Posts related to Israel and Israeli culture.
Yossi Cohen, former head of Mossad, writes about Israel’s intelligence work and how the country has survived constant threats. He describes major operations, the seizure of Iran’s nuclear archive, and the hard choices needed to keep Israel safe. The book mixes personal stories with lessons on strategy and national survival.
Mosab Hassan Yousef’s memoir, Son of Hamas, is a gripping tale of his life. Growing up in a family deeply rooted in Hamas, Yousef’s path diverged from his father’s expectations.
Shiri Bibas, along with her two young sons, Ariel, aged 4, and Kfir, just nine months old, were abducted from their home during the horrific Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
Fauda is an Israeli thriller series. It aired on Yes TV from 15 February 2015 and later reached a worldwide audience through Netflix. Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff created it. Lior Raz plays Doron Kavillio, an Israeli undercover agent who operates deep inside Palestinian territory.
Golda (2023), directed by Guy Nattiv, tells the story of Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Helen Mirren plays Meir with firm resolve and deep weariness. She leads Israel as armies attack.
Homeland is an American spy thriller series. It aired on Showtime from 2 October 2011 to 26 April 2020. Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa created it. The show bases loosely on the Israeli series Prisoners of War. Claire Danes plays Carrie Mathison, a CIA officer with bipolar disorder.
The Spy is a French limited series. It aired on Netflix on 6 September 2019. Gideon Raff created it. Sacha Baron Cohen plays Eli Cohen, a real Mossad agent who went undercover in Syria during the early 1960s and rose to the highest levels of its government.
Operation Finale (2018), directed by Chris Weitz, tells the true story of how Israeli agents caught Adolf Eichmann in Argentina in 1960 AD. Oscar Isaac plays Peter Malkin, the agent who grabs Eichmann.
The Little Drummer Girl is a British-American limited series. It aired on BBC One and AMC from 28 October 2018. Park Chan-wook directed it. The show adapts John le Carré's 1983 novel. Florence Pugh plays Charlie, a young English actress recruited by Israeli intelligence to infiltrate a Palestinian bombing network in the late 1970s.
In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Yuval Noah Harari steps back from the deep past and the far future to ask what we should focus on right now in a world of fake news, lost jobs and rising tribalism.
In Homo Deus, Yuval Noah Harari looks ahead from the rise of Homo sapiens to a possible future where biotech and data give people the power once given to the gods.
In Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari tells the story of humankind from the rise of Homo sapiens in Africa to the present day, asking how a small ape came to rule the world.
In Frederick Forsyth’s thrilling historical thriller, The Odessa File, set in 1963, young German journalist Peter Miller finds a diary belonging to a Holocaust survivor.
Munich (2005), directed by Steven Spielberg, follows a team sent to kill men behind the 1972 AD Munich Olympics attack. Eric Bana plays Avner, the leader torn by duty. He starts sure but ends lost.