Amnon Jackont ( he, אמנון ז'קונט; born 1948 in

Ramat Gan Ramat Gan ( he, רָמַת גַּן or , ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located east of the municipality of Tel Aviv and part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. It is home to one of the world's major diamond exchanges, and many ...

) is an Israeli author of

thrillers Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Suc ...

, a

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

and a literary editor. Jackont was allowed to postpone his military service for law studies at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

. During the summer breaks he would serve in the military, but was injured and became disabled. He stopped his studies and became a successful businessman, active in real estate, investments and insurance. From 1980 he writes next to his business endeavours. Almost all his books became bestsellers. From 1988 he worked as a literary editor for the

Keter Publishing House Keter ( he-a, כֶּתֶר, Keter.ogg, link=yes, ''Keṯer'', lit. " crown") also known as Kether, is the topmost of the sephirot of the Tree of Life in Kabbalah. Since its meaning is "crown", it is interpreted as both the "topmost" of the Se ...

. In 1997 Jackont ceased his business activities to concentrate on his own writing and editing and on his history studies at the

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. After completing his masters (2002), he has completed his PhD degree at the same university (2006). Since 2002 he is also active in business and relationship counseling, in workshops and TV programs. Some of these are conducted with his wife, radio show hostess Varda Rasiel-Jackont. Amnon and Varda Jackont live in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Trojan horse exposure

In 2005, Jackont helped expose an

industrial espionage Industrial espionage, economic espionage, corporate spying, or corporate espionage is a form of espionage conducted for commercial purposes instead of purely national security. While political espionage is conducted or orchestrated by governmen ...

ring involving executives at several major Israeli corporations. During the previous year, he had noticed excerpts from an unpublished manuscript appearing in

internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

s, followed by a series of harsh reviews once the book was actually published. He also determined that his email was being read and manipulated by someone else. When a computer technician found that the problem was a

Trojan horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

program on his computer, Jackont reported the matter to police. The person responsible was eventually identified as Michael Haephrati, the ex-husband of Varda's daughter from a previous marriage, who had apparently written the Trojan horse. The same program was identified as having been used by three private detective agencies to collect information from the espionage victims on behalf of their competitors.

Bibliography

Hebrew

*''Pesek-Zeman (Borrowed Time)'' (Israel: Am Oved, 1982) . *''Malkodet Devash (Honey Trap)'' (Israel: Keter Publishing, 1984) . *''Ish ha-sagrir: Sifre penai (The Rainy-Day Man)'' (Israel: Am Oved, 1987) . *''Aharon ha-meahavim ha-hakhamim (Last of the Wise Lovers)'' (Israel: Keter Publishing, 1991) . *''Mukhan le-hayim: Sipurim: Keter ketsarim (Ready for Life: Stories)'' (Israel: Keter Publishing, 2000) . *''Mavo Le-Ahava (Introduction to Love)'' (Israel: Keter Publishing, 2001) * With Varda Rasiel Jacont: ''Shin Kmo Sheker (L as in Lies)'' (Israel: Keter Publishing, 2004) *''Hidath Moti (The Riddle of my Death)'' (Israel: Keter Publishing, 2009) *''Over Va-Shav (Resurgence - A financial documentary story)'' (Israel: Yedioth Aharonoth Books, 2009) *''Meir Amit – Ha-ish ve-ha-Mosad (Meir Amit - A Man and Mossad)'' (Israel: Yedioth Ahronoth Books, 2012)

English

*''Borrowed Time'' (UK: Hamish Hamilton, 1986, ) (USA: Trafalgar Square, 1988, )

References

Amon Jackont at the Lexicon for New Israeli LiteratureAmonon Jackont at the Institute for translated Israeli literary authors
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jackont, Amnon Israeli novelists 1948 births Living people Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Law alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Literary editors Thriller writers Book editors Israeli historians Israeli people of Belgian-Jewish descent People from Ramat Gan Israeli editors