Operation Damocles

Operaton Damocles was a covert campaign by Israel's Mossad security agency initiated in August 1962 to assassinate, intimidate and harass German scientists and technicians that were developing rockets for Nasser's Egypt at a military site known as Factory 333. The campaign also targeted the scientists' families in Europe as well as Egyptian employers and coworkers. Mossad's main tactics during the operation were letter bombs and abduction. In March 1963, Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion demanded the resignation of then chief of Mossad, Isser Harel, over the operation, which effectively ended it. The operation and diplomatic pressure successfully drove the scientists out of Egypt by the end of 1963.

The Egyptian President Gamal Nasser did not want to rely upon the West or the Soviet Union for rockets, since such an arrangement would be inconsistent with Egypt's policy of Cold War non-alignment. An indigenous rocket program was thus the only way Egypt could destroy Egypt's long-time enemy, Israel.^[1]

At the time, rocket technology was scarce in the Middle East, so Egypt had to look to European countries for material and expertise. Hassan Sayed Kamil, an Egyptian-Swiss arms dealer, provided Egypt with material and recruits from West Germany and Switzerland, despite both countries possessing official laws prohibiting the provision of weapons to Middle Eastern countries^[1]. Many of the West German scientists had previously been involved in Nazi Germany's rocket program during World War 2, working at Peenemunde to develop the V2 rocket and some had worked for France's rocket program in the aftermath of the war.^[2][3]

Egypt's rocket program came to the world's attention when it successfully test fired a rocket in July 1962^[2] and then paraded two new types of rocket through the streets of Cairo, causing worldwide interest and shock.^[1] The flow of rocket expertise from West Germany to Egypt damaged the relations between Israel and West Germany, but did not stop the payment of reparations and the covert supply of arms to Israel by West Germany^[1]. To gain the support of the Israeli population, the head of Mossad planted stories about sinister weapons being developed by the German scientists in Egypt.^[4]

The main tactics employed by Israel against the scientists were letter bombs and abductions.^[5][6] Their families were threatened with violence to persuade the scientists to return to Europe.^[7] Mossad provided a small operational unit, headed by future Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, but since it lacked an operational division at that time it mainly used units from the the Shin Bet to carry out the attacks. ^[3]

• A parcel sent to rocket scientist Wolfgang Pilz exploded in his office when opened in 27 November 1962, mutilating his secretary.^[2][8]
• A parcel sent to the Heliopolis rocket factory killed 5 Egyptian workers.^[1]
• A pistol was fired at a West German professor in the town of Lörrach who was researching electronics for Egypt. The bullet missed and the gunman escaped by car.^[2]
• Heinz Krug, 49, the chief of a Munich company supplying military hardware to Egypt disappeared in September 1962 and is widely accepted to have been murdered.^[5] Krug played an important role in parts and labor procurement for the Egyptian missile program, and his assassination created numerous short-term supply problems.^[8]
• Hans Kleinwachter, a rocket scientist who worked on the V2 project, survived an assassination attempt by Mossad in February 1963.^[5]

Two Mossad agents, one from Tel Aviv and one Austrian, were arrested in Switzerland for threatening Heidi Goerke, the daughter of a West German electronic guidance expert working at factory 333, Paul-Jens Goercke. The agents pressured the adult children to make their father return from Egypt to Germany, threatening his and her safety if he did not do so.^[1] They were arrested for coercion and illegal operation on behalf of a foreign state.^[2] The Swiss investigations revealed that they were also involved in the abduction of Krug and the assassination attempt upon Kleinwachter.^[1] The arrests caused a public scandal for Israel.^[9] Israel publicly denied the claims, asserting that its agents only used methods of "peaceful persuasion".^[2]

Following the capture of Adolf Eichmann Isser Harel became preoccupied by the Holocaust which hardened his attitude towards the German scientists.^[10][3] He said when challenged about the operation, "There are people who are marked to die".^[4]

The campaign ended when Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion demanded that Mossad halt the attacks because he was worried about the consequences upon Germany–Israel relations. Then-Foreign Minister Golda Meir and Israeli diplomats trying to build relations between West Germany and Israel were furious at the attacks.^[11] Harel was compelled to resign and Meir Amit, his successor as chief of Mossad, claimed that Harel had overestimated the danger to Israel posed by Egypt's weapon programs. Yitzhak Shamir and others resigned from the Mossad in protest at Harel's treatment.^[3] David Ben-Gurion quit his post three months later.^[4]

The combination of the death threats and diplomatic pressure successfully drove the scientists away from Egypt by the end of 1963.^[12] By 1967 Egypt's rocket program had come to a standstill and Egypt turned to the Soviet Union for supplies, who supplied Egypt with Scud B rockets.^[13]