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By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

By Way of Deception

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294 BY WAY OF DECEPTIONthat if anyone came close to the ship, they were dead. Normally,there would have been no one within hundreds <strong>of</strong> miles <strong>of</strong> thisremote desert spot, but it happened that a Bedouin tribe washaving a celebration about a mile away. Fortunately, they didn'tcome any closer. The Saudis sent in some observers, and a dealwas struck that if the commandos left their fortifications on thebeach, the Saudis would leave the Israelis to get the ship back outto sea.The first plan was to blow up the ship, but the navy nixed that(several <strong>of</strong> these missile boats, incidentally, were later sold to theSouth African navy, which uses them to this day). Instead, theybrought in a helicopter with a supply <strong>of</strong> liquid Styr<strong>of</strong>oam whichthey sprayed over the entire hull <strong>of</strong> the ship, hooked a cableharness over the nose to two other missile boats, yanked it <strong>of</strong>f thebeach, and towed it all the way back to Eilat harbor.As <strong>of</strong>ten happens in these brainstorming sessions, the retelling <strong>of</strong>such a story sparks other ideas. During the course <strong>of</strong> the telling,one man said, "Wait a minute, we actually have passage right nextto the shores <strong>of</strong> Sudan. We can get quite close to shore with ourmissile boats. Why don't we take the Falashas out by ship?"The idea was kicked around for a time, but ultimately rejected fora host <strong>of</strong> reasons. It would simply take too much time to loadpeople onto ships and could never be accomplished withoutsomeone noticing. "Well, we could at least have some sort <strong>of</strong>station there," he said."What are you going to do? Post a sign saying `Mossad Base <strong>of</strong>Operations. Please Don't Enter?" one <strong>of</strong> the men quipped."No," he replied. "Let's have a diving club. The Red Sea is a havenfor divers."At first, the group dismissed the idea, but as time passed, andother ideas came and went, the notion <strong>of</strong> a diving school and clubbegan to take hold. They already knew a man along that beachwho operated a so-called club. Although he spent more time divingand lounging on the beach than he did teaching or renting out hisequipment, he did at least have an established presence there.With proper planning, and

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