Man in the Shadows: Inside the Middle East Crisis with a Man who Led the Mossad

by Efraim Halevy

A gripping inside look at the Middle East and the future of our world from the former director of Israel's Mossad. From Operation Desert Storm to the beginning of US incursions into Iraq, Efraim Halevy was Deputy Director and then Director of Israel's Mossad, arguably the most developed and, sometimes, ruthless intelligence service in the world. MAN IN THE SHADOWS is Halevy's memoir of that period from his vantage point inside the Mossad, as well as a look at what lies ahead for a world transformed by Islamic terrorism. Having served as the secret envoy to Prime Ministers Rabin, Shamir, Netanyahu, Barak and Sharon, Halevy was privy to, and collector of, some of the most sensitive information coming out of the region. Beginning with a prologue that describes a visit he made to Jordan in 1993, Halevy looks back to Desert Storm, an event he calls 'an epic of unfinished business' and brings the reader up to the present day through 9/11 and the WMD crisis in Iraq. Informed by his extraordinary access from the beginning of his Mossad career in 1961, he writes frankly of the Israeli PMs he worked under as well as most of the other major players in the region and around the Yasir Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Hafez Assad, Hosni Mubaraq, Crown Prince Abdullah, Mu'amar Qadaffi, Presidents Clinton and Bush, as well as former CIA director George Tenet and counter-intelligence chief James Angleton. Though Halevy looks to the past, he also looks to the future and talks bluntly about how the world might achieve peace in the region and elsewhere. Much of what he has to say will surprise and shock even those readers well versed in the complexities of the region.

Genres: History, Middle East, Nonfiction, Espionage, Biography, Politics, Military Fiction

Paperback

First published September 5, 2000

Reviews

[زاهي رستم · Rating 2 out of 5]

الكتاب أقل من عادي، وربما قام المؤلف باستكمال دوره حيث نصب رئيساً للموساد لتحسين أداء الجهاز والتقليل من الأخطاء التي ارتكبها من سبقه (كما ورد في الكتاب نفسه)، فعمد إلى تحسين صورة الموساد بعد تركه للعمل الحكومي.. وفاءً له. عندما اقتنيت الكتاب، توقعت وجود الكثير من المعلومات السرية، أو على الأقل التي لا أعرفها.. ولكنني اكتشفت أن معظم المعلومات الواردة يمكن الحصول عليها بتتبع الأخبار في الجرائد اليومية..
بالنسبة للترجمة، أفضل بكثير من الكتب السابقة في نفس المجال.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book focuses as much on the intelligence business as it does on actual Middle East events. Also gets a bit self-congratulatory when he focuses on his role in negotiations and on his way of doing business. Still, pretty interesting to see some of the background info on public events.

[Ramesh Shrestha]

Written by a spy master, so it would be a self praising piece of work and would be one sided; a little more facts and actions can be found in ‘By way of deception’ by Victor Ostrovsky, also an insider of Mossad. It would be interesting to read what Jordan thinks about ‘Man in the Shadows’.

[Owen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halevy is not a great writer. He was a high-ranking Mossad agent. Writing is not what he spent his life doing. He's also the only high-ranking Mossad agent I've read, so he will tell you things other people simply cannot have known. A quick read, well worth your time, if you are interested in a dispassionate depiction of the past few decades of the most famous conflict in history.

[Kareem Al Mokhtar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not know
What is Know Your Enemy on the cover translated version
.....
With my objection on some of the points raised
But the book distinctive
And introduces you to the concept of national security clearly and ways of maintaining it
And how to run the political kitchen

[Muromets · Rating 3 out of 5]

Halevy presents an inside look at the relationship of politicians and intelligence professionals and how the needs, goals, and outcomes of each can require a somewhat delicate balance.

It’s a book that provides a broad stroke history of the major events of the time in the Middle East, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the interplay between both friendly and hostile nations. Broad strokes because stories are generally described in generalities without much emphasis on individual operations or divulging anything overly compromising.

The author paints himself the architect of all that is good and the detractor of all that invariably failed, which at times takes away from the history of events, becoming instead the self-praising history of Halevy’s excellence and accomplishments. It left me with a distinct desire to hear the “other side of the story”, and the contributions others have made.

There is quite a bit of repetition as the story does not follow a linear path, instead focusing on themes, illustrated with Halevy’s anecdotes of major events like the peace treaty with Jordan, the Mashal affair and its aftermath, and his involvement in the change of leadership of Hamas.

A dry but not uninteresting book that gives readers a glimpse into the inner workings (and dysfunctions) of the Mossad.

[Dr. Ziad Abuelrub · Rating 3 out of 5]

الايجابيات: كتاب يتحدث عن سيرة مدير الاستخبارات الاسرائيلي السابق... لغة سلسة وافكار مرتبة... كشف بعض الأسرار عن علاقته بالزعماء العرب........ السلبيات: لم يتم الكشف عن اسرار مهمة... الأجزاء الاخيرة من الكتاب كان فيها الكثير من التكرار

[Stephen Hoffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating insight.

[جميل · Rating 2 out of 5]

العديد من المعلومات الواردة في الكتاب عبارة عن سرد اخباري ممل، وبعضها لا يمكن التأكد منه او مشكوك بصحته، ومعظمها قديم وباهت!
وجدت الكتاب محاولة فاشلة في العلاقات العامة اكثر منه ضمن تصنيف ادبي

[Waleed Al Kharafi · Rating 2 out of 5]

الكتاب ممل جداً، محشو بكلام وقصص لا فائدة من ورائها، ويستثنى من ذلك صفحات قلائل حوت بعض المعلومات التي اوردها المؤلف عن الملك حسين واتفاقية السلام الاردنية الاسرائيلية.

[Shirin Abdel Rahman · Rating 3 out of 5]

رئيس الموساد السابق و محادثاته مع الاردن من أجل السلام.

[آلاء · Rating 3 out of 5]

post a pic

الخبر بتاريخ يناير٢٠٢٤

هذا إفرايم هالفي ناقم على نتنياهو ويطالبه بالرحيل وكان من قبل في كتابه يعلن عن ذكائه وسرعة تصرفه بحكمة وأبدى عدة مرات إعجابه به ..
نعم لم يكن نتنياهو غبيا عنجهيا مثلما هو اليوم لقد قرر يوما ما السير عكس ما أراد الرجال حوله ووافق هالفي على الإفراج عن الشيخ ياسين رحمه الله لضمان مكسب سياسي لإسرائيل، أما اليوم فهو مذعور فاشل يقتل ما شاء الله له القتل قبل أن يلفظ آخر أنفاسه ويواجه حسابه في الدنيا قبل مصيره الأخير..

برغم من عنوان الكتاب المغري إلا إنه كتاب مسالم لا يكشف عن أسرار تخص الموساد أو عملياته على الاقل في سنوات قيادة إفرايم، لكن على الجانب الآخر هناك تفاصيل كثيرة جدا عن الدور السياسي الذي لعبه رجل الموساد في عمليات المفاوضات مع الأردن من أجل توقيع اتفاقية سلام، وأظن الكتاب من اكثر المصادر تفصيلًا في ما يخص علاقة الملك حسين بإسرائيل وصولًا إلى معاهدة سلام وادي عربة.. وكان هذا الجانب من الكتاب مفيد جدا بشكل شخصي..
أما التطرق الأوضح في الكتاب لإحدى عمليات الموساد كان في سرد عملية محاولة اغتيال خالد مشعل والتي انتهت بخروج أحمد ياسين من الأسر مقابل الإفراج عن أعضاء الموساد المحتجزين بالأردن وكانت عملية ظهر على إثرها الملك حسين كبطل وزعيم سياسي (وبغض النظر عن موقفي الثابت من هذا الرجل أو النظام الأردني وعلاقته بإسرائيل، فأنا أقدر بشدة القائد السياسي الذكي وإن اختلفت معه، لأن المزاود لم يبقى عليها اليوم سوى أغبى البقر)

لا يخفى على القارئ الصورة المثالية التي يضفيها الرجل على نفسه فلا أذكر أني قرأت عن اي إخفاقات عملية أو شخصية تخصه ولكنه لم ينس الحديث عن الخصوم الداخلين والدسائس بين الجهات المختلفة في غرف صنع القرار الإسرائيلي باعتبارها أسوأ ما تواجه إسرائيل، أصبحت القيادة السياسية تعد مواطنيها بخرافات تدرك قطاعات مثل الأمن والاستخبارات استحالة تحققها، وبرغم من مرور سنوات على رؤية إفرايم هالفي في هذا الكتاب لحالة الكذب والتلميع هذه الا أنها استمرت ونتائجها الآن أشد وضوحًا

[Ilan Sonsino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, is well-known as one of the most elusive, effective, and deadly secret agent organizations in the world. Many books about the Mossad have been written, but Man in the Shadows is the first one authored by one of the agency’s former directors. In the book, Efraim Halevy recounts various events that took place in the Middle East from the 1960’s to 2006 and the Mossad’s involvement in all of them. Mr. Halevy provides graphic details about significant events, such as the Mossad’s assassination attempt on an Islamic terrorist leader, its operations in Jordan, and its extremely tense relationship with America’s Central Intelligence Agency.
I enjoyed Man in the Shadows for two main reasons. First, the book is written in chronological order, almost like a timeline. This type of writing makes the book easy to read and helps the reader understand the facts and situations that caused and led to subsequent events. The chronology also helps to put occurrences in context based on the time period. Also, I liked that Man in the Shadows is written directly from the point of view of a former director of Mossad. His firsthand, personal involvement in and perspective on the Middle East conflict makes the incredible stories in the book believable and exciting to read.

[Guy Grobler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike many other top ranking Israeli security officials, Efraim Halevy has stayed out of Politics in his career "after life". I wasn't sure what to expect, but at least I know that the book wouldn't be full of political rhetoric in an attempt to gain votes.

The book is actually fantastic, Halevy served in the Mossad for over 30 years, was its head for 5 years and was there to witness (and negotiate on behalf of the Israeli government) during the peace making period in the 90s. As such he offers some fantastic angles on Peace making, and the many (too many) devils that are in the details, crises points and successful points. He also gives insight into the many modern day security problems that our world faces, were there's room for improvement and what potential compromises might be made for peace to break through. The book was written in 2005 but even today is very relevant and some of the predictions given seem to have indeed come to life. Highly recommend you read it.

[Yasser Youssef · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب مميز واعتقد انه من الواجب علينا نقرأ الكتب دي بدل ما نتفرج على رأفت الهجان
الترجمه خنقتني ف بعض مواضع الهامش بالذات وجملة اعرف عدوك في بداية الغلاف كانت ركيكه وغبيه أكتر مما ينبغي
الكاتب رغم انه طلع معاش وبيحكي ف الماضي لكن عارف يقول ايه ايه امتى بإسهاب وامتى يقول المعلومه بشكل مبهم في جمل من عية : عملية سريه - مهمه خاصه ..الخ

[Homer H Blass]

Most interesting book on Israeli relations over the last 10-15 years and the possibllity of a mid east peace.Among other ideas thinks Hamas and Hezbellah could be made as cooperating actors in a permanent middle east peace.

[Ahmed Al-Harban · Rating 3 out of 5]

لن تجد في هذا الكتاب الكثير من الأسرار والتفاصيل التي يتوقعها القارئ، إلا أني أستمتعت بقراءته. أسهب الكاتب في بعض المواضيع.. كتبت مقالاً عنه هنا:

http://alharban.wordpress.com/2013/06...

[Whennen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book, good analysis and different viewpoint than one usually sees. Tells history from the viewpoint of a Mossad agent, I liked it.

[James · Rating 1 out of 5]

No new information, just the official line from the ministry of propaganda.
A couple of books from a mossad agent who defected were infinitely better.

[Adam Crafter · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you'd like to read a slice of history, with real events and real 'spies', You'll love this book.

[Khalaf · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب جميل يتكلم عن رئيس الاستخبارات السابق في الموساد
وفيه الكثير من التجارب و الخفايا

[Melinda]

Setting aside until a later time.

[Vader · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 star - Perfect
4 star - i would recommend
3 star - good
2 star - struggled to complete
1 star - could not finish