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Refaat Al-Gammal
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Refaat Al-Gammal

Egyptian spy hero (1919-1982)

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Refaat Ali Suleiman al-Gammal (Arabic: رفعت علي سليمان الجمال; born on July 1, 1927 — died on January 30, 1982), better known for his code name "Raafat al-Haggan" (Arabic: رأفت الهجّان), was an Egyptian intelligence officer regarded as one of the most prominent agents of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID). He was operating under the alias "Jacques Bitton" (Hebrew: ג'ק ביטון), and he lived in Israel for 17 years and embedded himself in local society. Egyptian intelligence selected the surname "Bitton" because it is common among Jews of Moroccan and other North African origins, which strengthened the plausibility of his cover.

Quick facts

Born
wd
Place of birth
Damietta wd
Died
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Place of death
Darmstadt wd
Citizenship
Egypt wd
Occupation
spy, businessperson wd

About

According to Israeli intelligence records, "Jacques Bitton" was regarded as a highly skilled Egyptian agent. Egypt's official account states that Refaat al-Gammal (Raafat al-Haggan) was sent to Israel in a long operation that began in 1956 and continued into the early 1970s. During this period he ran a tourism business in Tel Aviv, gained social standing, and passed intelligence to Egypt. He was credited for reporting the start date of the 1967 Six-Day War and technical details regarding the Bar Lev Line used in planning for the October 1973 War. He is treated in Egypt as a national figure. Some details of his activities remain classified.

Celebrated in Egypt as a national hero, Raafat al-Haggan's story was contested in Israel. Some Israeli accounts described him as a double agent, a claim Egyptian officials rejected as disinformation. After his mission, he retired, lived in West Germany, and died in 1982. His identity became public when Egyptian state television aired Raafat al-Haggan in 1988, with Mahmoud Abdel Aziz in the lead role. Israeli officials initially dismissed the series as fiction, later acknowledging that Jacques Bitton had spied for Egypt while contending that Israeli security suffered limited damage. Early…

Questions

When was Refaat Al-Gammal born?
Refaat Al-Gammal was born on 1 July 1927 in Damietta.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): Refaat Al-Gammal · CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. Wikidata item Q2920700 · CC0 1.0
  3. Image: Refaat Al-Gammal (Raafat al-Haggan) Portrait (3x4 cropped).jpg by Unknown author Unknown author (Public domain)

Last updated · facts checked 7 November 2026

Cite this page

"Refaat Al-Gammal". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/refaat-al-gammal. Retrieved 7 November 2026.

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Text from the Wikipedia article Refaat Al-Gammal, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Refaat Al-Gammal (Raafat al-Haggan) Portrait (3x4 cropped).jpg — Unknown author Unknown author, Public domain.

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