First published 2018
Journalist Ronen Bergman chronicles Israel's targeted killing operations from the nation's founding in 1948 through the present day. Drawing on the Talmudic principle "If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first," Israeli intelligence services have conducted countless assassinations against perceived threats. Bergman gained unprecedented access to current and former officials, including Prime Ministers Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu. He interviewed hundreds of sources and accessed thousands of classified files to document operations by the Mossad, Shin Bet, IDF, and the elite Caesarea unit. The book reveals previously unreported missions while examining both tactical successes and failures. Bergman explores the moral costs borne by those who authorized and executed these killings. He traces how targeted assassinations became central to Israeli strategy, used both reactively after attacks and preemptively against future threats. The narrative shows how these programs helped stop suicide terrorism campaigns that once seemed unstoppable. This investigation offers readers an inside view of Israel's most classified activities and their impact on the nation, the Middle East, and global security.
Genres: history, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, military-history, true-crime
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: insider-perspective, moral-dilemma
Setting: Israel, Middle East
Period: 1948-present
784 pages · Hardcover · Random House
Content warnings: violence