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Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services
This is the first documented, comprehensive history of all three of Israel's intelligence services, from their origins in the 1930s, through Israel's five wars, up to the present, with a new chapter updating the book through the Gulf War. Highly readable and exhaustively researched, it provides the most balanced view yet of this controversial subject.
634 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Ian Black
3 books26 followersIan Black is a British journalist and author focusing on international political issues.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Bla...
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Bla...
Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 7, 2020
Lots of excellent detail as I gather more history with which to shape my characters actions.
March 9, 2011
Only read this if you truly just want information pertaining to the history of the Israeli Secret Services: Shin-Bet, Aman and Mossad.
The book is a wealth of historical information, but no direct story line.
The book is a wealth of historical information, but no direct story line.
May 11, 2013
An interesting book. Informative. Inside look at the greatest agitators of the Middle East. Written by the detestable Benny Morris. Written with the moral fortitude of a sea slug.
August 4, 2011
Israel's Secret Wars: A History of Israel's Intelligence Services was a required reading during my studies in RSIS for the Intelligence and National Security Module (S6206). The book was first published back in 1991 but revised in 1994 to include intelligence operations that happened during Operation Desert Storm. The work chronicles the extent and functions of all three Israeli intelligence agencies; namely Military Intelligence (Amman), Domestic Intelligence (Shin Bet) and Foreign Intelligence (Mossad) from the pre-Zionist period till the end of the First Gulf War.
The Israeli Intelligence Services grew out of sheer necessity from the days preceding the State of Israel, argued its authors, Ian Black and Benny Morris. Jews living in Arab lands during the period of the British Mandate were increasingly finding themselves being victims of organised violence and sporadic brutality. Hence, the first organised form of Jewish Intelligence, then known as the “Haganah”, was formed to loosely collate information on Arab mob movements in and within the vicinity of Jewish settlements.
The Israeli intelligence apparatus only began to take its form after the War of Independence. From the onset of the Israeli state onwards, operations by Amman, Shin Bet and Mossad went beyond the collection of information to include Zionist immigrant operations, the acquisition of enemy technology and the assassination of hostile political figures. Some of the more prominent operations carried out in recent decades by the intelligence services include the bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor and the kidnapping of key holocaust figures from Argentina. The 634-page book has exhaustively chronicled the three intelligence agencies, and the role that each of them played at every level of this evolution in function of the intelligence services.
The book also provides a valuable analysis into some of the most spectacular failures of the Israeli Intelligence services such as the slaughter at the 1972 Munich Games and Beirut in 1982.
The Israeli Intelligence Services grew out of sheer necessity from the days preceding the State of Israel, argued its authors, Ian Black and Benny Morris. Jews living in Arab lands during the period of the British Mandate were increasingly finding themselves being victims of organised violence and sporadic brutality. Hence, the first organised form of Jewish Intelligence, then known as the “Haganah”, was formed to loosely collate information on Arab mob movements in and within the vicinity of Jewish settlements.
The Israeli intelligence apparatus only began to take its form after the War of Independence. From the onset of the Israeli state onwards, operations by Amman, Shin Bet and Mossad went beyond the collection of information to include Zionist immigrant operations, the acquisition of enemy technology and the assassination of hostile political figures. Some of the more prominent operations carried out in recent decades by the intelligence services include the bombing of Iraq’s nuclear reactor and the kidnapping of key holocaust figures from Argentina. The 634-page book has exhaustively chronicled the three intelligence agencies, and the role that each of them played at every level of this evolution in function of the intelligence services.
The book also provides a valuable analysis into some of the most spectacular failures of the Israeli Intelligence services such as the slaughter at the 1972 Munich Games and Beirut in 1982.
March 20, 2014
More complete than readable.
But it's incredibly complete.
If you know what you're looking for, the index will lead you right. If you don't, it's a sea of information without a particular narrative or thesis.
But it's incredibly complete.
If you know what you're looking for, the index will lead you right. If you don't, it's a sea of information without a particular narrative or thesis.
April 6, 2019
lots of info and details.
but how come he didnt mention hezboallah war with the zionists.
but how come he didnt mention hezboallah war with the zionists.
April 8, 2025
(3 and a 1/2) This book was incredibly informative, but it assumes you have detailed knowledge of the politics of the Middle East. It does explain context as much as I would have liked, but I do recognize it's focus is on Isreal's secret service organizations. While this may be expected, it has a bias towards Israel and describes many Palestinian attacks as "terrorist" while failing to describe Israeli attacks as terrorist, even though they are.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2021
Great overview of secret services operations, blunders and success. Every same as The Righteous Victims by same author gives deep insight on how each event unfolded and the reasoning behind each decision.
Want to Read
December 8, 2023From Ezra Klein 10/24/23 - Spencer Ackerman & Peter Beinart - The Jewish left is trying to hold two thoughts at once
October 6, 2024
decent read. the writing can seem a little dry, and the book itself is over 30 years old now, so it’s a bit outdated. would be interesting to see a more recent version of this.
September 17, 2015
Be ready to get lost in a sea of information. An over load of various operations involving Shin Bet, Aman & Mossad. Ian Black even touched down on the political aspects briefly.
I started reading it without much knowledge on the background on the political struggle that lead to the creation of Israel. The plot was convoluted for me. Would advice readers to understand the history of Israel & its relations with it neighbours before starting the book
I started reading it without much knowledge on the background on the political struggle that lead to the creation of Israel. The plot was convoluted for me. Would advice readers to understand the history of Israel & its relations with it neighbours before starting the book
January 18, 2017
An historical work for the history buff. Not an intriguing spy novel. For those with an interest in step-by-step, year-by-year events.
Read for personal research. I found this work of immense interest.
This work is one of my resource sources while ghost authoring the novels of E.MH Ratterman.
I found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.
Overall, this work is also a good resource for the researcher and enthusiast.
Read for personal research. I found this work of immense interest.
This work is one of my resource sources while ghost authoring the novels of E.MH Ratterman.
I found this book's contents helpful and inspiring - number rating relates to the book's contribution to my needs.
Overall, this work is also a good resource for the researcher and enthusiast.
May 21, 2015
As always, really solid history writing from Morris. Pretty much THE standard work on the intelligence services in Israel and their history. A bit dated, lots of development since 1991, but never the less very good.
Want to Read
January 11, 2009Bought this a long time ago, but never read it.
November 10, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews