other-side-of-deception-victor-ostrovsky

266 / VICTOR OSTROVSKYas if I'd said that the Mossad knew Americans were the target, whichwas not the case.This and numerous other headline-making revelations helped propelthe book to the number one spot on the New York Times bestsellerlist, where it stayed for nine weeks. By Way of Deception madethe best-seller list in almost every one of the twenty-odd countrieswhere it was published. It was published in some fifteen different languages(although it's still not available in Hebrew), and by the year'send had sold well over a million copies worldwide.Had it not been for Bella's last-minute intervention, the names ofall the field personnel would have been in the book. I had no problemwith using the names, nor did Ephraim. We both knew that they werealready burned, and by putting their names in, we might be savingthem. But I was equally happy not to put them in.Not that it saved me from being portrayed in the Israeli press asthe devil incarnate. One Israeli reporter said in an editorial that someoneshould put a bullet in my head. Yet another said that I should betied to a pole and all the people of Israel should come and spit on me.Few, if any, Israelis seemed to stop and say, "Maybe what he says hasa grain of truth in it."Because the book had been translated into so many languages, I'dmet and answered questions from people around the world. Gratifyingly,at least as far as my credibility was concerned, as time passed,more and more things that were said in the book were proved to betrue.I'd moved to a bigger house and had started a new career. I wasgoing to write a novel. I knew that writing fiction presented a wholenew set of challenges, but I felt that my experiences provided greatraw material from which a compelling story could be woven. Stoddarthad decided to take a chance on me, and I was grateful.Ephraim and I still spoke fairly frequently. He told me that theIsraeli parliamentary commission investigating the "Ostrovsky affair"had come back with the conclusion that the only problem was that I'dbeen recruited in the first place. As for how things had changed insidethe Mossad, there was barely any change at all. The one minor ripplemy book caused was that several of the so-called moderates wereblamed for recruiting me and kicked out.Also, the fear that an oversight committee might be establishedcaused various preventive measures to be taken. Ties were beingstrengthened with the settler movement in the Territories, and "spies"were being recruited in the Ministry of Defense and the military.THE OTHER SIDE OF DECEPTIOS / 267"I guess you still have a job to do," said Ephraim. "There aresome elements around the new boss today who are far more dangerousthan anyone you ever knew in your time.""I can't do much now, with the kind of exposure I have.""We'll see about that. For the time being, go with the flow. Justmake sure you don't go under."1 took his warning seriously, knowing where it came from.