Triple Cross

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In 1985 a technician named Mordechai Vananu took photos of the secret Israeli nuclear bomb factory at Dimon where he was employed. Calling his act an ideological protest, he sold the pictures to a British newspaper. The report caused an international sensation and, for Israel, an acute crisis. After the story broke, Vananu was lured into a ``honeytrap'' by a female Mossad agent and abducted back to Israel where he was convicted of treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Toscano, former UPI Jerusalem bureau chief, offers evidence that the Israelis could have prevented the sale of the photos but calculatingly allowed Vananu to reveal the country's unknown nuclear might. The book's comprehensive account of the affair includes an analysis of Vananu's motives and eyewitness information on the high-level debate over how to deal with the repercussions. Though the decision to allow Vananu to publicize the secret arsenal was, according to Toscano, ``perhaps the best of the available options,'' the author of this impressive expose concludes that the determination of the Shimon Peres government to punish Vananu for doing so was unconscionable. (Aug.)