position until October 1972. January: Yosef Harmelin is appointed direc-
tor of the ISA, which he will hold until 1975; he will subsequently be
called back to take up this position again after the 1984 Bus 300 affair. 19
January: Captain Abbas Hilmi, a pilot in the Egyptian air force dissatis-
fied with the Nasserist regime, defects to Israel flying a Soviet Yak trainer
aircraft. Israel at the time is interested in obtaining the Soviet MiG fighter.1965 18 January: The Syrians discover Cohen’s true identity, and he is
caught. His interrogators try to coerce him into maintaining contact with
Israel; he uses this opportunity to inform Israel of his exposure by a spe-
cial code. 18 May: Cohen is hanged in Damascus after being sentenced
to death for spying for Israel. Fall: Mossad director Amit and General
Muhammad Oufkir, head of Moroccan domestic security, meet in France
to reach an agreement whereby Mossad agents will set a trap for Mehdi
Ben-Barka. Ben Barka, former tutor of King Hassan and ex-president of
the Moroccan National Consultative Assembly, is now an opponent of the
Moroccan government. For the sake of the Moroccan Jews, Israel agrees
to find Ben-Barka and thus enable the Moroccan authorities to do with
him as they wish. 29 October: A Mossad agent persuades Ben-Barka to
leave Geneva, supposedly for a meeting with a film producer in Paris.
Three French security officers, cooperating with the Moroccans, arrest
Ben-Barka. 30 October: Ben-Barka is shot dead by Oufkir or one of his
Moroccan agents.1965 Wolfgang Lotz, an Israeli spy in Egypt, is arrested and imprisoned.
1966 16 August:Iraqi pilot Munir Redfa defects to Israel with his MiG-
21, an act long planned by the Mossad. Not surprisingly, in the Six-Day
War in June 1967 the Israeli air force demonstrates its superiority over the
MiG-21 aircraft of the Arab air forces.Fall:In its publication National In-
telligence Estimate, Military Intelligence (MI) maintains that Egypt has no
intention of initiating any military move against Israel in 1967, after its war
in Yemen.1967 7 April:The Israel Air Force (IAF) sends planes to destroy Syr-
ian guns on the Golan Heights; Syrian aircraft take off to defend them,
and in the ensuing dogfight the IAF downs six Syrian planes with no Is-
raeli losses. 13 May: The Kremlin conveys spurious information on
nonexistent Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troop movements and on
American intentions to Anwar Sadat, Nasser’s deputy, during a visit to
Moscow. 14–15 May: Lead units of two Egyptian divisions roll into theCHRONOLOGY• xxvii06-102 (01) FM.qxd 3/24/06 7:22 AM Page xxvii