By Matti Friedman
Arab Jews spying in 1948 Beirut
Subject
Themes
In the opening months of 1948, as the British withdrew from Palestine and civil war erupted between Jews and Arabs, a small group of Arabic-speaking Jewish spies operated from the shadows. Born in Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, and Jerusalem's Arab quarters, these young men could disappear into the Middle Eastern landscape in ways their European Jewish comrades never could. They spoke Arabic as their mother tongue, understood the culture intimately, and possessed the most dangerous skill of all: the ability to pass as Arabs among Arabs.
In the opening months of 1948, as the British withdrew from Palestine and civil war erupted between Jews and Arabs, a small group of Arabic-speaking Jewish spies operated from the shadows. Born in Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, and Jerusalem's Arab quarters, these young men could disappear into the…
Friedman's account challenges the dominant narrative of Israel's founding by centering Middle Eastern Jewish experiences rather than European ones. The standard Zionist story emphasises Holocaust survivors, kibbutz pioneers from Poland and Russia, socialist idealism, and the transformation of…
The spies of the Arab Section embodied a profound duality that defined their effectiveness and their internal conflict. Born in Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, and other Arab cities, they possessed Arabic as their mother tongue and understood Islamic culture with an intimacy impossible for European Jews…
The Arab Section operated with resources and organisation that would be comical if the stakes were not life and death. They had no cars until they borrowed or stole them for specific missions. They lacked a radio for communication with headquarters. When they needed a camera for surveillance, they…
The spies' work depended fundamentally on betraying the trust of those who helped them. When an Arab butcher in Haifa drew his pistol to protect Gamliel from militiamen, risking his own life to defend a stranger he believed to be a fellow Arab, he was extending hospitality and solidarity that were…
The Arab Section represented the embryonic form of what would become one of the world's most formidable intelligence services. In 1948, they operated from tents at agricultural settlements, communicated through postal drops to fictitious friends, and improvised every aspect of their work. Decades…
The spies operated knowing that capture meant torture and execution. This was not theoretical risk but demonstrated reality. Within the war's first weeks, three of their comrades had been seized and killed. The bodies were hidden so thoroughly that decades passed before some were discovered. The…
In January 1948, as civil war erupted between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, a young man named Gamliel crossed a street in Haifa with a real passport and a fake name. The war was barely six weeks old, but already the distance between alive and dead had become negligible, measured by an incorrect verb…
Jewish refugee ships attempting to run the British naval blockade became a dramatic backdrop to the spies' work. On Christmas Eve, the Hannah Senesh beached on rocks off western Galilee. Arab Section members joined regular Palmach fighters working hours to get 252 passengers ashore. Some boats…
The Jewish commanders decided that Sheikh Nimr el-Khatib, the Tiger, must be eliminated. A single-page military document contained just two words under the heading Operation Starling: kill Nimr. Isaac was assigned to tail the target, sitting on curbs near the preacher's apartment cracking sunflower…
On April 22, 1948, Ibrahim the port worker watched a shell land in front of him, the explosion lifting another man and dashing him against a wall. The decisive day for Haifa had arrived. The previous day he had narrowly escaped a sniper's bullet that put a neat hole through his cap, which he…
Beirut operations intensified as the war progressed through 1948. The agents moved beyond intelligence gathering to active sabotage operations against Arab military preparations. One mission targeted weapons caches being assembled for shipment to Palestinian Arab forces. Another sought to disrupt…
By 1949, the impossible had occurred: Israel survived. The Arab invasion failed to destroy the new state, and armistice agreements were being negotiated. For the agents in Beirut, this meant contemplating return after months or years of sustained deception. The prospect brought relief mixed with…
By Matti Friedman
Subject
Themes
In the opening months of 1948, as the British withdrew from Palestine and civil war erupted between Jews and Arabs, a small group of Arabic-speaking Jewish spies operated from the shadows. Born in Damascus, Aleppo, Baghdad, and Jerusalem's Arab quarters, these young men could disappear into the Middle Eastern landscape in ways their European Jewish comrades never could. They spoke Arabic as their mother tongue, understood the culture intimately, and possessed the most dangerous skill of all: the ability to pass as Arabs among Arabs.