Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations

Rise and Kill First is a history of Israel's targeted killing programs from statehood in 1948 to the present. Journalist and military analyst Ronen Bergman traces how Israel's intelligence community and armed services have used targeted assassinations against enemies, both in response to attacks and preemptively, as a tool to defend the nation. Bergman secured rare cooperation from former and current Israeli leaders, including Prime Ministers Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as senior figures from the IDF, Mossad, Caesarea (a specialized Mossad unit), and the Shin Bet. The Shin Bet conducted the largest targeted assassination campaign to counter suicide terrorism. Based on hundreds of interviews and thousands of exclusive files gathered over decades of reporting, the book presents previously unreported accounts of key operations. It examines the successes and failures of these programs, along with the moral and political consequences for those who approved and executed the missions, and how these campaigns have shaped Israel, the Middle East, and the wider world.