The Assassination of Yosef Alon | The First Fedayeen Operation in America

Before dawn on 1 July 1973, outside his home on the outskirts of Washington, Colonel Yosef Alon, air attaché at the Zionist occupation’s embassy in the United States, fell to the bullets of a Palestinian fighter. The operation came just two days after Mossad assassinated the Algerian fighter Mohamed Boudia in Paris; it was an immediate response, and the first operation the fedayeen carried out in the United States, in what was called the “war of the ghosts” between the Palestinian resistance and the occupation’s agencies. ^[1]

Contents

1. At a glance
2. Who was Yosef Alon?
3. The context: the war of the ghosts
4. Mohamed Boudia: the spark
5. The operation
6. Between the accounts
7. Timeline
8. Frequently asked questions about the assassination of Yosef Alon

At a glance

^[1][2]

Who was Yosef Alon?

• He was born in Czechoslovakia as “Josef Plaček,” worked as a jeweller after graduating from a vocational school, then joined the Czechoslovak air force.
• He emigrated to Palestine with the waves of Jewish immigration under the British Mandate, and changed his name to “Yosef Alon.”
• In 1947 he volunteered for the first flying course run by the Zionist gangs, and was among the first to join the Haganah’s fledgling air arm.
• After the occupation of Palestine in 1948 he was among the founders of the Israeli air force, and flew some 75 missions in the war.
• In the 1950s he was among the occupation air force’s first jet pilots; he later headed its safety branch and oversaw the establishment of the Hatzerim air base in the Naqab.
• He was chosen as air attaché at the occupation’s embassy in Washington, where he built wide connections for the Zionist entity and helped strengthen the Zionist lobby’s activity there.

The context: the war of the ghosts

After the Munich operation of September 1972 the occupation launched a campaign of assassinations in Europe against Palestinian leaders, intellectuals and supporters of the revolution, which it called “Wrath of God,” with a list of targets that included Wadie Haddad. Some 10 assassinations took place in Europe in that period, among them: ^[2][3]

• Wael Zuaiter, writer and diplomat, in Rome in 1972.
• Mahmoud Hamshari, representative of the PLO and Fatah, in Paris on 9 January 1973, by a bomb hidden in his telephone.
• Basil al-Kubaisi, a university professor, shot dead in Paris on 6 April 1973.
• Mohamed Boudia in Paris on 28 June 1973.

Investigations into most of these killings were closed quickly despite strong suspicions of Mossad involvement, and France did not reopen the files of Hamshari, Boudia and al-Kubaisi. ^[3]

Mohamed Boudia: the spark

Mohamed Boudia was born in the Casbah of Algiers on 24 February 1932. He led a cell of the Algerian National Liberation Front in Paris during the liberation war, was arrested in 1958 and sentenced to 20 years, then escaped in 1961. After independence he was appointed director of the National Theatre in 1963. In Cuba he met Wadie Haddad, military chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and joined fedayeen action under the nom de guerre “Abu Diaa”; several operations in Europe against Israeli targets were attributed to him. ^[2]

On the morning of 28 June 1973, in Paris’s fifth arrondissement, Boudia opened the door of his blue Renault 16 and a small bomb fixed under the seat exploded. He was assassinated by Mossad’s “Kidon” team as part of “Wrath of God,” with help from French security services. ^[4][2]

The operation

Just two days later, on the night of 30 June 1973, Yosef Alon returned from a dinner party to his home on the outskirts of Washington, and a fighter shot him dead outside his house in the early hours of 1 July. Al Jazeera Net attributes the operation to “a member of the Black September organisation,” describing it as “the immediate response” to Boudia’s assassination and “the first operation carried out in the United States” in the war of the ghosts. ^[1]

On 1 July 1973 the Voice of Palestine radio in Cairo announced that the killing of Yosef Alon was revenge for the assassination of Mohamed Boudia.

In this way the resistance carried the battle into the heart of the occupation’s greatest ally, targeting a military officer who was among the founders of the air force that had bombed Palestinian and Arab cities and camps, in response to a campaign of assassinations against Palestinians and supporters of the revolution in Europe’s capitals.

Between the accounts

Who carried it out: Al Jazeera Net attributes the operation to a member of “Black September,” while Boudia, whom it avenged, was linked to the Popular Front and Wadie Haddad, and another Al Jazeera Net piece describes him as “a Fatah member.” ^[1][2][3]

Date of Boudia’s assassination: 28 June 1973 in the body of the Al Jazeera and Noon Post articles, and 8 June in a photo caption and summary in them. ^[2][4]

Timeline

Frequently asked questions about the assassination of Yosef Alon

Who was Yosef Alon?

A colonel in the Israeli air force and one of its founders, who served as air attaché at the occupation’s embassy in Washington. [[]]

When was he assassinated?

In the early hours of 1 July 1973, outside his home on the outskirts of Washington. ^[1]

Why was he assassinated?

In response to Mossad’s assassination of the Algerian fighter Mohamed Boudia in Paris two days earlier. ^[1]

Why is it called the first operation in America?

Because it was the first fedayeen operation carried out in the United States in the war of the ghosts between the resistance and the occupation’s agencies. ^[1]

Read also on Palestinuna

• Battles archive

Sources and references

1. Al Jazeera Net, “A man with 100 faces: the Algerian who baffled Israel and Mossad agents,” 3 April 2023 (in Arabic).
2. Al Jazeera Encyclopedia, “Mohamed Boudia: Algerian dramatist and fighter, assassinated by Israel,” 10 December 2022 (in Arabic).
3. Al Jazeera Net, “Orient XXI: how Europe covered up the assassinations of Palestinians on its soil,” 14 September 2025 (in Arabic).
4. Noon Post, on Mohamed Boudia and his assassination in Paris (in Arabic).