Spies Among The Sands: Assessing Seven Decades of the Mossad and Israeli National Security  (Hardcover, Prem Mahadevan)

The October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel has been deemed a significant security failure. How could a country like Israel, famed for its strong intelligence capabilities, suffer such a setback? More importantly, how have strategic operations, covert actions and the relentless pursuit of national security defined Israeli intelligence since the country’s foundation, in turn impacting global geopolitics? Spanning over seventy years, Spies Among the Sands is a longitudinal analysis of Israeli intelligence performance. It argues that much of Israel’s success in espionage and covert action may be attributed to context-specific factors which are not easily replicated by other states. It finds that the unique reputation of the Mossad and its sister agencies is derived from the boldness with which intelligence is used to support operations. Examining the role of spies in conventional warfare, clandestine diplomacy and counterterrorism, the book asks whether Israel’s unique advantages will still hold good into the future. An extensively researched masterpiece embellished with riveting storytelling that captures the intricacies of international espionage, the complexities of Middle Eastern geopolitics and the shadowy world of intelligence operations, this book will appeal to scholars, policymakers, history enthusiasts and fans of spy narratives alike. Prem Mahadevan is a researcher in intelligence and irregular warfare. He is an alumnus of the Department of War Studies, King's College London. His doctoral thesis, a study of Indian counterterrorism intelligence, was published as The Politics of Counterterrorism in India (IB Tauris). His other works include Islamism and Intelligence in South Asia (IB Tauris) and An Eye for An Eye (Wisdom Tree), a study of military special operations. Dr Mahadevan has delivered training lectures on international terrorism at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy; the National Police Academy, Hyderabad and the National Security Guards Training Cent.