Overview

While Mossad is known as one of the world's most successful terrorist-fighting organizations, the state of Israel has, more than once and on many levels, risked the lives of its agents and soldiers through unwise intelligence-based intervention. The elimination of Palestinian leaders and militants has not decreased the incidence of Palestinian terrorism, for example. In fact, these incidents have become more lethal than ever, and ample evidence suggests that the actions of Israeli intelligence have fueled terrorist activities across the globe. An expert on terror and political extremism, Ami Pedahzur argues that Israel's strict reliance on the elite units of the intelligence community is fundamentally flawed. A unique synthesis of memoir, academic research, and information gathered from print and online sources, Pedahzur's complex study explores this issue through Israel's past encounters with terrorists, specifically hostage rescue missions, the first and second wars in Lebanon, the challenges of the West Bank and Gaza, Palestinian terrorist groups, and Hezbollah. He brings a rare transparency to Israel's counterterrorist activities, highlighting their successes and failures and the factors that have contributed to these results. From the foundations of this analysis, Pedahzur ultimately builds a strategy for future confrontation that will be relevant not only to Israel but also to other countries that have adopted Israel's intelligence-based model.

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Reviews

[Pedahzur's] insights are so well reasoned and relevant that the pages almost turn themselves. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) [A] superb examination of Israel's secret services. -- Daniel Byman, New York Post More than entertaining spy stories... this book will be a great aid to other Western countries around the world struggling to confront terror. -- Jewish Book World [Pedahzur] offers a brilliant description of Israel's fight against terrorism from 1948 to the present. -- Seth J. Frantzman, The Jerusalem Post A fascinating history of counterterrorism by Israeli security agencies... Highly recommended. -- Choice

Author Information

Ami Pedahzur is an associate professor in the Departments of Government and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He serves as associate editor of the journal Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. His books include Suicide Terrorism and The Israeli Response to Jewish Extremism and Violence: Defending Democracy.

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