that the Egyptian regime was a stable and solid base for Western policy.
The first few attempts were successful. But the members of the group, inexperienced in this special activity, could not really carry such a plan through. They also had misgivings; they loved Israel and risked their lives for it, but they were not anti-Egyptian and did not like to endanger the lives of Egyptian people. When the young man was accidentally captured at the Cairo cinema-betrayed by his homemade, premature incendiary-the whole ring broke up. Under questioning, perhaps helped by torture, some facts quickly came to light.
The man who had brought the orders escaped in time; the other members were captured. One committed suicide in his cell, two were hanged and the others condemned to long stretches in prison. A beautiful girl-Marcel Ninio, a well-known figure in the more elegant sport clubs of Cairo-attracted special attention for her role in the group. After the Six-Day War, Israel did secure her release from Egyptian prison as a condition of the return of the 5,500 Egyptian prisoners of war captured during the war.
(One man connected with this ring who was not caught at the time was a young Egyptian Jew named Elli Cohen. A few years later, he succeeded in infiltrating the highest circles of the Syrian government, posing as a Syrian emigre living in Argentina. His astonishing success provided the Israeli Army with information which proved essential during the recent war. But long before this war, Elli Cohen had been caught and publicly hanged in a square in Damascus.)
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The first inkling that something bad had happened in Egypt appeared in the Hebrew press on July 25. A small news item read: "According to Radio Damascus, six Zionists were arrested in Egypt. They were accused by the Egyptian police of trying to sabotage the Anglo-Egyptian