Victor John Ostrovsky (born 28 November 1949) is an author and a former
katsa
A Katsa is a field intelligence officer of the Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. The word ''katsa'' is a Hebrew acronym for he, קצין איסוף, ktsin issuf, "intelligence officer", literally "gathering officer". A katsa ...
(
case officer
In intelligence organizations, agent handling is the management of so-called agents (called secret agents or spies in common parlance), principal agents, and agent networks (called "assets") by intelligence officers typically known as case o ...
) for the Israeli
Mossad. He authored two nonfiction books about his service with the Mossad: ''
By Way of Deception
By or BY may refer to:
Places
* By, Doubs, France, a commune
* By, Norway, a village
Codes
* Belarus ISO country code
** .by
.by is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Belarus. It is administered by the Operations an ...
'', a #1 ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' bestseller in 1990, and ''
The Other Side of Deception'' several years later.
Family
Ostrovsky's mother, a gymnastics teacher by trade, was born in
Mandatory Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 ...
to Haim and Esther Margolin, (his grandparents) who fled Russia in 1912 and settled in Palestine where Haim served as Auditor General of the
Jewish National Fund (JNF), and Esther volunteered to the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
(ATS), as truck driver during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, and later joined the
Haganah to fight for Israel's independence from the British mandate rule.
Ostrovsky's father was a Canadian-born Jew who served with the
Royal Canadian Air Force
The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...
during World War II as a
tail gunner
A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane.
The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun or a ...
on a
Lancaster bomber
The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling ...
, taking part in more than 20 missions over Germany. His plane was shot down over Germany, but he managed to escape and return to active service. After the war, he joined the Israeli military to fight in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, rising to command
Sde Dov
Sde Dov Airport ( he, שדה דב, ''lit.'' Dov Field, ar, مطار سدي دوف), also known as Dov Hoz Airport ( he, נמל התעופה דב הוז, ''Nemal HaTe'ufa Dov Hoz'', ar, مطار دوف هوز) was an airport in Tel Aviv, Israe ...
, an
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defens ...
base in Israel.
Ostrovsky's grandmother, a Russian
immigrant, introduced him to noted Israeli artist
Aharon Giladi, who lived on the same street, and who bought paints and canvasses for him. Giladi mentored Ostrovsky for more than 10 years.
Early life
He was born in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada, on 28 November 1949, and he moved to Israel at the age of five.
Career
Ostrovsky joined the Israeli Youth Brigade at 14 and quickly became an expert
marksman
A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting using projectile weapons (in modern days most commonly an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle or a sniper rifle) to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than- ...
, finishing second in a 1964 national shooting competition, with a score of 192 out of 200. At the age of 17, he joined the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after a minor eye condition ended his hopes of becoming a pilot. He was assigned to the
Military Police
Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, screening, rear rec ...
and rose to command the
Nablus Military Police Base. Later, he was made commanding officer of the Military Police
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
Central Command.
After his service with the Military Police, he spent six years in the
Israeli Navy
The Israeli Navy ( he, חיל הים הישראלי, ''Ḥeil HaYam HaYisraeli'' (English: The Israeli Sea Corps); ar, البحرية الإسرائيلية) is the naval warfare service arm of the Israel Defense Forces, operating primarily in ...
. He was selected to attend the Staff and Command School and attained the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Ostrovsky was placed in charge of all Navy weapons testing. He helped introduce the
Harpoon surface-to-surface missile to the
Saar missile boats as well as the
Vulcan Phalanx
The Phalanx CIWS (often spoken as "sea-wiz") is a gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the Gene ...
anti-missile defense system.
According to court papers filed by the Israeli government in an attempt to stop the publication of his book ''By Way of Deception'', Ostrovsky was recruited by the
Mossad in 1984
and trained as a
katsa
A Katsa is a field intelligence officer of the Mossad, the national intelligence agency of Israel. The word ''katsa'' is a Hebrew acronym for he, קצין איסוף, ktsin issuf, "intelligence officer", literally "gathering officer". A katsa ...
(case officer) at the Mossad's training school north of
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 ...
.
In 1986, he says that he left the agency saying it was because of what he considered cases of unnecessarily-malicious actions by Mossad operatives. He also accused its directors of knowingly making less-than-accurate reports to the nation's political leadership. However, historian
Benny Morris states that Ostrovsky's two years in the Mossad were mostly spent as a trainee, and he wouldn't have had access to many operational secrets before he was fired.
His wife, Bella Ostrovsky, died on January 8, 2015, at 65.
He operated Ostrovsky Fine Art Gallery in
Scottsdale, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Winfield Scott
, image_skyline =
, image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg
, image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg
, nick ...
. While he has painted many subjects, he is best known for his ''Metaphors of Espionage'' collection, inspired by his days as a spy for the Mossad.
''By Way of Deception''
In 1990, he published ''By Way of Deception'' to draw attention to the corruption and shortcomings that he claims to have witnessed in the Mossad. He has repeatedly argued that intelligence-gathering agencies must be permitted certain operational freedoms but that significantly-increased governmental oversight of espionage activities is necessary.
Without effective oversight, he has said that the Mossad cannot achieve its full potential and value. According to Ostrovsky, if a US senator on a military committee whose "aide was Jewish, he or she would be approached as a sayan," which Ostrovsky later defines as "a volunteer Jewish helper outside Israel" who would then assist Mossad. Of the Israeli spy network in the United States,
David Wise wrote in his ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' review that "both countries know that Israel has spied on the United States for years" and that from publicly known instances, the "general assertion can hardly be challenged."
Many of Ostrovsky's claims have neither been verified from other sources nor been refuted, and arguments continue to rage over the credibility of his accounts. However, he was named in a lawsuit by the Israeli government, which claimed that he was part of the Mossad. Critics such as
Benny Morris, have argued that the book is essentially a novel; or in the case of David Wise, that much of it reads like a "supermarket tabloid," and that a case officer would not have had access to so many operational secrets.
They write that intelligence organizations practice strict
compartmentalization of confidential or secretive information.
Ostrovsky argued their point to be moot, as they themselves are outsiders and that the only information about the Mossad they have is from their supposed "sources" in the agency with a very clear agenda. Ostrovsky also points out that
the need-to-know rule was not closely followed in the Mossad because of its small size and the need for case officers to fill many roles.
Shortly before the official publication of the book, the Israeli government filed lawsuits in both Canada and the United States, seeking
injunctions
An injunction is a legal and equitable remedy in the form of a special court order that compels a party to do or refrain from specific acts. ("The court of appeals ... has exclusive jurisdiction to enjoin, set aside, suspend (in whole or in par ...
against publication. A judge for the
Manhattan Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...
granted the request at a 1 a.m. hearing in his home. The
New York Supreme Court overturned his decision, but the resulting publicity focused national attention on Ostrovsky's story and guaranteed international success.
Concerns were expressed by the Israeli government that by exposing certain prior operations, the book endangered the lives of agency personnel.
Ostrovsky maintains that he never placed anyone in danger because only first names or
code names
A code name, call sign or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in industrial c ...
were used. Furthermore, Ostrovsky says the Mossad was privately allowed to see the book before publication to ensure that lives were not placed in danger.
''The Other Side of Deception''
He wrote a sequel, ''
The Other Side of Deception'', in which he gives more anecdotes and defends his earlier work with a list of newspaper articles
Works
Books
*''
By Way of Deception
By or BY may refer to:
Places
* By, Doubs, France, a commune
* By, Norway, a village
Codes
* Belarus ISO country code
** .by
.by is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Belarus. It is administered by the Operations an ...
'' (1990)
*''
Lion of Judah
The Lion of Judah ( he, אריה יהודה, ) is a Jewish national and cultural symbol, traditionally regarded as the symbol of the tribe of Judah. The association between the Judahites and the lion can first be found in the blessing given b ...
'' (1993)
*''
The Other Side of Deception'' (1995)
*''
Black Ghosts'' (1999)
Articles (partial)
Bungled Amman Assassination Plot Exposes Rift Within Israeli Government Over Peace NegotiationsWashington Report on Middle East Affairs
The ''Washington Report on Middle East Affairs'' (also known as ''The Washington Report'' and WRMEA) magazine, published eight times per year, focuses on "news and analysis from and about the Middle East and U.S. policy in that region". , December 1997, Pages 7–8, 92
Israel's "False Information Affair" Sheds New Light On Troubled Israeli and U.S. Relations With SyriaWRMEA, January/February 1998, Pages 13–14
*
', WRMEA, May/June 1998, Page 45
*
', WRMEA, December 1998, pages 48, 92
*
', WRMEA, December 1998, pages 19–20
*
', WRMEA, January/February 1999, pages 26, 94
*
', WRMEA, August/September 2000, Page 13
References
External links
*
* a documentary of the
Lillehammer affair
The Lillehammer affair (Hebrew: פרשת לילהאמר, ''Parshat Lillehammer'', Norwegian: ''Lillehammer-saken'') was the killing by Mossad agents of Ahmed Bouchikhi, a Moroccan waiter and brother of the renowned musician Chico Bouchikhi, in ...
by Victor Ostrovsky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostrovsky, Victor
1949 births
Living people
Historians of espionage
Canadian emigrants to Israel
Canadian male non-fiction writers
Jewish Canadian writers
People of the Mossad
Writers from Edmonton