The remains of two Egyptian-born Jews who were hanged in Cairo in 1955 for spying for Israel were re-buried on Mt. Herzl yesterday with full military honors. Moshe Marzouk, who was a dentist and Shmuel Azar, a teacher, were posthumously commissioned Majors in Israel’s Army. Premier Yitzhak Rabin, Defense Minister Shimon Peres and former Premier Golda Meir, were among the dignitaries attending the ceremonies.
Coffins containing the remains were handed over to Israel last week in the Sinai buffer zone along with the remains of nine Israeli soldiers killed on the Barlev Line in the Yom Kippur War. In exchange, Israel released 27 convicted terrorists and two ordinary criminal prisoners to Egypt. Earlier in the month Israel returned 19 other prisoners to Egypt.
Marzouk and Azar were acknowledged to have been Israeli agents who were trained in an Israeli intelligence school in the early 1950s. They were arrested in 1954 after an abortive attempt to bomb American installation in Cairo which was supposed to create a rift between the U.S. and Egypt. The failure of the mission led to bitter recriminations in Israel.
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