A new book published in Egypt claims that the Mossad tried to assassinate internationally renowned Egyptian singer-songwriter Umm Kulthum and, upon failing, tried to recruit her.

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According to the Al-Ahram News website, the stories and testimonies spread over 420 pages of the book, called "Umm Kulthum and the Mossad: The Secrets of Operation 'Eyes of the Cow'" and written by journalist, author and historian Tawhid Majdi, are based on "the most secret archival documents."

"The book is based on historical secrets and documentation of protocols from British, Israeli, American and French highly confidential archives about the life of the great singer and the attempt to assassinate her by the Israeli Mossad."

Umm Kulthum

According to the book, former President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser, the book claimed was claimed, tasked the singer with both public and covert tasks in service of her country. Among other things, he allocated a frequency on the Egyptian radio called Radio Umm Kulthum, and provided her with a diplomatic passport.

According to the book, some of whose excerpts were published this morning in the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat, the singer held a bank account in Paris under her real name, Fatma Ibrahim a-Sayid al-Baltaji. From this account, Abdel Nasser withdrew funds to the Egyptian army after the Sinai Campaign of 1956.

The book presents an interview with Umm Kulthum in late 1956, in which she noted that she opened an account at the main branch of a French bank in Paris, for money intended to aid the Egyptian war efforts.

It was alleged that surveillance by French intelligence and revealed that the sum in the bank account was estimated at $3 million—an amount that at that time could buy five fighter planes, a dozen new tanks or three underwater assault vessels.

The book states that Umm Kulthum continued to play her patriotic role until her death on 3 February 1975.

According to the book, the fundraising efforts of Umm Kulthum for the Egyptian war effort made her a target of the Mossad.

Her name, it was claimed, even came up with a special committee that was in charge of approving the organization's list of possible assassination targets.

It was written that the secret documents referenced in the book, including documents of the Jewish agency, showed that Umm Kulthum was attracted to women. Such a woman was a young Jerusalemite Muslim withwhom Umm Kulthum had a relationship with and who helped her perform in Jerusalem.

The book alleged that a beautiful Greek woman, who used to go to the singer's house to help her with knee problems she suffered from—was actually sent to seduce and assassinate the singer.

After it appears that the assassination attempt failed, the book claims that the Mossad tried to recruit Umm Kulthum to its ranks.

The new book

The Israeli operation, according to the book, also included an attempt to blackmail her, or at least cause her to stop supporting the government of Abdel Nasser.

It further claims that the Jewish agency used Umm Kulthum's money without her knowledge to finance the establishment of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

'They adore conspiracies'

Former Mossad official Gad Shimron jokingly dismissed the books claims.

"In Egypt there is no free press, but the press has total freedom to publish whatever (negative thing—ed) they want about Israel," Shimron said. "It's unbelievable nonsense."

The book says that the Mossad took money from Umm Kulthum and thus built the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"It only shows that the author is ignorant. The Hebrew University was founded in the 1920s."

But it is not so far-fetched that the Mossad will want to recruit such an influential figure in Egyptian society.

"For what? To insert a song of praise for Israel to the Egyptian hit parade? As with any crime and recruitment, there must be a motive behind it. What was the motive behind the recruitment of Umm Kulthum? She had no political influence.

"Sure, she was the favorite singer of Gamal Abdel Nasser, and she herself kept talking fondly about the Arab nation under his leadership, but he was in love with her music, not with her.

"This story is totally absurd. There is a word for it in Arabic: 'Muamara,' meaning a conspiracy. They adore conspiracies.

"There's a conspiracy story about the IDF and the Mossad training a beautiful agent that seduced senior Egyptian officers and infected them with AIDS. There are stories about the Mossad killing John F. Kennedy because he wanted to expose the nuclear reactor in Dimona.

"A few years ago there were shark attacks in Sharm El Sheikh. And did the Egyptian press write? That the Mossad has a shark training unit and trained sharks to devour tourists in order to harm the Egyptian tourism industry.

"From the stories in the Egyptian press about Israel you can make a collection of jokes, or a book like One Thousand and One Nights."

Shimron asserted that while some of the successful recruitment of Arab agents was done by Mossad agents, not all of them were.

"Many of Israel's best agents were volunteers; that is, Arabs who thought that the Mossad was actually omnipotent and decided: Let's work with this organization," Shimron said. "Ashraf Marwan, the man who warned us about the Yom Kippur War in 1973, volunteered. No one enlisted him."

"But I say let them keep at it," Shimron concluded. "The reputation (we gain from it—ed) is wonderful."