One can find agents of the Mossad, the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel, all over the world. In 2020, Mossad operatives eliminated Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah (also known as Abu Muhammad al-Masri) in Iran, reportedly at the request of the US. Abdullah was a high-ranking member of al-Qaeda who was considered the Second-in-Command of the terrorist organisation at the time of his demise. He was also a relative of Osama bin Laden! The Mossad is famous for intelligence collection and carrying out covert operations as its agents disappear immediately after their actions, without allowing the enemies to realise what has happened to them! In many cases, the affected State or Non-State actors become aware of the presence of Mossad after the damage is done.

Be it the recent assassination of the former Chief of the Palestinian Hamas Movement, Ismail Haniyeh, or the series of pager and walkie-talkie explosions in Lebanon and Syria, the global community has blamed the Mossad. Although defence experts believe that Mossad is responsible for these attacks, Israel has not claimed responsibility for them.

Mossad also had agents, like Eli Cohen, who had helped Israel to establish its dominance in West Asian politics. Cohen (born Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen; December 6, 1924 – May 18, 1965), the Egyptian-born Israeli master spy, is best known for his espionage work in Syria between 1961 and 1965. In Damascus, he developed close relationships with the top Syrian political, as well as military, leadership.

Israel’s relations with neighbouring countries have never been friendly since the creation of the Jewish State on May 14, 1948. Hence, Israel has fought a number of wars with various Arab nations, most notably in 1948-49, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, 2006 and 2023-present, in the past 76 years. Interestingly, the Israelis have won all those wars! In order to foil the conspiracies of neighbours, Mossad operatives are present in disguise in those countries. Aman, the Israeli military intelligence agency, and Shin Bet, the internal security service of Israel which is notorious for the controversial methods it uses against Palestinian prisoners, too, carry out strict surveillance in an attempt to keep their country safe from enemies.

Despite having such influential and prestigious spy agencies, Israel had made an intelligence blunder way back in 1954 when Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (January 15, 1918 – September 28, 1970) became the President of Egypt. There was a speculation that Britain might withdraw from the Suez Canal at that time and as Israel wanted Britain not to withdraw, Tel Aviv prepared a plan! It was an open secret that Nasser’s ambition was to stamp his authority in the Arab World. Hence, the military ruler planned to gain control over the Suez Canal by forcing the British Armed Forces to leave the Canal Zone. Israel, which was threatened by Nasser’s plan, decided to destabilise Egypt by launching attacks on British and US citizens, information and diplomatic centres, there!

Aman was quite confident that the move would boost the influence of Britain and the US in the region. At the same time, it would be easier to blame the Egyptian Government for carrying out such attacks! The Mossad reportedly codenamed it Operation Susannah as the covert operation is also known as The Lavon Affair. At that time, a power struggle erupted between the then Israeli Prime Minister, Moshe Sharett (October 15, 1894 – July 7, 1965), and his Defence Minister Pinhas Lavon (July 12, 1904 – January 24, 1976). While Prime Minister Sharett was trying to control Lavon, ambitious military leader Moshe Dayan and politician Shimon Peres (born Szymon Perski) were maintaining close contacts with former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion (born David Grün) to create troubles for Sharett!

Initially, Mossad got the responsibility of carrying out the Operation Susannah in Egypt. However, Lavon made some changes in the Israeli defence policy after becoming the Defence Minister. During his tenure, the importance of Aman increased a lot. Lavon asked Aman to carry out the special operation and to blame the local Arab groups for killing the innocent British and US nationals! Incidentally, Operation Susannah did not succeed, to the full.

Israel created a fake militant group with the help of Jews living in Egypt and also trained members of the group to carry out terror attacks. Aman decided to use several sophisticated bombs kept inside cases that would hold spectacles and even condoms filled with acids as weapons! However, it became evident on the day of the campaign that members of that fake outfit did not receive training in a proper manner. Aman reportedly planned to plant those bombs in theatres and railway stations across Cairo and to get those detonated when President Nasser would mark the second anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution (on July 23, 1954) that had begun with the toppling of King Farouk in a coup d’état by the Free Officers Movement in 1952. However, the contents of the bombs that were pre-planted there were damp, triggering the failure.

Nineteen-year-old Philip Nathanson was one of Aman operatives who took part in the operation. He went to a cinema hall in Alexandria with a bomb kept inside a spectacle case in his pocket. However, the bomb exploded in his pocket when he was waiting in a queue to buy tickets! Although Nathanson survived, the Egyptian Police arrested him. Meir Max Bineth (or Max Bennett; June 27, 1917 – December 21, 1954), a Lieutenant Colonel and a top agent of Mossad, was also detained. It happened at a time when Egypt badly needed help from the Israeli intelligence officers!

Operation Susannah had a negative impact on the domestic politics of Israel. Although Defence Minister Lavon ordered the operation, he blamed Aman for the failure later on! He was, finally, forced to resign! By that time, the entire world realised that Israel was behind this failed covert operation.

Well, the Israelis never admitted the failure of Aman in public.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das