7.8 /10 1 Votes
Country United States Publication date 1990 ISBN 0-9717595-0-2 Originally published 1990 Page count 372 Subject Mossad | 3.9/5 Goodreads Language English Pages 372 OCLC 52617140 Publisher St. Martin's Press | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Followed by The Other Side of Deception Similar Victor Ostrovsky books, Israel books, Middle East books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer is a nonfiction book by a former katsa (case officer) in the Israeli Mossad, Victor Ostrovsky.
Contents
Title
The title of the book is what Ostrovsky alleges to be the English translation of the former motto of the Mossad, a phrase from Proverbs 24:6, be-tahbūlōt ta`aseh lekhā milkhamāh (Hebrew: בתחבולות תעשה לך מלחמה).
Ostrovsky has stated that his name is not a pen name, and that if he wanted to hide, he would not have written the book in the first place.
Summary
The book starts with Victor's service in the Israeli Defense Forces, when, after taking psychological and other preliminary tests, he rejects a potential job as a Mossad assassin, but accepts a training katsa position.
He specifically addresses the suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine compound in Beirut that killed several hundred U.S. Marines in Lebanon. He says Mossad learned of the time and location of the attack in advance through its network of informants, but only told the Americans general information, without the specifics.
He attributes trafficking heroin as a source of raising funds for operations that were outside government regulation. He blames Mossad for assassinating Khadir, a PLO diplomat sent by Arafat to start peace negotiations with the Israeli government to prevent an invasion of Lebanon, as such action would promote an Israeli invasion of Lebanon to wipe out the PLO.
His disillusionment grows, culminating in retirement after being scapegoated for a failed attempt at capturing top PLO officials.
The second half alleges other operations between 1971 and 1985, such as Operation Sphinx where Iraqi nuclear scientists were recruited while in France to gather information about Iraq's nuclear reactor Osiraq, ultimately ending with the Israeli air strike in 1981.
Israeli litigation
In 1990, Israel tried to stop the book sale with a preliminary injunction, arguing that publication would "endanger agents in the field". This was the first (and to date, only) attempt of a sovereign state to stop a book publication in the United States. Lawyers for Israel convinced Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael J. Dontzin to issue the injunction, preventing the publication and distribution of By Way of Deception.
On Sept. 13, less than 48 hours after the injunction was issued, an appeals court threw it out. For the week of 7 October 1990, the New York Times best seller list rated the book #1 on its non-fiction list.