Israel/Palestine - History (Modern), General & Miscellaneous Espionage, Israel/Palestine - Politics & Government, Israel/Palestine - History - General & Miscellaneous

Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service

Name: Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service
Author: Michael Bar-Zohar
ISBN: 9780062123404

by Michael Bar-Zohar, Nissim Mishal

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Overview

The Mossad is widely recognized today as the best intelligence service in the world. It is also the most enigmatic, shrouded in secrecy. Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service unveils the defi ning and most dangerous operations that have shaped Israel and the world at large from the agency's more than sixty-year history, among them: the capture of Adolf Eichmann, the eradication of Black September, the destruction of the Syrian nuclear facility, and the elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists.

Through intensive research and exclusive interviews with Israeli leaders and Mossad agents, authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal re-create these missions in riveting detail, vividly bringing to life the heroic operatives who risked everything in the face of unimaginable danger. In the words of Shimon Peres, president of Israel, this gripping, white-knuckle read "tells what should have been known and isn't—that Israel's hidden force is as formidable as its recognized physical strength."

Synopsis

"This book tells what should have been known and isn't—that Israel's hidden force is as formidable as its recognized physical strength."
— Israeli President Shimon Peres
For decades, Israel's renowned security arm, the Mossad, has been widely recognized as the best intelligence service in the world. In Mossad, authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal take us behind the closed curtain with riveting, eye-opening, boots-on-the-ground accounts of the most dangerous, most crucial missions in the agency's 60-year history. These are real Mission: Impossible true stories brimming with high-octane action—from the breathtaking capture of Nazi executioner Adolph Eichmann to the recent elimination of key Iranian nuclear scientists. Anyone who is fascinated by the world of international espionage, intelligence, and covert "Black-Ops" warfare will find Mossad electrifying reading.

About the Author, Michael Bar-Zohar

MICHAEL BAR-ZOHAR is a writer, public speaker, and former lawmaker. Author of many novels and nonfiction books, he was a member of the Knesset and envoy to the Council of Europe. A former advisor to General Moshe Dayan, Dr. Bar-Zohar also has served as a professor at Haifa University in Israel and at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. He is one of Israel's foremost experts on espionage and the official biographer of David Ben-Gurion and Shimon Peres. He also wrote the biography of Isser Harel, the legendary director of the Mossad, and coauthored The Quest for the Red Prince, which dealt with the bloody war between the Mossad and Black September. Bar-Zohar's books have been translated into eighteen languages.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Two insiders—Bar-Zohar, a politician and biographer of David Ben-Gurion, and Mishal a leading Israeli journalist—reveal some of the more fantastic episodes in the history of Israeli intelligence operations around the world. A quick and easy read, this book focuses on the operational details and personalities behind the famed Mossad’s record of assassination, kidnapping, sabotage, and clandestine surveillance. Most of the stories covered—the assassination of Hezbollah’s Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, the botched attack on Hamas leader Khaled Mash’al in Amman, Elie Cohen’s rise through the ranks of Syrian society and eventual capture and execution—are well-known, a few are more speculative, concerning highly confidential subjects such as the strikes on Iranian nuclear scientists and facilities. Mostly silent about the political, social, and ethical dimensions of the Mossad’s work, Bar-Zohar and Mishal are resolute cheerleaders, and the writing is patchy and breathless: “The news spread through Damascus like wildfire. Fantastic, absurd, impossible nonsense!... Could one of the leaders of the ruling party... be a spy?!” 16 pages of b&w photos. Agent: Al Zuckerman, Writers House. (Nov.)

Kirkus Reviews

Action-packed accounts of the missions of one of the world's most effective and mysterious intelligence services, Israel's Mossad. Former Knesset member Bar-Zohar (Shimon Peres, 2007, etc.) and Israeli TV personality and journalist Mishal (Those Were the Years: Israel's Jubilee, 1997, etc.) spare no detail about the gruesome killings and plots of the Israeli agency. In fact, the authors often boast about the deadliness of Mossad agents, especially former director Meir Dagan. Most of the missions included here feature unexpected twists and nearly unbelievable plotlines that rival a fast-paced thriller. For example, there is the story of Elie Cohen, a Mossad agent who posed as a Syrian expatriate who was homesick in Argentina and wanted to move back to his homeland. He threw parties and mingled with the political inner circle, all while dispatching their secrets to Israel on a daily basis. Another operation involved smuggling the unconscious body of a former Nazi leader out of Argentina by having his double check into a hospital using the target's name. Though unquestionably exciting, many readers may find the narrative bordering on propaganda, and the last chapter is disappointing. Bar-Zohar and Mishal cobble together facts to make an unconvincing argument about how Israel should receive support to fight against the threat of Iran, cherry-picking facts to fit their position. For example, the authors write that former Iranian deputy defense minister Ali-Reza Asgari defected to Israel in 2007, even though the debate continues about whether he actually defected or was kidnapped. Entertaining and somewhat informative, but readers should take it with a grain of salt.

Shimon Peres

"This book tells what should have been known and isn’t—that Israel’s hidden force is as formidable as its recognized physical strength."

Chuck Hagel

"Mossad reads like a spectacular spy novel, and contains the real stories from one of the world’s premiere intelligence agencies. It’s worth reading."