"Skorzeny had also been spending time in Egypt. In 1952 the country had been taken over by the CIA-backed General Mohammed Naguib, who was effectively a puppet of Egyptian Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser. Skorzeny was sent to Egypt the following year by former Nazi General Reinhard Gehlen, who was now working for the CIA, to act as Naguib's military advisor. Skorzeny recruited a staff made up of former SS officers to train the Egyptian army. Among these die-hard Nazis were General Oskar Dirlewanger, the "Butcher of Warsaw," and Adolf Eichmann, the man who engineered the Final Solution.
Many other Nazis joined Skorzeny in Egypt, attracted to the Naguib/Nasser government's tolerance for fascism and their shared hatred for the newly created state of Israel. The Nazis further fueled Arab antisemitism with translated copies of Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
In addition to training the army, Skorzeny also trained Arab volunteers in commando tactics for possible use against British troops stationed in the Suez Canal zone. Several Palestinian refugees also received commando training, and Skorzeny planned their initial strikes into Israel via the Gaza Strip in 1953-1954. One of these Palestinians was a young Yasser Arafat, who formed a long-lasting friendship with the Nazi commando."
|