Mohammed Hafez Ismail, sometimes spelt Muhammad Hafiz Ismail

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: محمد حافظ إسماعيل known as Hafez Ismail, (October 28, 1919 – January 1, 1997) was an Egyptian "statesman beyond rank", whose four decade career included military, foreign service and intelligence roles, making his "life read like a foreign policy history of contemporary Egypt".

Biography

After graduating from military schools in Egypt and Britain in 1939,''

Times Daily The ''TimesDaily'' is the daily newspaper for Florence, Alabama. ''The TimesDaily'' covers a four-county region in Alabama including Lauderdale, Colbert, Franklin, and Lawrence counties, as well as portions of southern Tennessee and northeas ...

'', 2 January, 1997
Former Ambassador Dies In Cairo
/ref> Ismail led an Egyptian unit in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

close to Egypt's border with Italian occupied Libya, and was stationed in Arish and Rafah in the Arab-Israeli War in 1948–49. Ismail would then take on staff roles, starting as deputy

Military attaché A military attaché or defence attaché (DA),Defence Attachés
''Geneva C ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

in 1951. After the July 1952 Revolution which established the republic and independence from Britain, he was appointed as Director of the Bureau of the Commander in Chief,

Abdel Hakim Amer Mohamed Abdel Hakim Amer (, ; 11 December 1919 – 13 September 1967), better known as Abdel Hakim Amer, was an Egyptian military officer and politician. Amer served in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, and played a leading role in the military ...

, where between 1953 and 1960 he was entrusted with rebuilding a post-colonial military, leading secret delegations to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, the more famous of which was the 1955 Egyptian-Czechoslovak arms deal. Ismail also liaised with Syrian military leaders during the

Tripartite Aggression The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

against Egypt in 1956, and facilitated the merger of Syrian and Egyptian troops in the lead up to the formation between them of the

United Arab Republic The United Arab Republic (UAR; ) was a sovereign state in the Middle East from 1958 to 1971. It was initially a short-lived political union between Republic of Egypt (1953–1958), Egypt (including Occupation of the Gaza Strip by the United Ara ...

in 1958. In 1960, Hafez Ismail retired from the military and was made deputy at the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

and given the task of modernizing it, before being posted as ambassador to London, Paris, Dublin and Rome between 1963 and 1970. His career took another shift in 1970, this time to intelligence when President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

appointed him director of the General Intelligence Directorate in the wake of the 1967 defeat from Israel in the

Six Day War The Six-Day War, also known as the June War, 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states, primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan from 5 to 10June 1967. Military hostilities broke ...

. A year later he became National Security Adviser (1971-1974) for Nasser's successor

Anwar Sadat Muhammad Anwar es-Sadat (25 December 1918 – 6 October 1981) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the third president of Egypt, from 15 October 1970 until Assassination of Anwar Sadat, his assassination by fundame ...

, and Presidential Chief of Staff (1973), conducting secret talks with the US in the lead up to the

October War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. Most o ...

that saw Egypt attempt to retake the Sinai. After falling out with Sadat who was ignoring his counsel, Ismail rejoined the foreign service where he was posted to Moscow and later Paris before reaching retirement in 1979. Hafez Ismail spent his later years writing and lecturing, while holding an honorary post as director of the

General Intelligence The ''g'' factor is a construct developed in psychometric investigations of cognitive abilities and human intelligence. It is a variable that summarizes positive correlations among different cognitive tasks, reflecting the assertion that an indi ...

think tank, the Republican Center for Strategic and Security Studies.

Writings

''Amn Misr al-Qawmi fi ‘asr al-Tahadiyyat'' gyptian National Security in an Era of Challenges(in Arabic). Cairo: Dar al-Ahram li-L-Tarjama, 1987.
‘an al-Diplomasiya wal-Harb
' n Diplomacy and War al-Ahaly, February 16, 1994.
''Siyasat Misr al-Kharijiya fi ‘aqd al-Thamaninat''
(Egypt's Foreign Policy in the 1980s]. al-ahram, October 21, 1991.
''Dirasa Jadida: Maza Yajri fi-l-Itihad al-Sovieti?''
ew Study: What is Happening in the Soviet Union? Al-Gomhuriya, August 14, 1988.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ismail, Mohammed Hafez 1919 births 1997 deaths Ambassadors of Egypt to the United Kingdom Ambassadors of Egypt to France Ambassadors of Egypt to Italy Ambassadors of Egypt to Ireland Ambassadors of Egypt to the Soviet Union Directors of the General Intelligence Directorate (Egypt) Egyptian expatriates in the United Kingdom