Victor Ostrovsky

Ostrovsky's mother, a gymnastics teacher by trade, was born in Mandatory Palestine 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 (ATS), as truck driver during World War II, 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 during World War II as a tail gunner on a Lancaster bomber, 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, an Israeli Air Force base in Israel.

He was born in Edmonton, Canada, in 1948 and moved to Israel at the age of 1.

He grew up in Holon.

Victor John Ostrovsky (born 28 November 1949) is an author and intelligence officer who was a case officer in the Israeli Mossad for 14 months before his dismissal.

Ostrovsky joined the Israeli Youth Brigade at 14 and quickly became an expert marksman, 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.

In the IDF, Ostrovsky was assigned to the Military Police and later the Israeli Navy.

He rose to the rank of major, though variously claimed to be a colonel and lieutenant commander.

Ostrovsky worked in the Mossad from 1984 to 1986.

Most of his time in the agency was spent as a trainee, and he was barely a case officer before he was fired.

According to historian Benny Morris, given Mossad's information compartmentalization and relatively junior role, Ostrovsky would not have had much knowledge of current Mossad operations or operational history during his short tenure.

The Mossad confirmed Ostrovsky's employment, but stated that he had been found "unfit for the service" and he returned to Canada after 18 months as a trainee, with only 14 months of service as a case officer.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Ostrovsky was fired from Mossad for insubordination.

He operated Ostrovsky Fine Art Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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.

After leaving the Mossad, Ostrovsky authored two books about his service with the Mossad: By Way of Deception, a #1 New York Times bestseller in 1990, and The Other Side of Deception several years later.

Both books were criticized by journalists, scholars, and historians for their lack of historical accuracy and for containing sensationalist claims.

In 1990, he published By Way of Deception, a memoir of his years in the Mossad.

On 12 September 1990, the Israeli embassy in Ottawa successfully obtained a court order temporarily blocking the book's publication of in Canada.

On the same day, the New York Supreme Court barred publication in the United States.

According to the Israeli government, Ostrovsky wrote the book in violation of the official secrets contract he signed when he employed by Mossad.

The New York judgment was reversed by an appeals court on 13 September.

Notoriety surrounding the book led to it becoming popular.

By October 1990, the book was number one on the New York Times bestseller list.

He earned nearly $2 million in royalties from the book.

The first half of the book provides a detailed first-hand account of Ostrovsky's training as a case officer, including how to detect surveillance and how to meet and recruit agents.

According to Wise of The New York Times, the second half of the book discusses operations in which Ostrovsky did not participate or had occurred before he even joined Israeli intelligence.

Wise surmised that due to the detail provided about these operations, Ostovsky and his-coauthor Roy relied on published sources.

According to William B. Quandt in Foreign Affairs, the book contained "convincing tidbits about Mossad recruitment methods and operations," but "how much was true could not easily be determined. Former Mossad chief Isser Harel and journalist Hirsh Goodman accused Ostrovsky of fabrications in the book.

According to coworkers both in Mossad and outside government told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Ostrovsky had an erratic personality and a vivid imagination.

Former Mossad officer Jerry Sanders, who Ostrovsky heavily criticizes in By Way of Deception, calls Ostrovsky a "failed con man" who aimed to harm Mossad and Israel.

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 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 in the book have neither been verified from other sources nor been refuted, and arguments continue to rage over the credibility of his accounts.

Historian Benny Morris described the book as essentially a novel.

David Wise from The New York Times stated that much of it reads like a "supermarket tabloid" and given Ostrovsky's brief length of service and his position, he would not be expected to possess the broad range of knowledge about Mossad operations he claims.