A review by netsfrompdx
Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations by Ronen Bergman

4.0

Rise and Kill First is an interesting read. It spans the length of Israel's 70+ years of existence, giving a detailed historical account on regional politics, war and terrorist groups/tactics. For the most part, it doesn't put Israel in the best light and feels like the author has an agenda/ax to grind from his days as a reporter. Or put another way, it's the other side of the story versus what you see in the media when it comes to Mossad and Israel's mission to protect itself from all enemies. In any case, the author got amazing access to files, data and the leaders who lived it, allowing him to share a ton of info that I found fascinating. The book is really long and felt like a grind to get through at times, but it was a great historical lesson so was worth the time investment to read it.