in the town wearing French uniforms. The Jews of Port Said soon re-
alized that the two were Israeli secret agents.
In the summer of 1966, Eliav, now the deputy to the minister of trade
and industry, was dispatched secretly by Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to
Kurdish areas of Iraq to contact the Kurdish leader Mustafa Barazani.
This mission was a part of the Israeli Periphery Doctrine, the creation
of friendly contacts with elements in the Middle East opposed to the
Arab governments. Eliav’s mission was to offer Israeli assistance to
Barazani in his conflict with the Iraq authorities. Eliav served as a
member of Knesset and deputy minister from 1966 to 1968.EL-WAZIR, KHALIL.See ABU JIHAD.ENGINEER, THE.See AYASH, YAHYA.ENTEBBE OPERATION.See YEHONATHAN OPERATION.EROS PROJECT.See OFEQ SATELLITES.ESEK HA’BISH.See BAD BUSINESS.EZRA, GIDEON (1937– ).Ezra was born in Israel and holds a bach-
elor’s degree in geography and political science from the University
of Haifa. He served in the Israeli Security Agency(ISA) from 1962
to 1995. His last position was as the ISA’s deputy director. After his
resignation in 1995, he was appointed adviser to the minister of in-
ternal security. In 1996 Ezra was elected to the Knesset. He has
served on various Knesset committees, including the Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee. He has been minister of internal security
since 29 November 2004.EZRA AND NEHEMIA OPERATION.The Ezra and Nehemiah Op-
eration was the name given to the smuggling of 12,400 Jews from Iraq
to Israel between 1950 and early 1952. Their departure from Iraq had
to be clandestine, despite the passage by the Iraqi government in 1951
of a special bill permitting their emigration and even though they had
to sell their property and liquidate their businesses before they could
leave. The operation brought almost all the Iraqi Jews to Israel, first90 • EL-WAZIR, KHALIL06-102 (02) A-G.qxd 3/24/06 7:23 AM Page 90