The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel - Hardcover

Bar-Joseph, Uri

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0062420100 ISBN 13: 9780062420107

Publisher: Harper, 2016

Synopsis

 A NETFLIX ORIGINAL MOVIE

THE BEST INTELLIGENCE BOOK for 2017 by The American Association of Former Intelligence Officers

A gripping feat of reportage that exposes—for the first time in English—the sensational life and mysterious death of Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian senior official who spied for Israel, offering new insight into the turbulent modern history of the Middle East.

As the son-in-law of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a close advisor to his successor, Anwar Sadat, Ashraf Marwan had access to the deepest secrets of the country’s government. But Marwan himself had a secret: He was a spy for the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Under the codename “The Angel,” Marwan turned Egypt into an open book for the Israeli intelligence services—and, by alerting the Mossad in advance of the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack on Yom Kippur, saved Israel from a devastating defeat.

Drawing on meticulous research and interviews with many key participants, Uri Bar Joseph pieces together Marwan’s story. In the process, he sheds new light on this volatile time in modern Egyptian and Middle Eastern history, culminating in 2011’s Arab Spring. The Angel also chronicles the discord within the Israeli government that brought down Prime Minister Golda Meir.

However, this nail-biting narrative doesn’t end with Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War. Marwan eluded Egypt’s ruthless secret services for many years, but then somebody talked. Five years later, in 2007, his body was found in the garden of his London apartment building. Police suspected he had been thrown from his fifth-floor balcony, and thanks to explosive new evidence, Bar-Joseph can finally reveal who, how, and why.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

A riveting feat of research and reportage, The Angel explores one of the twentieth century’s most compelling spy stories: the sensational life and suspicious death of Ashraf Marwan, a top-level Egyptian official who secretly worked for Israel’s Mossad.

As the son-in-law of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a close adviser to his successor, Anwar Sadat, Ashraf Marwan had access to the deepest secrets of his country’s government. But Marwan had a secret of his own: He was a spy for the Mossad, Israel’s renowned intelligence service. Known to his handlers as “the Angel,” Marwan turned Egypt into an open book and saved Israel from a devastating defeat by tipping off the Mossad in advance of the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack on Yom Kippur in 1973.

Remarkably, Marwan eluded Egypt’s ruthless secret police for decades. In later years he enjoyed a luxurious life—but that would come to an abrupt end in 2007, when his body was found in a bed of roses in the garden below his apartment building in London. Police suspected he had been thrown from his balcony on the fifth floor, but the case has remained unsolved. Until now.

After Marwan died, details of his shadowy life were slowly revealed. Drawing on meticulous research and exclusive interviews with key figures involved, The Angel is the first book to discuss Marwan’s motives, how his identity as a Mossad spy was deliberately exposed by none other than the former chief of Israel’s Military Intelligence, and how the information he provided was used—and misused. Expanding on this focus, it sheds new light on the modern history of the Middle East and the crucial role of human espionage in shaping the fate of nations. And, for the first time, it answers the questions haunting Marwan’s legacy: In the end, whom did Ashraf Marwan really betray? And who killed him?

About the Author:

Uri Bar-Joseph is Professor of Political Science at the University of Haifa. He is the author of six books about intelligence, Israel’s national security strategy, and the Arab-Israeli conflict. His coming book, Intelligence Success and Failure: A Comparative Study (with Rose McDermott), is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0062420100
• ISBN 13: 9780062420107
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 384