Title: Kontzeptzia
Reviewed by: Nikhil Katara
Book: The Angel
Author: Uri Bar Joseph
Price: 655 (Hardcover)
Pages: 372
ISBN: 978-0-06-242010-7
“Ashraf Marwan was the most valuable source the Mossad had ever recruited… Bar-Joseph’s fascinating book is an accurate and reliable account of the career of one of the twentieth century’s most important spies.” –Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Zvi Zamir, (Former Mossad Director)
Yom Kippur, also known as ‘The Day of Atonement’ is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. The Jews observe this day with themes of repentance. Israel is usually in their synagogues, praying and fasting during this day. But during the Yom-Kippur holiday of the year 1973 Israel spent the day, not in prayer, but in War. Israel was attacked by Syria and Egypt in the Sinai and the Golan heights, under the meticulous planning of the then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. This attack took Israel by surprise, but it shouldn’t have, because Israel intelligence (The Mossad) had the best source in the history of Epsionage: ‘the direct assistant to the leader of a country preparing to launch an attack on its enemy was a secret agent on behalf of that enemy.’ This secret agent was Ashraf Marwan.
Uri-Bar Joseph, who worked with the Israel Defence forces (IDF) for fifteen years, pens the most intriguing spy story, the one of Ashraf Marwan, son-in-law of Egypts most influential president, Gamal Abdel Nasser. The story traces Marwan’s meteoric rise to the elite circles of Egypt after he married Mona, Gamal Abdel Nasser’s daughter.
Nasser was never happy with the marriage and as the book traces, he even wanted Mona to divorce Marwan. But Nasser could never manage to convince his daughter. Nasser’s dislike to his son-in-law was no secret. It was perhaps the feeling of humiliation, or Marwan’s Risk addiction that lead him to walk to the doorstep of the Mossad, the Israel intelligence agency. From there began a tale of espionage which made the Mossad the luckiest intelligence agency in the world.
Marwan met the Mossad handlers for the first time in London, and near him stood Dubi, who introduced himself as ‘Alex’ and was Marwan’s handler for almost three decades. Marwan, who worked in the president’s office, had access to the most secret military documents that Egypt had, and he unflinchingly passed on this information to the Mossad. Marwan was code named “Angel” by Mossad and during these interactions he became one for Israel.
After Nasser’s death in 1970, Anwar Sadat became the president of Egypt. Marwan helped Sadat in defeating an alleged coup by Nasser loyalists. He got many of the Nasser loyalists arrested, which included Sami Sharaf, a close Nasser aide. Owing to Ashraf Marwan’s help, Sadat could foil the plan and was indebted to him, post this Marwan became Sadat’s personal emissary, in charge of relations with Saudi-Arabia and Libya.
This made Marwan invaluable to Israel, he kept Israel abreast with all the Egyptian Military intelligence they needed, which included the ‘kontzeptzia’ or the concept. By this theory it was accepted that Egypt would never attack Israel without first solving the problem of military inferiority. Israel’s air superiority along with improved radar coverage did not allow Egypt a chance to surprise Israel, the way Israel had surprised Egypt. The Soviet Union played a key role to provide the necessary ammunition to wage such a war. The ‘kontzeptzia’ became the basis of Israel’s decision making in the coming few years.
When Anwar Sadat became the president, he realized the diplomatic initiatives were failing him and hence he was ready to let go of the ‘kontzeptzia’ and plan a surprise attack on Israel. All the information about the war was forwarded by Marwan to Israel. But Sadat kept changing his plans, and Marwan kept cautioning the Israelis about the upcoming War. Some of Israel’s agents started believing that Marwan was a double agent and stopped taking his warnings seriously, until the morning of 5th October 1973, when Marwan told Mossad director Zvi Zamir that Egypt was going to War the next morning. What followed was a complete intelligence failure by Israel in which they did not take their ‘Angels’ warning seriously. The Yom-Kippur war began in which Egypt managed to surprise Israel and entered the Sinai, and Syria attacked the Golan Heights, despite Ashraf Marwan’s repeated warnings and military plans, Israel was not ready for the war.
Ashraf Marwan’s personality comes to the fore in ‘The Angel’, his need to take undue risks, be it business, and be it epsionage, all of it leads to many questions. Was he actually helping the Mossad, or was he a double agent working for Anwar Sadat and leading the Mossad on to confuse them? His death also is as mysterious as his life was. For in 2007, Marwan jumped off his balcony from his fifth floor apartment in London. Whether it was suicide, or was it murder? Nobody can tell. If it was Murder, was it by the Egyptians? Or was it by the Mossad? There is a question mark on that too. But Uri-Bar Joseph believes that Marwan was a spy who worked for Israel and not a double agent. He believes that there is enough evidence to prove that Marwan worked for Israel but nothing to prove that he was a double agent. The chance of Marwan being murdered by the Egyptians is also higher than him being killed by Mossad. Though there were intelligence failures in the Mossad and there were leakages that lead to Marwan’s identity be released in the press, it was always Mossad’s priority to protect their most valuable agent. Also three other Egyptian nationals had died exactly the way Marwan died in London, and all of them had a political past like Marwan.
The book written in thirteen chapters is well researched. Uri-Bar Joseph gives perspectives and counter-perspectives in equal measure and traces the complexity of Ashraf Marwan with great care. ‘The Angel’ also showcases how things can go horribly wrong despite having the best intelligence one can hope for. It also is a must read to experience the Middle East conflict and the history associated with the same. ‘The Angel’ above all should be read for the way intelligence agencies function and what can go right and what can go wrong in times of war.
