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Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman
dale_kooyenga's review against another edition
3.0
This is a very comprehensive book. It is impossible to commit all the stories in this book to memory. It has to be the most detailed book on the subject. I have read others, for example, Gideon's Spies, that are easier reads. This book includes every significant unclassified assassination attempt of consequence in Israel's history. Some of the assassinations, and kidnappings, are textbook examples of how to execute a military operation, while other stories take a less romantic perspective and detail the ineptitude that also cost lives and embarrassed Israel. A lot of heroes, zeroes, and characters between the two extremes.
The author has an axe to grind with Benjamin Netanyahu and ends the book with a settle but noticeable disdain for the Prime Minister.
A must-read for any Intelligence Community professional.
The author has an axe to grind with Benjamin Netanyahu and ends the book with a settle but noticeable disdain for the Prime Minister.
A must-read for any Intelligence Community professional.
sophiajkessler's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.25
alexisrt's review against another edition
5.0
This is a very detailed history of Israel's targeted assassination program, and to a lesser extent of its intelligence services. Ronen Bergman was able to interview many of the figures involved, and it's sobering and fascinating reading. Bergman doesn't shy from a moral judgment of the program: that although it was superficially successful, it came at a huge moral cost, and that Israeli leaders became overly reliant on it as a tool to avoid first war and then political negotiations. At the same time, he's aware of what drove them to use the tactic--a knowledge that Israel, especially in its early years, could not win an open war, and that other countries would not back them up (brutally illustrated in the story about Munich).
cbh's review against another edition
Seemed interesting, but the subject matter oddly didn't appeal to me at this moment.
bean_season's review against another edition
Can't believe I finished it. It did have a lot of jaw-dropping information that's good for people to know. I just had this feeling throughout that it wasn't really as impartial as some reviews said and that the author was pretty sympathetic to his interview subjects. He did try to be balanced but he seemed a little too excited about all the cloak and dagger stuff sometimes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture