Defensive Shield: An Israeli Special Forces Commander on the Frontline of Counterterrorism

by Gal Hirsch

In 2009, Hirsch’s autobiographical book in Hebrew, War Story, Love Story, was published and instantly appeared on the Israeli bestseller list where it stayed for many months. The description of his own personal journey offers deep, open-minded, and critical insights into the most significant milestones in Israel’s defense in the past 30 years, in which he played a key role.This new, revised, and reconceived English edition of the book offers international readers a comprehensive, one-of-a-kind, contextual description of Israeli national defense developments, serving as a valuable tool for understanding contemporary security challenges in the Middle East.The book has been praised as a lesson in leadership, bravery, and endurance. It is a remarkable testimony to the bond between the Jewish people and its Bible and land.

488 pages, Paperback

Published December 8, 2016

Reviews

[Lynn Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Defensive Shield: An Israeli Special Forces Commander on the Frontline of Counterterrorism" is the English translation/adaptation of "War Story, Love Story" by Gal Hirsch, originally published in Hebrew in 2009 and a bestseller in Israel.

Hirsch was a Brigadier General in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who participated in numerous military offences in the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict. “Defensive Shield” in the title refers to the Israeli military response in 2002 to the second Palestinian uprising against Israel. (Hirsch's intelligence/security firm that he established after leaving the military is the Defensive Shield Holdings, a company that describes itself as a “provider of strategic, operational and tactical solutions for the defense, security and homeland security sectors around the world.”) Source: http://www.timesofisrael.com/fbi-inve.......

This book is written from the Israeli perspective, and the reader should view it through this lens. (For readers who would like to examine an alternative perspective on Operation Defensive Shield, there are other accounts available such as "Operation Defensive Shield: Witnesses to Israeli War Crimes" by Muna Hamzeh at https://www.amazon.de/Operation-Defen....)

However, I still found the book to be interesting and informative in outlining the centrality of the military to Israel because of the constant threat of terrorist attacks. Hirsch gives us a detailed account of the exhaustive training and commitment involved in belonging to the Israel Defense Forces, as well as his intense loyalty to his country and family.

While reading this book, I was spurred to research the various military offences to which Hirsch refers, making it a learning experience for me.

I would recommend this book to readers of military autobiographies, as well as students of modern military campaigns and Middle East politics ( )