False flag

This article was originally lifted in its entirety from the Wikipedia article here and used at the basis for a balanced article written to a Neutral Point of View, within which significant examples are presented in accordance to their historical importance. Please remove this notice when the article has been written to Reliable Sources.

False flag attacks are carried out in ways calculated to deceive the victim as to the nature of the perpetrator, conventionally (though not necessarily) by a device such as flying false colours. Operations of this nature have sometimes been used in commerce and politics.

Important examples inadequately covered at WP

1954 Lavon Affair

The Wikipedia article barely mentions the single most notable and important example of this practice in its article on "False Flag Attacks", this being the so-called "Lavon Affair" by Israeli agents in Egypt in 1954. Israeli agents "recruited nine young Egyptian Jews] to stage terrorist attacks that, they thought, would be blamed on local insurgents and would discredit Nasser's rule" Jewish Review, 2004.^[1] (The article on the affair at WP Lavon Affair is largely a fair representation, however).

While there were no deaths from the bombs placed in Egyptian, US and UK facilities in Alexandria and Cairo, the consequences for internal Israeli politics and international peace were very considerable and antisemitism was incited.^{[citation needed]} Pinhas Lavon was wrongly blamed and forced to resign and the innocent Prime Minister Moshe Sharrat was replaced by one of the perpetrators, David Ben-Gurion. Ben-Gurion went on to concieve and carry out many wanton provocations, including the 1956 attack on Suez, the mass-killing of Egyptian POWs and the first major destruction in Gaza in the years that followed.^{[citation needed]} 6 years later, an internal Israeli inquiry led to David Ben-Gurion's resignation but Sharret and Lavon's reputations were never cleared. Two committed suicide before the trial, one of these was re-interred with honour at Mount Herzl in 1959.^[2] Two named individuals served 7 year sentences in Egypt, and five(?) others served 13 years. In 2005 Israel publicly honored the surviving operatives and presented each with a certificate of appreciation for their efforts on behalf of the state, ending decades of official denial by Israel.^[3]

Zionist sources prefer not to call this incident "False Flag", but the term is used by ex-MK member Uri Avnery in his writings^[4]^[5] and is used in the book "Global Terrorism", 2004.^[6] Israeli sources were censored, on the rare occasions it was mentioned terms such the "unfortunate business" were used.^[7]

International Law, with examples

Naval warfare

The Wikipedia section here says that "This practice was considered acceptable in naval warfare, provided the false flag was lowered and the national flag raised before engaging in battle" and covers (as at Oct 2011) the following: "Auxiliary cruisers" in both World Wars, Q-ships, the German commerce raider Kormoran sinking the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney in 1941, the use of a Kriegsmarine Ensign in the St Nazaire Raid and the destroyer Campbeltown made to resemble a German destroyer.

If you have published evidence of further cases wrongfully rejected at Wikipedia by bias, please add them. (You may wish to populate this section from the current Wikipedia entry at the same time).