Matti Friedman, who grew up in Toronto and worked for The Associated Press in Israel, has written Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel (McClelland & Stewart). Jewish spies needed to be wary of British soldiers as well as their enemies, the Arabs. Of four Jewish spies Friedman concentrates on, two are from Syria, one from Yemen and one from Jerusalem. The Jewish spies smuggled out a map of Beirut, identifying potential targets — the prime minister’s home, for instance, and the presidential palace. Spies Of No Country is one absorbing story of the way Israel was created, and the earliest days of spycraft, a trade at which Israelis are still champions.

Source: National Post March 29, 2019 13:54 UTC