Cyril Wybrow

According to the Jewish Chronicle:

probably the least known file subject in the latest batch is Cyril Wybrow, who was thrown out of the Joint Intelligence Board for passing on secret material to Israeli spies in 1950.

Born in Birmingham in 1894, Wybrow was stationed in Jaffa in the war as an intelligence officer with the British forces. But, according to MI5’s “top secret” summary of his case, he was removed in 1943 for “irregular conduct, in that he had used a network of Jewish informants to raise money for intelligence purposes”.

While Wybrow may have begun this “in all assistance” to aid his work, the report said, “it was more likely that his Jewish informants were in fact running him on behalf of Jewish interest, though whether Wybrow himself was aware of this is not known”.

Back in London, he managed to be employed by the Joint Intelligence Board. But when MI6 was tipped off that secret documents were being passed by an informant to Israeli intelligence and from them to “a satellite country”, Wybrow was put under surveillance back home.

His contacts with Israeli operatives were monitored and in spring 1950 he was fired from the JIB.

Although Wybrow “bore no obvious physical characteristics of a Jew,” the MI5 case report observed, his mother’s maiden name was Lazarus and one of his middle names was Abraham.

MI5 said the affair was “the first complete case of Israeli espionage in the UK”.

“The most important conclusion to be drawn from this case is that the Israeli intelligence service is hostile and attaches values to obtaining intelligence from this country”.

Another conclusion was that “doubt must now be thrown on the loyalty of those British Jews whose racial and ideological ties with Israel may be at variance with the allegiance they owe to the Crown.”

Associates

Israeli intelligence

Wybrow was said to be 'in contact with Naima, daughter of Samuel Landman (known Israeli intelligence agent) and Jack Padwa (suspected of penetrating Jewish terrorist organisations in Europe on behalf of Jewish Agency Intelligence)

Resources

• https://www.thejc.com/news/mi5-files-reveal-the-haimishe-spies-who-betrayed-britain-auamguid