Guy Mollet was a French politician who served as Prime Minister of [[France]] from 1956 to 1957. His socialist government took a harder line on the war in [[Algeria]] and against Arab leaders like [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]] who supported the revolutionaries. [[Israel]], which was intensively waging guerrilla war against [[Egypt]], was seen as one of [[France]]'s most dependable allies during his tenure.[^1] Mollet agreed in 1955 to begin secretly selling high-performance French bombers to [[Israel]], with sales arranged by [[Shimon Peres]] directly between defense ministries, bypassing diplomatic channels. Arms continued to flow from [[France]] to [[Israel]] for the next twelve years.[^1] Mollet was deeply involved in the secret planning for the [[Suez Crisis]] in 1956, alongside [[Israel]] and [[Britain]]. After the British and French ceased fire under pressure from the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]], Mollet felt a sense of guilt and shame for [[France]]'s failure to uphold its commitments to [[Israel]]. This led him to agree to help [[Israel]] build a nuclear reactor and chemical reprocessing plant, a deal he reportedly felt he "owed" to them. He also formally cleared the way for the French nuclear weapons program by establishing a committee on the military use of atomic energy.[^1] ### Footnotes [^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 3.