The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism

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 citizens through unwise, intelligence-based interventions. The elimination of hundreds of Palestinians has not decreased the incidence of Palestinian terrorism, for example. In fact, these incidents have become more lethal than ever, and there is ample evidence to suggest 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 intelligence community and its elite units is fundamentally flawed. Pedahzur explores these issues 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. A complex synthesis of memoir, academic research, and print and online sources, Pedahzur’s study brings a rare transparency to Israel’s counterterrorist activities, highlighting their successes and failures and the factors contributing to these results. From the foundations of his analysis, he builds a strategy for future confrontations that are relevant not only to Israel but to other countries that have adopted its intelligence-based model.