No trial for intel chief thought to be behind Yom Kippur War leak

The State Prosecutor's Office has reportedly decided not to file charges against former IDF Director of Military Intelligence Maj. Gen. (ret.) Eli Zeira, for his alleged role in outing a Mossad agent who had provided crucial intelligence to the Israeli leadership in the run-up to the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Ashraf Marwan, the son-in-law of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, reportedly fed the Israeli Mossad with highly valuable information on the higher echelons of the Egyptian government in the years leading up to the 1973 war, including on Egypt’s military doctrine and arms procurement talks with the Soviets. Less than two days before the war broke out, Marwan reportedly told his Israeli operators that Nasser's successor, Anwar el-Sadat, would launch an all-out joint offensive with Syria on Israel's two most troubled fronts to reclaim territory lost six years earlier, in the 1967 Six-Day War. Marwan, who was at the time a special adviser to Sadat, cited the wrong hour in which the war would break out, perhaps because he was a double agent.

Israeli leaders were wedded to a dogmatic belief – dubbed by Israeli historians as "the concept" – that Egypt would shy away from a full-scale confrontation with Israel unless it could challenge Israel's air supremacy. But on Oct. 6, 1973, with most Israelis at home observing Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Sadat launched a full-scale war and successfully captured a sliver of the Sinai, breaching the Israeli fortifications along the Suez Canal.

Israel was initially caught off-guard, having not called up enough reservists on time, but the IDF eventually managed to turn the tables and advance toward Cairo. In the coordinated attack, Syrian forces also regained some territory before being repelled by the Israeli forces. In the wake of the war, which cost the lives of more than 2,500 Israeli soldiers, a grassroots protest movement emerged, eventually leading to the collapse of the government the following year. The war may have also played a major role in the 1977 sea-change election that swept the right-wing Likud into power and brought an end to the almost 30-year dominance of the Left.

In 2004, the Israeli media reported on Marwan's association with Israeli intelligence and mentioned his name. Zvi Zamir, the former Mossad chief who had overseen Marwan's activities, blamed Zeira for deliberately compromising the intelligence asset and hurting the agency's credibility. Zamir further said that Zeira's actions made it harder for Israel to recruit future agents for fear that their identity would be revealed.

Zamir filed a criminal complaint against Zeira with then Attorney-General Menachem (Meni) Mazuz and asked him to prosecute the former intelligence chief. This was the first time such a high-ranking intelligence official was accused of naming a classified source who had worked for Israel, and the revelation caused a public outcry.

The State Prosecutor's Office did not immediately pursue the case in order to allow the arbitration process to run its course in a libel suit Zeira had filed against Zamir in response to the allegation. Former Supreme Court Justice Theodore Orr, who served as the arbiter in the case, eventually ruled in 2007 in favor of Zamir, saying Zeira had deliberately outed a source and leaked his name to the press.

Soon after the ruling, in 2007, Marwan was found dead after falling from his London apartment, situated in an upscale neighborhood. At the time Marwan's family claimed that he had not committed suicide but had been assassinated by Israeli agents. Others accused Egyptian intelligence of orchestrating his death.

The Agranat Commission, which investigated the mishandling of intelligence prior to the war and the IDF's shortcomings during the fighting, said much of blame for the intelligence failure should be apportioned to Zeira and his conduct as intelligence chief.

Attorney-General Yehuda Weinstein is likely to cite Zeira's advanced age – 84 – as one of the reasons for closing the case. Prosecutors are also likely to forego pressing charges because of the almost 40 years that have passed since the war and because of the ramifications of having such a senior intelligence official prosecuted. The Justice Ministry declined to comment on the matter.

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