This book describes the clandestine missions that were defining moments in the evolution of the Mossad, including its pursuit of the Black September terrorists who murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games, its acquisition on the high seas of yellowcake uranium for Israel’s undeclared nuclear weapons program, and its role in bringing to justice Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. The agency’s more questionable deeds are also covered, among them the assassination of civilian scientists associated with Iraq’s nuclear energy program and the abduction of Israeli citizen Mordechai Vanunu, who, like Edward Snowden, has been variously depicted as a principled whistleblower and an unscrupulous traitor. Taken together, the missions discussed in this volume illustrate the Mossad’s character, creativity and courage, while acknowledging the problematical moral dimensions of its operations.

Marc E. Vargo is the author of ten nonfiction books and numerous articles in professional journals. He lives on New Orleans’ Northshore.

Marc E. Vargo
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 308
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2015
pISBN: 978-0-7864-7914-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1966-8
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction  1
Part One: Operation Eichmann  9
1. Adolf Eichmann: The Man, the Manhunt  11
2. Mission: Operation Eichmann  26
3. Trial and Tribulations  60
Part Two: Operation Wrath of God  69
4. The ­Arab-Israeli Conflict and the Black September Organization  71
5. Massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympic Games  91
6. Mission: Operation Wrath of God  116
Part Three: Operation Entebbe  151
7. The Emergence of Skyjacking as a Tool of Palestinian Terrorism  152
8. Mission: Operation Entebbe  161
Part Four: Operation Opera  187
9. Saddam Hussein and the Nuclear Program of Iraq  189
10. Mission: Operation Opera  196
Part Five: Operation Plumbat and the Vanunu Affair  223
11. Israel’s Secret Nuclear Weapons Program  225
12. The Quest for Uranium: Operation Plumbat and the NUMEC Affair  233
13. Mordechai Vanunu: The Seduction of a Nuclear Whistleblower  246
Chapter Notes  275
Bibliography  285
Index  295

“very highly recommended…valued addition”—Midwest Book Review.