The Israeli Secret Services and the Struggle Against Terrorism

by Ami Pedahzur

Overview

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 agents and soldiers through unwise intelligence-based intervention. The elimination of Palestinian leaders and militants has not decreased the incidence of Palestinian terrorism, for example. In fact, these incidents have become more lethal than ever, and ample evidence suggests 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 elite units of the intelligence community is fundamentally flawed. A unique synthesis of memoir, academic research, and information gathered from print and online sources, Pedahzur's complex study explores this issue 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. He brings a rare transparency to Israel's counterterrorist activities, highlighting their successes and failures and the factors that have contributed to these results. From the foundations of this analysis, Pedahzur ultimately builds a strategy for future confrontation that will be relevant not only to Israel but also to other countries that have adopted Israel's intelligence-based model.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231140430
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	09/07/2010
Series:	Columbia Studies in Terrorism and Irregular Warfare
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ami Pedahzur is professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. His books include Jewish Terrorism in Israel (with Arie Perliger), Suicide Terrorism, and The Israeli Response to Jewish Extremism and Violence: Defending Democracy.

Table of Contents

List of Figures VII

Acknowledgments IX

Introduction 1

1 The Emergence of Israel's Counterterrorism Doctrine 14

2 The Path to the Defensive Model and Back 30

3 Rescuing Hostages 47

4 The Lebanese Puzzle 66

5 New Challenges From the West Bank and Gaza 75

6 The Global Challenge of Iran and Hezbollah 83

7 New Rivals, Old Responses 94

8 A War Against an Elusive Enemy 111

9 The Second Lebanon War and Beyond 128

10 Fighting The Terrorism Plague 135

Notes 151

Glossary 187

Index 201

What People are Saying About This

Gabriel Ben-Dor

A most valuable addition to the growing literature on the quest for a proper response to contemporary terrorism. Ami Pedahzur's analysis is responsible, balanced, and sober. It assesses the successes and failures of Israel against the background of manifold practical constraints and limitations, while anchoring the assessment in the most up-to-date contemporary social science theories. The result is a very fine book, which in fact goes beyond the existing parameters of antiterrorism as understood in Israel and also many other democracies.

— Gabriel Ben-Dor, National Security Studies Center, University of Haifa

Bruce Hoffman

Replete with detail, vignettes, and insights, this book provides a unique inside account of the Israeli intelligence and security services' sixty-year-long struggle against terrorism. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative depiction and analysis of this struggle currently available in the English language.

— Bruce Hoffman, author of Inside Terrorism

Editorial Reviews

A succinct but thoroughly researched account of how Israel's security agencies have sought to defeat terrorist organizations from the pre-state Yishuv to events following the 2006 war with Hezbollah. After examining the historical record, Ami Pedahzur concludes that the application of defensive measures has proved more successful in deterring terrorist attacks than 'targeted killings' and other forms of warlike measures.

Leonard Weinberg

A fascinating history of counterterrorism by Israeli security agencies... Highly recommended.

Choice

the book sheds a great deal of light on the activities of counterterrorism organizations that mostly operate in the shadows and on the seemingly haphazard ways counterterrorism policy is formulated in times of crisis.

Shofar - Aaron M. Hoffman

[Pedahzur] offers a brilliant description of Israel's fight against terrorism from 1948 to the present.

The Jerusalem Post - Seth J. Frantzman

"The Israeli Secret Services & the Struggles Against Terrorism" is a fine read and solidly recommended.

James A. Cox

[A] superb examination of Israel's secret services.

New York Post - Daniel Byman

More than entertaining spy stories... this book will be a great aid to other Western countries around the world struggling to confront terror.

Jewish Book World

the book sheds a great deal of light on the activities of counterterrorism organizations that mostly operate in the shadows and on the seemingly haphazard ways counterterrorism policy is formulated in times of crisis.

— Aaron M. Hoffman

Shofar

The Israeli Secret Services & the Struggles Against Terrorism is a fine read and solidly recommended.

— James A. Cox

Midwest Book Review

[Pedahzur] offers a brilliant description of Israel's fight against terrorism from 1948 to the present.

— Seth J. Frantzman

The Jerusalem Post

[A] superb examination of Israel's secret services.

— Daniel Byman

New York Post

As the U.S. has grappled with the specter and reality of terrorism, American leaders have routinely consulted with Israel's experts to fashion a similar offensive approach to extremists. But Israeli author Pedahzur (Violence: Defending Democracy) makes a compelling case for one inconvenient if underreported fact: Israel's approach hasn't worked. Dividing the potential responses to terrorism into four categories (defensive, reconciliatory, criminal -justice and war), the author tracks the development of an Israeli war model and demonstrates that rather than sending terrorists running, the approach "leads to an escalating cycle of terrorism," citing many examples in which Israel's elimination of threats has created the impetus for more violence. This book makes an excellent case that the war model "is flawed not only because it undermines civil liberties... but also because it is simply unsuitable for the challenge of terrorism and causes the security establishment to deviate from dealing with other, more imminent threats." While Pedahzur's style leans toward the dryly academic, his insights are so well reasoned and relevant that the pages almost turn themselves. (Feb.)

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Publishers Weekly

Ami Pedahzur has written an astute, well-documented, and compelling analysis of Israel's reliance on the 'war model' to combat terrorism. Israel's political and military leaders were consistently unable to resist the temptation of dramatic and costly uses of force when modest defensive or conciliatory measures were preferable. This lesson should not be lost on any national policymaker confronted by terrorism.

Martha Crenshaw