Israeli Mossad spy who captured Nazi Eichmann backs German far-right party

A former Israeli Mossad spy who led the dramatic operation to capture notorious Nazi Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann has expressed surprising support for Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The AfD captured nearly 13 percent of the vote and almost 100 seats in parliament last September, a watershed moment in post-war German politics.

The party's leaders have expressed anti-Semitic statements and played down the crimes of the Nazi regime.

Following their electoral success, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said "real Nazis" had entered the Bundestag for the first time since the Second World War.

On Saturday 91-year-old Rafi Eitan said in a video statement on his Facebook page Saturday that Israel appreciates the party's "attitude toward Judaism" and looks for them to also "become an alternative to Europe".

Eitan, a former Israeli Cabinet minister, appeared to endorse the party's hard-line toward Muslim immigrants.

Israel's ambassador to Germany, Jeremy Issacharoff, condemned Eitan's statement as "sad and shameful".

Eitan was the leader of an Israeli Mossad team that kidnapped Eichmann from his home in Argentina in 1960 after fleeing Nazi Germany.

He was drugged and smuggled back to Israel, where he was put on trial for genocide in a landmark televised court case and sentenced to death by hanging.