Modern warfare is often chronicled as a battle for territory and resources. Yet, Ronen Bergman’s book, Rise and Kill First, pulls back the curtain on a far more sinister conflict: the war on "knowledge" itself. As we approach the anniversary of the assassination of Iran's prominent scientists, a re-reading of this book not only illuminates the history of Mossad’s assassinations but also provides a pattern that explains recent events and the targeting of experts in emerging fields.
Bergman explicitly states in his book that for Israel, assassination (or as they term it, "targeted killing") is not merely a military tactic; it is a central pillar of the regime's survival doctrine. According to the text, democracies usually shy away from the word "assassination." The Americans call it "targeted killing," and the Israelis use the Hebrew term for "liquidation." But as Bergman writes:
"In practice, these terms amount to the same thing: killing a specific individual in order to achieve a specific goal... sometimes removing a leader in order to change the course of history."
The overarching policy of the Israeli regime rests on the principle that when diplomacy or full-scale war is too costly, eliminating key individuals can tip the scales. Meir Dagan, defending the policy of physical elimination, offered an argument that laid bare the ruthless nature of this strategy: "Assassinations have an effect on morale, as well as a practical effect."
He believed that while in theory, no figure is irreplaceable, in practice there is a fundamental difference: "It’s true that anyone can be replaced, but there’s a difference between a replacement with guts and some lifeless character."
The Dagan Era: A Warrior Agency
A significant portion of the book is dedicated to the tenure of Meir Dagan, the man Ariel Sharon appointed with a singular, clear-cut mission: to stop Iran's nuclear program at any cost.
Upon entering the Mossad, Dagan restructured the organization, transforming it from an intelligence-gathering agency into a "warrior" entity. He believed that a classic military strike on Iran (which Netanyahu favored) would be catastrophic. Instead, Dagan devised a "Five-Pronged Strategy," detailed extensively in the book:
1. International Diplomatic Pressure: Isolating Iran in global forums.
2. Economic Sanctions: Crippling the economy to foment domestic discontent.
3. Support for Opposition and Minorities: Aiding regime change through dissident groups.
4. Supply Chain Disruption: Identifying and intercepting shipments of nuclear parts and raw materials, or selling defective components to Iran.
5. Covert Ops: Including sabotage of facilities (such as the Stuxnet virus) and the assassination of key scientists.
Dagan referred to these five stages as "a series of pinpoint operations meant to change reality."
Why Scientists? The "Kill the Driver" Doctrine
Why did the Mossad choose to assassinate scientists instead of bombing facilities? The admission by Michael Hayden, the then-Director of the CIA, in a conversation with Barack Obama, is perhaps the most precise description of this shifting battlefield. Hayden tells the President:
"Mr. President... It doesn’t matter. There isn’t an electron or a neutron at Natanz that’s ever going to show up in a nuclear weapon. What they’re building at Natanz is knowledge. What they’re building at Natanz is confidence... That knowledge, Mr. President, is stored in the brains of the scientists."
Dagan believed that to stop a car (the nuclear program), sometimes stealing parts isn't enough; sometimes the most effective method is to "kill the driver." These sentences effectively became the code name for assassination operations in the streets of Tehran. The enemy's think tanks concluded that the target should no longer be iron and concrete; rather, they had to target the "accumulated knowledge" within the minds of individuals who had no connection to military operations and whose only crime was "being a scientist."
The importance of assassinating scientists for the Mossad was summarized in two aspects:
• Eliminating Irreplaceable Expertise: Facilities can be rebuilt, but the knowledge accumulated in the mind of a senior scientist is the result of decades of experience that vanishes with their elimination.
• Creating "White Defection": Bergman explains that the Mossad's goal was to generate such panic that other scientists, fearing for their lives, would request transfers to civilian projects. They wanted to turn "science" into a deadly profession.
The Blacklist: Hunters in Ambush
Rise and Kill First reveals with shocking clarity the existence of a "blacklist" within the Mossad; a lethal roster containing 15 names of Iran's most prominent nuclear and missile elites. These scientists were monitored and martyred not on the battlefield, but in the heart of the capital, by the Mossad’s specialized assassination unit (known as Kidon) in coordination with local spy networks.
Bergman, without naming names directly, points to the explosion at the missile command center where Martyr Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam and his 17-member team were killed: "A general of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was in charge of the missile project, was blown up in his headquarters together with seventeen of his men." This reference demonstrates that Mossad’s sensitivity regarding the missile industry was on par with the nuclear program, and the elimination of an entire team highlights their deep resentment of Iran's deterrent capabilities.
The name of Martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh appears multiple times in the book as "The Brains" behind the project. Bergman writes that the Iranians realized someone was killing their scientists and had placed heavy security rings around Fakhrizadeh, yet he remained at the top of Dagan's hit list.
The book describes how scientists like Masoud Alimohammadi and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan were assassinated using magnetic bombs (limpet mines) and motorcycles in broad daylight on the streets of Tehran. The author notes that there were dissenting voices even within the Mossad. One female officer objected to the policy, stating: "My father is a top scientist... Going by the way of thinking prevalent here, my father would be a legitimate target for elimination. I think that this is neither moral nor legal." Yet, Dagan and the system under his command overruled these objections.
Conclusion: A Roadmap for the Future
What Rise and Kill First narrates is not history; it is a roadmap. Looking at the Israeli regime's recent attacks and the "12-Day War," where there is a specific focus on assassinating experts in Information Technology, electronics, Artificial Intelligence, and missile industries, we realize that Dagan's doctrine is still alive—only the "target list" has been updated.
If yesterday the goal was to prevent uranium enrichment, today the regime's goal is to prevent "missile precision" and "cyber development." Just as Dagan sought to cut off Iran's access to nuclear components, today Mossad's strategy focuses on identifying and eliminating engineers operating at the cutting edge of technology. The assassination of aerospace and IT scientists in recent months is the precise execution of the fifth prong of Dagan's strategy: When you cannot stop the technology, delete the technologist.
Ronen Bergman's book is a legal and historical document admitting that the Israeli regime considers the "assassination of science" a right. They assassinated Iranian scientists not for carrying weapons, but for "possessing knowledge."
From the nuclear martyrs to Martyr Tehrani Moghaddam and the recent martyrs in the missile and IT sectors, all are victims of a war where the enemy, instead of facing the military on the battlefield, has cowardly gone after "minds." This book is a warning that as long as Iran moves on the path of generating "indigenous power," its scientists and elites remain on the front lines of this shadow war.