1956

Summary

Despite clandestine Israeli approaches as well as public international ones to Nasser, two defendants in the trial of young Egyptian Jews for sabotage in the ‘Mishap’ affair were sentenced to death. At the end of January, Moshe Marzouk and Shmuel Azar were executed. Although this was often explained by arguing that Nasser was unable to withstand the internal political pressure – even though the efforts at sabotage were amateurish and caused no deaths – there was public outrage in Israel. It initiated a deterioration between the two sides which further sharpened the division in the cabinet between those who worked for diplomatic solutions and military restraint and those who believed in a more aggressive approach and retaliation.