An Iraqi Jew in the Mossad

Born in Baghdad to Jewish parents in 1920, Joshua Horesh left Iraq in 1938 when rising Nazism spread across the country. His unique background allowed him to work with British Intelligence during World War II, where he served with distinction until jailed in Cairo. Sentenced to deportation from Egypt to Beirut, the author escaped to Palestine and rejoined the British, but this time he secretly served the Palestinian underground, providing information on British policies toward the Jews. Horesh then served as an intelligence officer in Israel's 1948 War of Independence, and he was successful in breaking Egypt's military codes. After the war he joined the new Israeli government's intelligence service, the Mossad, working primarily in Turkey and Austria under an assumed Arab identity. This is the fascinating, behind-the-scenes story of Israel's intelligence service in the early years of the new nation's history.