Unveiled: Cold War Spy Plot Behind Ben Barka's Vanishing Act

"The Ben Barka Affair. The end of secrets". Journalists Stephen Smith and Ronen Bergman are the authors of this work published by Grasset (576 pages, 28 euros, digital 19 euros) which will be released on October 29. They publish unpublished documents and testimonies that specify the strong involvement of the Israeli intelligence services, the Mossad, "from beginning to end" of the kidnapping and disappearance of Mehdi Ben Barka, in Paris in October 1965, the role of the Moroccan security services, criminal networks and French complicity. On October 29, 1965, the exiled leader of an opposition party to King Hassan II of Morocco was kidnapped in front of the Parisian brasserie Lipp. His body was never found.

This work stands out from others that have addressed this case by rare revelations. It aims to be the most complete reconstruction to date. According to its authors, it supports, develops and completes elements already known, while publishing new exchanges and reports from confidential archives. The revealed excerpts plunge the reader into the logistics set up around the elimination and disappearance of the body of the Third World leader.

On November 2, 1965, a Mossad agent, using the pseudonym "Atar", gradually buys tools and corrosive products in Paris. These are 80 cm shortened shovels, a lamp, a screwdriver and about fifteen packets of sodium hydroxide. He then deposits them in a hideout rented in Saint-Cloud, used as a depot by men from Cab 1, a Moroccan security unit. This is the beginning of close coordination between Israeli agents and Moroccan officials to eliminate Ben Barka.

A well-crafted plan will be presented by the Deputy Director of Moroccan Security, the famous Ahmed Dlimi (code name "Albert"). The idea is to make the French believe that it is a repatriation, dismiss the guards and act freely. The Israelis offer to serve as guides, drive or let a taxi do the reconnaissance. They detail their strategy: cleaning a rental car, choosing a burial site, modus operandi for digging a pit.

After an unsatisfactory interrogation in Dlimi’s eyes, Ben Barka was taken to a bathroom to be tortured. He would have been put in the bathtub and held under water "for three minutes". "After that, Albert [Dlimi] took a picture of him, ’so they believe in the country that it’s really over’," add the authors of the book. Case closed. According to the book, Rafi Eitan, a figure in Israeli intelligence, is present in the exchanges and then discusses the "methods" - drowning versus poison - even mentioning the arrival of a toxic product on an El Al flight.