Victor Ostrovsky

Victor Ostrovsky (born Edmonton, 28 November 1949) is an Israeli-Canadian writer who served as a case officer for the Israeli intelligence service Mossad for fourteen months before being dismissed. He is known mainly for his books about that experience, although their reliability has been widely disputed.

Born in Canada to Russian-Jewish parents, he moved to Israel as a child and grew up in Holon. As a young man he became a skilled marksman, and after an eye condition ended his hopes of becoming a pilot, he served in the Israel Defense Forces, first in the Military Police and later in the Navy, rising to the rank of major. He worked for the Mossad from 1984 to 1986; according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, he was fired for insubordination. He later ran an art gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 1990 he published By Way of Deception, a memoir of his Mossad years. The book drew an Israeli attempt to block its publication and reached the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Its first half, a detailed account of case officer training, was praised for its detail; the second half, which covers operations he did not take part in or that predated his service, was challenged by Israeli journalists, historians and foreign analysts. In 1994 he published The Other Side of Deception, which makes further allegations against the Mossad and which critics such as Benny Morris judged unconvincing.

His legacy lies more in controversy than in any established literary contribution. His books are still cited in debates about Israeli intelligence, though many of his claims have neither been verified nor conclusively refuted.