RISE AND KILL FIRST - RONEN BERGMAN

You can probably figure out why I decided to read this one. Typically, I, as an Amerikan, focus on Amerikan history and deep politics. If I had all the time in the world I’d dive deeper into what France has done/is doing in Afrika or what the Brits are still up too or how the Chinese and Soviets fit into all of this but I’m only one man, and I have a real job so choices have to be made. Amerika is the hegemon, the great Satan if you will, and I’m in Amerikan so I feel that it behooves me to focus on actions that I have some part in. But, Israel is the little Satan and deeply connected to the US, it’s our unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Middle East, to quote noted friend of Epstien’s RFK jr. and right now they’re preforming a genocide in front of everyone so it seemed as good a time as any to familiarize myself with their history. This book is quite good. Bergman is an Israeli and a journalist who got tremendous access. He is respected enough to get interviews with dozens of Mossad, AMAN, Shin Bet, IDF and political figures in Israel, including several former PMs. He starts before the founding of modern Israel, tracing the way various Jewish militants used assassinations against British forces in what would become Israel. He then thoughtfully and thoroughly traces decades of Israeli efforts to hunt down and assassinate their enemies, both across Israel and then around the world. There are killings in Europe, in Africa and across the Middle East. They send commando teams, lone assassins, and snipers. They use poisons, exploding phones, car bombs, and pioneer the use of drones. Bergman claims that the total figure of assassination operations since Israel's founding is somewhere around 2,7000 with many more than that being killed. You can see how perversely addictive this ability becomes. Israel has very complicated and thorny political issues it needs to sort out, it’s responsible for some monstrous crimes and has opponents who have legitimate positions and goals. But why make concessions and really deal with these complicated concerns when you can just kill your opponents? Especially when you develop the ability to kill basically anyone in the world at any time. There is a dark parallel with the US here, as we can really see how Amerika has being hypnotized by the siren song of drone bombing and commando raiding our way out of every problem, instead of seeking a politica, long-term solution. The perverse irony is now playing out on the news every day. Israel assassinated and kills for decades, taking out leaders and crippling organizations in the hopes that they will prevent a larger-scale war, all while clearly making a war inevitable. They’ve never been more isolated and hated in my lifetime, we’ll see where this goes. There are some choice bits of history in here. I was amazed to read that not only was Fatah’s head of security and Black September member Ali Hassan Salameh a CIA asset, the CIA arranged for him to visit Disneyland on his honeymoon, as a gesture of good will. The Israelis blew him up in Beirut but man, it’s amazing that anyone works with Amerika. Likewise, the book strongly hints that Israel killed Arafat, the author literally writes that he is not really allowed to publish everything he knows after giving us all this circumstantial evidence of Israeli involvement which is quite the accusation. Overall, an amazing book with a harsh lesson.