Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of the Israeli Secret Service

Sidney Allinson is the editor at the Royal Canadian Military Institute
and author of The Bantams: The Untold Story of World War I.

Yesterday’s terrorist sometimes becomes today’s head of state. In
Israel, two prime ministers (who were directors of Mossad en route)
started their political careers as hit-squad leaders: Menachem Begin and
Yitzhak Shamir. Their extremist groups assassinated Swedish Count Folke
Bernadotte, un peace mediator, and killed numerous young women of
Britain’s Auxiliary Territorial Service when the King David Hotel, Tel
Aviv, blew up. This anecdotal book chronicles how Mossad rose from such
sordid origins to become probably the most respected and professional
secret service around. No less an authority than the cia dubbed Mossad
“the best in the world.”

In this book, Melman and Raviv document the evolution of Israeli
Intelligence, and offer some fascinating views of its impressive
performance. Their account describes its beginnings and growth,
including case histories of both triumphs and bunglings, and recent
exposés of cover-ups and scandals. Among other things, it discusses
Mossad’s role in the brilliant rescue raid on Entebbe, the capture of
Adolph Eichmann, and Israel’s 1967 military victory. The authors
reveal Israel’s political power struggles, and also unravel the
difference between the nation’s three security agencies: Mossad, the
foreign intelligence service; Shin Bet, responsible for domestic
security; and Aman, the army intelligence corps.

Several of these accounts of real-life spying read as grippingly as any
Le Carré-style thriller. Highly recommended for serious espionage
buffs.