308Mike wrote:SeekHer wrote:An interesting read is by Claire Hoy and Victor Ostrovsky called By Way of Deception: A Devastating Insider's Portrait of the Mossad...Story of a Mossad agent from training to when he gets kicked out for writing the book...It's my car book--for when I have to wait for someone, I'll read for the few minutes...Started doing it, twelve years ago when I gave up smoking as I'd usually light one up and this helped curb the cravings.
But you never found it engaging enough to want to bring it into the house and continue reading?? That's not much to go on (and I realize you made no recommendation one way or the other). I WOULD love to read some of the Israeli accounts of various battles/conflicts/skirmishes if they'll let anyone write them. They could sway a LOT of people to their side if they just opened up a bit. However, I also understand the need for operational security, security of your personnel, security of tactics and training, etc., etc. In NO WAY would I ever want to compromise Israel's security, but I would LOVE to read about some of their operations from first-hand sources, even if they're couched as 'fictional stories'.
Come on SeekHer, we know you have some tales for telling. How about some stuff for around the campfire? :D :) ;) ;) ;) :P :P
The car book is 396 pages and I'm on page 251 and its only been in the car for about a week or so...It is an extremely enjoyable read which is why I'm reading it for the second time...The first book burnt in the fire and luckily I found this copy at a used book store...Its especially interesting when you've been to a lot of the places that are discussed in the book.
I really don't know why there aren't more IDF memoirs or battle descriptions, then again, except for [frequent] terrorist attacks the only wars we've been involved in 1948 Independence, 1956 Sinai, 1967 Six Day, 1973 Yom Kippur,
1982 to 1985 1st Lebanon and 2006 2nd Lebanon or Hezbollah Wars have all been over in weeks--excluding 1st Lebanon which has been compared to Russia in Afghanistan.
Short durations doesn't make for lots of after action reports.
As to my exploits, most that I'd want to share have already been done so, some I can't because of security (even after 38 yrs) and others I don't want to remember...After all the training the year and a half in the army and two in the Border Police I was mostly second gun at every single terrorist event during that period except Ma'alot where I was recuperating from a bullet wound to the left shoulder--was spotter but not shooter...Two weeks before, we caught a few
"sneeks" at an abandoned blown out two story building; after refusing to negotiate we went in to search the bodies when from the second floor this guy stands up and shoots me in the shoulder--bad aim as he was hit in the stomach...His angle would have taken a direct path to the heart had it not been a .22 LR fired from about 5m which took a little chunk out of the spatula and ended up lodged against the clavicle and hurt like Hell--the pain meds disallowed me gun status but I was walking around the day after surgery...I'll tel you about the camel train of hashish another time.
Wanting to read:
Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren -- Damn good book
Lessons of the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah War by Anthony H. Cordesman
The 2006 Lebanon Campaign and the Future of Warfare: Implications for Army and Defense Policy by Dr. Stephen D. Biddle -- Dull but lots of good research and insight
We Were Caught Unprepared: The 2006 Hezbollah-Israeli War by Matt Matthews -- Want to read it and library has it on order for me.
Pity the Nation: The Abduction of Lebanon by Robert Fisk -- Supposed to be very good but I think it favours the other guys more.
Israel's Lebanon War by Ze'ev Schiff -- Just found it this morning at the used book store.
Also try:
Atlas for the Arab-Israel War (West Point Military History Series) by Thomas E. Greiss
Israel's Wars: A History since 1947 by Ahron Bregman
Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars by Yaacov Lozowick b- Must read
Origins of the Second Arab-Israel War by Michael Oren -- Good reviews
Israel's War of Independence: War and Conflict in the Middle East by Chris Hayhurst -- Ditto
33-day War: Israel's War on Hezbollah in Lebanon and It's Consequences by Gilbert Achcar and Michel Warschawski
Israel's Wars: A History since 1947 by Ahron Bregman -- Excellent author/researcher
History of Israel's War of Independence - Volumes I, II, III and IV by Uri Milstein w/Alan Sacks as editor and translator from the Hebrew with extensive, dry, reviews of the battle orders, communications, after action reports etc. of the war.
Additional titles are available at
Tower Books -- search "Israel" shown.
Anxiously awaiting a copy:
Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel's War Against the Palestinians by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe -- Must read
Related by same authors:
Hopes and Prospects by Noam Chomsky
Media Control by Noam Chomsky -- Fascinating manipulation of media!!!
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe
Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef and journalist Ron Brackin -- Radical Islam to "peacenik"--inside the minds of Hamas -- Wait listed at the library where I get most books on the political/military side of Israeli and world policy.
They've been culling their bookshelves of seldom read titles every other month and offer them for sale to the public--1st week hardcover $2.00, trade edition $1.50 and pocket $1.00...each week after the price is decreased by 40% or so until the 4th week when they sell them for $2.00 a plastic grocery bag--six to fifteen volumes--full...So some of the "boring" titles get shipped to the clearance table after just six months to a year in service...Last year I had borrowed a new release from the library--wait listed as the third reader of it and bought it recently as I was the last reader of it.
EDIT
Sorry forgot these:
Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History by Norman G. Finkelstein
The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering by Norman G. Finkelstein
Both are a must in any pro-Israel,
Goy's (non Jewish), library...
Nu, it kudn't hoit in even a Yid's (Jew's) library!