The Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, has declassified for the first time a photo and a transcript of a conversation between its former chief Zvi Zamir and Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian spy who warned Israel of the impending Yom Kippur war in 1973.
Marwan, the son-in-law of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a close aide to his successor Anwar Sadat, was one of Israel’s most valuable assets in the Arab world. He was code-named “the Angel” by the Mossad, and his real identity was revealed decades ago. However, his role and reliability have been a subject of controversy and debate among historians and intelligence experts.
The Mossad released the photo and the transcript on Thursday, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war, as part of a new book that documents the agency’s involvement in the war. The book, titled “Some Day”, is based on a sentence said by then-prime minister Golda Meir to Zamir: “When the time comes to tell what you did, you and your friends will get a prize.”
The photo shows Marwan with one of his handlers in an undated meeting. The transcript records the conversation between Zamir and Marwan on October 5, 1973, the day before Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
According to the transcript, Marwan told Zamir that “there is a 99 percent chance that the war will start tomorrow… it will start simultaneously on both fronts, the Egyptian and the Syrian.” He also gave details about the Egyptian plan to cross the Suez Canal with a massive artillery barrage and the Syrian plan to capture the Golan Heights. He added that Jordan would stay out of the war and that Egypt would not target civilian areas within the 1967 Green Line.
The War
Zamir relayed Marwan’s information to the Mossad headquarters, but it was largely ignored or dismissed by the political and military leaders, who did not believe that Egypt and Syria were ready or willing to go to war. As a result, Israel was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses in the first days of the war.
The Mossad chief David Barnea said on Thursday that Marwan was “an important and strategic agent” who provided Israel with valuable intelligence before and during the war. He denied claims that Marwan was a double agent who fed Israel false or misleading information. He said that these claims were thoroughly investigated by a joint IDF-Mossad team before and after the war, and that they were unfounded.
Barnea also praised Zamir, who died in June at the age of 96, as “a courageous leader who made difficult decisions under pressure.” He said that Zamir’s meeting with Marwan was “one of the most dramatic moments in the history of Israeli intelligence.”
Marwan died in mysterious circumstances in 2007, when he fell or was pushed from his balcony in London. His death remains unsolved. He was given a state funeral in Egypt, where he was hailed as a national hero.
