Refaat Al-Gammal
Egyptian spy hero (1919-1982)
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.
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.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Refaat Al-Gammal” is egyptian spy hero (1919-1982). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Refaat, Al-Gammal and Egyptian, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “egyptian spy hero (1919-1982)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2920700. VIAF identifies the subject as 161053481. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1927, 1982, 1956 and 1967.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Refaat Al-Gammal”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Refaat Al-Gammal primary sources, Refaat Al-Gammal archive and Refaat research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Refaat Al-Gammal”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Refaat Al-Gammal” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.