Operation Damocles

Last updated

Operation Damocles was a covert campaign of the Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad in August 1962 which targeted German scientists and technicians, formerly employed in Nazi Germany's rocket program, who were developing rockets for Egypt at a military site known as Factory 333. According to Otto Joklik, an Austrian scientist involved with the project, the rockets being developed were programmed to use radioactive waste. [1]

Contents

The chief tactics were letter bombs and abduction. In March 1963, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion demanded the resignation of then chief of Mossad, Isser Harel, over the operation, which effectively ended it. The operation and diplomatic pressure had driven the scientists out of Egypt by the end of 1963.

Egypt's rocket program

The Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser did not want to rely upon the West or the Soviet Union for rockets, since such an arrangement would be inconsistent with Egypt's policy of Cold War non-alignment. An indigenous rocket program was thus the only way Egypt could match the military technology of Egypt's then enemy, Israel. [2] At the time, rocket technology was scarce in the Middle East, so Egypt had to look to European countries for material and expertise. Hassan Sayed Kamil, an Egyptian-Swiss arms dealer, provided Egypt with material and recruits from West Germany and Switzerland, despite both countries having official laws prohibiting the provision of weapons to Middle Eastern countries. [2] Many of the West German scientists had previously been involved in Nazi Germany's rocket program during World War II, working at Peenemünde to develop the V-2 rocket, and some had worked for France's rocket program in the aftermath of the war. [3] [4]

Egypt's rocket program came to the world's attention when it successfully test-fired a rocket in July 1962 [3] and then paraded two new types of rocket through the streets of Cairo, causing worldwide interest and shock. [2] [5] The flow of rocket expertise from West Germany to Egypt damaged the relations between Israel and West Germany, but did not stop the payment of reparations and the covert supply of arms to Israel by West Germany. [2] Israel became increasingly concerned with the program after a disaffected Austrian scientist involved with it approached the Israeli secret service, and claimed the Egyptians were attempting to equip the missile with radioactive waste as well as procuring nuclear warheads. [1] In mid-August, Mossad managed to obtain a document written by German scientist Wolfgang Pilz  [ de ], detailing certain aspects of Factory 333 – the number of rockets being built (900), and additional, weaker evidence that there were plans to develop chemical, biological and gas-filled warheads for these rockets. [1] To gain the support of the Israeli population, the head of Mossad planted stories about sinister weapons being developed by the German scientists in Egypt. [6]

Attacks on German scientists

Former Nazi Otto Skorzeny (shown in 1963) was supposedly hired for Operation Damocles Otto Skorzeny, Bestanddeelnr 914-8031 (cropped).jpg
Former Nazi Otto Skorzeny (shown in 1963) was supposedly hired for Operation Damocles

The main tactics employed by Israel against the scientists were letter bombs and abductions. [7] [8] Their families were threatened with violence to persuade the scientists to return to Europe. [9] Mossad provided a small operational unit, headed by future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, but since it lacked an operational division at that time it mainly used units from the Shin Bet to carry out the attacks. [4]

Public exposure of the operation

Two Mossad agents, Joseph Ben-Gal, an Israeli, and Otto Joklik, Austrian, were arrested in Switzerland for threatening Heidi Goercke, daughter of a West German electronic guidance expert working at Factory 333, Paul-Jens Goercke. They ordered her to persuade Goercke to return to Germany, threatening their safety if he did not comply. [2] They were arrested for coercion and illegal operation on behalf of a foreign state. [3] Swiss investigations revealed that they were also involved in the abduction of Krug and the assassination attempt upon Kleinwachter. [2] The arrests caused a public scandal for Israel. [13] Israel publicly denied the claims, asserting that its agents only used methods of "peaceful persuasion". [3]

Resignation of Isser Harel

Following the capture of Adolf Eichmann, Isser Harel became preoccupied by the Holocaust, which hardened his attitude towards the German scientists. [4] [14] He said when challenged about the operation, "There are people who are marked to die". [6]

The campaign ended when Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion demanded that Mossad halt the attacks because he was worried about the consequences upon German–Israeli relations. Then-Foreign Minister Golda Meir and Israeli diplomats trying to build relations between West Germany and Israel were furious about the attacks. [15] Harel was compelled to resign and Meir Amit, his successor as chief of Mossad, claimed that Harel had overestimated the danger to Israel posed by Egypt's weapon programs. Yitzhak Shamir and others resigned from the Mossad in protest at Harel's treatment. [4] David Ben-Gurion quit his post three months later. [6]

The combination of the death threats and diplomatic pressure drove the scientists away from Egypt by the end of 1963. [16] By 1967, Egypt's rocket program had come to a standstill and Egypt turned to the Soviet Union, which supplied it with Scud B rockets. [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Skorzeny</span> Austrian Waffen-SS officer (1908–1975)

Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny was an Austrian-born German SS-Obersturmbannführer in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including the removal from power of Hungarian Regent Miklós Horthy and the Gran Sasso raid which rescued Benito Mussolini from captivity. Skorzeny led Operation Greif in which German soldiers infiltrated Allied lines wearing their opponents' uniforms. As a result, he was charged in 1947 at the Dachau Military Tribunal with breaching the 1907 Hague Convention, but was acquitted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shin Bet</span> Israels internal security service

The Israel Security Agency, better known by the acronym Shabak or the Shin Bet, is Israel's internal security service. Its motto is "Magen veLo Yera'e". The Shin Bet's headquarters are located in northwest Tel Aviv, north of Yarkon Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Malkin</span> Israeli civil servant

Peter Zvi Malkin was a Polish-born Israeli secret agent and member of the Mossad intelligence agency. He was part of the team that captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 and brought him to Israel to stand trial for crimes against humanity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isser Harel</span> Israeli intelligence officer (1912–2003)

Isser Harel was spymaster of the intelligence and the security services of Israel and the Director of the Mossad (1952–1963). In his capacity as Mossad director, he oversaw the capture and covert transportation to Israel of Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fritz Bauer</span> German judge (1903–1968)

Fritz Bauer was a German Jewish judge and prosecutor. He was instrumental in the post-war capture of former Holocaust planner Adolf Eichmann and played an essential role in beginning the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Bar-Zohar</span> Israeli politician

Michael Bar-Zohar is an Israeli historian, novelist and politician. He was a member of the Knesset on behalf of the Alignment and Labor Party in the 1980s and early 1990s.

<i>The Man Who Captured Eichmann</i> 1996 television film directed by William Graham

The Man Who Captured Eichmann is a 1996 American historical drama television film directed by William Graham and written by Lionel Chetwynd, based on the 1990 book Eichmann in My Hands by Peter Malkin and Harry Stein. The film stars Robert Duvall as Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, who lived under the name Ricardo Klement in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Arliss Howard as Israeli Mossad agent Peter Malkin, who captured Eichmann in 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yossi Melman</span> Israeli writer and journalist (born 1950)

Yossi Melman is an Israeli writer and journalist. He was an intelligence and strategic affairs correspondent for the Haaretz newspaper, and in 2013 he joined The Jerusalem Post and its Hebrew sister paper Maariv in a similar, more analytical role covering also military issues. In 2019 he returned to Haaretz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adolf Eichmann</span> German Nazi war criminal (1906–1962)

Otto Adolf Eichmann was a German-Austrian official of the Nazi Party, an officer of the Schutzstaffel (SS), and one of the major organisers of the Holocaust. He participated in the January 1942 Wannsee Conference, at which the implementation of the genocidal Final Solution to the Jewish Question was planned. Following this, he was tasked by SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich with facilitating and managing the logistics involved in the mass deportation of millions of Jews to Nazi ghettos and Nazi extermination camps across German-occupied Europe. He was captured and detained by the Allies in 1945, but escaped and eventually settled in Argentina. In May 1960, he was tracked down and abducted by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, and put on trial before the Supreme Court of Israel. The highly publicised Eichmann trial resulted in his conviction in Jerusalem, following which he was executed by hanging in 1962.

Yossele Schumacher is a Soviet-born Israeli whose abduction as a child in 1960 became a cause célèbre within Israeli Jewish society. Schumacher was abducted by his Haredi Orthodox Jewish grandparents to prevent him from being raised as a Secular Jew by his parents, and was found in the United States after an extensive international search by Mossad before being returned to his parents' custody. Schumacher's abduction led to an early major polarization among Israeli Jews due to disagreements between Orthodox Jews, who largely supported the abduction, and Secular Jews, who largely opposed it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahmoud al-Mabhouh</span> Hamas commander (1960–2010)

Mahmoud Abdel Rauf al-Mabhouh was the chief of logistics and weapons procurement for Hamas's military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. He is remembered for his assassination in Dubai and the diplomatic crisis his assassination triggered after Mossad agents allegedly used forged foreign passports to carry out the killing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mossad</span> National intelligence agency of Israel

The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, popularly known as Mossad, is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman and Shin Bet.

Events in the year 1960 in Israel.

Operation Yakhin was an operation to secretly emigrate Moroccan Jews to Israel, conducted by Israel's Mossad between November 1961 and spring 1964. About 97,000 left for Israel by plane and ship from Casablanca and Tangier via France and Italy.

<i>The House on Garibaldi Street</i> 1979 American television film

The House on Garibaldi Street is a 1979 American television film based on the non-fiction book of the same name, written by Isser Harel. It was directed by Peter Collinson and starred Topol and Martin Balsam. The story is about the Mossad operation that captured Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 and returned him to Israel for trial.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yossi Cohen</span> Director of the Israeli Mossad (2016 to 2021)

Yosef "Yossi" Meir Cohen is a former Director of Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel.

<i>The People vs. Fritz Bauer</i> 2015 film

The People vs. Fritz Bauer is a 2015 German biographical drama film directed by Lars Kraume, chronicling the German Jewish prosecutor Fritz Bauer's post-war capture of former Holocaust planner Adolf Eichmann. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.

<i>Operation Finale</i> 2018 film directed by Chris Weitz

Operation Finale is a 2018 American historical dramatic thriller film directed by Chris Weitz from a screenplay by Matthew Orton about a 1960 clandestine operation by Israeli commandos to capture former SS officer Adolf Eichmann, and transport him to Jerusalem for trial on charges of crimes against humanity. The film stars Oscar Isaac as the Mossad officer Peter Malkin, and Ben Kingsley as Eichmann, with Lior Raz, Mélanie Laurent, Nick Kroll, and Haley Lu Richardson. Several source materials, including Eichmann in My Hands, by Peter Malkin and Harry Stein, provided the basis for the story.

Aliza Magen-Halevi is an Israeli intelligence officer. Magen-Halevi became the highest-ranking woman in the history of the Mossad, Israel's national intelligence agency, when she served as the agency's deputy director from 1997 to 1999 under Shabtai Shavit, Danny Yatom, and Efraim Halevy.

References

  1. 1 2 3 black, Ian; Morris, Benny (1992). Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. Grove Press. pp. 193–200. ISBN   0-8021-3286-3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lavy, George (October 1996). Germany and Israel: moral debt and national interest. Routledge. pp. 59–71. ISBN   9780714646268.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Middle east: Trouble for 333". Time Magazine . 1963-04-05. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Melman, Yossi (2003-03-24). "Targeted killings — a retro fashion very much in vogue". Haaretz . IL. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  5. ↑ "Egypt's Missile Efforts Succeed with Help from North Korea". Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. 1996. Archived from the original on 2016-01-23.
  6. 1 2 3 "Israeli spy who snared Eichmann". Sydney Morning Herald . AU. 2003-04-15. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  7. 1 2 Johnson, Loch K (December 2006). Strategic Intelligence. Vol. 1. Praeger Security International. p. 68. ISBN   9780313065286.
  8. ↑ Giles, Gregory F. "Continuity and Change in Israel's Strategic Culture". Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  9. ↑ Webster, Matt (March 2003). Inside Israel's Mossad: The Institute for Intelligence and Special Tasks. Rosen Publishing. pp. 40, 63. ISBN   9780823938155.
  10. ↑ Sirrs, Owen L (January 2006). Nasser and the missile age in the Middle East. Routledge. pp. 59–82, 224. ISBN   9780203029688.
  11. ↑ Raviv, Dan; Melan, Yossi (27 March 2016). "The Strange Case of a Nazi Who Became an Israeli Hitman". Haaretz . Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  12. ↑ Ronen Bergman, Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations , Random House, 2018.
  13. ↑ "A brief history of Israeli espionage scandal". Reuters. 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
  14. ↑ Silver, Eric (2003-02-20). "Isser Harel: Israeli spymaster who abducted Eichmann" . The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
  15. ↑ Joffe, Lawrence (2003-02-20). "Obituary:Issar Harel". Guardian . London.
  16. ↑ "Pilz, Wolfgang". Astronautix. Encyclopedia Austronautica. Archived from the original on April 19, 2005.
  17. ↑ "Country profiles: Egypt". Nuclear Threat Initiative. Archived from the original on 2008-01-05. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.