Steven, Stewart. The Spymasters of Israel. New York: Ballantine Books, 1982.
400 pages.
Several books in NameBase tell the history of Israel's Mossad, which
is responsible for "foreign intelligence collection, political action and
counterterrorism, ... [and which] conducts agent operations against the Arab
nations and their official representatives and installations, particularly
in Western Europe and the United States." This is from a CIA analysis that
was discovered by Iranian students in Tehran in 1979, and reprinted in
CounterSpy. Former Mossad chief Isser Harel called the CIA document "anti-
Semitic" and a "nightmare" for him, and said that it was "shockingly
irresponsible" for the CIA to keep a document like this "rolling around"
in the U.S. Embassy. Mossad and Shin Beth have only 1,000 staff officers,
but they manage to create more than their fair share of controversy.
Steven's "Spymasters of Israel" reads more like a mass-market thriller
than a scholarly effort, but this British editor conducted over a hundred
interviews and the book holds up fairly well. He is hampered, though, by
his need to protect his sources and his tendency to glorify the exploits
of Mossad agents as they protect "this small and beleaguered nation." In
the end he manages to spin a good story, but fails to contribute to the
international debate on the ethics of Israeli policy.
ISBN 0-345-33927-4
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