Shahriar Feroze reviews brilliance, notoriety and the ingenious traits of the world’s pre-eminent intelligence agency....
Mossad
or “the institute” – if translated literally, is that formidable
Israeli Secret Service which needs no introduction. And this is the
first time that 21 of its greatest missions have found their way to the
public domain.
Apart
from the lone story of capturing the infamous Nazi criminal Adolf
Eichmann, this reviewer too, didn’t know almost anything about the other
missions. Each of the missions has been described in the fashion of a
suspense story. Pick any one, and it can be guaranteed that you won’t be
able to put the book down until it’s finished. The book’s core strength
is: earth- shattering real facts of the Mossad has been exposed through
glib investigative journalism by authors Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim
Mishal.
In
the world of international espionage, intelligence, and covert
"Black-Ops" it’s not Fleming’s James Bond but the agents of Mossad that
truly functions with the ‘Licence to kill ’. May be fictitious, but the
difference here is that Bond had to be officially recognised with the
licence and the Mossad agent inherits it – as if a birthright.
Impeding
and slowing down the Iranian nuclear programme while killing its
scientists, obtaining Nikita Khrushchev’s secret speech; assassinating
the PLO leader Ali Hassan Salameh; employing Gamal Abdel Nasser’s
son-in-law as a double agent; stealing a Mig-21fighter jet from Iraq
some ten months prior the Six-Day War; blowing up Syrian nuclear
reactor; laying honey traps and assassinating Hezbollah leaders in
foreign countries – all speaks of a terrifying secret organisation
–Mossad. Its boundary is not restricted and it’s also devoid of ethics
or any form of morals. Having read all the missions, it became clear:
Mossad’s ultimate goal is to crush anything that’s anti-Zionist in
nature. In times, propagate falsehood and create intrigue. And also, if
necessary, destroy peace.
This
reviewer unhesitatingly envied some of Mossad’s creative techniques in
the field of Intelligence and Special Operations. He was also shocked
when he discovered how Mossad has been granted an ‘unauthorised
impunity’ by many western democratic nations. An exciting feature of the
book is that it analyses and details Mossad’s leadership in all of the
chapters. The Mossad chief is usually referred as the Ramsad. In the list of Ramsads
Meir Dagan is perhaps Mossad’s most successful director in recent
times. Held office from 2002- 10, Dagan was responsible for
intelligence, counter-intelligence, and counter-terrorism activities
outside of Israel and the Palestinian Territories. He is widely believed
to order the killings of Arabs, anti-Jewish subjects and terrorists on
foreign soil. It needs be known that, the state of Israel functions in a
contradictory situation of not having a law for awarding death penalty,
so it allows itself to target suspected Arab terrorists and
anti-Zionists outside its borders. It’s Dagan who subscribed and had
begun to operate in line with this thinking. So By November 2004, at
least four foreign terrorists as reported by Israel had already been
killed in its operations while three major terrorist attacks planned
against Israeli civilians abroad had been foiled.
However, among the chapters it’s the story of Elie Cohen, an Egyptian Jew in chapter nine titled our man in Damascus
that appeared the most revealing about the functions of an Israeli spy
in the 60’s. Cohen’s tactics to build relations with Syrian high-ranked
politicians, military officials, influential public figures and local
foreign diplomatic community, had been carefully masterminded by Mossad.
It even beats the suspense of the most well crafted spy thriller.
Cohen
provided considerable amount of intelligence data to the Israeli Army
over a period of four years (1961-1965). He transmitted intelligence to
Israel by radio, secret letters, in person, and also secretly by
travelling to Israel three times while stationed in Syria. His spying
success peaked when he toured the Golan Heights. Cohen collected
military installation reports there. Faking sympathy for the soldiers
for being exposed to the sun, Cohen had trees planted at every position.
The Syrians obeyed but trees were actually used as targeting markers by
the Israeli military during the Six-Day War which enabled Israel to
capture the Golan Heights in just two days.
In
an attempt to identify the high-level mole (Cohen) within the
government, the Syrians deployed Soviet-made tracking equipment operated
and assisted by hired Soviet experts. In order to track illegal radio
transmissions a period of radio silence was observed when Cohen was busy
transmitting. Thus, he was caught. After a trial before a military
tribunal, he was found guilty of espionage and sentenced to death under
then Syrian martial law. He was repeatedly interrogated and tortured.
Israel even staged an international campaign for clemency, hoping to
persuade the Syrians not to execute him but all went in vain. On 18 May
1965, Cohen was publicly hanged at the Marjeh Square in Damascus. Spying
is indeed dangerous business.
However,
in tune with the Israeli President Shimon Peres “ This book tells what
should have been known and isn't—that Israel's hidden force is as
formidable as its recognized physical strength.” But what Peres forgot
to add is that “the book is heavily prejudiced.” Most of the stories not
only vilifies Muslims as terrorists but says nothing of Israeli
atrocities on Palestine and indirectly justifies many of the killings
carried out by Mossad. Nevertheless, most of the missions covered in the
book are against the surrounding Muslim states and with much regret
there isn’t a ‘well managed and ruthlessly efficient Muslim Intelligence
agency’ capable to counter the Mossad. Perhaps the lesson should be
drawn from here.
It’s
not in the book but read somewhere how the Mossad had come to alert our
late President Zia-ur-Rahman about an approaching military coup in
Bangladesh while he was on a state visit to Egypt. This was to give an
idea about Mossad’s far-flung awareness about its operations in Muslim
countries spread across the globe.
Read,
enjoyed and envied to know about the world’s most eminent intelligence
agency. Apart from intelligence aficionados our intelligence community
too can obtain valuable information from it. The book also contains a
set of colour and black and white photos relating to some key missions
and Mossad functionaries. Published by HarperCollins the 388 page book
sadly hasn’t reached our stores as yet but is available in most
bookshops in India. It’s priced at RS 999.
