After interrogating him, they took Ben Barka to the bathroom “for torture” — but instead drowned him in the bathtub. Dlimi photographed the body as proof for Rabat.
Tags : Morocco, Mehdi Ben Barka, Israel, Mossad, The Ben Barka Affair: The End of the Secrets, Ronen Bergman, et Stephen Smith,
« They drowned Ben Barka in the bathtub” (excerpts from The Ben Barka Affair: The End of the Secrets, Smith & Bergman, Grasset, 2024)
The book The Ben Barka Affair: The End of the Secrets, by journalists Stephen Smith and Ronen Bergman, reveals new details about the key role played by the Mossad in the disappearance of Moroccan opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka, who was abducted in Paris on October 29, 1965, and never found.
Historical Context
Ben Barka, a prominent opponent of King Hassan II and a major figure in the Third World movement, was kidnapped in front of the brasserie Lipp in Paris. The case involved Moroccan security services, French gangsters and police, and, according to the new book, the Israeli secret services.
Drawing on confidential Mossad archives and coded messages between agents, the authors reconstruct the timeline of the crime and its complex international background.
The Mossad’s Role
The book shows that the Mossad assisted the Moroccans “from start to finish” by:
- providing a safe house in Saint-Cloud,
- supplying equipment (shovels, caustic soda, tools) to dispose of the body,
- and helping with logistics and surveillance of the operation.
This cooperation took place within a secret partnership between Israel and Morocco, partly intended to facilitate the emigration of Moroccan Jews to Israel.
Preparing the Murder
The excerpts vividly describe how the Mossad agent “Atar” procured the materials needed to dissolve the body. The suitcase containing these “tools” was handed over to Moroccan agents.
On the evening of November 2, 1965, several meetings were held between General Ahmed Dlimi, deputy head of Moroccan security, and Israeli agents in Paris to finalize the plan. The Israelis were not to take direct part in the killing but remained closely informed.
The Murder
According to the reconstructed account:
- During the night of November 2–3, Dlimi and his men went to a house south of Paris where Ben Barka was held.
- After interrogating him, they took him to the bathroom “for torture” — but instead drowned him in the bathtub.
- Dlimi photographed the body as proof for Rabat.
After the Crime
The Mossad received confirmation that “the operation” had succeeded. Later, in a meeting with Israeli agent Rafi Eitan, Dlimi described the killing in detail, comparing the “bathtub method” with using poison — an option the Israelis had prepared but that arrived too late.
He returned the unused poison, fake passports, and tools — jokingly asking to keep one passport “as a souvenir.”
The Book’s Significance
The authors argue that the Ben Barka affair was a multi-state crime, involving Morocco, French complicity, and an operational role by the Mossad, which had long been downplayed.
Their investigation, based on previously unseen Israeli and Moroccan sources, offers the most detailed reconstruction to date of the murder and its cover-up.
In short:
The book reveals that Mehdi Ben Barka was drowned in a bathtub in Paris by Moroccan agents, with logistical help and cover from the Israeli Mossad, turning the crime into a full-blown affair of states whose secrets are only now being fully uncovered.
Source : Le Monde
