Secrets in Plain Sight: Israel's Security Secrets in Books

"Mossad the Greatest Missions..." is on sale, NIS 50 (about $12.50) in this year's Israeli book fair week, D-A Vider 2016

Israeli veterans are secretive about their military experience. They say a little about where they served (unit and position). Sometimes they blurt out a few small details about an extraordinary experience in "the war" (one of many they participated). But real details about missions (real battles) are best read in books or seen on TV. In general, Israel does not publish specific operational details. This is true for other countries, but in Israel, there seem to be more curiosity about the neighbor next door. There is always a strange feeling when a former army officer "suddenly shows up" as a CEO of an obscure company. Usually companies related to security products or services. But this curiosity does not lead to any real information. There is a term in Israel about hiring executives with military background: "friend brings a friend". Literally, bring a friend from your army unit, get a hiring bonus and the company will be happy. You two have a bond beyond work friendship. Nothing said out in the open, but certainly a feeling of "something is going on here, but I don't understand". If you are curious about secret Israeli military and espionage operations, turn to books. In Israel there are few good fiction espionage writers, but the real stories with fictionalized names and places are told in wonderful detail. See these books:

Mossad: the greatest missions of the Israeli Secret Service (Amazon) by Michael Ben-Zohar and Nissim Mishal is a best seller in Israel. The book covers missions which somehow leaked into the press or their outcome was published. The book details 21 missions with the names and locations changed. A review in Ha'aretz (in Hebrew) gives high praise to the writers' creativity. They impressed the reviewer in inventing names of Mossad commanders and operatives. Other Israeli newspapers portray the authors as experienced but not necessarily the most authoritative on the subject (neither one is a Mossad veteran). In Israel hands-on, "I have been there, I have done that" experience is the only absolute separating the real soldiers from the rest of us mortals. But in the dealings of the Mossad (similar to the CIA/MI6) or Shabak (Internal Security, similar to the FBI/MI5) hardly any insiders with real operational experience wrote a good book. This makes Ben-Zohar and Mishal the most qualified to write this kind of book. Israeli authors are not the world's best suspense or mystery writers. We can't really point to anyone and call him the Israeli Clancey or LeCarre. Yet we can enjoy pseudo-reality writing in war and espionage books as American and British. If you like espionage and suspense, this book is for you.

Other popular books: Gideon's Spies: The Secret History of the Mossad [Amazon] by Gordon Thomas, reads much more like a spy thriller. One is never quite sure how much is real and how much is fiction. Thomas tells wonderful stories that flow and seem believable. The story on the nuclear fuel is made up of a few sections. I am a bit skeptical about the story on the "Mega" agent in Washington and phone-sex recordings between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky. The story spices up the book and adds the Israeli angle to this seminal American event. Thomas covers historical background and ties events to presumably Mossad operations. He also gives general details which seem to make sense. If you like details and twists in complicated plots, this will keep your riveted.