History is usually written by the victors, but sometimes the victors leave receipts they didn't mean to. For decades, rumors swirled around a covert Israeli mission during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It sounded like something out of a dark spy novel—scientists in lab coats poisoning wells with bacteria to stop invading armies. It was called Operation Cast Thy Bread, or Mivtza Shlach Lachmecha in Hebrew. Most people thought it was just a conspiracy theory or a bit of "black propaganda" meant to smear the young state of Israel.
Then the archives started opening.
Specifically, researchers Benny Morris and Benjamin Z. Kedar dug through the IDF and Israeli State Archives to find the paper trail. What they found wasn't just a rumor; it was a documented biological warfare program authorized at the highest levels of the pre-state leadership. We aren't talking about rogue soldiers acting on a whim here. We are talking about some of the most brilliant scientific minds in the Middle East working under the direct supervision of David Ben-Gurion. It’s a heavy topic. It’s messy. And honestly, it changes how we look at the desperate early days of the 1948 conflict.
The Science of Desperation
In early 1948, the Jewish community in Mandatory Palestine felt like it was staring down an existential threat. They were outnumbered. The British were leaving, and the surrounding Arab states were preparing to march. In this atmosphere, the "red lines" of conventional warfare started to blur.
David Ben-Gurion, who would become Israel’s first Prime Minister, saw science as the ultimate equalizer. He reached out to the Katzir brothers—Ephraim and Aharon—both of whom were world-class scientists. Ephraim Katzir actually ended up becoming the President of Israel later on. They helped form HEMED, the science corps of the Haganah (the precursor to the IDF). Within HEMED, a special sub-unit called HEMED BEIT was created specifically to explore biological capabilities.
The goal? Contaminate water supplies.
The weapon of choice was Salmonella typhi, the bacterium that causes typhoid fever. It wasn't designed to be a mass-extinction event. It was intended to sicken people, cause chaos, and prevent Arab forces from using strategic villages as bases. Basically, if the soldiers and locals are too busy dealing with high fevers and delirium, they can't fight a war.
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How Operation Cast Thy Bread Actually Worked
The operation was surprisingly localized but strategically targeted. You’ve got to imagine the logistics of this: transporting vials of live bacteria across a war zone in the middle of summer. It wasn't exactly high-tech by today's standards, but it was effective enough to leave a mark.
One of the most documented instances happened in Acre (Akko). In May 1948, as the Haganah was moving to take the city, the local water supply—the Kabri aqueduct—was targeted. Suddenly, an outbreak of typhoid ripped through the city. We have reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from that time that show a massive spike in cases.
The British were still technically in charge of some areas and were incredibly suspicious. They even caught two Israeli agents near Gaza later in May. These guys, Ezra Afgin and David Mizrahi, were disguised as Arabs and carrying flasks filled with "a liquid containing typhoid and dysentery germs." They were executed by the Egyptian military shortly after. This wasn't some minor footnote; it was a diplomatic nightmare that the Israeli leadership tried to keep under wraps for over seventy years.
Why Typhoid?
You might wonder why they didn't use something more lethal, like anthrax. There's a few reasons:
- Controllability: Typhoid is miserable, but with 1948 medicine, it wasn't a guaranteed death sentence for everyone. It was a "disruptor."
- Plausibility: Outbreaks happened naturally in the Middle East back then. If a village got sick, people might just blame poor hygiene or bad luck rather than a covert biological attack.
- Safety for Israeli troops: If you use something that lingers in the soil for decades, you can't exactly move your own people into those houses later.
The Paper Trail and Ben-Gurion’s Role
For years, if you talked about Operation Cast Thy Bread, you’d get labeled a revisionist or worse. But the evidence is in the letters. In April 1948, Ben-Gurion wrote to Yigael Yadin (the acting Chief of Staff) about the need for "biological materials" that could be purchased or developed.
There is a specific letter from Moshe Dayan—who would become a legendary military figure—writing about the logistics of the operation. He used the codename "Cast Thy Bread" which is a biblical reference to Ecclesiastes 11:1: "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days." It’s a pretty grim bit of wordplay when you realize the "bread" was actually bacteria.
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The operation wasn't just limited to Acre. There’s evidence it was attempted or considered for targets in Jerusalem and as far away as Cairo and Beirut. The idea was to create a "sanitary barrier." If the invading Arab armies had to pass through zones of disease, their momentum would stall.
Ethical Murkiness and Historical Context
It is easy to sit in 2026 and judge the actions of people in 1948. We have international treaties now. We have the Biological Weapons Convention. In 1948, the world was still reeling from the horrors of World War II. The Jewish leadership felt they were on the verge of a second Holocaust if they lost the war.
Some historians argue that the scale of the operation was relatively small. They point out that it didn't change the outcome of the war nearly as much as conventional artillery or the organizational failures of the Arab League. Others, like Morris and Kedar, argue that the intent is what matters. It shows that the "purity of arms" doctrine—a core tenet of the IDF—was complicated from the very beginning.
It’s also worth noting that the Arab side wasn't exactly playing by the Geneva Convention rules either. The 1948 war was brutal, intimate, and often involved the total displacement of civilian populations. Operation Cast Thy Bread was just one of many "unconventional" tactics used in a fight where both sides felt they had their backs against the wall.
What Most People Get Wrong
People often confuse this operation with modern "bioterrorism." That's not quite right. This was state-sponsored biological warfare, but it was extremely primitive. They weren't trying to start a global pandemic. They were trying to win a very specific set of tactical battles in a very small geographic area.
Another misconception is that it was a total secret within the military. It wasn't. While the general public didn't know, the top brass of the Haganah and the scientists at the Weizmann Institute (or what would become it) were in the loop. It was a calculated, albeit desperate, policy choice.
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Why This Matters Today
Understanding Operation Cast Thy Bread isn't about taking sides in the modern Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s about historical honesty. When we pretend that history is a simple story of good guys vs. bad guys, we lose the nuance.
This story matters because it highlights the intersection of science and warfare. It shows how quickly ethical boundaries can evaporate under pressure. And for researchers, it’s a reminder that the truth usually hides in the footnotes of old ledgers and the declassified folders of government archives.
If you want to understand the modern Middle East, you have to understand the trauma and the "by any means necessary" mindset of 1948. This operation is a window into that mindset. It’s uncomfortable, sure. But it’s real.
Actionable Insights for History Enthusiasts and Researchers
If you're looking to dig deeper into this specific era of military history, don't just take a single article's word for it. History is a moving target.
- Primary Source Hunting: Look for the 2022 research paper by Benny Morris and Benjamin Z. Kedar titled "‘Cast thy bread’: Israeli biological warfare during the 1948 War". It was published in the journal Middle Eastern Studies. This is the gold standard for evidence on this topic.
- Archive Navigation: If you are in Israel, the IDF Archive (Arkhion Tzahal) in Tel Hashomer is where the physical documents live. Many files from 1948 are now being systematically declassified, though some "Cast Thy Bread" documents remain redacted for national security reasons.
- Contextual Reading: To understand the mindset of the scientists involved, read about the formation of the Science Corps (HEMED). This wasn't just about biology; it involved early nuclear research and advanced ballistics.
- Cross-Reference Reports: Compare Israeli military diaries with the Red Cross (ICRC) reports from May and June 1948 in the Galilee region. The correlation between military movements and health outbreaks is where the "smoking gun" often resides.
The history of 1948 is still being written as more boxes are pulled from the basement of the state archives. Staying updated on declassification schedules is the best way to see the full picture of how the modern Middle East was actually forged.