Mossad Psychiatrist Speaks of Operatives’ Recruitment Process April 2013 “The most difficult to foresee is the ability to deal with failure,” a well known Israeli psychiatrist said to me over coffee.“Some of them come to us with genuine confidence; others may exhibit it but really depend on ‘The Job’ to bolster their self esteem, to
Investigating the Story of Prisoner X March 31, 2013 In mid 2010, a source told me that a ‘Prisoner X’ was confined in seclusion in Ayalon prison, his name unknown even to my source, but rumour amongst Mossad employees was that he’s an Australian who served in an extremely sensitive position until he turned out
The New York Times Magazine, January 13, 2013 It is a pleasure to spend time with this man, whom David Ben-Gurion took under his wing when he was a young kibbutz youth movement leader and who became a top arms procurement official of the Israeli defense establishment at the age of 24. Soon after that
New York Times, International Herald Tribune, November 17, 2012 Israel should refer to targeted assassinations as the harshest punishment in a penal “toolbox,” then, as in every penal system in the world, using it too often will not serve well as deterrence. While Israel has an abundant history of liquidating enemy leaders by pin-point attacks,
Bloomberg View, Oct 24, 2012 Ever since it forced the Israelis’ panicky retreat from Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah has been building up an immense military force, with firepower that 90 percent of the world’s countries don’t possess. The militia’s war doctrine is based on the assumption that Israel is hypersensitive to civilian casualties, that it
The New York Times Magazine – July 25, 2012 This may sounds like a sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” but the mystery surrounding the Aleppo codex is rooted in reality. Who holds the missing pages of the Volume to which countless blessings and curses have been attributed, perhaps in connection to the mysterious marking
Der Spiegel June 3, 2012 Israel’s German-supplied and partly German-financed fleet of nuclear submarines is equipped with nuclear missiles. And Germany has long known this is the case, but has chosen not to publicize the fact. The missiles can be launched by a hitherto secret hydraulic launch system. According to a special report written by
The New York Times Magazine – January 29, 2012 This investigative piece, published as the cover story of The New York Times Magazine in late-January 2012, marked the first time that Israel’s decision makers spoke for the record on Israel’s decision to attack Iran and on the questions that they ask themselves when they set
Der Spiegel - January 17, 2012 An unexplained fire, disappearing scientists and attacks on prominent Iranian nuclear experts: The Israeli secret service Mossad seems to be waging a shadowy war on Tehra n’s nuclear program. Will it be enough to stop Iran’s alleged drive to develop atomic weapons? A cover story in Der Spiegel, Germany’s most important
The New York Times Magazine – November 9, 2011 This New York Times Magazine cover story dealt with one of the most delicate issues in Israel – the price the country is willing to pay in order to get its POWs home, alive or dead. It explains the unbelievable exchange in which a single Israeli