The Mossad doesn’t just assassinate. They out-logistic their enemies. They are masters of the "Long Con" on a geopolitical scale. The Verdict: Should you read the PDF? If you download Gideon’s Spies (and I highly recommend the updated editions that go through the 2000s), go in with open eyes. Thomas is a journalist, not a cheerleader. He shows you the successes, but also the catastrophic failures—like the botched hit in Lillehammer, Norway, where they killed an innocent Moroccan waiter, mistaking him for a Black September commander.
Instead of killing Bull (which they eventually did), they needed to stop a shipment of specialized steel pipes. So, a Mossad team—posing as a Swiss shipping company—chartered a freighter, intercepted the pipes in the middle of the Atlantic, and switched the cargo manifest. The Mossad doesn’t just assassinate
In the 1980s, Iraq was building a "supergun" (Project Babylon) to launch satellites—or shells at Tel Aviv. The British engineer, Gerald Bull, was untouchable. So Mossad improvised. The Verdict: Should you read the PDF
The Iraqi ship docked in Kuwait to find... empty containers. The steel was sitting in an Israeli warehouse. The Iraqis never figured out where the ship went for those "lost" 72 hours. He shows you the successes, but also the
What’s interesting isn't the violence—it’s the aftermath . Unlike James Bond, who quips and moves on, Thomas describes how these women often suffered severe psychological fractures. One operative retired to a kibbutz and refused to ever touch a weapon again, haunted by the sound of a target's child crying. The Mossad’s secret history isn't just about victory; it’s about the ghosts that follow the victors. Everyone knows about Entebbe. But Gideon’s Spies details a heist that makes Ocean’s Eleven look like a traffic stop.
Here are three of the most jaw-dropping realities from the book that Hollywood won’t tell you. We all know the story of how Mossad captured Adolf Eichmann in 1960. But Gideon’s Spies reveals the human cost of the spies who made it possible.
Take the case of . He wasn't a saboteur with a laser watch. He was a former German soldier turned Israeli spy who posed as a wealthy, horse-breeding playboy in Egypt. His intelligence on Soviet missiles being shipped to Nasser was invaluable.