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Curious Claim Check. Certainly some highly placed French officials were aware of the subterfuge. Before leaving Cherbourg, the gunboats had received customs clearance not as commercial vessels but as warships without military armaments (the Gabriel missiles presumably will be mounted in Haifa). Such ships usually require customs clearance from at least two ministries in Paris and final approval from the Presidential Palace, the Foreign Office and the Premier's office. Paris hummed with conjecture about which officials had been involved. A furious Pompidou convened a Cabinet meeting that lasted nearly five hours and was described by one participant as "very stormy." During the meeting, Defense Minister Michel Debré reportedly offered to resign, presumably for two reasons. One was that as Defense Minister he should have known what was happening but did not. The other was that Debré, the son of a rabbi, is particularly sensitive to charges of being pro-Israel. His resignation was rejected.
Limon was asked to leave France. Two members of the interministerial committee responsible for arms exports, Generals Louis Bonte and Bernard Gazelles, were suspended by the government. The actions amounted to mild wrist-taps. Limon was due to return to Israel in June anyway, probably to become director general of the Defense Ministry. The two generals are both close to retirement.
Nonetheless, Pompidou's actions seemed to assuage the Arabs. In a speech at Khartoum last week, Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser said: "We consider France a friend." Evidently determined that Nasser should go on feeling that way, Pompidou was pointedly cool to Israeli Ambassador Walter Eytan during his traditional New Year's diplomatic reception at the Elysée. The two shook hands perfunctorily, but no words were spoken. Was it sheer coincidence, then, or a touch of Gallic humor, that when Eytan drove up to the palace, the parking attendant handed him a claim check bearing the number 007?