Rise and Kill First

The first definitive history of the Mossad, Shin Bet, and the IDF s targeted killing programs, from the man hailed by David Remnick as arguably Israel s best investigative reporter The Talmud says If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel s DNA From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, protecting the nation from harm has been the responsibility of its intelligence community and armed services, and there is one weapon in their vast arsenal that they have relied upon to thwart the most serious threats Targeted assassinations have been used countless times, on enemies large and small, sometimes in response to attacks against the Israeli people and sometimes preemptively In this page turning, eye opening book, journalist and military analyst Ronen Bergman offers a riveting inside account of the targeted killing programs their successes, their failures, and the moral and political price exacted on the men and women who approved and carried out the missions.Bergman has gained the exceedingly rare cooperation of many current and former members of the Israeli government, including Prime Ministers Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as high level figures in the country s military and intelligence services the IDF Israel Defense Forces , the Mossad the world s most feared intelligence agency , Caesarea a Mossad within the Mossad that carries out attacks on the highest value targets , and the Shin Bet an internal security service that implemented the largest targeted assassination campaign ever, in order to stop what had once appeared to be unstoppable suicide terrorism.Including never before reported, behind the curtain accounts of key operations, and based on hundreds of on the record interviews and thousands of files to which Bergman has gotten exclusive access over his decades of reporting, Rise and Kill First brings us deep into the heart of Israel s most secret activities Bergman traces, from statehood to the present, the gripping events and thorny ethical questions underlying Israel s targeted killing campaign, which has shaped the Israeli nation, the Middle East, and the entire world. Free Read Books Rise and Kill First author Ronen Bergman – kino-fada.fr When the state of Israel achieved nationhood in 1948 it was seen as an ethical and moral experiment because of the role the Holocaust played in its creation, along with its dominant Jewish culture Residing in a geographical region that had nothing but hatred for the new state it would be difficult to expect Israel to maintain the high standards that were expected of it The difficulty would morph into a nation that had to protect itself from invasion, and once that was beaten back it had to dea When the state of Israel achieved nationhood in 1948 it was seen as an ethical and moral experiment because of the role the Holocaust played in its creation, along with its dominant Jewish culture Residing in a geographical region that had nothing but hatred for the new state it would be difficult to expect Israel to maintain the high standards that were expected of it The difficulty would morph into a nation that had to protect itself from invasion, and once that was beaten back it had to deal with constant attacks across its borders As a result Israel would take on the character of other countries and adopt measures that ran counter to expectations The evolution of Israel into an intelligence and military power t...This is a really remarkable history of the violence undertaken by the modern Zionist movement, starting all the way back from Mandate Palestine, the wars against the postcolonial Arab states, and ending with the present conflict between Israel and the Iranian led Axis of Resistance The author gets incredible access to the people involved in executing military and clandestine operations on behalf of the Mossad, Shin Bet and AMAN over the past several decades The story starts even before the c This is a really remarkable history of the violence undertaken by the modern Zionist movement, starting all the way back from Mandate Palestine, the wars against the postcolonial Arab states, and ending with the present conflic...My feelings after reading this book is sense of despondency on the Israel s political establishment Title of the last chapter succinctly captures the result of Israel s targeted killings Impressive tactical success, Disastrous strategic failure The author could have easily turned this book into Israel s glorification bashing But his even handedness made this book such a great read Since this book deals with so much military operations, after a certai...The Badass Israeli Assassin.this is an archetype that has glued itself to the public imagination More cunning,professional,stylish than their bumbling goody two shoes gentile counterparts, there are many grains of truth in this image Since its creation, the state of Israel has developed a highly sophisticated paramilitary capability to annihilate the enemies of the Jewish people from Buenos Aires to Damascus and those who decide out of ideology, greed or callous disregard to giv The Badass Israeli Assassin.this is an archetype that has glued itself to the public imagination More cunning,professional,stylish than their bumbling goody two shoes gentile counterparts, there are many grains of truth in this image Since its creation, the state of Israel has developed a highly sophisticated paramilitary capability to annihilate the enemies of the Jewish people from Buenos Aires to Damascus and those who decide out of ideology, greed or callous disregard to give aid to those enemies As a rule magicians never tell their secrets and prefer to die with them rather than loosen their lips The same can be said for the Guardians of Israel who like any good spies, prefer misdirection, strategic exaggeration and the occasional modest downplaying to keep what really happened under wraps Case in point the sometimes exuberant journalist Gordon Thomas whose Gideo...Dang This is a phenomenal book that is eye opening in so many ways Going all the way back to early Zionism, this book charts Israeli covert action against its myriad enemies The programs Bergman describes have been one of Israel s major national security tools They fit with an Israeli focus on pre emption, massive retaliation, as well as a national sense that no one will save the Jews except themselves The extent to which the Holocaust permeates the history of this program is remarkable th Dang This is a phenomenal book that is eye opening in so many ways Going all the way back to early Zionism, this book charts Israeli covert action against its myriad enemies The programs Bergman describes have been one of Israel s major national security tools They fit with an Israeli focus on pre emption, massive retaliation, as well as a national sense that no one will save the Jews except themselves The extent to which the Holocaust permeates the history of this program is remarkable the conviction is that if Jews are not strong and ruthless they will be destroyed by their numerous foes.I don t consider myself strongly pro Israel, but I would say I m anti anti Israel The world s obsession with the crimes and misdeeds of Israel is absolutely unreasonable given that Israel is the freest and most demo..., , ,, , , , ,Four stars for a general reader, five for those of us really interested in Israel.The title is taken from a line in the Talmud, If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first, and is used as justification for everything from retribution revenge murders assassinations, to preemptive kills, to blowing up Iran s nuclear reactor It is, I suppose, good advice, especially if you re surrounded by enemies, and facing an existential crisis every day It has, however, proven to be very diff Four st... the intelligence community s very success fostered the illusion among most of the nation s leaders that covert operations could be a strategic and not just a tactical tool that they could be used in place of real diplomacy to end the geographic, ethnic, religious, and national disputes in which Israel is mired Because of the phenomenal successes of Israel s covert operations, at this stage in its history the majority of its leaders have elevated and sanctified the tactical method of combatt the intelligence community s very success fostered the illusion among most of the nation s leaders that covert operations could be a strategic and not just a tactical tool that they could be used in place of real diplomacy to end the geographic, ethnic, religious, and national disputes in which Israel is mired Because of the phenomenal successes of Israel s covert operations, at this stage in its history the majority of its leaders have elevated and sanctified the tactical method of combatting terror and existential threats at the expense of the true vision, statesmanship, and genuine desire to reach a political solution that is necessary for peace to be attained. pp 629 30 This sums up Ronen Bergman s stunning book, which combines compelling journalism and sturdy scholarship The book will appeal to area...This must have been an incredibly difficult book to write considering the extreme secrecy surrounding Israel s military and security forces To his credit, Bergman cites many former sources within the establishment who have both positive and negative opinions to express While the reporting generally felt balanced it s only from the Israeli perspective The early stories of assassinations felt a but one dimensional but considering they date back to the late 1940s the author probably didn t have This must have been an incredibly difficult book to write considering the extreme secrecy surrounding Israel s military and security forces To his credit, Bergman cites many former sources within the establishment who have both positive and negative opinions to express While the reporting generally felt balanced it s only from the Israeli per...A CLOSER LOOK Among general pop culture, there are some perceptions and stereotypes of spies by nationality The British are either suave and smooth talking, or morose, depressed arse covering beuracrats, but ones who take gathering useful intelligence seriously The Americans are either the Christians In Action who can t help but make a bad situation worse, or are blundering and violently jingoistic and incomptent with their militarized approach to the gentleman s game The Russians are the gl A CLOSER LOOK Among general pop culture, there are some perceptions and stereotypes of spies by nationality The British are either suave and smooth talking, or morose, depressed arse covering beuracrats, but ones who take gathering useful intelligence seriously The Americans are either the Christians In Action who can t help but make a bad situation worse, or are blundering and violently jingoistic and incomptent with their militarized approach to the gentleman s game The Russians are the gleefully card carrying villians who take the no kill live overkill approach to destroying enemies of the Motherland, while at the same time crafting delicate, sometimes too clever by half gambits And then, we come to the Israelis The general perception of...

• English
• 27 September 2017
Ronen Bergman
• Hardcover
• 784 pages
• 1400069718
• Ronen Bergman
• Rise and Kill First