Israel honours terrorists
Andy Newman
Surely after 9/11 only Israel would
have the bare-faced cheek to honour terrorists who deliberately committed bomb
attacks on American and British targets. But that is exactly what happened a few
days ago when Marcelle Ninio, Robert Dassa and Meir Zafran, the three survivors
of the so-called "Lavon affair", received letters of thanks from Israeli
President Moshe Katsav who also handed similar letters to the families of six
other murderers.
Mohamed
El-Sayed Said, deputy director of Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic
Studies in Egypt, said. "It is ironic that while Israel keeps on trying to
win the international community by portraying itself as a victim of what it
calls terrorism, it proudly honours terrorists, and calls them heroes." Said
attributed the ceremony to the desire of Israel's Likud party to "show how
powerful it is to the world. Such a commemoration constitutes an internal and
external message that the ruling party has the power to do whatever it decides
to do, with no force to stop it."
In 1954
a terrorist cell of Egyptian Jews started an incompetent but brutal bombing
campaign in Egypt, on behalf of the Israeli intelligence services. First
targeting the United States Information Services Libraries in Cairo, the Cairo
train station, and several movie theatres in Cairo and Alexandria frequented by
Westerners. They were caught in bizarre circumstances, which have led some
analysts to conclude that the Israelis wanted them to be discovered. On 14 July
1954, Philippe Natanson, who planned to attack a movie theatre, had a bomb
explode in his pocket, setting his clothes on fire. Natanson was caught by
Egyptian police and was found to have a full written list of his accomplices on
him. This led to the arrest of 11 out of the 13 members of the ring. One of them
committed suicide while in jail, two were executed and the rest were sentenced
to prison terms ranging from seven years to life. Four were later exchanged with
Egyptian POWs following the 1967 war. Although Israel disowned the attacks at
the time they have since admitted responsibility (indeed why else would they
have traded to get their agents back)
The
significance of the Lavon affair - also known as Operation Susannah" - was
threefold. Firstly, it was a deliberate move by hawkish supporters of retired
prime minister David Ben-Gurion to scupper secret peace talks between Abdel
Gamal Nasser of Egypt and the urbane liberal Israeli prime minister Moshe
Sharrett.
Secondly it deliberately created a strategy of tension to destabilise Egypt's
relations with the west - American targets were picked to make Egypt look too
unstable for investment. Indeed it may have been a contributory factor in the
American decision to withdraw funding for the High Aswan dam, that itself forced
Nasser to nationalize the Suez Canal - the only asset he had - to fund the dam,
providing the pretext for the British French and Israeli attack on Egypt in
1956.
Thirdly
it deliberately poisoned relations for Egypt's well established Jewish
community, leading to an exodus. The extreme Zionist dream of establishing
Israel as a racial supremacist, colonialist, citadel required undermining the
traditional integration and tolerance of Arab societies. Egyptian Jews had
always constituted a vibrant part of Egyptian society. Mass migration to Egypt
began in the early 19th century. In 1947 the Egyptian Jewish community was made
up of 75,000 who came from the world over. Unlike their counterparts in Europe
who often lived in small ghettos, Egyptian Jews lived alongside Muslims and
Copts. By the 1960s, over 65,000 Egyptian Jews had already left Egypt; and by
1977 there were only 300 Egyptian Jews, mostly elderly, left in Egypt. There are
no accurate figures for the number of Egyptian Jews who live in Egypt today,
some say they do not exceed 100 individuals.
The
fact that these terrorists who promoted ethnic cleansing are now honoured by
Israel, and not a single word of protest is raised from London or Washington -
proves that the "war on terror" is a fig leaf to cover naked self interest from
the US state department.
April 2005