Operation Damocles

April 8, 2013
British historian Howard (Iran in Crisis?) takes the temperature of a lesser-known conflict that was heating up in the Middle East while the U.S. and Russia squared off during the Cold War. In the years following WWII, Egypt, under the guidance of President Nasser, recruited former Nazi scientists (including Willy Messerschmitt, designer of the famous eponymous WWII fighters) for their long-range rocket-development efforts. With longstanding tensions between Israel and Egypt, Israel took up arms to counteract the potentially calamitous program. Initiated by Mossad director Isser Harel, the retaliatory Operation Damocles of 1962 entailed letter bombs, breaking into liquid rocket-fuel labs, assassinations, and entreaties made to officials in Bonn (then the capital of West Germany) to warn German scientists working to arm Egypt that "they were âplaying with lives." While some of their efforts paid off, Israel's attacks that kicked off the Six-Day War of 1967 sealed the deal that Israel was a serious threat. Howard's conclusions are sound, and his briskly paced work is an entertaining read. 10 pages of b&w photos. Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency (U.K.).