Review of Rise and Kill First
Review and Rise and Kill First; Ronen Bergman
(2019, 784 pages)
The book details the rise of Israel's program of assassination of its enemies as the nation rose to power. It is an incredibly detailed history of who, what, when and where of the program grew based on the idea it is better to "rise and kill first" before you enemy can kill you. Just like you can trace the history of a corporation, this history starts off with the start of the Israeli nation and the enemies that surrounded it. Although there were several large scale attempts to destroy Israel most of the threat that Israel faced was not from nations that were trying to destroy them, but from individual terroristic attempts. Over the decades Israel would face several organized terrorist groups, Hamas Palestinian Authority, Islamic Jihad, Hezbelloah, that would organize and throw 'terror fodder' at Israel with suicide attacks and bombing attack. It seemed every week, Israelis would die from being blown up or shot and Israel did what it thought was right and justified in targeted assassinations toward the leadership, organizers, bomb makers, financiers, and occasionally the political leadership.
The book does not go into great detail about every assassination but highlighted about a dozen to explain the details, planning and discussion of how to carry them out. It was very interesting to hear how the Israeli leadership would plan and execute the operations in other countries like Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and France. It was also interesting how the Israeli's would have serious moral discussion over what was legal, moral, and justifiable and their reluctance to injure civilians.
What was also notable was their stupidity in making decisions based on personal hatred such as trying desperately trying to kill Yasser Arafat even when it put Israel in a bad position.
The book concludes around 2016 with a lot of discussion of the Iran nuclear threat, the Obama administrations help or non-help.
One of things I found surprising was the lack of public support that Israel had over the decades with a very real and verified threat. For example, the French were supplying everything Iran needed to create a nuclear energy program but insisted the threat to Israel was overblown. European nations allowed terrorist leaders to come and go in their country and then got upset when Israel tried to kill them.
Overall, a great read if you like history, spy stuff, and lots of 'back story'. Boring if you're looking for 700 pages of action, killings and military campaigns.
(2019, 784 pages)
The book details the rise of Israel's program of assassination of its enemies as the nation rose to power. It is an incredibly detailed history of who, what, when and where of the program grew based on the idea it is better to "rise and kill first" before you enemy can kill you. Just like you can trace the history of a corporation, this history starts off with the start of the Israeli nation and the enemies that surrounded it. Although there were several large scale attempts to destroy Israel most of the threat that Israel faced was not from nations that were trying to destroy them, but from individual terroristic attempts. Over the decades Israel would face several organized terrorist groups, Hamas Palestinian Authority, Islamic Jihad, Hezbelloah, that would organize and throw 'terror fodder' at Israel with suicide attacks and bombing attack. It seemed every week, Israelis would die from being blown up or shot and Israel did what it thought was right and justified in targeted assassinations toward the leadership, organizers, bomb makers, financiers, and occasionally the political leadership.
The book does not go into great detail about every assassination but highlighted about a dozen to explain the details, planning and discussion of how to carry them out. It was very interesting to hear how the Israeli leadership would plan and execute the operations in other countries like Lebanon, Iran, Syria, and France. It was also interesting how the Israeli's would have serious moral discussion over what was legal, moral, and justifiable and their reluctance to injure civilians.
What was also notable was their stupidity in making decisions based on personal hatred such as trying desperately trying to kill Yasser Arafat even when it put Israel in a bad position.
The book concludes around 2016 with a lot of discussion of the Iran nuclear threat, the Obama administrations help or non-help.
One of things I found surprising was the lack of public support that Israel had over the decades with a very real and verified threat. For example, the French were supplying everything Iran needed to create a nuclear energy program but insisted the threat to Israel was overblown. European nations allowed terrorist leaders to come and go in their country and then got upset when Israel tried to kill them.
Overall, a great read if you like history, spy stuff, and lots of 'back story'. Boring if you're looking for 700 pages of action, killings and military campaigns.
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