Rise and Kill First

The Book in 1 Sentence

Israel has left a trail of bodies wider and longer than the sea Moses split for them to escape Egypt.

Brief Review

Oh my goodness. I know Israel has done some shady shit over the years, but even if half this is true, the amount of innocent blood on their hands might put the Crusades to shame. Bergman does a wonderful job of presenting decades of “preemptive” strikes against some legitimate threats and some people who were definitely not.

Why I Read this book

I find books by walking through the book store and looking at covers. However, assassins in the modern age is worth reading no matter who you are.

In-Depth Review

Oooo damn. This book is crazy. I grew up in a very Christian home and was told that we had to support Israel as that was only way the United States would survive as they are Gods people. This book will 100% put that theory to the test, but we aren't discussing religion in this review. While this isn't a book about belief in God, I am reading a couple books about that to come out later this year, this will make you question government authority.

Image you are in a world that you a constantly being attacked at school. So you decide that you are going to attack them first with a bigger bat. They escalate with a spiked maul, so you escalate with poison. This continues for DECADES with you hearing rumors that something might happen to you so you decide to shoot them. That is the extent of Israel's targeted killing policy.

The government since BEFORE their acceptance of a nation by the international community, Israel has been working to spread their reach and pre-emptively stop attacks on the promise land.

The book very well put together with interviewed first hand accounts and historically backed information that can be verified over and over again. Ronen Bergman does an outstanding job presenting the story of targeted killing and the continued evolution of the politics, military complex, and compromised intelligence communities that made up the rules to fit their agendas.

The really interesting parts are the people who had such a prominent position previously and had one set of idea that then come back into the scene and are attempting to resolve the same issue, peace between Israel and their neighbors specifically Palestine, in a different way.

How my life / behavior / thoughts / ideas have changed as a result of reading the book.

Learning about decades of bullshit on both sides of the coin that has culminated in the current Prime Minister being a selfish prick looking after his own agenda like every other leader in power right now is just the cherry on top to see another set of human rights abuses.

I’m not saying there is anything I can do other than make people be aware, but I have thought a lot about what my generation of adults will do when they take the presidency rather than forcibly retirement aged individuals that have so much money from special interest, that don’t even scratch their nose without asking if they can. I digress.

The US Drone program 100% took notes from this and honestly we, as Americans in general, need to change the way we view human life.

Rating

This is a solid read. I was both shocked and interested in the story provided by Ronen and am very interested in things like this (See USS Liberty Incident) and this is a must read. 8 for sure.