Harpoon: Inside the Covert War Against Terrorism's Money Masters

by Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Samuel M. Katz

Overview

A revelatory account of the cloak-and-dagger Israeli campaign to target the finances fueling terror organizations—an effort that became the blueprint for U.S. efforts to combat threats like ISIS and drug cartels.

ISIS boasted $2.4 billion of revenue in 2015, yet for too long the global war on terror overlooked financial warfare as an offensive strategy. "Harpoon," the creation of Mossad legend Meir Dagan, directed spies, soldiers, and attorneys to disrupt and destroy money pipelines and financial institutions that paid for the bloodshed perpetrated by Hamas, Hezbollah, and other groups. Written by an attorney who worked with Harpoon and a bestselling journalist, Harpoon offers a gripping story of the Israeli-led effort, now joined by the Americans, to choke off the terrorists' oxygen supply, money, via unconventional warfare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316399050
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	11/07/2017
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner is an Israeli activist and attorney. As the founder and director of the Israel Law Center, Shurat Ha'Din, based outside Tel Aviv, she has represented hundreds of terror victims in lawsuits.

Samuel M. Katz is the co-author of the New York Times bestseller Under Fire: The Untold Story of the Attack in Benghazi and author of The Ghost Warriors. He is based in New York.

Table of Contents

Author's Note ix

Preface xi

Part I The Palestinians

1 The Tourists from the Windy City 3

2 Da'wa 17

3 Closed Accounts 34

4 The Head of the Table 44

5 Khalas 54

6 Money Kills 71

7 Blood Money 85

8 Operation Green Lantern 97

9 The Letter of the Law 113

10 The Higher Cost of Murder 127

Part II The Party of God and the Devil's Portfolio

11 The Party of God 139

12 Greed 158

13 The Cocaine Jihadis 177

14 Follow the Money 196

15 Malware and Moles 206

16 Lawyers, Guns, and Money 220

Part III Legacy

17 We Cannot Confirm or Deny 239

18 The Final Victories of an Old Soldier 261

19 Operation Pegasus 276

20 Money in the Crosshairs 282

Afterword 295

Acknowledgments 303

Notes 309

Index 325

Editorial Reviews

"It's a cliché after Watergate that the key investigation in most circumstances is to 'follow the money' (in the words of Deep Throat). This is the story of how Mossad led this movement and substantially effected investigations of terrorism and similarly important matters and how this influenced the CIA's later work in the same field. Bravo Mossad! Thanks for leading the way."—R. James Woolsey, CIA Director (1993-95)

"The riveting and untold story of the intelligence task force that launched a dynamic new front in the war on terror. A thrill ride with one of the most important Israeli start-ups of them all."—Tamir Pardo, Director of the Mossad (2011-1016)

"Money drives terrorism. If funding is cut, terrorism is reduced. A groundbreaking look at how spies, soldiers, statesmen, and lawyers waged a relentless campaign to dry up the financial streams that funded terrorism against Israel and the United States. A great read about a compelling issue."—Professor AlanDershowitz, leading civil rights attorney

"Harpoon is interesting and insightful. It is a deep dive into the world of espionage and covert operations that takes the reader from the streets of Israel to the finance district of New York City. One of Harpoon's best aspects is giving us a look at the leaders inside the unit. Instead of simply reading about the incidents, we get to feel connected to the men and women who put their lives on the line in the battle against radical Islam."—DailyWire

"Harpoon reads like a fast-paced thriller novel.... Harpoon superbly outlines how Israel became the preeminent authority in fighting terrorism by attacking its sources of income.... This book must be considered required reading for anyone considering a career in counter-terrorism—or for anyone wanting real insight into how our world works, and what can be done about it."—The American Spectator

"This book is Start Up Nation all over again, only this time the ingenuity, innovation and flexibility of mind is not about technology but about fighting terror."—Jewish Journal

"Highly revealing.... One of the best books on best practices in countering terrorists."—Washington Times

"A fascinating read."—The Tower

"Gripping.... This fascinating book about the intelligence and legal war against terror is a must-read."—Jewish Press

From the Publisher

2017-09-04
The U.S. and other powers are battling terrorist organizations militarily—but also fiscally, cutting off funding sources and intercepting the flow of money into enemy hands.As Israeli attorney and activist Darshan-Leitner and New York-based author Katz (The Ghost Warriors: Inside Israel's Undercover War Against Suicide Terrorism, 2016, etc.) write, the business of espionage is popularly imagined to feature James Bond-like heroes. However, "the day-to-day unreported grind of gathering, analyzing, and acting on intelligence is what allows people to sleep soundly in their beds." One aspect of this intelligence work, in the case of several terrorist organizations, has been to identify and neutralize the financial brains behind the operation, the men who know the passwords and routing numbers. As is so often the case in matters of terrorism, the Israelis are several steps ahead of everyone else; at the center of the story stands a Mossad officer named Meir Dagan, who assembled a team of talented intelligence workers with an eye to tracking down where the funds for groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaida were coming from. Their operating thesis—that "there were no longer any white-collar jobs in the terrorist organization"—meant that such financial officers were fair game for assassination, and organizations whose accountants were "spectacularly killed," as the authors gamely note, found it harder than before to recruit successors for men who "were not replaced with a job posting on craigslist." The narrative centers on Israeli operations, which favor surgical strikes on selective targets, unlike the brute-force American preference for carpet bombing and such; the authors do note, however, that American tactics have increasingly shifted to finding financiers in an effort to "follow the money, devalue the money, seize the money, and kill the money." It's not exactly le Carré, but solid reporting and analysis meet a good sense of narrative, making this book more fluent and less dismal than its subject might suggest.

Kirkus Reviews