Editing Moshe Sharett (section)

=== Lavon Affair ===
{{main|Lavon Affair}}
In 1954, three cells of local Jews living in Egypt and one from Israel proper were activated as terror groups to sabotage in [[Alexandria]] and [[Cairo]] on the orders of a secretive Unit 131 of [[Military Intelligence Directorate (Israel)|Israeli Intelligence]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} The Israelis welcomed the British presence in Nasser's Egypt.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} Israel had formed an alliance with the European powers Britain and France. Britain had helped found the State of Israel, encouraged socialism, and fostered a sense of accountable democracy. Israel viewed Britain's historic role in Cairo as a convenient buffer against potential threatening incursions into Israel's borders.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

A group of Israeli youths were ardent Zionist military trainees, but had little real experience of war.{{Clarify|date=October 2022}} They were influenced by their charismatic leader and handler, Avri Elad. In July 1954 they threw [[incendiary device|firebomb]]s into the American libraries of Cairo and Alexandria, with little damage, and cinemas in Cairo. But 13 youths were arrested, and then tortured by the Egyptians. Two of the prisoners, including the Israeli agent [[Meir Max Bineth]], committed suicide, and three were sent to prison. Sharett soon discovered that operations were being prepared for execution in other Arab capitals. When the news broke over [[Cairo Radio]] in summer 1954, Sharett turned to Minister for Labour [[Golda Meir]] for help. The Minister of Defense, Pinchas Lavon, and his Head of Military Intelligence, [[Binyamin Gibli|Benjamin Gibli]], both declared each other as the responsible party. The real orders were transmitted in code over the radio in the form of housewives cookery recipes.<ref>Gilbert, Israel, pp. 296–297</ref>

Mapai was split over the crisis. Sharett called for a Public Inquiry led by a Judge of the Supreme Court, [[Yitzhak Olshan]], and a former Chief of Staff, [[Ya'akov Dori]]. Sharett had wanted to appoint [[Moshe Dayan]] as Minister of Defense but was aware that he was a controversial figure. There were those who defended his stubbornness as a military genius, and those who saw him as divisive. But criticism of Lavon was mounting. Mapai demanded the resignation of Dayan, Gibli and Lavon. Sharett appealed to a sense of fairness from Colonel Nasser, but to no avail. A guilty verdict was entered over the heads of the prisoners in Cairo. On 31 January 1955 two of the defendants, [[Moshe Marzouk]] and {{ill|Shmuel Azar|he|שמואל עזר}} were hanged, found guilty of spying.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-20 |title=Six Israelis Sentenced As Spies in Egypt 15 Years Ago Living in Israel |url=https://www.jta.org/archive/six-israelis-sentenced-as-spies-in-egypt-15-years-ago-living-in-israel |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US |archive-date=3 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103024352/https://www.jta.org/archive/six-israelis-sentenced-as-spies-in-egypt-15-years-ago-living-in-israel |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lavon offered to resign from the Defense Ministry on 2 February 1955, the same day Sharett and Golda Meir traveled to [[Sde Boker]] to see Ben-Gurion. Lavon's resignation was accepted on 18 February. Ben-Gurion agreed to come out of retirement to fill the defense portfolio, and four months later he replaced Sharett as PM, while Sharett stayed as Foreign Minister.<ref>Gilbert, p. 255</ref> Olshan-Dori's final judicial report exposed the difficulty of political management in the Defense Ministry with the cabinet conflicts emerging from Ben-Gurion's stewardship.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_762509986/moshe_sharett.html |title=Moshe Sharett - MSN Encarta |access-date=23 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529052008/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_762509986/Moshe_Sharett.html |archive-date=29 May 2008}}</ref>

Sharett's efforts to unblock the diplomatic impasse had failed. Nasser still prevented access to the Suez Canal. Israeli shipments of arms to defend the state dried up at a time when Arab belligerency was rising. Sharett might have learned from Weizmann's experience at befriending the consummate politician Ben-Gurion; Sharett also believed he could install him as his subordinate. Ben-Gurion had been out of office for a year, but returned to demand that Dayan be reappointed. Ben-Gurion spoke regularly with socialist leaders Dayan and [[Shimon Peres]]. A few weeks later an Israeli was murdered by infiltrators near the border. Ben-Gurion and Dayan immediately demanded approval of the planned [[Operation Black Arrow]], which involved attacking Gaza. Sharett had attempted to be pacifistic and restrained during his premiership, but was overtaken by the vocal elements in Mapai and their growing electoral support in the run-up to a General election.<ref>{{cite web |title=Moshe Sharett The Second Prime Minister |url=http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/History/FormerPrimeMinister/MosheSharett.htm |website=Pmo.gov.il |access-date=8 March 2012}}</ref>

After the military disaster at [[Qibya massacre|Qibya]], in which Dayan had caused civilians to be killed, he was forced to change [[Israeli Defense Forces]] (IDF) policy towards targeting military installations on 28 February 1955. Sharett was concerned that casualties should be kept to an absolute minimum; 8 Israelis and 37 Egyptians<ref>Gilbert calls the number 38 Egyptians and 2 local Arabs, p.297</ref> died in an operation that was the most bloody since the armistice of 1949. An adjutant at the ministry, Nehemia Argov, wrote to Foreign Minister and PM Sharett to report the Gaza Raid as 8 dead and 8 wounded. The wounded were sent to Kaplan Hospital.<ref>{{cite web |title=Moshe Sharett |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/State/Moshe+Sharett.htm |website=Mfa.gov.il |date=2 March 2003 |access-date=21 February 2012}}</ref>