In Gabriel Shamir's estate I found a photo of a sketch of a 1957 Medal signed by Ben-Gurion with text in French. The indicated that it was awarded to a George Toulouse Lautrec. I surmised that the medal was awarded in recognition of the French - Israel cooperation in the Sinai Campaign. But who was the medal awarded to? I looked on the internet - to no avail. I asked some French people - in vain. In a 2010 catalogue of Kedem (the auctioneer) I saw a photo of the medal - proof the the medal in the sketch was indeed minted as a silver plated medal (diameter 8 cm). Their explanatory notes said : 'Medal - Operation Kadesh (Sinai Campaign), a gift to French soldiers' - "A rare medal that was apparently minted in a small edition of a few dozen copies to be awarded to the few French soldiers who helped in the Sinai Campaign."

Following the publication of the catalogue I approached the IDF Archives and asked for a copy of any documents they might have of the medal. Late March 2013 the IDF Archive informed me that the documents were found and they were transferred to their exposure unit for release. On April 30, I received the documents in the mail.  The first document is a telegram from Ben-Yosef in the Ministry of Defence to Arthur (probably the ambassador Ben Natan), announcing the decision to give the gift to “mutual friends who participated in Operation Tzidon" (probably the shooting down of an Ilyushin plane by Yoash Tzidon ). Ben-Yosef apparently attached a list (not released) and asks Arthur for the correct the spelling of names and ranks in French.

Another document has suggestions for a Bible verse that should be engraved on the medal. With regards to Mr. Peres's (then Director General of the Ministry of Defence) suggestion of a verse from Ezra, it says: "Content of this verse is not appropriate". Of the three verses proposed by the Chief Rabbi one was selected, the psalms verse "and your right hand has help me up” was chosen for its suitability and brevity. They felt that the word play between “right” and “justice” - droit and droite in French was most appropriate. In the margins of the document was a handwritten comment: "Shimon – the formulations marked with a V seem good to me. What do you think?" Independence Day - May 6

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 Yoram Shamir