It has recently been revealed that he attempted to assassinate West Germany's chancellor Konrad Adenauer in 1952 over disagreement on how the German compensation for the Holocaust should be paid.

Although the plot was "dilettantish", the bomb sent to Adenauer was "extremely sophisticated", Sietz said: "Sudit was an expert bomb maker. The bomb proved impossible to defuse."

Excerpts from Mr Sudit's privately printed memoir, including his own version of events written after Begin's death in 1992 - which were passed to the Israeli daily paper Haaretz, reveal that Begin knew of the plans to assassinate Adenauer and that he had even initiated meetings to promote the operation.

But Mr Sudit told Haaretz this week: "The intent was not to hit Adenauer but to rouse the international media. It was clear to all of us there was no chance the package would reach Adenauer."

Begin's camp says the story is not true, according to the Guardian article.  

This week Begin's personal secretary, Yehiel Kadishai, and Herzl Makov, the director of the Menachem Begin Heritage Centre, in Jerusalem, told Haaretz that they knew nothing of the assassination attempt, which at the time had been played down by both Israel and Germany........ His own family had perished in the Holocaust. In 1978 the Polish born leader he received the Nobel Peace prize for his peace negotiations with Egypt's president at the time, Anwar Sadat.