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Title: Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services by Ian Black, Benny Morris ISBN: 0-8021-3286-3 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: June, 1992 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (4 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: History of Israeli Intelligence is somewhat dated
Comment: Israel was spying on its Arab neighbors before it even formally existed, and has been doing it ever since. Back when the Haganah was battling the irregular Arab insurgents in the period of the British Mandate, warning of when those insurgents were going to attack, and where, was almost required. Fortunately, various Israelis who had lived among the Arabs and spoke their language were able to infiltrate those Arab groups, or suborn members of them, and gain the needed information.
When the War of Independance was won, the Israeli intelligence network settled into three different services: the Mossad, for external intelligence, the Shin Bet, for internal security, and the Aman, for military intelligence. This book covers all three in about equal measure, with digressions for other services like the small research unit that employed Jonathan Pollard, for instance. Much of the story remains classified, and is therefore either murky or just incomplete, or even unknown and not repeated here at all.
There's a scene in the movie Gettysburg where a Confederate spy named Harrison (played by the actor Cooper Huckabee) complains to his employer, Confederate General James Longstreet (Tom Berenger). Harrison had been an actor before the war, and he doesn't like spying because if you do it well, no one knows. It's only when you screw up that you get noticed. The same thing is true in the case of this book: especially in the last chapters, the story is a chronicle of the times the organization was in the news, and a spy organization like the Mossad or Shin Bet does its best to stay out of the headlines. When they fail, it's usually because of something they did wrong, or something they tried that failed. It would have been interesting to read about some of their successes too.
There is one further thing that I should register in the way of negativity. This isn't exactly a criticism, but it definitely detracts from the value of the book. Since the book was published in 1991, it's very dated, and could stand an update, if either or both of the authors would be able. I'm sure that some of the uncertainties of the late 80's in the book have been resolved, and it would be interesting to have the book continued into the 90s and beyond. Until that book comes out, this one is worthwhile, notwithstanding that it's more than a decade old.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Interesting Look At The Intelligence Services of Israel!
Comment: This was a very interesting book. It gave a good background ans history of the intelligence services that serve Israel. You have to remember that Israel's very existance depends upon them having an above average intelligence machine. The Intelligence network of Israel have been acclaimed the best in the world.This book besides describing the intelligence services also tell of some of the operation that have been launched by these services. This book describes how the Israel intelligence services provided the location of all aircraft of the Arab world allowing the Israelis to destroy the aircraft of the Arab world and turn the six day war into a rout. The book also details the Israeli services gaining revenge on the terrorists who were responsible for the murder of the Israeli Olympic team during the 1972 olympics. There is also a section about the kidnapping of Adolph Eichmann(the man in charge of the Final Solution) from Argentina. Especially interesting was the bombing of the Iraqui nuclear reactor that was made possible by Israeli intelligence. This book contains some very interesting reading about the accomplishments of Israeli Intelligence. This is an outstanding book that I certainly enjoyed.
Rating: 3
Summary: Not as good as expected to be.
Comment: Despite of 500 pages of text the book however does not contain the details of secret operations. The fact of operation is stated and the poor detail is given. Also the book contains big and , to my mind, useless and bore description of internal MOSSAD intrigues. Few action. I've expected to find more.
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Title: Gideon's Spies : The Secret History of the Mossad (Updated Edition) by Gordon Thomas ISBN: 0312252846 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 18 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: By Way of Deception by Victor Ostrovsky ISBN: 0971759502 Publisher: Wilshire Press Inc. Pub. Date: 01 January, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Woman from Mossad: The Story of Mordechai Vanunu & the Israeli Nuclear Program by Peter Hounam ISBN: 1583940057 Publisher: Frog Ltd Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation "Wrath of God" by Simon Reeve ISBN: 1559706031 Publisher: Arcade Books Pub. Date: 06 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Israel and the Bomb by Avner Cohen ISBN: 0231104839 Publisher: Columbia University Press Pub. Date: 15 October, 1999 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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