Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations

Ronen Bergman

Jan 2018 · Sold by Random House

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first definitive history of Israel’s targeted killing programs, which have shaped the Israeli nation, the Middle East, and the larger world—from the man hailed by David Remnick as “arguably [Israel’s] best investigative reporter.”

“An exceptional work, a humane book about an incendiary subject . . . full of shocking moments, surprising disturbances in a narrative full of fateful twists and unintended consequences.”—The New York Times

Winner of the National Jewish Book Award in History • Named One of the Ten Best Books of the Year by Jennifer Szalai of The New York Times • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Economist, The New York Times Book Review, BBC History Magazine, and Mother Jones

The Talmud says: “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” This instinct to take every measure, even the most aggressive, to defend the Jewish people is hardwired into Israel’s DNA. From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, protecting the nation from harm has been the responsibility of its intelligence community and armed services, and there is one weapon in their vast arsenal that they have relied upon to thwart the most serious threats: Targeted assassinations have been used countless times, on enemies large and small, sometimes in response to attacks against the Israeli people and sometimes preemptively.

In this page-turning, eye-opening book, journalist and military analyst Ronen Bergman—praised by David Remnick as “arguably [Israel’s] best investigative reporter”—offers a riveting inside account of the targeted killing programs: their successes, their failures, and the moral and political price exacted on the men and women who approved and carried out the missions.

Bergman has gained the exceedingly rare cooperation of many current and former members of the Israeli government, including Prime Ministers Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as high-level figures in the country’s military and intelligence services: the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), the Mossad (the world’s most feared intelligence agency), Caesarea (a “Mossad within the Mossad” that carries out attacks on the highest-value targets), and the Shin Bet (an internal security service that implemented the largest targeted assassination campaign ever, in order to stop what had once appeared to be unstoppable: suicide terrorism).

Including never-before-reported, behind-the-curtain accounts of key operations, and based on hundreds of on-the-record interviews and thousands of files to which Bergman has gotten exclusive access over his decades of reporting, Rise and Kill First brings us deep into the heart of Israel’s most secret activities. Bergman traces, from statehood to the present, the gripping events and thorny ethical questions underlying Israel’s targeted killing campaign, which has shaped the Israeli nation, the Middle East, and the larger world.

Ratings and reviews

Great book definitely very Israeli biased for the most part but I also feel like alot of these stories they feed people to get out there because only the kill missions that were like 20 years or more old so the agents and director of that time are retired The fact that there was no current activities and just a bunch of factual history mixed in with smoke and mirrors tells me that they didn't let him write the book the way he intended cuz he would have dug deep into current events which are not even touched upon They might have threatened his Israeli citizenship if he writes the book without guidance. Israel it is not a free country the state does not allow reporters to report anything that they have not written themselves or if it hasn't been vetted first It's like Russian Propoganda or Chinese gagging their citizens and journalists and Ronnen Bergman was most definitely gagged and had no choice but to follow the road map the Shin bet and Mossad and other heads of state drew up.

Unbiased first hand accounts of the surreptitious Israeli secret forces. Raises moral issues while interweaving important political discourse. One of my all time favorites.

I was reading a fictional stories, the book is not relevant with reality. Delusional author

About the author

Ronen Bergman is the senior correspondent for military and intelligence affairs for Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel’s largest daily paid newspaper, and a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he reports on intelligence, national security, terrorism, and nuclear issues. Bergman is the author of five bestselling Hebrew-language nonfiction books and The Secret War with Iran, which was published in the United States by Free Press. Bergman is the recipient of the Sokolow Prize, Israel’s most esteemed award for journalism, and the B’nai B’rith International Press Award, among other honors. A member of the Israeli bar, he graduated with honors from the University of Haifa Faculty of Law and clerked in the attorney general’s office. A winner of a Chevening Scholarship from the British Foreign Office, he received a master’s in international relations from Cambridge University, where he was also awarded his PhD in history.