Israel’s Secret Wars: A History of Israel’s Intelligence Services by Ian Black (PDF)

Description

One of the events most crucial to the war in the Persian Gulf occurred nearly ten years before it began, when Israel destroyed Iraq’s most advanced weapon, the nuclear reactor at Al-Tuweitha, acting on information obtained by Israeli intelligence. Israel’s Secret Wars is the first documented, comprehensive history of all three of Israel’s intelligence services, from their origins in the 1930s, through Israel’s five wars, up to the present, including the Ostrovsky affair. Highly readable and exhaustively researched, it contains the most accurate information available about a shadowy and controversial subject in which myth all too often obscures reality.Using heretofore undisclosed contemporary reports, memoranda, and private diaries, Israel’s Secret Wars describes for the first time in print the beginnings of the Israeli-U.S. intelligence relationship; the Israeli-French espionage connection during the Algerian War, which underlay their military alliance in the Suez crisis; the fateful message from a high-level Arab agent that initiated the Yom Kippur war; and many more previously unexamined operations and episodes.Placing every event in its historical context, Black and Morris disentangle the often stormy links between spymasters and politicians in such affairs as the Entebbe raid, Irangate, the Pollard spy scandal, and the Palestinian intifada. Israel’s Secret Wars promises to become the standard work on Israeli intelligence for years to come.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From Publishers Weekly Cataloguing half a century of Israeli intelligence’s triumphs, debacles and infighting, this dense work will be of most use to specialists. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book was outstanding. It did take the reader a little longer to understand the figures of speech and notations that were used but it was well worth it. My own curiosity and not knowing that much about Israel enticed me to purchase the book.Other interests of D&D brought this book to my attention. Some of the operations were previously known as noted from other readings. I was surprised on some of the details within other events as the Mossad came into action, the reader is lead along a backdrop of intentions and motivations to conceal their true actions. Tradecraft was discussed and mentioned as improvements were made. This brought mix flag recruiting to the light. HUMINT operations and the ability of knowing cultures and languages to identify foes was outstanding.I did not know exactly how the state came into being, and from the book it left mixed emotions. But the contents were great and the author did an excellent job of showing the issues that not only made the intelligence organization what it is presently. It also showed the progression of the people and nationality throughout the years that some paid the ultimate price for.

⭐As someone who’s enthralled with the world of intelligence, this book really made me happy. I found it to be very impartial politically, although it dealt exclusively with Israeli matters in historical order(it did not, for example, go into detail about Syrian leadership, Egyptian intelligence, or US-Israel relations). There was far more information in the book than I thought I’d encounter (the authors preface the book with their own surprise at the amount of information they were allowed to obtain and then publish), and the book depicts well the selection, work hazards, and retirement of typical spies. The book chronicles the importance of intelligence through Israel’s great successes (and failures) in the military and civil spheres, and does so with style and historical accuracy. The only drawback is the book’s date (published in the early 90s).

⭐I started reading this book on a slow day at work and had it finished by the next day.I have read a number of books about Israels military and intelligence services and i liked this one especially because it starts from before the war for independence and shows many differents events that led to the creation of the Mossad,Shin Bet, and Amman intelligence agencies.This is a very detailed account of missions that were carried out for the state of Israel and before the creation of Israel and gives detailed information on the infighting between the different inteligence agencies that led to the seperation of duties between the different branches.If your interested in Israels notorious intelligence community this is a must read.

⭐This would be an ideal book if you are an American who needs a crash course in HUMINT and War in the Middle East. In much the same way that David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan were writing by-lines from the Mekong in 1963 urging American military leaders to learn from their French antecedents, I think American military and intelligence officer’s would be well served by reviewing this book as a kind of lessons learned manual of the Israeli experience. The chapters which cover the efforts of the Israeli security forces to police the occupied areas, especially Lebanon, are the most relevant today.

⭐This is a massive and comprehensive history that spans HaMossad, Aman, and Shin Bet as well as their various predecessors during the formation of the modern state of Israel. It borders on being encyclopedic in its coverage and detailed and precise in its historic descriptions–to the point that one cannot imagine reading it in a single sitting. A reference work more than a “read,” for anyone with a serious interest in Israeli intelligence, it is a good companion to the more lively and readable but less authoratative

⭐. Both have been resources for thriller writers, such as Lior Samson (

⭐).

⭐Just started reading and since it is a large book, it will be awhile before it is completed.

⭐The facts, figures and dates are all there, but there are far more interesting books on this subject. (check out the others sold thru amazon.) This one reminds me of slogging thru a bland history book back in school.

⭐all voters should read this

⭐Thorough, sober, well researced but also boring in some parts which really surpriced me. How can you make this subject boring? Well to me it was. I thought I would swallov this book very quick, but reading it to the end became more of a question of finishing what I had started, not enjoyment. the book was written when the first Gulf war was fougjt so off course you will not be informed of more recent events. But all in all this is a recomendBæe book if you are interested in the subject.

⭐Great historical overview covering numerous details.

⭐Good book. Short stories that describe brave heroics done by ordinary people.

⭐Great read in case you are interested in Israel and the way it has built its position in hostile territory

⭐Fine

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