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By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

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198 BY WAY OF DECEPTIONspending nearly all its time and resources chasing down BlackSeptember terrorists.On October 6, 1973, just a few months after the Strella incident inRome, General Eliahu Zeira, head <strong>of</strong> Israel's military intelligence,was telling a press briefing in Tel Aviv: "There will be no war." Inthe midst <strong>of</strong> the briefing, an Israeli major entered the room andhanded the general a telegram. Zeira read it and immediately leftwithout saying a word.The Egyptians and Syrians had attacked, the Yom Kippur Warhad begun, and the Israeli death count on the first day was 500,with more than 1,000 wounded. A few days later they managed torecover and begin pushing the invaders back, but the war foreverchanged Israel's image — both for others and for itself — as aninvincible force.Golda Meir was still alive, thanks to the Mossad, but one result <strong>of</strong>the war was her resignation as prime minister on April 10, 1974.As for Shai Kauly, he knew there were still two Strella missilesunaccounted for after the attempt on Meir. However, theimmediate threat was over, he was back in Milan, and concernsover the war soon overtook all other problems.At the time <strong>of</strong> the airport incident, though, the Italian police hadfelt extremely embarrassed. After all, here was an attemptedassassination <strong>of</strong> a major political figure right under their nosesand they had done nothing, other than arrive late and pick up thepieces the Mossad had left behind. Italian intelligence had had noinkling <strong>of</strong> the plan to kill Meir. While the general public knewnothing <strong>of</strong> the episode, some <strong>of</strong> the intelligence community did.And so the Italians asked the Israelis not to make the detailspublic.The Mossad view was that by helping another party cover upsomething, it gained a certain advantage. Thus, it was alwayswilling to help someone save face — just as long as that someoneknew that, to the Mossad, he was still an idiot.And so the LAP, or Lohamah Psichlogit, the Mossad'spsychological warfare department, was asked to develop a coverstory. At the time, the situation between Israel and Egypt wasextremely tense, but because the Mossad was so busy looking forthe Black September gang, the vital signs in-

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