The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel

The Angel is an award–winning expose about the sensational life and mysterious death of Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian senior official who spied for Israel.A National Jewish Book Awards WinnerBasis for the Netflix Original MovieA Best Intelligence Book by The American Association of Former Intelligence OfficersAs the son-in-law of Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser and a close advisor to his successor, Anwar Sadat, Ashraf Marwan had access to the deepest secrets of the country’s government. But Marwan himself had a secret: He was a spy for the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service. Under the codename “The Angel,” Marwan turned Egypt into an open book for the Israeli intelligence services—and, by alerting the Mossad in advance of the joint Egyptian-Syrian attack on Yom Kippur, saved Israel from a devastating defeat.Drawing on meticulous research and interviews with many key participants, political science professor Uri Bar-Joseph’s The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel pieces together Marwan’s story. In the process, he sheds new light on this volatile time in modern Egyptian and Middle Eastern history, culminating in 2011’s Arab Spring. The Angel also chronicles the discord within the Israeli government that brought down Prime Minister Golda Meir.However, this nail-biting narrative doesn’t end with Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War. Marwan eluded Egypt’s ruthless secret services for many years, but then somebody talked. In 2007, his body was found in the garden of his London apartment building. Police suspected he had been thrown from his fifth-floor balcony, and thanks to explosive new evidence, Bar-Joseph can finally reveal who, how, and why. Read more