Mosad

***.5

The authors are plainly huge fans of the Mossad, and delight in relating the daring tales of spycraft, espionage, assassinations, sabotage, and other secret operations. While they don't refrain from pointing out the mistakes made in botched missions and other operational failures, they never question the validity or usefulness of extrajudicial killings.

What really comes across is the brazen arrogance of both the agents and handlers, as they
gallivant around the world, spending millions show more if not billions of shekels with questionable results, leaving a trail of bodies and diplomatic wreckage in their wake. show less

Narración de las principales (=más espectaculares) misiones del Mossad a lo largo de su historia, desde una perspectiva no ya pro-Mossad, sino ciegamente proisraelí. Los protagonistas de las historias son siempre descritos como gente capaz, competente, fiera, gallarda y abnegada. Los enemigos sólo son descritos por los efectos dañinos para Israel de sus acciones.
El libro es muy interesante y cuenta un montón de historias sobre los métodos de operación del Mossad, que es una leyenda show more entre los servicios secretos. Hay historias como la evacuación de los miles de judíos de Etiopía que son fantásticas, y otras como el sabotaje sistemático del plan nueclar iraní que aún no han acabado pero que ya nos han dejado varias veces con la boca abierta (el autor no habla mucho de Stuxnet, pero léanlo, se lo recomiendo).
En resumen, una lectura interesante aunque demasiado salpicada por las loas y alabanzas al objeto que describe. Pero interesante sin ninguna duda. show less

It was amazing reading the Mossad events/incidents/acts. These could very well be assumed as fictional but alas its true. It indeed was a great read

Goods in the book:
- Varied compilation of events/incidents/actions. The authors don't stick to conventional all daring success stories..there are failure stories and also some civilian story compilation.
- Well researched but just above average presentation.
- Great insight into Israel's intelligence

Bad's in the book:
- The events are not show more chronological. the stories in each chapter jump back and forth in time. Personally i would have preferred ordering the stories in chronologically.
- The presentation is just above average. It could have been made more grippy. show less

This book traces the history of Mossad-probably the best secret service agency in the world-through its many major operations ranging from the rescue of young Jewish girls from Syria to the assassination of Islamic terrorists, from tracking down former Nazi criminals to taking the Ethiopian Jews home to Israel. Each of the missions described in this collection is worth a book on its own. Though the views are biased fully towards Israel, it is good to see that the details of some failed show more missions have also been included. This fast paced book serves as an introduction to the various battles that Israel has been fighting since its creation and the major participants of those battles.
Though the content of this book is gripping, the presentation is not much so. The narrative keeps jumping back and forth in time, making the reader lose the track easily. Also, there are so many names in this book that it is impossible to remember even a fraction of them.
In short, Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service is a great read for people looking to get acquainted with the story of one of the world's greatest intelligence agencies. show less