---
born: 1904-07-12
category: Intelligence & Government
died: 1976-01-24
location: Kopyczynce, Eastern Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine)
summary: Pinhas Lavon was an Israeli politician who served as Defense Minister.
tags:
- Person
- CIA
- Politician
- Israel
- Military
---

Pinhas Lavon was an Israeli politician who served as Defense Minister. He was a more hard-line figure than [Moshe Sharett](/people/moshe-sharett/) on the Arab question. The [Lavon Affair](/events/lavon-affair/) in mid-1954, involving an Israeli spy ring bombing American, British, and Egyptian targets, led to Lavon's resignation, which was accepted by Sharett, who had not known of the operation.[^1]

Lavon later became head of the Histadrut, the powerful federation of labor unions in [Israel](/places/israel/). He was a central figure in a scandal that resurfaced in the early 1960s, where he charged that [David Ben-Gurion](/people/david-ben-gurion/), [Shimon Peres](/people/shimon-peres/), and [Moshe Dayan](/people/moshe-dayan/) had undermined civilian authority over the military. These allegations were leaked to the press, breaking two cardinal rules of Israeli politics: discussing defense matters publicly and failing to keep party disputes private. Although a cabinet-level committee cleared Lavon of authorizing the failed operation in [Egypt](/places/egypt/), [David Ben-Gurion](/people/david-ben-gurion/) refused to exonerate him, leading to further political turmoil.[^1]

Lavon, along with [Levi Eshkol](/people/levi-eshkol/), was among the senior government officials hostile to nuclear development who refused to allocate research funds for the Israeli Atomic Energy Commission, leading to the departure of several commissioners.[^1]

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 3, 6, 9.