Month: April 2024

James Bond with a kippah

On By Marc NadeauIn Benjamin Netanyahu, Ilan Evyatar, Iran, Israel, James Bond, Mohammed bin Salman, Mossad, Simon & Schuster, Yonah Jeremy Bob, Yossi CohenLeave a comment

Yesterday’s attack against Israel launched by Iran using drones was yet another illustration that this country lives under an ongoing existential threat. Yet, the war against Israel is not new. The Ayatollahs’ régime is waging it since it seized power in Tehran in 1979. Ever since, it invested wealth of resources and imagination to eradicate Israel. The continued efforts to acquire the nuclear bomb features in that evil military toolbox.

The efforts deployed by Israel to counter and prevent this deadly scenario to materialize is at the center of Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination – and Secret Diplomacy – to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East (Simon & Schuster) by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar.

Ever since Tehran is trying to build the bomb, Israel has worked around the clock to expose this evil machination. Things came to a head on April 30, 2018, when Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled the content of Iran’s nuclear secrets to the world in a brilliant press conference. The denunciation of Tehran’s hypocrisy was made possible by a Mossad operation to seize archives from the belly of the beast.

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The Ferocious Battle for Normandy

On By Marc NadeauIn Bernard Montgomery, D-Day, Erwin Rommel, France, History, James Holland, Military, Normandy, Penguin Random House Canada, Thomas Babington Macaulay, World War IILeave a comment

In less than 60 days, we will commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied landing in Normandy on June 6th, 1944. The celebrations surrounding that event are already under way. In the last hours, the French Ambassador to Canada travelled to Regina, the capital of Saskatchewan, to present the Légion d’honneur – France’s highest distinction established by Napoleon in 1802 – to a 104-year-old veteran who set foot on the beach on that fateful morning.

As we salute these men and prepare to sadly see the last ones depart for eternity, the need for remembrance becomes ever more crucial. Historians play an essential role on that score. Plenty of great books have been written about the longest day and the campaign that followed.

I just finished reading James Holland’s contribution to that impressive list, through the Ladybird Expert Book series. For anyone wanting to grasp the development of the Battle for Normandy in a summarized and vividly written style, this book is a must.

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