Lavon+Affair

Lavon Affair: In 1954, as British forces were being taken out of Egypt, the US indicated that they would be sympathetic towards the Egyptian’s economic and military needs. Thus, when the possibility still existed of attracting Egypt into a defense arrangement with the US, Israel used agents in Egypt to sabotage American and British installations with hope that the Egyptians would be blamed. They hoped that then relations between the United States and Egypt would be ruined. After the fact, Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon declared that the operation had taken place without his consent and that the Chief of Army Intelligence had done the operation behind his back. This was soon proven wrong and Lavon was forced to resign from his position and the famous Ben-Gurion took over as defense minister.