The Spy Who Spilled the Beans

By William R. Doerner

Mossad, the Israeli spy service, still commands high respect for its intelligence operations, even if it no longer enjoys the reputation of its early days. But one thing that has changed not at all is its aversion to publicity. Last week Israel went to extraordinary -- and unsuccessful -- lengths to prevent the U.S. publication of a book by a former agent that claims to reveal the service's secrets. In the process, it turned a somewhat dubious book that would probably have been of interest only to intelligence buffs into a best seller, while giving front-page publicity to some of its most embarrassing allegations.

The book, By Way of Deception, was co-written by Victor Ostrovsky, 40, who holds dual Canadian and Israeli citizenship and became a Mossad agent in the 1980s, and Claire Hoy, 50, a Canadian journalist. The Canadian-born Ostrovsky, who grew up in Israel and now works in Ottawa as an artist, sold the manuscript to Toronto's Stoddart Publishing, which planned to release the book Oct. 4. But two weeks ago, claiming the book contained information that "could have dire consequences for many people," Israeli officials won a temporary injunction in Canada against release of the book's contents. Ostrovsky temporarily went into hiding following what he claimed was a menacing visit to his home by two of his former Mossad bosses.

Jerusalem then moved its campaign to New York City, where St. Martin's Press had begun shipping the book to stores last week. A judge granted an order blocking publication, which First Amendment experts immediately labeled an invalid exercise of prior restraint. A four-judge appeals panel promptly agreed, lifting the order the next day and noting that since books had been shipped to 1,500 wholesalers, suppression was a practical impossibility. By the end of the week, a tidal wave of new orders prompted St. Martin's to + increase the print run to 200,000, practically guaranteeing that it will be high on the best-seller list. "This never would have happened had it not been for the attempt to suppress the book," says Thomas McCormack, the chairman of St. Martin's.

Ostrovsky's most sensational claim is that in 1983 Mossad received specific intelligence, down to the make of a Mercedes truck outfitted to carry bombs, that Shi'ite extremists in Beirut were planning a major terrorist attack. Though the U.S. forces then stationed in Lebanon were an obvious target possibility, Mossad officials only warned the U.S. in the most general terms. The attack was carried out at Marine Corps headquarters and resulted in 241 American deaths. Writes Ostrovsky: "The problem was that if we had leaked information and it was traced back, our informant would have been killed. The next time we wouldn't know if we were on the hit list." Another allegation is that, contrary to official denials that any Mossad field agents are in the U.S., there are about 25 in a supersecret division known as Al, which is Hebrew for "on top."

Israeli officials dispute many of the book's claims, with one top-level official in the Prime Minister's office claiming flatly that "95% of what he writes is not true." Ostrovsky was eventually fired from Mossad, though the circumstances remain unclear. A senior Israeli official said the ex-spy's motive in writing the book is to "get revenge." If so, Israel's legal intervention helped in that quest.

With reporting by Barbara Cornell/New York and James L. Graff/Ottawa