency than either the CIA or KGB, Mossad doesn't have the same extensive network of agents in the country, but Baruch does handle a few other assets besides David himself. Baruch and David go back to David's time in the IDF, where Baruch was a superior officer in David's unit. He was also instrumental in recruiting David to the Mossad. The two have a close working and personal relationship.