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

(Paperback)

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

AN ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR

'A gripping investigation of Israel's assassination policy' Sunday Times

'Remarkable' Observer

'Riveting' Daily Mail

'Compelling' John le Carre

Shortlisted for the Airey Neave Memorial Book Prize

From the very beginning of its statehood in 1948, the instinct to take every measure to defend the Jewish people has been hardwired into Israel's DNA. This is the riveting inside account of the targeted assassinations that have been used countless times, on enemies large and small, sometimes in response to attacks against the Israeli people and sometimes pre-emptively.

RISE AND KILL FIRST counts their successes, failures and the moral and political price exacted on those who carried out the missions which have shaped the Israeli nation, the Middle East and the entire world.

'Exciting, sometimes moving and always considered ... a stunning feat of research and a riveting read' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times

Reviews

Ronen Bergman has set out in incontestable detail the history and scale of Israel's use of extrajudicial killing as an instrument of defense and foreign policy. His material is stark and sensational, but he steers a steady course through it, even pausing along the way to debate the effectiveness and morality of his subject. The result is a compelling read whatever your point of view. - John le Carre

A gripping investigation of Israel's assassination policy - Sunday Times

Remarkable - Observer

A masterpiece! Only Ronen Bergman's extraordinary research could have achieved it - Christopher Andrew, author of 'The Defence of the Realm: The Authorised History of MI5'

Exciting, sometimes moving and always considered...Not only is Bergman's book a stunning feat of research and a riveting read, it is also testament to the author's personal courage - Sunday Times

The Israeli government did its best to prevent Bergman from writing this ...fascinating new book about the history of Israeli assassinations, published during Israel's seventieth anniversary year. Rise and Kill First not only sheds light on that most secretive of subjects, Israel's intelligence services, but also has wider significance: how and why a state uses extra-judicial killing, and the consequences of doing so. - TLS

Terrific ... It's easy to understand why Bergman's book is already a bestseller. It moves at a torrid pace and tells stories that would make Jason Bourne sit up and say 'Wow!' It is smart, thoughtful and balanced. - The New York Times Book Review

An exceptional work, a humane book about an incendiary subject - New York Times

Author Bio

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.