The Lavon Affair: Israel's Failed False-Flag Bombings in Egypt
In 1954, Israeli military intelligence recruited Egyptian Jews to plant bombs at civilian sites in Egypt, intending the attacks to be blamed on others. The plot failed, two of the agents were sentenced to death, and the question of who gave the order caused a long political crisis in Israel. According to the Guardian, Israel admitted responsibility in 2005.
Verdict: Confirmed. This one really happened. The core events are documented in the official records and reporting cited below. How we rate stories
The Story
In the summer of 1954, Egypt was negotiating with Britain over the evacuation of the Suez Canal area. According to Israel's defense establishment archive, Israeli military intelligence recruited a group of Egyptian Jews for a covert operation. They were to plant bombs at cinemas, libraries and American educational centers in Egypt, and the attacks were to be blamed on others, from the Muslim Brotherhood to communists.
The bombs were timed to go off after closing. The Guardian reports that on 23 July a device being carried to the Rio Cinema in Alexandria exploded in the agent's pocket, and he and 10 other suspects were arrested. At the trial that ended in January 1955, Moshe Marzouk and Shmuel Azar were condemned to hang, two defendants were acquitted and six received long prison terms.
Israel's own defense archive calls it a 'false flag operation.'
In Israel the failure set off a political crisis over one question: who gave the order? Military intelligence chief Binyamin Gibli said Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon had given him a verbal instruction. Lavon denied any knowledge and, the archive says, resigned in February 1955. According to the Guardian, Gibli's former secretary later revealed that a key document implicating Lavon was a forgery, and Lavon was absolved in 1960. The archive says the affair later brought about the resignation of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.
The Guardian reports that it was not until 2005 that Israel admitted responsibility and honored the Egyptian Jewish agents involved. The Lavon Affair is one of the few false-flag plots acknowledged by the government behind it.
Origins
According to the Israel Defense Forces and Defense Establishment Archives, the operation was code-named Operation Susannah and carried out in Egypt in the summer of 1954, while Egypt was negotiating Britain's evacuation of the Suez Canal area.
The Claims
- Israel staged bombings against Western-linked targets in Egypt and tried to pin them on others.
- The aim was to damage Egypt's relations with the West.
- Documents were forged to shift the blame for the order.
Key Evidence
- The defense archive calls it a 'false flag operation.' It says Egyptian Jews 'were recruited by Israeli military intelligence to plant bombs inside Egyptian, American, and British-owned civilian targets: cinemas, libraries and American educational centers,' timed 'to detonate several hours after closing time.' The attacks were to be blamed on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Communists, 'unspecified malcontents,' or 'local nationalists.'
- The archive says 11 Egyptian Jews were arrested. At the trial, which lasted until 27 January 1955, Moshe Marzouk and Shmuel Azar 'were condemned to execution by hanging, two were acquitted, and six other accused were sentenced to lengthy prison terms.'
- The Guardian's 2008 obituary of military intelligence chief Binyamin Gibli says that Gibli's former secretary 'revealed that a document supposedly signed by Lavon and sent by Gibli to Dayan was indeed a forgery,' and that Gibli 'later admitted having forged documents that falsely implicated his boss.'
The Evidence Against
- Who gave the order was long disputed. The archive says Gibli 'claimed to have received a verbal instruction from Lavon,' while Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon 'denied any knowledge of the affair.' According to the Guardian, 'In 1960, Lavon was finally absolved of any involvement in the bombing campaign.'
Documents & Sources
- Gov DocumentOfficial RecordThe 'Unfortunate' or the Lavon Affair (Israel Defense Forces and Defense Establishment Archives, Ministry of Defense) archives.mod.gov.il ↗
- NewsBinyamin Gibli, obituary by Lawrence Joffe (The Guardian, September 2008) theguardian.com ↗
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