Column: New Jewish Narrative
July 20, 2026
Q.Last week we learned from a dramatic scoop in Haaretz that the Mossad had been planning to engineer a coup d’etat in Iran and crown a suddenly cooperative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as leader in Tehran. The plot flopped. What can we learn from it?
A. We can learn a lot about how Israel’s most senior planners, beginning with PM Netanyahu and then-Mossad Head David Barnea, misread the region and miscalculated their capabilities.
An entire Mossad unit devoted to ‘influence operations’ thought it could generate major unrest on the streets of Tehran and pit key Iranians against one another, particularly if it could influence the Bazaar, a key economic sector. Prime Minister Netanyahu and others had watched an Islamist faction topple a shaky regime in Syria and believed without foundation that something similar was possible in Tehran. Dissident Kurds in Iraq, some 16,000-strong, seemed to agree to serve as the vanguard of an invasion of Iran--until they didn’t. Disgruntled ex-President Ahmedinejad seemingly agreed to be installed in power by the Mossad. Neighboring Azerbaijan and additional Iranian minorities were primed to intervene, then they weren’t.
The trigger would be the assassination of Supreme Leader Khamenei. Then it wasn’t.
Yossi Alpher's Death Tango: Ariel Sharon, Yasser Arafat and Three Fateful Days in March
"Anyone seeking to understand how Israelis and Palestinians traded the hopes of Oslo for something approaching hopelessness is well-advised to read this book. With penetrating analysis and elegant prose, Yossi Alpher has told the gripping story of three days nearly two decades ago that continue to haunt would-be peacemakers. Yossi’s faithful readers will not be disappointed with his latest effort."
Ambassador Frederic C. Hof, Bard College
"A riveting account of the crucial days in March 2002 when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was profoundly changed for the worse. The peace camp has never recovered from those wrenching days, and we live now without any hope of a just settlement. Alpher is a highly respected expert who has spent decades studying this conflict from both sides."
Bruce Riedel, Director of the Brookings Intelligence Project
"A critical assessment of a key period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict never before presented in such detail. The best and most capable players at the executive and political levels proved unable to forge any resolution, final or partial, because both parties continued to maintain an insurmountable gulf between themselves. This is a MUST read for anyone daring to tackle the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and of Israel-Arab relations in general."
Efraim Halevy, former Head of the Mossad (1998-2002)
Oraib Khader and Avi Bar-On are youngish Palestinian and Israeli bachelors with security experience, readiness to do business with one another, a shared fondness for women and money, and total cynicism about the lack of peace between their two peoples.
Oraib and Avi can never become true friends: the cultural and political gaps are too wide. But as they confront a failed peace process and a bleak peace future, they readily become business partners: shady business that exploits a lot of naïve international peace aspirations.
As Oraib sums up on a visit to Sarpsborg, Norway, where the ultimately-failed Oslo peace talks were held, “There is a lesson here for those who still doggedly and hopelessly pursue a two-state solution in the Middle East. Get smart. Get out of the Israeli-Palestinian peace business. Step back and let the Jews and Arabs screw one another while making money.”