Black, Ian and Morris, Benny. Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1991. 603 pages.
With its 4 million citizens, Israel seemingly flaunts a higher per capita rate of official covert activity than other sovereign countries. Meanwhile, obliging American readers are nostalgic for their own lost glory, presenting a consistent market for books on the much-vaunted efficiency of Israeli intelligence. Journalist Ian Black and historian Benny Morris both have strong sympathies for Israel and kept this book "legally correct" -- they submitted it to Israeli military censors, and many of their sources were required by law to keep their names out of print. It reads like a sober academic tome, perhaps designed as a counterweight to the sensational book by Israeli intelligence ex-patriot Victor Ostrovsky. The authors are strong on episodes of early historical interest, for which declassified primary sources are available, and extremely weak or absent on essential contemporary issues: Israel's role in Iran-contra and Panama, the extent to which Israeli intelligence is responsive to Israel's dependence on arms sales to Third World dictators, and the question of Israeli covert activity and surveillance in the U.S. through the use of Jewish community groups in America.
Ostrovsky, Victor and Hoy, Claire. By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer. New York: St.Martin's Press, 1990. 371 pages.
Steven, Stewart. The Spymasters of Israel. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982. 400 pages.
Raviv, Dan and Melman, Yossi. Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1990. 466 pages.
Several books in NameBase tell the history of Israel's Mossad, which is responsible for "foreign intelligence collection, political action and counterterrorism, ... [and which] conducts agent operations against the Arab nations and their official representatives and installations, particularly in Western Europe and the United States." This is from a CIA analysis that was discovered by Iranian students in Tehran in 1979, and reprinted in CounterSpy. Former Mossad chief Isser Harel called the CIA document "anti- Semitic" and a "nightmare" for him, and said that it was "shockingly irresponsible" for the CIA to keep a document like this "rolling around" in the U.S. Embassy. Mossad and Shin Beth have only 1,000 staff officers, but they manage to create more than their fair share of controversy.Victor Ostrovsky was a Mossad case officer from 1984-1986, and was in Canada when two Mossad agents showed up to say that for his "own safety" he should try to stop publication. Israel obtained injunctions against the publisher, but in the U.S. it was lifted because 17,000 copies had already been shipped. This is the first book to offer some major dirty laundry. Among other things, it charges that Mossad had advance knowledge of the 1983 truck bombing in Lebanon that killed 241 U.S. Marines, but refused to warn the American authorities for policy reasons.
Dan Raviv, a CBS news correspondent in London, and Israeli journalist Yossi Melman, a 1989-90 Nieman Fellow at Harvard, present what might be termed the "academic establishment" history of Israeli intelligence. This makes it less "complete" than their subtitle pretends, but they do cover other agencies in addition to Mossad: Israeli military intelligence (Aman), domestic security (Shin Bet), and nuclear secrets (Lakam). The authors regret Israel's recent intelligence setbacks, and feel there's no conflict between democracy and covert activity, as long as the public is in charge!
Steven's "Spymasters of Israel" reads more like a mass-market thriller than a scholarly effort, but this British editor conducted over a hundred interviews and the book holds up fairly well. He is hampered, though, by his need to protect his sources and his tendency to glorify the exploits of Mossad agents as they protect "this small and beleaguered nation." In the end he manages to spin a good story, but fails to contribute to the international debate on the ethics of Israeli policy.
Ostrovsky, Victor. The Other Side of Deception: A Rogue Agent Exposes the Mossad's Secret Agenda. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 1995. 399 pages.
Victor Ostrovsky, a Mossad officer from 1984-1986, first exposed Israel's intelligence operations with a 1990 bestseller titled "By Way of Deception." Israeli efforts to stop publication were too late, and Ostrovsky, who was born in Canada and raised in Israel, was legally back in Canada with his family by then, under the protection of the Mounties. Pushing his luck somewhat, "The Other Side of Deception" is volume two from Ostrovsky. This volume is more autobiographical: Ostrovsky reports his adventures through a rough chronology, diary-style, from 1986 to 1991, and includes much reconstructed dialogue.According to Ostrovsky, most of his activities in 1986 were at the behest of a tiny cabal of Mossad insiders who were disgusted with their agency's wanton immorality, and were running some tricks of their own to discredit their leadership. This included passing intelligence to other countries, and could be considered treasonous -- were it not for the fact that business as usual at Mossad is a betrayal of all that's civil in the first place. Ostrovsky doesn't name many names, so we have to take him at his word. He does state that the following deaths were all Mossad hits, and includes new details: British publisher Robert Maxwell, Canadian scientist Gerald Bull, German official Uwe Barschel, and Iran-contra figure Ian Spiro.
Thomas, Gordon. Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad. New York: St.Martin's Press (Thomas Dunne Books), 2000. 382 pages.
Gordon Thomas, based in Dublin, is the author of 37 books. All but seven are nonfiction. Judging from the titles and the other book of his in NameBase (Journey Into Madness, 1990), Thomas is a popularizer with a flair for the dramatic, but not a scholar. This results in a book that is difficult to judge because of one additional fact -- Thomas is able to get interviews with people like William Casey or the heads of Mossad, as well as other insiders who know where the bodies are buried. As soon as we are tempted to dismiss Thomas on the grounds that those he interviewed are using him for spin control, he turns around and reveals something new and unflattering about that person, which throws us back to square one.There are some statements that betray the author's preference for drama and conspiracy. Two are in the area of computers, where we have some expertise. He describes former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson as someone who published MI6 names on his "specially created and very expensive website ... using a sophisticated Microsoft program he had installed on his state of the art computer." And when Thomas interviews Ari Ben-Menashe, he wallows in that old Promis pit all over again, with a section on the famous 1981 software that can "track a terrorist's every step" by hacking into every other computer on earth. Please, give it a rest.
Here are the names most frequently mentioned in the above books:
ABBAS ABU AL- ABD-AL-RAHAMAN MUHAMMAD MUSTAFA ABITHOL FELIX ABU-SHERIF BASSAM ADAM YEKUTIEL ADEL MUHAMMAD BASSAM ADIV UDI ADMONI NAHUM ADWAN KEMAL AERBEL DAN AGCA MEHMET ALI AHARONI ZVI AHITUV AVRAHAM ALAN ZAVE ALDOUBY ZWY ALI KAMAL HASSAN ALI NAJI AL- ALLON YIGAL ALON ZEEV AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE AMIN IDI AMIR ISRAEL AMIR YIGAL AMIT MEIR ANGLETON JAMES JESUS ANSARI RIFAAT AL ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE B'NAI B'RITH ARAFAT YASSER ARAZI-COHEN SHULA ARBEL DAVID ARBEL YEHUDAH ARNAUD CLAUDE ARRATIBEL JAVIER AVIGUR SHAUL AVIV JUVAL AVNERY URI AVNI ZEEV AVRIEL EHUD BAINERMAN JOEL BAR-AM AVRAHAM BARAD JACOB BARAD YAAKOV BARAK ALEXANDER BARAK EHUD BARNETT RONALD BARSCHEL UWE BARSIMANTOV YACOV BARZANI MUSTAFA BATIKHI SAMIH AL BAZOFT FARZAD BEER ISRAEL BEERI ISSER BEGIN MENACHEM BEN PHILIP BEN-BARKA MEHDI BEN-DAVID RUTH BEN-ELIEZER BINYAMIN BEN-ELISSAR ELIYAHU BEN-GAL YOSEF BEN-GURION DAVID BEN-MENASHE ARI BEN-NATAN ASHER BEN-PORAT MORDECAI BEN-PORAT YOEL BEN-TOV CHERYL HANIN BEN-YAIR SHALTIEL BENAME KEMAL BENDHOF KATHY BENNETT MEIR (MAX) BINNET MAX BIRAN DAVID BLACK SEPTEMBER BLUMBERG BENJAMIN BND (GERMAN INTELLIGENCE) BOUDIA MOHAMMED BRENNER MILA BRIAN EARL W BROCK RAY BUCKLEY WILLIAM (CIA) BUHARI MOHAMMADU BULL GERALD V BULL MICHAEL (MICHEL) BUREAU STATE SECURITY BUSH GEORGE H.W. CAROZ YAAKOV CASEY WILLIAM JOSEPH CASTRO FIDEL CEAUSESCU NICOLAE CHAMISH BARRY CHEBRIKOV VIKTOR M CHIRAC JACQUES CLERIDES BIAFCOS CLINE RAY STEINER CLINTON BILL COHEN AHARON COHEN BARUCH COHEN ELI BEN SHAUL COHEN YAAKOV COHEN ZION COHN HAIM CONTRERAS SEPULVEDA MANUEL JOSE COPELAND MILES CRITCHFIELD JAMES H CRUCHET PEDRO DABI DAVID DALKAMONI HAFEZ KASSEM DAN SHAIKE DANIN EZRA DAR AVRAHAM DAVIES NICHOLAS DAYAN MOSHE DE BORCHGRAVE ARNAUD DE GAULLE CHARLES DEFENCE SYSTEMS LIMITED DEGEM COMPANY DEL PONTE CARLA DIANA PRINCESS DIKKO ALHAJI UMARU DILLON ALLAN DINURE URY DIRECT ACTION DIVON SHMUEL DOLGIN ANNA DOMINITZ YEHUDA DORF MENACHEM DORF MICHAEL DOROT IZZY DOWNING WAYNE A (GEN) DRORY DAN DULLES ALLEN WELSH DZHIRKVELOV ILYA G EBAN ABBA ECEVIT BULENT ECHELON SYSTEM EDELIST RAN EICHMANN ADOLF EISENBERG SHAUL NEHEMIAH EITAN RAFAEL (IDF CHIEF OF STAFF) EITAN RAFI (MOSSAD) EL AL AIRLINES ELAZAR DAVID (DADO) ELIAV ARYEH ELIAZE HAYEM ERB IRIT ESHKOL LEVI ETINGER AMOS EYTAN WALTER FARRELL MAIREAD FAYED MOHAMED AL- FEINBERG ABRAHAM FINSTON JACQUES FRANK YAAKOV FRAUENKNECHT ALFRED FREI MADELEINE FREIER SHALHEVETH GALILI ISRAEL GANNON MATTHEW KEVIN GAZIT SHLOMO GEHLEN REINHARD GEHMER AVRAHAM GEMAYEL BASHIR GHORBANIFAR MANUCHER GIBLI BENJAMIN GIL YEHUDA GINOSSAR YOSSI GLADNIKOFF MARIANNE GOERKE PAUL GOREN SHMUEL GUERRERO OSCAR E GUINDON ROY GUR MORDECHAI GURIEL BORIS HABASH GEORGE HADDEN JOHN LLOYD HAFEZ MUSTAPHA HAILE MARIAM MENGISTU HALEVY EFRAIM HAMBLETON HUGH GEORGE HAMILTON WILLIAM ANTHONY HAMSHARI MAHMUD HANSEN GAMMELTOFT HARARI MICHAEL HAREL ISSER HARKABI YEHOSHAPHAT HARMELIN YOSEF HARMER YOLANDE HASHEMI CYRUS HASSAN KING HAVILIO SHLOMO HAWATMEH NAYEF HAZAK REUBEN HERMONI AVRAHAM HERZOG CHAIM HESSNER MARK HILLEL SHLOMO HILMI ABBAS HINAGAY HALBURT WINTER HINDAWI NEZAR HOBEIKA ELIE HOFI YITZHAK (HACKA) HOY CLAIRE HUSSEIN KING HUSSEIN MOHAMMED INSTITUTE BIOLOGICAL RESEARCH IYAD ABU JIBRIL AHMED JIHAD ABU JOHN PAUL II (POPE) JOKLIK OTTO KAHANE MEIR DAVID KALMANOWITCH SHABTAI KANOU KHODR KARON DAVID KAULY SHAI KEDAR MORDECAI (MOTKE) KHADER NAIM KHASHOGGI ADNAN KIDRON AVRAHAM KIMCHE DAVID KLEINWACHTER HANS KLINGBERG MARCUS KOLLEK TEDDY LAVON PINCHAS LEAVY DAVID C LEDEEN MICHAEL A LETCHER ALFRED LEVANON NEHEMIAH LEVINGER MOSHE LEWINSKY MONICA S LOTZ WOLFGANG LUBRANI URI MACNAMARA JOHN MAGEN DAVID (TED CROSS) MALCHIN ZVI MALKA RAFI MANOR AMOS MANSOR YOSSEF MAXWELL ROBERT (PUBLISHER) MCCANN DANIEL MCCLOSKEY PAUL N JR (PETE) MCFARLANE ROBERT C (BUD) MCKEE CHARLES DENNIS (MAJ) MEIR GOLDA MENGELE JOSEF MESHAL KHALED MEYER LAURIE MIZRAHI BARUCH MIZREH MOUSA MOSSAD MURPHY ANN-MARIE MUSTAPHA ABDEL RAHIM MUSTAPHA SALAH NAFSU IZAT NAFTALY GIDEON NAJJAR YUSSUF EL- NARKISS UZI NASSER GAMAL ABDEL NATHANSON PHILIP NEEMAN YUVAL NETANYAHU BENJAMIN NIDAL ABU NIMERI GAAFAR MOHAMMAD NIMRODI YAAKOV NINIO MARCELLE NIR AMIRAM NUCLEAR MATERIALS EQUIPMENT CORPORATION OCALAN ABDULLAH OFIR ZADOK OLDFIELD MAURICE OPERATION TROJAN OSTROVSKY VICTOR OUFKIR MOHAMMED PAHLAVI REZA (SON OF SHAH) PAUL HENRI PERES SHIMON PILZ WOLFGANG POGGI LUIGI POLLARD ANNE HENDERSON POLLARD JONATHAN JAY POOLE ROBERT W JR POPULAR FRONT LIBERATION PALESTINE QADDAFI MUAMMAR RABIN YITZHAK RADAI PELEG RAFAEL SYLVIA RAMIREZ SANCHEZ ILICH REDFA MUNIR REGEV ARYEH REUTER THOMAS RIFF OREN SAGUY URI SAGUY YEHOSHUA SALAMEH ALI HASSAN SAMARA BASHIR SASSON ELIAHU SAVAGE SEAN SAVAK SCHULTZ BRIGITTE SCHWIMMER ADOLPH SEIDENWERG AVRAHAM (PAUL FRANK) SELASSIE HAILE SELLA AVIEM SHAHAK AMNON (GEN) SHALOM AVRAHAM SHALTIEL DAVID SHAMIR YITZHAK SHAPIRO LEVI-ARIE SHAPIRO ZALMAN SHARETT MOSHE SHARIF BASSAM ABU SHARON ARIEL SHAVIT SHABTAI SHERF AARON SHILOAH REUBEN SHIMONI YAAKOV SHKAKI FATHI SOWAN ISMAIL STANTON ADRIANA STASZEWSKI STEFAN STEINBERG ZVI STODDART JACK SUEDANI AHMED TAJAR YEHUDA TAMIR AVRAHAM TASHANKA IGOR THOMAS GORDON (AUTHOR) THOMAS JACK LEON TOIV BARRY TOLEDANO SHMUEL TOMLINSON RICHARD TORRES JUSTIANO VANUNU MORDECHAI WALTERS VERNON ANTHONY WEIZMAN EZER YAAR AMY YADIN YIGAL YAGUR YOSEF YOSSI YARIV AHARON YATOM DANNY YOUNG ANDREW YUSUFU MUHAMMAD ZAMIR ZVI ZASLANI REUBEN ZEIN ABDULLAH ZEIRA ELIYAHU
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