IDF declassifies docs in still-rotten Lavon Affair
Comment Israël a organisé des attentats en Egypte en 1955 pour casser les relations entre Le Caire et Washington
Dialogue between the two men at the heart of affair reveals tense blame game over 1954 false flag scandal.
By Ofer Aderet | May 11, 2015 | Israel News | Haaretz
▻http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.655850
The conversation between Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon and Military Intelligence chief Binyamin Gibli on December 28, 1954, was extremely tense. “I wanted to give you another chance to tell me the whole truth,” Lavon told the senior Israel Defense Forces officer sharply. “Don’t hide anything, neither person nor issue. Unfortunately, either you didn’t understand or you decided not to understand.”
“I can’t believe you, Mr. Minister. I’m very sorry,” Gibli answered.
The issue about which they were talking – “the rotten business” (esek habish), also known as the Lavon Affair – was a scandal that occupied the country for several years, caused considerable political turmoil, and can still make headlines more than 60 years on.
Code-named Operation Susannah by Military Intelligence, it involved a Jewish terror cell in Egypt that was meant to undermine Cairo’s relations with the United States and Britain. The cell, whose members were arrested in the summer of 1954, had planned to plant bombs in movie houses, a post office, and U.S. institutions in Cairo and Alexandria, making it look as if the bombs were the work of Egyptians. Then-Prime Minister Moshe Sharett apparently had no advance knowledge of the operation.