The Six-Day War 'Philadelphia Secret'
This year is the 55th anniversary of Israel’s Six-Day War and not all of the secrets of that important war have been disclosed. Shortly after the conclusion of the Six-Day War in 1967, Ezer Weizman, who was chief of the Israel Air Force until 1966 and was then promoted, requested Dr. Leon Riebman, CEO of American Electronic Laboratories, Inc. (“AEL”), to instruct all of AEL’s personnel to keep secret AEL’s role in the Six-Day War. AEL’s products were primarily sold to the U.S. Department of Defense and included very sophisticated radar detection equipment.
AEL was originally founded by Riebman and two other graduates of the Moore School of Electrical Engineering of the University of Pennsylvania (now part of Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.) Although AEL originally located in Philadelphia, it subsequently moved to Colmar, Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia in Montgomery County. In 1966, AEL was one of the first U.S. companies to establish an Israeli subsidiary.
The secret which AEL personnel, including myself, were pledged to maintain confidential was the sale in 1966 of radar detection equipment to the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the role played by this equipment in the 1967 air War. I was an AEL officer and corporate counsel and negotiated the contract with the Israel Ministry of Defense. Since these events occurred more than 50 years ago, almost all involved are deceased, and Israel and Egypt are now at peace, I believe it is time to reveal the secret.
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"The Six-Day War 'Philadelphia Secret,'" by Frederick D. Lipman was published in the Winter 2022 edition of The Philadelphia Lawyer.