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IDF soldiers during the Six-Day War in Jerusalem (Yossi Shemi)
Last update - 08:51 30/05/2008
Britain looked to Israel for lessons in military deception
By The Associated Press
Tags: Israel, Egypt, war, Britain

LONDON - When British military leaders set up a special task force in 1969to study how best to use deception to achieve their battlefield aims, they focused on tactics used by the Israelis.

Formerly classified documents released Friday by the National Archives show that many officers felt the Americans, in contrast, did not have a knack for deceiving the enemy. Americans were judged to be so open and friendly that they lacked cunning.

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he so-called Defense Deception Advisory Group studied the way Israel's military and political leaders used a complex series of intertwined deceptions to fool their Arab enemies about the Jewish state's intentions and its military capabilities.

The British found, for example, that the Israelis confused their adversaries by deploying fake soldiers - mannequins in battle dress were used - near a border crossing to make their enemies think an attack was coming, forcing them to deploy troops to defend the area.

"The British [were] impressed to see how those techniques could be used in a modern era," said Mark Dunton, contemporary history specialist at the National Archives.

The three-year study was prompted by fear that Britain's vaunted ability to deceive enemies in battle was fading because of the long period of relative peace that followed World War II. Its template was the Six-Day War in 1967.

After Egypt blocked the strategic Straits of Tiran and expelled UN forces from the Sinai Desert, Israel launched a preemptive strike on June 5, 1967 that destroyed Egypt's air force on the ground. In the ensuing six days of fighting, Israeli forces captured the West Bank, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip and Sinai from Jordan, Syria and Egypt.

The documents state that Israel implemented a sophisticated, preplanned deception strategy that included statements made by its political leaders and top diplomats during the tense prewar period. This included the well-known decision to send many Israeli soldiers on their regular weekend home leave to convince the enemy to lower its guard just before hostilities began.

An April 10, 1972, document credits the Israelis with using a variety of strategies to confuse and demoralize their enemies, including:

b Maintaining strict secrecy about modern bombs in their arsenal, leading Arab nations to believe Israel had only World War II-era bombs, and misleading the enemy about new systems that allowed Israel to service its bombers in just 7.5 minutes so they could resume attacks.

b Having Arabic-speaking Israeli agents take part in Egyptian military radio communications, giving them vital information about Egypt's military plans.

b Delaying information about the capture of key Arab towns, thus luring Arab patrols into devastating ambushes.

b Using Israelis who spoke Arabic with an Egyptian accent to man the control tower at a captured airfield so that Egyptian military pilots would land their planes and be captured.

b Using small deployments of tanks and torpedo boats to coax the enemy into defending borders where no real attack was planned.

The deployment of the dummy military units seemed to captivate the British: Typically deadpan officers used a rare exclamation point to describe the tactic.

Uri Bar-Joseph, a security and intelligence specialist at the University of Haifa, said this tactic led the Egyptian army to send units to the south when Israel planned to attack in the north.


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      1.   That Sort Of Thing Had It`s Limits Ofcourse 06:05  |  Yosemite 30/05/08
      2.   Finally Isreal admitting it started the 1967 war 06:14  |  pal- 30/05/08
      3.   Looking to Israel to learn the art of deception? 06:20  |  Che Vive 30/05/08
      4.   Now we all have to learn from Hezbo and the Palestinians 06:39  |  Dan 30/05/08
      5.   See how tricky those Israelis are? 06:50  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 30/05/08
      6.   No pal, you and your friends started it and got busted (like in 1 07:10  |  Dan 30/05/08
      7.   # 4 - Dan 07:34  |  Ahmed 30/05/08
      8.   pal-: difference between pre-emption and starting war 07:35  |  Adam 30/05/08
      9.   Worth noting 07:47  |  Colin Wright 30/05/08
      10.   #2 Pal - Israel just took precautions. What really happened 07:58  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 30/05/08
      11.   If Israel has become so americanized? 08:05  |  Dror 30/05/08
      12.   That was then 08:06  |  Joshua 30/05/08
      13.   Wrong Pal-agressor is the side that makes conflict inevitable. 08:30  |  Stephen in New York 30/05/08
      14.   Ahmed 08:41  |  Yosemite 30/05/08
      15.   the British must change now and adapt Hez Allah tech 09:03  |  Imad 30/05/08
      16.   Actually, Colin, They did. 09:06  |  Awake 30/05/08
      17.   To # 9 Margie: you never going to learn 09:09  |  pal- 30/05/08
      18.   Ah, the benefits of antisemitism... 09:38  |  Esther 30/05/08
      19.   Pal- # 2. 09:46  |  David Nigel Braham 30/05/08
      20.   Olmert is one of the manaquind we forgot to pick up 09:50  |  Dan 30/05/08
      21.   #6 Astonishing, Dan! 10:02  |  Johnboy 30/05/08
      22.   talk of war amongst abrahams children 10:38  |  observer 30/05/08
      23.   Pal #17 Lying am I? look up the headlines yourself. 10:49  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 30/05/08
      24.   the israeli military has the most marvellous people 11:05  |  giora 30/05/08
      25.   it is not at all surprising 11:06  |  giora 30/05/08
      26.   A RARE GLIMPSE, my hunch is right 11:07  |  VIPER 30/05/08
      27.   Brit`s dont need to learn deception, they are masters. 11:14  |  Harvey (Chaim) 30/05/08
      28.   #8, ADAM and his propaganda, here`s some facts 11:18  |  VIPER 30/05/08
      29.   #23, MARG IN TEL-AVIV, it`s propaganda 11:25  |  VIPER 30/05/08
      30.   it is not deception, it is stupidity of Arab leadership 11:27  |  El-Birawi 30/05/08
      31.   LOOK AT ENTEBBE 11:48  |  Nicole 30/05/08
      32.   viper has a hunch 11:50  |  giora 30/05/08
      33.   viper did israel provoke the arab armies into attacking in 1948 11:55  |  amos 30/05/08
      34.   Viper headlines don`t lie. 12:11  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 30/05/08
      35.   More like self deception 12:25  |  David 30/05/08
      36.   #2 Pal, who started the -67 war? That´s the queston. 13:18  |  AliciaYasmeen 30/05/08
      37.   It is not clear to me why Israel should assist Britain when its 13:53  |  Abe 30/05/08
      38.   No more talkback for me 13:57  |  pal- 30/05/08
      39.   Trojan Horses 14:06  |  Ronnie Wolman 30/05/08
      40.   pal from cal 14:23  |  Tricia 30/05/08
      41.   Johnboy # 21 The Amazing Strait Of Tiran 14:58  |  Jeff Northridge 30/05/08
      42.   Pal # 2- Action / Reaction- Law of Physics 15:33  |  Avrum 30/05/08
      43.   Better look for help in political deception too 15:36  |  Tosefta 30/05/08
      44.   Experts..... 15:46  |  William 30/05/08
      45.   The hypocrite #26 strikes again 15:51  |  utagawa 30/05/08
      46.   The Straits of Tiran: UN-res 1&2 from Feb 1957 16:07  |  AliciaYasmeen 30/05/08
      47.   ronnie wolman yes but who won the war 16:25  |  keith joseph 30/05/08
      48.   i have to agree with whatshisname about sharon 16:29  |  giora 30/05/08
      49.   re viper Ocupyers carefull now mate 16:51  |  dinki di 30/05/08
      50.   TRY LESSONS FROM HIZBOUALLAH 16:53  |  Ali 30/05/08
      51.   Gen Peled 17:18  |  John 30/05/08
      52.   tactics like that were good for defending Israels borders not for 17:21  |  zionist forever 30/05/08
      53.   Give the Glory to G-d! He does not break promises! 17:30  |  Daisy 30/05/08
      54.   Israel helps the country whose academics boycott it. Strage! 17:54  |  Aviva 30/05/08
      55.   Israel and Deception 18:06  |  Mary 30/05/08
      56.   john which peled was that.we have a dozen general peleds 18:06  |  harzion 30/05/08
      57.   john "the brutality of the occupation" 18:09  |  harzion 30/05/08
      58.   GO LEARN YOUR LESSON OF 2006 WAR, POLITICALLY, MILITARILLY 18:41  |  indrajaya 30/05/08
      59.   Pity that the Brits don`t say how they applied what they learned 18:43  |  Margie in Tel Aviv 30/05/08
      60.   One thought on the small size idea, Zionist Forever 18:56  |  Jacob Blues 30/05/08
      61.   Keith Joseph: Caricature and Victor Mature 19:21  |  Ronnie Wolman 30/05/08
      62.   To Pal 19:25  |  Proud Jew 30/05/08
      63.   Iran , and other enemies , Are you listenning ? 19:30  |  TOMY 30/05/08
      64.   #2 PAL NO,SIR.ABSOLUTELY WRONG!! 19:43  |  Ian 30/05/08
      65.   To pal- & others false propagandists posters 19:46  |  RW 30/05/08
      66.   Margie in Tel Aviv - than U - very informative 19:49  |  Students 30/05/08
      67.   Israel`s military lesson 19:56  |  Cyasher 30/05/08
      68.   ronnie wolman i agree with you that the americans 20:19  |  keith joseph 30/05/08
      69.   pal- #38 good riddance 20:19  |  Gee 30/05/08
      70.