The Mossad Scandal Israel Tried to Bury
Unpacked
The Lavon Affair, a clandestine Israeli operation in 1954, exposed significant vulnerabilities within Israel's intelligence community. Known as Operation Susannah, this mission aimed to conduct sabotage within Egypt, recruiting young Egyptian Jews to execute the task. However, a breach involving a double agent led to the exposure of the spy ring, resulting in arrests and severe repercussions for the operatives involved. This intelligence blunder not only strained Israel's internal politics, particularly affecting Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion's return to power, but also strained diplomatic relations and impacted the Jewish community within Egypt. The incident served as a stark lesson in the complexities of international espionage and the intricacies of Middle Eastern politics during a turbulent era.