At the age of 91, Lt. Col. Robert Dessa passed away today (Wednesday), who took part in an affair that shook the entire State of Israel at the time: the affair of the dishonorable affair. Dessa and his friends who lived in Egypt were dedicated Zionist activists, while Dessa himself, born in Alexandria, was a dedicated Zionist activist from his youth And distinguished himself in his activity in “Bnei Akiva” as a trainee, guide and center of the “Bnei Akiva” branch, later he moved to the “Dror” movement.
Robert Desa with Prime Minister Golda Meir, photo: courtesy of the family
In 1951, Desa was recruited, along with other young Zionists in Cairo and Alexandria, by Avraham Dar, an emissary of Unit 131 of the military intelligence, who came to Egypt to establish a network of espionage and sabotage. After the recruitment, two units of the Mossad operated in Egypt, one in Alexandria and the other in Cairo. These squads were supposed to be activated only in an emergency when they would then carry out a broad terrorist operation in Egypt that was secretly nicknamed “Operation Susanna”.
“The washing business”, photo: .
However, in July 1954, the squad members were instructed to act and carry out the operation plan.
The instruction, which to this day is not completely clear who gave it, caused a real disaster and led to the exposure of the squads and their capture. Desa himself was arrested on July 23, 1954, at his home in Alexandria, a day after returning home from a terrorist activity in Cairo. His role in the event of the activation of the squads was to arrive in Cairo to carry out a sabotage operation together with his friend Shmuel Ezer.
At the end of this tragic event, all the members of the squad were captured by the Egyptian intelligence except for their commander Abri Elad, who to this day is not clear whether he betrayed the members of the squad or whether he fell victim to a complex political and military conspiracy.
Robert himself and his friends went through very difficult interrogations and torture. In December 1954 their trial began and on January 28, 1955 the sentences were given. Dr. Moshe Marzok and Shmuel Ezer were sentenced to hanging and executed on January 31, 1955. Robert was sentenced to 14 years in prison and hard labor. During his imprisonment, Robert developed extraordinary survival skills and worked in creative and different ways to strengthen his friends and improve their prison conditions. In this context, he also initiated the establishment of a group Football and orchestra. In addition, Robert painted many paintings, some of them murals, in which he depicted the guards as well as prison life.
Ben-Gurion with the freedmen of the Hish business, photo: Ministry of Defense archives
In February 1968, about half a year after the Six Day War, he was released along with his three members of the network who were still in custody, as part of a release deal led by the head of the Mossad, Meir Amit. After his arrival in Israel, he received the rank of major (later he received the rank of lieutenant colonel) and was recognized as disabled by the IDF, studied history of the Mazat and Arabic language and literature at Tel Aviv University. At the same time, Robert met Dina, born in the USA, and they got married.
Later, for many years, he worked as a journalist in the Arab department of Israeli television and even went with Menachem Begin on one of his trips to Egypt as part of the peace agreement negotiations. In 1992, his book “Back to Cairo” was published in which he described the activities of the network from a personal angle. Robert left behind Dina , who was devotedly by his side for decades, and the three children: Guy, Yael and Alon and seven grandchildren.
Marcel Burger (Niño),
As mentioned, Robert was the last member of the Mossad to survive among the members of the two network squads. About five years ago Marcel Niño passed away, almost two years ago Meir Zafaran passed away and now Robert Dessa has passed away.
The state owes a huge debt to these people
Acting Lt. Col., warrior and heritage researcher Gideon Michnik, expresses great anger at the state’s treatment of the survivors of the Esk Bish affair, and the fact that there is no proper commemoration for these agents who gave their lives for the state.
According to him, “For years, the top of the state dealt with the question of who gave the order to activate the network. But the most important question in my opinion is why no one took responsibility for treating the heroes of the operation who were in fact also victims of one of Israel’s biggest intelligence failures ever (which is also true today after October 7)”.
“This is an immoral reality. When Robert was recruited, he knew that the price could be very heavy, but he did not hesitate for a second. After that, when he was captured, he went through a very difficult process of torture, hard labor and severe abuse, and yet the state did not act to release him in Operation Kadesh in 1956 and in the war The six days. The return of the members of the network to Israel is credited to the head of the Mossad, Meir Amit, who insisted on their release and brought them to Israel in 1968. Unfortunately, even after their arrival in Israel, they were given allowances and ranks, but they were not embraced and did not surround them with the support they deserved.”
“I accompanied Robert in recent years and I asked him if he was angry about anything and he answered that he was not angry with the country but with people in the country, but I am angry with the country that did not act to commemorate these heroes in their lives. I hope that now after their death the commemoration will be appropriate and they will not be forgotten “.
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