Capturing Eichmann: The Memoirs of a Mossad Spymaster

by Rafi Eitan, Anshel Pfeffer

Argentina, 1960. A car speeds through the streets of Buenos Aires. Inside are four Israeli secret agents and their prisoner: one of the most notorious war criminals of Nazi Germany. The Mossad operatives need to get this man, Adolf Eichmann, back to Israel to be tried for his crimes. Holding Eichmann’s head in his lap is the leader of this ambitious mission, Rafi Eitan, whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later described as ‘one of the heroes of Israeli intelligence’.

In this fast-paced and detailed memoir, Rafi Eitan tells the story of his remarkable life and career as an elite soldier and spymaster. He describes how as a teenager, he smuggled Jewish refugees into Palestine as part of the Palmach unit and how, as a spy in the newly established Mossad, he swam through sewers to blow up a British radar station, earning the name ‘Rafi the Stinker’. He goes on to describe in detail his involvement in the extraordinary hunt for the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Eitan's espionage career eventually ended over his involvement in the controversial Jonathan Pollard espionage affair, which sparked intense debate over Israel’s relations with the US.

Packed with new insights into Eitan's role at the heart of Israeli military and intelligence organizations, this is a gripping read and essential reading for anyone interested in espionage history and the daring operation to capture Adolf Eichmann.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2022

Reviews

[Kenneth · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting autobiography. He openly says he’s ambitious and brutally pragmatic. He’s unashamed to say that he was kept awake for many nights second guessing his decisions. Lots of behavior justification.

On the down side very little of this book deals with capturing Eichmann even though the author says he planned every last detail of the operation. The small chapter that does talk about it deals mostly with who got credit and who did not.

[Koruton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was... interesting. There is no doubt that Rafi Eitan was a fascinating person who lived through a fascinating time in the middle east. It was impressive to read about how many different ventures he embarked on, from spy work to business ventures in Cuba to co-founding a political party. There were two aspects I struggled with - firstly, the book often lacks context for international readers. I guess it was written for Israeli audiences and for people unfamiliar with the details of Israeli history and politics, the sheer number of names and places (often without too much context or explanation) can be overwhelming and some aspects become unclear or get lost due to lack of background knowledge. Perhaps another format with additional sections of background information provided by the editor would have helped. Secondly, I felt like the book lacked self reflection to a certain degree. Eitan writes very clearly about his strong convictions during his youth and does not appear to examine them critically, even retrospectively. I guess that's intrinsic to autobiographies - we can't expect a critical examination of all beliefs and acts since the writer is intrinsically biased. In this vein, the description of the Pollard affair is barely a page long, when it is certainly one of the things Eitan was most known for, second only to the capture of Eichmann. I would not have understood the significance of this scandal if it had not been pointed out by the translator in the introduction, since almost the entire chapter was scrapped by Eitan briefly before his passing. I would have hoped for more explanation, more compassion and critical evaluation of what was undoubtedly his greatest failure. Overall though, an enjoyable read, describing a fascinating life centered around very conflicting work and world views.

[Nutan Maheshwari · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this memoir, Rafi Eitan tells the story of his life as an elite Israeli soldier and spymaster. The book provides glimpses of the missions Rafi was involved in.

For me, it felt like an additional chapter to the book "Mossad" by Michael Bar-Zohar.

The title of the book is not justified, as only a small part is dedicated to the capture of Eichmann.

Overall 2.5/5

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little of the book details the Eichmann operation despite the title.

But still a fascinating story from a man working behind the scenes for a lot of recent history, from the establishment of Israel to the spread on Fidel Castro’s dinner table after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

His predictions of peace look pretty far off!

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rafi Eitan's career spans the entire history of Israeli Defense and security issues, and in his Memoir he touches on a lot of iconic Israeli Intelligence events. Starting as a anti British insurgent in the Palestine Mandate era before WWII , he fought in the Israeli War of Independence and then entered the security Services -Mossad and Shin Bet where he went from Capturing Adolf Eichmann, the escaped Nazi architect of the Holocaust, a triumph , to involvement in the Pollard Spy case- a crisis in Israeli US relations as Mossad were caught spying on the US. His breezy informal style and personal relationships with an amazing array of key Israeli political figures make this book a really compelling look at the History of Israel. Along the way we watch a semi-socialist Zionist become a close friend and confidante of two Right wing personalities, Menachem Begin and Ariel Sharon with aggressive security consulting- and then mellow again for a final vision for Middle East Peace that may surprise many readers. The arc is long and wide- Eitan just passed in 2019- and the story is fascinating.

What struck this reader most was being reminded of the origins of the Israeli story- the build up to Independence and the early years of the state was the paucity of resources and how much stronger all the Arab states seemed. Many decisions that seemed operational were in fact made due to lack of resources -both money and personnel. In the 1950s and 1960s most Israeli equipment , both military and for intelligence was second hand Western materiel- Eitan oversees the passage to the latest and greatest situation the IDF/Mossad/Shin Bet enjoy today, The last big takeaway is the amount of disagreement Eitan records amongst Israeli Military and Political figures at almost every turn. Far from being a monolithic polity, Israeli political life is shown to be a cacophony of views- all getting expressed at high volume, even within cabinet meetings. There are both B/w and colour pictures of many of the characters and situations in the book, and I strongly suggest the reader read both the Translator's note and the preface by Rafi's wife Miriam to set the tone for the book.

There are a lot of adult themes, mostly political, and some graphic injury and violent passages, so this best read by the Junior Reader over 14/15 years. For the Gamer/Modeler/Military enthusiast, I think this is more of a book for understanding the background of the Arab Israeli conflict and the War on Terror than it is a direct resource- but these are uses. The gamer gets some descriptions of the pre independence and independence war operations and combat- as well as 1956 Suez/Six Day War/October war operations and inside information on the 1982 Lebanon Campaign. The modeler gets some diorama ideas- for both Intelligence and Military operations in the book, but will need a lot of other resources as well. The Military Enthusiast is the overall beneficiary- as this sort of inside view of Israeli Politics and operations are relatively rare for the western reader. A compelling read on one of the constant struggles of our time.