An assessment of Israel's state-sponsored assassination programs that evaluates the protective beliefs that are instituted into every Israeli citizen, the role of assassination in the state's history, and the ethical challenges of Israel's policies on targeted killings.
...from the looks of Rise and Kill First, he knows more than he’s supposed to ... What follows is an exceptional work, a humane book about an incendiary subject. Blending history and investigative reporting, Bergman never loses sight of the ethical questions ... far from an apologia. If anything, Bergman suggests that Israel’s honed aptitude for clandestine assassinations led the country to rely on them to a fault, approaching some complex strategic and political concerns as problems that an extrajudicial killing could fix ... This book is full of shocking moments, surprising disturbances in a narrative full of fateful twists and unintended consequences.
His book is not a rant: based on a thousand interviews and vast numbers of leaked documents, it is often exciting, sometimes moving and always considered. And if his narrative sometimes has a hint of John le Carré, it always has a moral core ...
Some of Bergman’s findings are so extraordinary as to be barely credible ... Not only is Bergman’s book a stunning feat of research and a riveting read, it is also testament to the author’s personal courage.
...authoritative and exhaustive ... Many of the stories Bergman offers are not new, but he adds telling details. Still, after a while the accounts begin to blur and the chapters start to read like an endless police blotter. Call it, literally, 'Israel's Greatest Hits' ... Bergman paints a chilling portrait of the evolution of the assassination program.
