____________________________________________ 7 IICC Perspectives Intelligence Relations in Egypt During the war, the Political Department, including its intelligence branch, became increasingly interested in Egypt, the seat of British regional headquarters, including the British intelligence services. Information was collected on the internal and political situation in Egypt. In addition to the presence of Yishuv volunteers for the British army, emissaries of the Zionist movements were also present in Egypt. From 1943, the Jewish Agency was represented continually by Yaakov Tchernovitz (Tzur). In order to obtain a reliable picture of the Egyptian political system, the Department was assisted by British-Jewish journalist Jon Kimche, who met in early 1946 with Ali Maher and Mahmoud Nukrashi (prime ministers at various times) as well as with Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. In March 1945, Eliyahu Sasson recruited Yolande Gabay-Harmer, a Jewish woman connected with the Egyptian elite. "Nicole" (as she was called) operated under the cover of a representative of a foreign news agency and began to build a network of contacts and sources, including with courtiers at the royal palace, the Prime Minister's Office, and Arab League Secretary General (Abdel Rahman) Azzam Pasha. As a journalist, she also met with Egyptian and Arab politicians who visited Egypt for Arab League discussions. From the end of November 1947, and following the departure of the Agency's (now Israeli) envoys, Yolande remained solely responsible for the intelligence activities of the Political Department in Egypt. She was assisted by Egyptian Jewish lawyer Rudolf Pilpul. She reported on the threat of arrest of members of the Zionist youth movements and was even arrested herself in May 1948 (for a short time) with other Zionist activists. Upon her release, she left to Paris and later held positions in the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Political Department, under the continuous leadership of Moshe Sharett, was not the only division active at the intersection of policy and intelligence, until a better coordination procedure was established. There were other bodies, such as the Histadrut (Workers' Union), led by Abba Hushi in Haifa, the Revisionists, and the Shai. There were also individuals, who sometimes worked with the department, which, as stated, did not have a defined workforce, or orderly work and reporting procedures. Although the agency's legal adviser, Bernard Joseph (Dov Yosef), formulated procedures for coordinating and defining authority, these were implemented only with the expansion of the department in the 1940s. There was also no shortage of clashes and conflicts, reflecting political differences or ego rivalries. On the Left, there was a disagreement with the liberal Brit Shalom in the 1920s. On the Right, the Irgun and Lehi activities severely impaired the cooperation of the political department with the British Mandate authorities. A serious source of contention was related to the behavior toward the Moshe Sharett (Wikipedia)
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