What was the Lavon Affair?
A failed, shameful operation that collapsed Israeli government and left the scars forever.
The Lavon affair is remembered as Cause Célèbre in Israel. Infamously known Esek Habish-The shameful Affair, is the bleakest chapter in Israel history in 1954.
To have the gist, it is required to sweep in a larger story of new state of Israel, its power relations with Egypt, Suez Canal, other Arab nations and Gaza-Israeli border. The affair was renamed after the then defense minister Pinhas Lavon, due to his alleged indulgence. Initially it was christened as Operation Sussanah.
The genesis of the affair has quite a bit to do with creation of state of Israel in 1948, sparking first Arab-Israel war. Myriads of Palestinians were displaced despite Israel’s victory.
The territory was demarcated into state of Israel, Gaza strip and west bank of Jordan river. Egypt and Israel locked horns again over Suez Canal. Gamal Nasser, the president closed the Canal, a vital trade access point. He looked at Israel with ambivalence and knew the problems at home.
In 1954, the Israeli Military Intelligence-AMAN, called for a sleeper cell supposedly planting bombs in US and British bases in Egypt to discredit the Egyptian government. Operation Sussanah was designed to ensue chaos and affirm President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s inability to protect the bases from terrorism.
The terror-hits strategically exposed President’s inefficiency, alienating US and Britishers from Egypt. In actuality, the idea was to hit two birds with one stone, one blaming to eliminate the threat of the Muslim Brotherhood. A snow-balling threat blanketing its fanatic tentacles across the world says, https://forward.com/opinion/198375/the-lessons-of-the-lavon-affair
It’s quite tempting to over analyze the turns and twists of history and put it according to your perspectives. To look back and find motives that might have very crucial links, one like Suez Canal crisis. Israel and Egypt have been locking horns for myriads of reasons including Suez Canal.
The Israelis wanted the British to stay in Egypt because the British bases on the Suez Canal sat between Israeli and Egyptian territory. Hence, it was impossible for the Egyptians to attack Israel as long as the British stayed.
However, the British government could no longer afford to maintain a presence along the Suez Canal. So the British pulled out.
After overthrowing Egypt’s king and making himself president Nassar began pressuring the British to leave. He asked the British government to leave within the span of 20 months, cites https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2001/mar/14/past.education1.
A British withdrawal could give the Egyptians control over the Suez Canal a vital trade route. To keep the British in Egypt, Israeli began planning a terror campaign. The Lavon Affair, to taint Israel’s shining patina and its secret military aims.
Fearing Nassar’s plans to nationalize the Suez Canal after the British withdrawal, Israeli covert operatives began the terror campaign. This included Operation Sussanah: a false-flag operation, later evolved into the Lavon Affair.
The Affair became a scandal that successively toppled president David Ben-Gurion, defense minister Lavon, and the entire Israeli government. The burning ember of the shameful event stirred even at the end of a decade or two, giving way to impeccable controversies.
An article in The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1975/03/30/archives/the-lavon-affair-revived-in-israel-3-who-were-held-by-egypt-as.html, on 30th March 1975 recalls, the Prime Minister, Moshe Sherret was kept in dark, while Levon denies his involvement. Eleven Egyptian Jews were arrested for planting bombs at a post office, a cinema, and the United States Information Service Library to convince American officials Egypt was unsafe.
However Egyptian authorities learned of the plan and thwarted the bombings. The Israeli government denied responsibility out the fear of ruining the ties with US and Britain.
Truer still, Israeli leaders were afraid to reveal the identities of the agents. However, the disastrous game was played. Despite perpetual denials, a commission was formed to resolve the face-less charge. The government collapsed, and bigshots resigned without officially shouldering the national shame.
The Egyptian military court convicted two spies to death, and rest for life imprisonment. The ghosts of the international humiliation haunted Israelis even after the victory of six days war, when they negotiated over release of Lavon Affair prisoners under the POW pact. Israel captured almost 4338 soldiers and 830 civilians, while Egypt took only 11 Jews.
Yet, they firmly denied letting Lavon prisoners in the deal. Quite agonizingly, one of the spies, committed suicide out of his celebrated trial. But later after the victory against Israel in Six-Days War, Mier Amit, the defense minister, demanded Lavon prisoners in exchange for war prisoners of war.
However shameful the immediate repercussions, Israel tried pillar to post for the release. After stonewalling from Gamal Nasser, the Lavon prisoners were released, after 13 years in Egyptian jail reads the chapter in the book, Mossad. OTHD, Mossad, a secret agency ring by the time was establishing its reputation for covert operations.
The story Esek Habish tells us that we share the planet with vulnerable and emotionally challenged humans. while some like lavon-ers, playing unfair for correcting the wrongs of ancestors.
How do we judge them?
