Controversial Dox

The legendary Shalom – who headed the operation to kidnap Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann from Buenos Aires in 1960 – is one of six former Shin Bet leaders who agree to speak publicly and candidly to Moreh about their time in the agency. Alongside Shalom are Yaakov Peri, under whose watch two Palestinian detainees died during interrogation, causing a firestorm of controversy; Carmi Gillon, who bore the brunt of responsibility for the failure to prevent the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin; Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter and Yuval Diskin, the immediate predecessor to Shin Bet’s current director, known for his ruthlessness in combating terror but also a strong advocate for a two-state solution.

As these veteran intelligence chiefs speak with detachment about their participation in some of Israel’s most controversial counterterrorist initiatives both foreign and domestic, their steely singularity of purpose – maintain the state’s security – remains constant. As these men reflect on troubled careers constantly beset by life-or-death decisions, hard questions keep coming to fore. What constitutes acceptable “collateral damage”? Under what conditions does somebody have the authority to order another person’s death?