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By Way of Deception: The Making of a Mossad Officer
by ,
The #1 NY Times bestseller the Israeli foreign intelligence agency, Mossad, tried to ban. By Way of Deception is the true story of an officer in Israel's most secret agency:
Author's Forward
Prologue: Operation Sphinx
Recruitment
School Days
Freshmen
Sophomores
Rookies
The Belgian Table
Hairpiece
Hail & Farewell
Strella
Carlos
Exocet
Checkmate
Helping Arafat
Only in America
Operation M ...more
Author's Forward
Prologue: Operation Sphinx
Recruitment
School Days
Freshmen
Sophomores
Rookies
The Belgian Table
Hairpiece
Hail & Farewell
Strella
Carlos
Exocet
Checkmate
Helping Arafat
Only in America
Operation M ...more
Paperback, 372 pages
Published January 1st 2002 by Wilshire Press Inc. (first published September 1990)
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This book caused a stir on its publication and has largely been forgotten since, but it may never be surpassed as an exposé of a secret service.
Israel's Mossad is regarded as the best in the world, which may not be a flattering remark when you discover what they get up to and how their dynamics work. Don't forget, this is not a democratic organisation and it is the creator of its own claustrophobic trappings. Once you enter you can never leave, but that is precisely what this writer did, and the ...more
Israel's Mossad is regarded as the best in the world, which may not be a flattering remark when you discover what they get up to and how their dynamics work. Don't forget, this is not a democratic organisation and it is the creator of its own claustrophobic trappings. Once you enter you can never leave, but that is precisely what this writer did, and the ...more
2.5 stars. Some parts of this book were really fascinating. I especially liked the recruiment/training section in the early part of the book together with the desciption of how the Mossad is organized. You could tell that these sections were certainly written by someone who knew what they were talking about.
While the "operational" sections were also interesting, I found my enjoyment was hindered by my inability to be certain of the accuracy of the accounts in this section. Even so, it was still ...more
While the "operational" sections were also interesting, I found my enjoyment was hindered by my inability to be certain of the accuracy of the accounts in this section. Even so, it was still ...more
This is a troubling book. By Way of Deception, told to Claire Hoy by former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky, chronicles not only Ostrovsky’s four years in training as an agent for Israel’s elite intelligence agency, but also a variety of related activities occurring both within Israel and throughout the world. Form the picture he paints, it seems that many international crises of the 1970s and 80s involved the Mossad to a much greater extent than anyone – even the Israeli government – was ever awa ...more
It only took me 6 years to finish! I still ask myself why. The first part of the book is riveting. I blew through it. It's all about Ostrovsky's training as a Mossad officer.
Part 2 gets into the operations he and/or the Mossad was involved in. Many of these took place in the 1980s. For some reason, I started to lose interest in Part 2 and eventually put the book down. I think I lost interest because it's difficult to track all the people and places involved, especially since these people are no ...more
Part 2 gets into the operations he and/or the Mossad was involved in. Many of these took place in the 1980s. For some reason, I started to lose interest in Part 2 and eventually put the book down. I think I lost interest because it's difficult to track all the people and places involved, especially since these people are no ...more
The book is thrilling but to what extend it is true... well I don't know. It is meant to be an insider account of the most reputed spy agency in the modern world, the author being an expelled cadet of the agency.
Any experiment in the history of nation building will always be wrapped in colourful packaging of heritage, deeds of heroes from time immemorial, stories of valour, destiny and so on. So was the modern state of Israel. The book, while giving an interesting view of the life of a cadet in ...more
Any experiment in the history of nation building will always be wrapped in colourful packaging of heritage, deeds of heroes from time immemorial, stories of valour, destiny and so on. So was the modern state of Israel. The book, while giving an interesting view of the life of a cadet in ...more
It was one of the first insights in this secret world. Full of details, relatively interesting read.
This is my third book on Mossad, and the whole point of picking it up was to have an alternate view on the agency and how it operates because the other two read like James Bond version of the daring operations. However, the writing was so flat that my interest in the book got lower by the chapter to a point where I just wanted to be done with it.
My American editor gave it to me on my birthday because she thought being an Arab I might be interested to read it. I was a magazine journalist back then.
I found Ostrovsky's book interesting, and an eye-opener. To be honest, I am surprised he lived to tell the tale.
In many ways, this book inspired some of the background research for my thriller novel, Smokescreen, an espionage tale about Singapore's relationship with Israel. The author's title itself gave me ideas.
Years later, I found myself wo ...more
I found Ostrovsky's book interesting, and an eye-opener. To be honest, I am surprised he lived to tell the tale.
In many ways, this book inspired some of the background research for my thriller novel, Smokescreen, an espionage tale about Singapore's relationship with Israel. The author's title itself gave me ideas.
Years later, I found myself wo ...more
May 22, 2008 Erik Graff rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Recommends it for: everyone
Recommended to Erik by: no one
Shelves: political-social-science
In part this book is an autobiography of the author, for several years an officer in the Israeli Mossad, in part it is a history of that intelligence agency for the years of his participation in it, in part it is a critique of the Israeli governmental system which allows its primary intelligence arm to operate without civilian oversight and often contrary to the will of elected officials.
That Ostrovsky was a Mossad officer is not in question. The government of Israel attempted to have this book ...more
That Ostrovsky was a Mossad officer is not in question. The government of Israel attempted to have this book ...more
Been a long time, I wanted to read this book. I read it finally. This is very nice book if you want to know the operations of Mossad from the viewpoint of an insider. The book also details various operations and the training done by Mossad. Mossad itself means 'Institute' in Hebrew. So, they got interesting training techniques. Some operations are really mind blowing. I don't want to post any spoilers. So, I stay away from details here. I liked the recruiting part and re-read it again. Simply ge ...more
...there were sensational details about- Homage to Catalonia
secret messages in invisible ink, a mysterious document signed with the
letter N. (standing for Nin), and so on and so forth.
I began reading this shortly after finishing The CIA And The Cult Of Intelligence. Besides being both about spies and spying, the books are more closely aligned as they purport to be whistleblower documents; a sort of act of civil disobedience to protest intelligence agency overreach. However both now -- and more ...more
First part - good, insightful and educational.
Second part - maybe interesting for people who actively followed global politics 30-40 years ago, for me, utterly boring.
Five stars for "red pill factor". Societies need more knowledge like that to work more efficiently.
Second part - maybe interesting for people who actively followed global politics 30-40 years ago, for me, utterly boring.
Five stars for "red pill factor". Societies need more knowledge like that to work more efficiently.
Starts off wonderfully and ends like a boring encyclopedia of names, dates and locations
So Interesting
Great content, well told, but not well edited. That made reading a bit tough, but the subject matter more than made up for it.
Great content, well told, but not well edited. That made reading a bit tough, but the subject matter more than made up for it.
I found it fascinating & very readable, well written. Given current events I think I'd like to re-read it. The discussion about the Kennedy assassination was especially interesting
Fascinating, chilling, and depressing all at the same time.
Comes with handy org charts and diagrams.
Comes with handy org charts and diagrams.
A failed attempt to be a bombastic book
This book came out in 1990, and I've been sort of half-assedly planning on reading it ever since. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. The main problem is that the author doesn't differentiate between his own experiences and things he's reporting from other sources; it becomes fairly obvious when you're reading it that most of the material is lifted -- whether from rumor, innuendo, scuttlebutt or legitimate reporting in other sources, I don't have the foggiest idea, because Ostrovsky's g ...more
For those who are interested in Mossad, its structure, the training of agents, the previous operations and the surrounding politics, this is an informative account of the foreign intelligency agency written by an ex Mossad officer. Many details emerge around the structure of the organisation, and the activities carried out by some sections. The author provides a detailed account of how agents are recuited and trained. Several operations are also mentioned at length, providing the reader with a c ...more
I found this book under my car seat after taking a bunch of books from the "Can Man's" apartment to Pennies for Change. It had fallen out of a torn bag and hidden itself apparently just for me and the trip to Asheville I was just about to take. Written in 1990 it was the inside story of the goings on, the machinations, of the Israeli Mossad. The author was a Mossad "katsa" or recruiting officer of which at that time there were only about 35 in the world. The book is a fascinating glimpse of the ...more
Written by an ex-Mossad 'katsa', this book details everything about Mossad. Starting from the hierarchy of Mossad to the intricate details of how Mossad officers are trained - in communications, intelligence gathering activities, conducting operations and hiring recruits.
The author got 'burned' during one of the operations and therefore provides details of the operations that Mossad had conducted in the past, details of which he could gather during his training from the Mossad computer at the M ...more
The author got 'burned' during one of the operations and therefore provides details of the operations that Mossad had conducted in the past, details of which he could gather during his training from the Mossad computer at the M ...more
Aug 13, 2007 Dan rated it liked it · review of another edition
Recommends it for: Jews, Isrealis, People interested in the Middle East
"By way of Deception you shall make war."
This is the allegedly true story of a former Mossad Agent. It is packed with very interesting information. There are inside accounts of how the Mossad goes about recruiting and getting intelligence. It shows a highly effective government agency and casts a lot of criticism on their actions and motivations. This book is very critical of the Mossad and Victor Ostrovsky is considered a criminal in Israel.
This book is very interesting, it was amusing to read. ...more
This is the allegedly true story of a former Mossad Agent. It is packed with very interesting information. There are inside accounts of how the Mossad goes about recruiting and getting intelligence. It shows a highly effective government agency and casts a lot of criticism on their actions and motivations. This book is very critical of the Mossad and Victor Ostrovsky is considered a criminal in Israel.
This book is very interesting, it was amusing to read. ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
It's hard to avoid the suspicion that this book was at least partially written with the motive of revenge in mind. Victor Ostrovsky claims to have been a katsa (a case officer in the Mossad) who was run out of Israeli intelligence because he ran afoul of the wrong people, and it is very clear, at the least, that he still nurses a powerful grudge. Depending on who you ask, Ostrovsky is either dead on, or a self-aggrandizing jerk who wasn't all that important to the Mossad and made a bunch of stuf ...more
The insider info on the Mossad was really interesting. He also tells about Jewish attitudes of themselves and Arabs which explains quite a bit in the wider conflict...
The details were amazing- For example, I couldn't believe we are supposed to be friends and in 1982 when our Marine barracks were bombed in Beiruit, they didn't give us a heads up, but went on full alert themselves.
There's tons more like that. Makes you wonder why we have such a friendly relationship and why we take their side in t ...more
The details were amazing- For example, I couldn't believe we are supposed to be friends and in 1982 when our Marine barracks were bombed in Beiruit, they didn't give us a heads up, but went on full alert themselves.
There's tons more like that. Makes you wonder why we have such a friendly relationship and why we take their side in t ...more
great read, i found the evolution of a recruit to case officer fascinating as well as the technical aspects and breakdown of an organization that has very little known about it to be educational. Although it would be sufficient to assume that after a book such as this is printed major internal changes must have taken place within such an organization. But as most conspirators state Mossad may have planted the entire thing, which there is always a chance of. Nevertheless I found the authors viewp ...more
I started reading this book late last year and only just managed to finish it. Whenever I took this book with me in public, people seemed to feel the need to stop me and tell me their thoughts on the Mossad. It seems like everyone has a strong opinion one way or another and while I appreciated this, I just wanted to read my book in peace. Eventually I put it down and started taking more neutral books out and about with me. Nevertheless, I did like this book. There are certain revelations which, ...more
Nothing surprising here but still interesting. You can't know how much is simply complaints from a disgruntled person who was fired or how much was an accurate portrayal. Probably a combination, of course.
It took me much too long to realize the foibles and the internal politics of large organizations are very disappointing but it is the rarely different. The question is how counterproductive the condition is.
That is likely one of the main reasons most people working in them do not like their jo ...more
It took me much too long to realize the foibles and the internal politics of large organizations are very disappointing but it is the rarely different. The question is how counterproductive the condition is.
That is likely one of the main reasons most people working in them do not like their jo ...more
Quite an interesting read. But the author's critique of the Mossad appears to be fueled by the hurt he still bears from his maltreatment by the agency. Also, in contrasting the Mossad and the CIA he appears to naively paint the CIA in a better light- every intelligence agency in the world is full of dark secrets. Because the primary job of every intelligence agency is to carry out the 'dirty' work no one else would do so that the rest of the population can live their 'normal' lives. One wonders ...more
Hard to like this book.
While I found the recruiting and training parts of the book fascinating (and more than a little shocking and somewhat offputting), the book is poorly written.
The motivation of the author is clearly revenge, despite his attempts as coming across as a righteous whistleblower.
One must wonder if this book would ever have been written had he had an opportunity to climb upward in the hierarchy of power.
And the disclosures of abuse of power? Duh. What else is new.
While I found the recruiting and training parts of the book fascinating (and more than a little shocking and somewhat offputting), the book is poorly written.
The motivation of the author is clearly revenge, despite his attempts as coming across as a righteous whistleblower.
One must wonder if this book would ever have been written had he had an opportunity to climb upward in the hierarchy of power.
And the disclosures of abuse of power? Duh. What else is new.
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| mossad | 2 | 16 | Apr 22, 2007 10:08AM |
