From Claremont Review of Books online
The Book of Proverbs instructs us that “by stratagems you wage war.” Israeli intelligence agencies have taken this ancient wisdom to heart—the Mossad even chose it as a motto.
The Mossad, along with its counterparts in military intelligence (AMAN) and domestic enforcement (the Shin Bet), has attained legendary status for its efforts to eliminate threats to the Jewish state on numerous continents. The record of Israel’s intelligence community is unrivaled among its sister services, yet its success has also come at a significant cost.
This balance between subterfuge, sabotage, bravado, and betrayal, forms the core of Rise and Kill First, a meticulously researched intelligence tell-all by Ronen Bergman, one of Israel’s leading national security journalists.
With stories involving poisoned toothpaste, cleverly-disguised plastiques, abductions, recruitments, and fiascoes, the book reads like a spy thriller—with truth often appearing stranger than fiction. Bergman is a skilled storyteller who subtly weaves narrative and argument into a coherent whole.
Context is crucial, of course. “Because of Israel’s tiny dimensions,” Bergman notes, “the attempts by the Arab states to destroy it even before it was established, their continued threats to do so, and the perpetual menace of Arab terrorism, the country evolved a highly effective military and, arguably, the best intelligence community in the world. They, in turn, have developed the most robust, streamlined assassination machine in history.”
This uneasy message animates the entirety of Rise and Kill First: On the one hand, Israel has used controversial, extrajudicial tactics to target its enemies, tactics that not many Western democracies have adopted. On the other hand, the Jewish state faces a unique, perennial threat of destruction that no country in the West has ever confronted.
But do the ends justify the means? Bergman argues that often they do, but on relatively rare occasions, Israeli leaders have crossed the line.
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