Pinhas Lavon ( he, פנחס לבון, 12 July 1904 – 24 January 1976) was an Israeli politician, minister and labor leader, best known for the Lavon Affair.

Early life

Lavon was born as Pinhas Lubianiker in the small city of

Kopychyntsi Kopychyntsi (, pl, Kopyczyńce, yi, קאפיטשיניץ, Koptchintz) is a small city in Chortkiv Raion, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine. It hosts the administration of Kopychyntsi urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Kopychyntsi is the ...

in the Galicia region of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, now part of

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. He studied law at the

University of Lviv The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...

, where he organized

Histadrut Histadrut, or the General Organization of Workers in Israel, originally ( he, ההסתדרות הכללית של העובדים בארץ ישראל, ''HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael''), is Israel's national trade union center ...

organizations in the region. He made

aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

and moved to Mandate Palestine in 1929.

Political life

Lavon was elected to the first Knesset in 1949, and served briefly as the leader of the Histadrut in 1949–50. He was appointed Minister of Agriculture in

David Ben-Gurion David Ben-Gurion ( ; he, דָּוִד בֶּן-גּוּרִיּוֹן ; born David Grün; 16 October 1886 – 1 December 1973) was the primary national founder of the State of Israel and the first prime minister of Israel. Adopting the name ...

's second government. He retained his seat in the 1951 elections, and in 1952 was appointed

Minister without Portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

. Following Ben-Gurion's resignation, he was appointed

Minister of Defense A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...

in 1954. However, he resigned from the

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

after he was accused of authorizing an Israeli

false flag A false flag operation is an act committed with the intent of disguising the actual source of responsibility and pinning blame on another party. The term "false flag" originated in the 16th century as an expression meaning an intentional misr ...

operation in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, which came to be known as the Lavon Affair. Nevertheless, he remained an MK following elections in 1955 and 1959 and returned to the leadership of the Histadrut from 1956 to 1961. Lavon was later absolved of any involvement in the Egyptian bombings. He retired from public life in 1964 after a long-standing discord with Ben-Gurion and died in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

in 1976. During his tenure, Lavon strained relations with the Chief of Staff of the IDF

Moshe Dayan Moshe Dayan ( he, משה דיין; 20 May 1915 – 16 October 1981) was an Israeli military leader and politician. As commander of the Jerusalem front in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (1953–1958) du ...

by holding important policy meetings without Dayan being present, directly contacting IDF officers without following the established chain of command and attempting to scuttle Israeli purchases of arms from France. The culmination came when ''Operation Susannah'' (as the Lavon affair was officially called) was launched when Dayan was out of the country. In his diaries, Israel's second prime minister, Moshe Sharett revealed that Lavon had proposed committing "atrocities" in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, and spreading poisonous bacteria in the Israel-Syria Demilitarised Zone. These were not implemented after Dayan and his predecessor

Mordechai Maklef Mordechai (Motke) Maklef (or Makleff) ( he, מרדכי (מותקה) מקלף; 1920–1978) was the third Ramatkal, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and later, director-general of many important public companies in the Economy ...

protested to Sharett.

References

External links

Pinhas Lavon website
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Pinhas Lavon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lavon, Pinchas 1904 births 1976 deaths People from Kopychyntsi Ukrainian Jews Austro-Hungarian Jews People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Mapai politicians Members of the Assembly of Representatives (Mandatory Palestine) General Secretaries of Histadrut Ministers of Agriculture of Israel Ministers of Defense of Israel Members of the 1st Knesset (1949–1951) Members of the 2nd Knesset (1951–1955) Members of the 3rd Knesset (1955–1959) Members of the 4th Knesset (1959–1961)