Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service

This is a book on some of the most daring missions carried out by the Israeli secret service agency - Mossad. It was written by Michael Bar-Zohar, a former member of the Knesset and Nissim Mishal, a political reported based in Israel. Mossad is possibly one of those words we keep coming across while following international politics considering they are always in spotlight for; most incidents in Arab nations were always blamed on Mossad (in some cases, rightly so), especially post the assassination of a Hamas leader in Dubai in 2010.This book covers 22 such missions of Mossad, starting from the days Israel's foundation till the assassination of the Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai in 2010. It covers some of the most famous operations of Mossad, such as abduction of the Nazi War Criminal Adolf Eichmann from Argentina, a full chapter on the acts of Elie Cohen; a Mossad spy who nearly became the Deputy Prime Minister of Syria, Operation Entebbe in Uganda, etc.This book was fast paced; which seems quite a contradiction considering it was not a work of fiction but then, all the missions were narrated in a very interesting manner that it was almost like reading a real espionage novel, just without the dialogues. I felt the authors also had a good mix of certain very famous events such as the Israeli operation in Uganda in Entebbe Airport to neutralise the hijackers, the abduction of Adolf Eichmann, assasination of Al-Mahbhouh, the acts of Elie Cohen in Syria, etc. along with certain less known events such as sabotaging the nuclear programmes of Syria and Iran, retrieving the young boy Yoselle Schumacher from ultra-orthodox Jews, the capture of Mordechai Vanunu - a former technician at Dimona (Israeli Nuclear Programme) who revealed the details of the reactor to the western media, etc.The authors also brought out the personalities of the various Mossad heads very well, such as Isser Harel, Zvi Zamir or that of Meir Dagan and how a lot of decisions were influenced directly by the Prime Minister, from David Ben-Gurion to Benjamin Netanyahu.However, the authors tried too hard to make this book a fast paced one; which even turns out as a bit of a disadvantage for, when I pick up a non-fiction work, I know what to expect and there is no extra need to go beyond the ordinary to make it more interesting; for instance, I felt a lot of descriptions of the events were a way too far-fetched or exaggerated considering the detail that with which these two authors described while they weren't even the ones who carried out the operations nor are they ones who conducted interviews with all those people involved.Moreover, they tried too hard to show that Israel was always right to the extent of fudging facts a little; for instance, in case of Mordechai Vanunu, the far-left anti-nuclear weapons activist; the authors made a remark that Vanunu was no crusader but merely someone who wanted to grab attention as, if he wasn't sacked from his job, till date he'd have been working there even though, in reality, Vanunu had actually resigned from his job.This enjoyability of this book largely depends on an individual's political position, I believe; someone who has a pro-Arab position might feel enraged as to the extent the authors go on to portray vicious killings as acts of heroes whereas a person who has a pro-Israeli view might feel awed by the extent to which Mossad is willing to bend to ensure security of their country.On the whole, I enjoyed reading the book; of course, I would have liked it if the authors had taken a relatively more neutral position but then, that is understandable, considering their background and on the whole, I would award the book a rating of four.

Being a lover of spy fiction I have across Mossad in many thrillers. All these novels & movies would portray Mossad as the most lethal secret service in the world. Many online articles also make the same claim. When I learnt about this non-fiction book which claims to tell the stories of the greatest missions of the agency, I knew I had to get the book.I was expecting that the book would probably throw light on the spectacular success stories of the agency. But, as it turned out the book also talked about the failures, embarrassments, misuse of power at the agency’s top,and internal disputes in the organization.There are 21 chapters in the book – each tells the story of a different mission.You will see Mossad agents hunting Nazi war criminals in South America, apprehending deserters, assassinating enemies, and even carrying out rescue operations involving Jews in hostile nations. One mission stood out when Mossad had been tasked with rescuing a child kidnapped by his Orthodox grandfather and smuggled abroad with the help of some powerful people. Once, Mossad also made a Nazi war hero work for them.In the pages of this book – you will meet some extraordinary men & women; some in the service of Mossad while some were the “enemies”.Each mission reads like a spy thriller. Not some outlandish James Bond adventure – but, something more realistic. The planning, the reconnaissance, the actual execution, the dangers & consequences of capture and not to forget the element of dumb luck – everything is so thrilling.The authors have included thirty odd pages of bibliography at the end of the book and claimed to use the most reliable information sources. But, in my humble opinion when Mossad is involved – we can never be sure of anything. The authors might have spared no effort but still! We will probably never know the complete truth. Nevertheless, the book was an entertaining read.It would have been better if the authors had included some geo-political background. It would have allowed readers to better understand the context.We can debate the legality or ethics of these missions endlessly – people had been assassinated and at times even innocents died. I would only say that if you find the content interesting then you might want to give the book a try.

every nationalist and right wingers should read this

While reading it was found that Page No-85 to 164 is missing, page no-165 continued till page no-180, then it again starts from page no-101. Page 165 onwards repeated again. Total hapazard binding. We would unable to recognize the same unless you read the book. As refund timeline already over, hence unable to refund it now.

A MARVELLOUS BOOK