By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer
- William Bache
- Regions
- Israel-Palestine
- Posted On October 27, 2025
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2025, pp. 60-61
Special Report
By William Bache
THE FACTS ABOUT MOSSAD’S global influence operations and the Israel lobby’s control over the U.S. Congress were known 35 years ago, but with the notable exception of the Washington Report, few paid attention. St. Martin’s Press published By Way of Deception: The Making and Unmaking of a Mossad Officer by Victor Ostrovsky in 1990, the year the U.S. conducted its first major ground war for Israel in the Middle East.
Most of us do not understand why the United States has been repeatedly involved in so many wars of choice in the very countries attacked by Israel. The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (Mossad) is responsible for protecting and furthering the goals of Israel. The Mossad grew out of the Zionist terrorist operations directed against their former British patrons and the Palestinians, until they successfully created their own nation-state in 1948. The Mossad was formally established in 1953.
The Mossad is so integral to the state that it is directly under the office of the prime minister. Its training school, the Midrasha, is located near the town of Herzliya, where Ostrovsky completed the challenging katsa (case officer) course. Its graduates considered themselves an elite group. Some of the qualities sought by Mossad for their katsas are the desire to control, dominate and manipulate, attention to detail, determination, discipline and good social skills.
Mossad does not have a flood of case officers stationed all over the world, so they rely on overseas, non-Israeli Jewish “helpers” (Sayanim) to provide vital support services for their operations. However, the Sayanim collaboration with Mossad puts all Jews, including non-Zionist Jews who want nothing to do with Israel, at risk for retaliatory violence and possible persecution resulting from Mossad or Israeli Occupation Forces’ actions. To mediate the prospects of “blow-back” upon the Sayanim, the Mossad provides secret paramilitary training and weapons to foreign Jewish self-defense units, called FRAMES (Misgarot), that are located all over the world.
Many people are asking how Jeffrey Epstein, a high-school teacher without a college degree, became a billionaire. Ostrovsky revealed that the Mossad relies on the rich Sayanim to support Mossad operations with business covers, manpower and financial support. For example, Leslie Wexner, the billionaire owner of Victoria’s Secret clothing stores, gave Jeffrey Epstein power of attorney over all of his property and financial assets. Wexner also gifted Epstein his New York mansion, the largest mansion in Manhattan. Wexner effectively jump-started Epstein’s reputation as a financial wheeler-dealer with seemingly unlimited financial resources that gave him entry into the world of the rich and famous.
Epstein was not a Mossad case officer. But he was certainly an agent of influence and recruitment who operated at the highest levels of society. He could access the White House (17 times under Bill Clinton), pal around with Donald Trump for 15 years, invite corporate owners over to his mansion for dinner, and take special guests to his private island or ranch, on his personal jets, for highly questionable meetings with underage girls.
Epstein was introduced to Ehud Barak, the general in charge of AMAN—Israeli Military Intelligence, by British billionaire Robert Maxwell, the father of Ghislaine Maxwell, in the mid-1980s. This was when Robert Maxwell, an Israeli asset, was involved with the sale and transfer of weapons to Iran from Israel. Epstein was also reportedly involved in weapons trafficking to Afghanistan, Iran and the Contras in Central America. Barak could have been Epstein’s personal control officer. For many years, Barak met with Epstein on a monthly basis at Epstein’s New York mansion and even went to his island. Epstein and Wexner bankrolled Barak’s business enterprises. Barak was probably debriefing Epstein, picking up kompromat (compromising material) and informing Epstein of any new operational tasks.
In his book, Ostrovsky revealed the existence of a secret Mossad unit, known as “AL.” That unit consists of experienced katsas working undercover in the United States. Due to the need to maintain the consistent support of the U.S. government, the declared katsas at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, were restricted to liaison with the U.S. Intelligence community and did not generally commit espionage in the United States. Espionage and influence operations were left to AL, assets like Epstein, and other well-organized front groups, like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
AIPAC is the core element of the Israel lobby’s influence operations. It contains specialists in political campaigns, fundraising, influence peddling and recruitment of U.S. politicians willing to put Israeli interests over the interests of the United States. AIPAC is one of the largest and most effective lobbies in all of Washington, but unlike all the other lobbies that represent foreign countries and corporations, it is not required to register with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). The only president who insisted that Israel register their lobby was John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated shortly after demanding their registration. No president since Kennedy has tried to force AIPAC to register as Israel’s agent.
Russian efforts to influence U.S. elections, with deceptive Facebook ads, paled in comparison to the deep penetration and mastery of the U.S. pay-to-play political system set up by the Israel lobby. A quick review of TrackAIPAC.com or the Washington Report (see Pro-Israel PAC Contributions to Congressional Candidates), both using data from OpenSecrets compiled from Federal Election Commission reports, reveals that just about every U.S. senator and representative has been bought by the Israel-first lobby through campaign contributions. Each congressperson has an AIPAC minder. The lobby has effectively paralyzed independent U.S. foreign policy. The White House, State Department and Pentagon all take their cues from the lobby when policy decisions affect Israel. AIPAC writes legislation that is passed off as coming from their flunkies. Senators and representatives receive instruction from their assigned hometown AIPAC “buddies” on how to put the interests of Israel above those of the United States. Joe Biden certainly did. Since 1973, Biden received $5,688,069 from the lobby. But that amount is small compared to Donald Trump, who, since 2016, has received $230,473,622 in cash from the Israel first lobbies for his demonstrated loyalty.
Accountability for those engaged in child molestation by the Epstein cabal must be addressed in a meaningful and legal manner. Israel’s manipulation of U.S. elites, the buying of the White House and Congress, the strangulation of mainstream media, the pressure on higher education to crush pro-Palestine voices, and their relentless efforts to have Americans fight their wars must be stopped. No more war material, financial aid, political cover or intelligence sharing with Israel. Israeli manipulation of the U.S. government must end. Israeli deception is over.
William Bache is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer who served in the infantry in Germany and Vietnam, as a General Staff Officer at HQDA, the Third U.S. Army for the USCENTCOM area, USASETAF for Italy and Türkiye, and III Armored Corps, and as a civilian in Afghanistan and Iraq.