Book summary “Profits of War”: summary

Introduction

You live in a world where official diplomacy hides a vast apparatus of covert arms deals and unelected power. Foreign policy often bypasses democratic oversight through secret slush funds and clandestine intelligence networks. You rarely see how intelligence insiders manage global conflicts behind closed doors.

A former Israeli intelligence insider exposes decades of covert arms deals, secret slush funds, and clandestine geopolitics that bypassed democratic oversight.

Ari Ben-Menashe details this hidden reality by tracing his path from early military intelligence work to multi-billion-dollar weapons operations. You will discover how intelligence agencies manipulate global events, establish front companies, and weaponize software. The book examines early codebreaking, geopolitical shifts in Iran, complex arms channels, and East Bloc military trade.

• How did intelligence agencies bypass democratic governments to sell weapons to Iran?
• What role did secret slush funds and front companies play in global geopolitics?
• How was surveillance software weaponized to monitor foreign governments?

1. Early Intelligence and Codebreaking

The author began his career in Israeli Military Intelligence, uncovering critical diplomatic secrets and navigating the shifting alliances of the Middle East.

You discover that Ari Ben-Menashe was born to affluent Iraqi Jews in Tehran. He grew up learning English, French, Farsi, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish. His father maintained socialist sympathies and imported goods like furs, leather, and later the Mercedes Benz/Bosch car franchise for Iran. His father also had ties with the LEHI and the Stern Gang in Palestine, instilling a complex worldview.

Michael Dennis Rohan, staying at Kibbutz Mishmar Hasharon, believed he was destined to be the king of Israel. He confessed to Ben-Menashe about his role in the arson of the El Aqsa Mosque, which was done in coordination with the Jewish Defense League to prompt the building of the Third Temple. Ben-Menashe used a pay phone to call emergency services and report Rohan as the most wanted man in Israel, leading to a heavily armed border guard response. The Israeli legal system suppressed connections to the Jewish Defense League to avoid political fallout, and Rohan escaped or was deported after 3 months.

After teaching English in an Arab village through his friend Adel Mohammad Atamna, Ben-Menashe was summoned by the Prime Minister's Office. SHABAK offered him a dual salary to act as an undercover agent spying on Arab Israeli citizens. He refused to act as a manyak spying on his friend Adel, declining the recruitment attempt.

You see Ben-Menashe drafted into Military Intelligence for his compulsory military service period from 1974 to 1977, lasting the standard 3 years. Following security clearances and aptitude tests, he committed to a five-year military contract. He underwent training in codebreaking and high-explosives sabotage before joining Unit 8200.

Iranian embassies used Haglin coding machines and double-coded their messages. SHABAK intercepted black books from the Iranian embassy pouch at Ramat Gan during the 24-hour layover time for Iranian diplomatic pouches at Ben-Gurion Airport. Working a night shift with a young soldier, Ben-Menashe instructed the computer to look for the Farsi word noghteh with spaces, breaking the code without needing the stolen black book.

Ben-Menashe intercepted and translated a telegram from the Iranian ambassador in Israel discussing a $3.5 million Lockheed bribe paid to Shimon Peres. Brigadier General Yoel Ben-Porat, nicknamed Buffy, ordered Ben-Menashe to erase all logs, translations, and original materials detailing the deposit into Shimon Peres's brother's European business accounts.

Refusing an order to work at the listening station in Rome due to security risks from Palestinian groups led to a court-martial. Ben-Menashe was sentenced to 14 days in prison and reduced in rank from lieutenant to corporal before receiving a pardon from the director of Military Intelligence. He used the sentence to nullify his extended contract and successfully applied to join the External Relations Department of Military Intelligence.

2. Geopolitical Shifts and Secret Missions

Following the 1973 Yom Kippur War intelligence failures, the 1974 Agranat Commission led to reforms that made Military Intelligence the senior agency. This centralized the National Assessment directly under the director of Military Intelligence rather than pooling it across agencies, and created the External Relations Department.

Intelligence agencies scrambled to manage the collapse of the Shah's regime in Iran through covert operations, assassinations, and backchannel diplomacy.

The author joined the External Relations Department of IDF/Military Intelligence in August 1977, which had four branches including SIM, R Branch, Foreign Liaison, and Intelligence 12.

To trade valuable technical information for intelligence, Israeli developers working on the Merkava tank needed samples of advanced British armor used on Iranian tanks. The author requested a sample through Iranian military liaison, resulting in a piece being cut out of an Iranian tank and sent via diplomatic crate.

When the author asked an Iranian counterpart for a sheet of Chobham armor, the counterpart replied that the only way to get it was by cutting up a tank, which they subsequently did.

By breaking up feudal estates and distributing land to peasants without ensuring marketing, transport, or supply systems, agricultural production came to a standstill and forced heavy reliance on food imports. This disproportionately harmed the urban middle class and intellectuals facing skyrocketing prices and traffic gridlock.

The author wrote reports in early 1978 predicting the Shah's overthrow based on opposition realism, urban congestion, and the breakdown of food supply chains.

Fearing that a left-wing FSLN victory against President Somoza would sever Israeli arms markets and drive the rebels toward the Soviet Union, the author used Iranian Tudeh Party contacts to arrange a clandestine meeting with Sandinista leadership.

The author traveled to Managua in March 1978, where he was guided by a Sandinista liaison named Marie Fernanda to meet a regional commander in rebel territory.

Facing the impending collapse of the Iranian monarchy, the CIA enlisted Israeli intelligence and SAVAK to execute a plan where an Israeli commando team would eliminate Khomeini in France, allowing Iranian generals to declare martial law and restore the Shah. The plan was aborted when the Shah refused to permit the bloodshed.

Prime minister's counterterrorism adviser Rafi Eitan formulated the plan, and Israeli Police Border Guard commander Col. Assaf Hefetz was selected to lead the raid before retired ambassador Uri Lubrani's proposal was rejected by the Shah.

After the assassination plan failed, Israel sought diplomatic clarity from the exiled cleric. Ruth Ben-David, matriarch of the Neturei Karte sect and an old acquaintance of Khomeini from theological seminars, met him in Paris to discuss the safety of Iranian Jews and future relations.

Khomeini assured Ruth Ben-David that Iranian Jews were citizens protected by Islam, while characterizing Israel and Baha'is as heretical, signaling that his immediate priority was targeting Arab regimes rather than Israel.

3. Groundwork and the October Surprise

The establishment of clandestine arms channels and secret political negotiations set the stage for major geopolitical maneuvers during the 1980 U.S. presidential election.

Israel quickly intervened after the Shah fell to prevent advanced U.S. military hardware from falling into hostile hands. Forty-eight F-14 jets delivered by the U.S. to the Shah in September 1978 were flown out of Iran by 48 Israeli aircrews in civilian clothes with the cooperation of the Iranian Air Force commander and later sold by Israel to Taiwan. El Al flights into Tehran carried out the operation just before the airport was closed.

The collapse of the Iranian military and the threat of an Iraqi invasion alarmed both Israeli and American intelligence. Saddam Hussein planned to annex oil-rich Khuzistan and develop nuclear weapons, creating a Greater Iraq with massive oil reserves that terrified Israeli leadership. Prime Minister Begin personally warned President Carter about the Iraqi threat and urged support for Iranian Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan.

Gen. Sagi and Prime Minister Begin authorized selling 300 non-lethal aircraft tires to Iran at an exorbitant markup, laundering the profit through Swiss bank accounts to create an extra-budgetary intelligence fund. Kashani deposited $270,000 into a Banque Worms account in Geneva, netting a $106,000 cash profit for Israeli intelligence.

Desperate for military supplies against Iraq, Iranian officials presented a massive procurement list to Israeli intelligence. Kashani brought a 50-page shopping list featuring tanks, aircraft, missiles, and artillery shells to a meeting at the Amsterdam Marriott Hotel, offering a $1 billion deposit in a European bank as a sign of good faith.

Israel fulfilled smaller equipment requests from Iran while awaiting the new U.S. administration's assent for larger arms sales. Israel supplied 60 wheelbases for F-4 aircraft out of air force stock, transported via chartered French aircraft landing at Ben-Gurion Airport. Simon Gabbay, a cousin of your author's father, coordinated meetings in Paris to facilitate these clandestine contacts.

Representatives of the Republican campaign covertly negotiated with Iranian officials to delay the release of the U.S. hostages until after the 1980 election.

Figures including William Casey, Robert Gates, and George Bush met with Iranian representatives like Hojjat El-Islam Karrubi in Madrid and Paris, trading promises of unfreezed funds and future arms supplies for a post-election hostage release. George Bush and William Casey attended a secret meeting in Paris at the Ritz Hotel to seal the arrangement with Karrubi.

The Carter administration relied on intermediaries who used the hostage crisis for personal financial gain through small-scale arms sales. Three Iranian brothers named Cyrus, Jamshid, and Reza Hashemi claimed connections to Ahmed Khomeini and sold small quantities of military equipment to Iran while failing to secure the release of the hostages. The Hashemi trio claimed to be cousins of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and operated through an intermediary named Iran Najd Rankuni.

4. The Joint Committee and the First Billion

Prime Minister Begin ordered the creation of the IDF/MI-Mossad Joint Committee for Iran-Israel Relations to supply arms to Iran. You find that the rationale was to divert Arab attention, kill potential enemies, and use Khomeini's regime as an asset. The initial members included David Kimche, Shmuel Morieh, Uri Simchoni, Moshe Hebroni, and Rafi Eitan, later joined by Ari Ben-Menashe as the coordinator.

A dedicated intelligence committee coordinated billion-dollar arms sales to Iran, laundering funds through Central America and executing high-stakes military strikes.

Intelligence services laundered illicit funds through Central America and Saudi intermediaries to finance covert operations. Ari Ben-Menashe was sent to Guatemala to pick up fifty-six million dollars from the Saudi ambassador.

Faissal Ghows delivered a Samsonite suitcase filled with sixteen million dollars in cash alongside forty million dollars in checks drawn on Banque Worms. Four million was deposited into an Arizona bank account for Earl Brian, while fifty-two million was delivered to an Iranian contact in Europe.

CIA official Robert Gates personally managed the security and logistics for transporting illicit millions into the United States. Robert Gates met Ben-Menashe at Miami airport to bypass customs with diplomatic cover and millions of dollars.

Israel capitalized on Iran's desperate need for military hardware by charging exorbitant prices for surplus equipment. At an arms-supply conference in Vienna, Israeli representatives offered a billion-dollar arms package, demanding a fifty percent profit margin.

German-made Chieftain tank engines worth thirty to forty thousand dollars each were sold to the Iranians for four hundred fifty thousand dollars each. The package included:

• 1,000 tank engines;
• 300,000 122mm artillery shells;
• 100,000 Kalashnikov AK-47s;
• 12 million dollars each for ten old C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Ari Ben-Menashe traveled to Tehran under the Canadian alias William Grace using travel papers provided by Mossad. He met with Iranian defense officials and leaders of the Supreme Council to negotiate payment terms.

Israel and Iran cooperated to eliminate the Iraqi nuclear threat, culminating in an Israeli airstrike that destroyed the Tammuz 17 reactor. On June 7, 1981, Mossad utilized French technicians to plant a homing device, and 6 F-15 jets and 8 F-16 escorts used in the raid dropped 6 bombs.

Yair Shamir led the strike team after the original lead pilot, Yoram Eitan, was killed during a rehearsal accident in the Negev Desert.

Israel's refusal to answer a formal Soviet inquiry regarding covert arms flights led to direct military retaliation by the Soviet Union. On July 18, 1981, an Argentinean-registered cargo plane carrying F-4 parts was shot down along the Armenian-Turkish border, killing 3 Argentinean crew members.

5. The Ora Group and Slush Funds

Front companies and complex banking workarounds financed political campaigns and covert operations using vast, unbudgeted arms profits.

The Joint Committee established the Ora Group as a flagship holding company to handle billions of dollars in secret weapons transactions and extra-budgetary slush funds. Operating initially from a New York office on John Street, the network used front companies, forged end-user certificates, and Swiss accounts to ship military electronics and arms to Iran. When exposed by a whistle-blower, South African intelligence operatives silenced her and the operation relocated to London.

A Swiss employee at the John Street office discovered the operation and leaked information to New York Times reporter Leslie M. Gelb, prompting a hasty exit and the use of South African operatives to bundle her onto an arms cargo plane bound for Pretoria.

Defense Minister Ariel Sharon and U.S. officials like Robert Gates established a loosely worded strategic agreement permitting the resale of American arms if the underlying technology was at least twenty years old. Letters of credit from Iran were channeled through European branches of Bank Melli and cleared through American banks with CIA backing.

Letters of credit for Iranian arms purchases were routed through the London or Paris branches of Bank Melli, endorsed by National Westminster Bank, and sent to American banks such as Chemical Bank and Valley National Bank.

A bogus international arms market was fabricated across Europe using unsuspecting brokers to obscure real weapons shipments between Israel and Iran. Operatives like John Hortrich created deliberate confusion by orchestrating fake negotiations, telex orders, and meetings that were purposely derailed before completion, protecting the actual supply lines.

John Hortrich, a former Revlon salesman and Caribbean liquor wholesaler operating in St. Tropez, was recruited to disrupt arms deals and leak disinformation on behalf of Israeli intelligence.

Israel executed a complex deception campaign involving fake buyers to cover the direct sale of 4,000 TOW missiles to Iran for over fifty-five million dollars. While a public spectacle was made in Israel of Iranian intermediaries arriving to negotiate for TOW missiles, the actual missiles were quietly shipped directly to Iran via Liberian-registry vessels.

Sayeed Mehdi Kashani and Jean-Paul Yves flew into Ben-Gurion Airport in a French-registry Cessna without permission, triggering a fighter jet intercept to publicly stage failed negotiations while the actual missiles were shipped.

Billions of dollars in arms profits accumulated in unbudgeted numbered accounts and were disbursed to finance political campaigns, covert operations, and West Bank settlements. Controlled by a strict multi-signature rule and distributed across international accounts, the slush funds bypassed parliamentary oversight to fund political factions, black propaganda, and housing projects for Jewish settlers.

Funds were held by Drexel Burnham on behalf of front companies, aiding Michael Milken's junk-bond underwriting before the committee withdrew its funds in 1987.

Israeli intelligence utilized slush-fund money to finance false-flag terrorist operations designed to generate anti-Palestinian and anti-Syrian propaganda. Operatives like former Jordanian Colonel Mohammed Radi Abdullah manipulated agents into carrying out attacks or bombings under the guise of the Palestinian or Syrian cause to achieve geopolitical objectives.

Nezar Hindawi was duped into unknowingly sending his pregnant Irish girlfriend, Ann-Marie Murphy, onto an El Al flight with plastic explosives planted in her bag by an Israeli security agent in a plot orchestrated by Rafi Eitan to frame Syria.

Australia served as a vital transit, refurbishment, and financial parking ground for weapons, equipment, and covert funds related to the Iran-Contra operations. Western Australia's Fremantle Port and Stirling Island were used to temporarily store North Korean artillery shells, Chinese Silkworm missiles, and TOW missiles, while CIA cut-outs channeled contributions to local political funds.

Richard Babayan delivered a six million dollar check from a CIA cut-out to Yosef Goldberg, which was handed to Alan Bond for the John Curtin Foundation funds.

6. Promis Software and Global Espionage

Intelligence agencies weaponized the database program Promis with a secret trap door, deploying it worldwide to monitor utilities, dissidents, and foreign governments.

William Hamilton developed the Inslaw database program intended for legal cross-referencing before it was seized and weaponized by intelligence agencies. Rafi Eitan realized Promis could be used to track enemies if bugged. Yehuda Ben-Hanan was hired by an Israeli operative for a $5,000 fee to build an external access trap door into a computer program without knowing its true nature.

• Install Promis software in a target nation's spy organization headquarters
• Link Promis via modem to local public utility networks including telephone, water, and electricity boards
• Program Promis to cross-reference resource usage anomalies to identify hidden associates and missing persons
• Dial into the foreign intelligence central computer using a modem and type secret code words to access all files

A businessman in Amman used Promis from his apartment to monitor public utilities and military secrets, regularly flying via Royal Jordanian Airlines to Vienna to hand computer disks to Mossad. Earl Brian sold Promis through his company Hadron to Jordanian military intelligence under the guise of helping King Hussein stop Palestinian dissidents.

Robert Maxwell bought Degem after a solar energy scandal ruined cabinet minister Yaacov Meridor, utilizing the company to distribute Promis worldwide while maintaining a public stance against apartheid and dictatorship. Manfred Herrmann's company Sedra and Maxwell's Degem set up Promis terminals at roadblocks and airports across Guatemala, helping the regime track dissidents and finance operations through drug trafficking. In Guatemala, the regime computerized roadblocks and public services, creating a surveillance state that resulted in the disappearance or death of 20,000 opponents in 1984.

Promis was used to track black miner strike instigators via identity passes, leading to their disappearance, while death lists were executed by Chief Gatsha Buthelezi's squads under the term 'Kushi kills Kushi'. Degem technicians fitted Promis with its trap door onto IBM computers sold to the Soviet GRU in the late 1980s via TransCapital Corporation after export barriers were lifted by Robert Gates. Earl Brian's Hadron sold Promis to countries like Britain, Australia, South Korea, Iraq, and Canada, netting the CIA at least $40 million by 1989.

Leigh Ratiner was forced out of his law firm after discovering the truth about Promis, funded by a secret $600,000 transfer routed from an Israeli slush fund to silence his representation of Inslaw.

7. The East Bloc and Massive Arms Flows

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir shifted Israeli policy to open relations with the East Bloc to reduce dependence on the United States. Shamir harbored deep anti-American sentiments based on his belief that the U.S. was partially responsible for WWII Nazi atrocities. Leveraging Robert Maxwell's connections and his wife's Bulgarian heritage, Shamir opened diplomatic and trade channels with the East Bloc after taking office in 1983.

Robert Maxwell arranged a meeting between Shamir and his Bulgarian counterpart at the United Nations, which led to a visa for Shamir's wife and initiated the diplomatic opening.

KGB head Viktor Chebrikov authorized Poland to trade arms with Israel to help Poland's shattered economy and maintain geopolitical influence. Chebrikov realized the Soviet Union could not openly sell weapons to Iran while arming Iraq, making a third country like Poland an ideal intermediary. The arrangement generated hard currency for Poland and aligned with Soviet interests in threatening Saudi oil fields.

Nick Davies flew to Warsaw without a visa in early 1984 and met a Cenzin representative in the airport VIP room to set up arms negotiations.

Israel enlisted Robert Maxwell and KGB Chairman Viktor Chebrikov to securely bank hundreds of millions of dollars in slush funds behind the Iron Curtain.

Fearing that Shimon Peres's Labor administration or the U.S. would discover their secret bank accounts, Military Intelligence director Ehud Barak arranged for funds to be transferred to East Bloc banks with Soviet government guarantees.

At a secret meeting in Robert Maxwell's Daily Mirror office, Mossad Director Nachum Admoni and Viktor Chebrikov agreed to transfer $450 million from Credit Suisse to the Bank of Budapest.

Soviet-made Katusha rockets served as a highly lucrative commodity, dubbed the dollar machine by intelligence operatives. Iran desperately needed Katusha shells due to their psychological impact and compatibility with truck-mounted launchers. Israel purchased them from communist intermediaries and marked up the prices significantly for resale.

Poland sold 50,000 Katusha shells to Israel for $800 each, which Israel then sold to Iran for $1,100 each.

Israel supplied East Bloc weapons to the U.S.-backed Contras in Nicaragua using Polish intermediaries and CIA front companies. The Washington-based CIA front GeoMiliTech requested weapons for the Contras fighting the Sandinistas. The Poles agreed to supply the arms under the condition that they receive U.S. General Electric tank engines in return.

Nick Davies drew up a weapon list for GeoMiliTech that included 5,000 AK-47 rifles, mortars, and ammunition totaling $3,242,000, while GeoMiliTech's books showed a $5 million payout.

Ari Ben-Menashe traveled to North Korea and Vietnam to procure massive quantities of rocket launchers, ammunition, and captured U.S. cargo planes for Iran. Despite lacking diplomatic relations, Ben-Menashe negotiated directly with North Korean and Vietnamese officials to buy restricted military hardware. The purchased items were funneled through European intermediaries and financial networks to disguise the origin from the United States.

Ben-Menashe purchased 85 abandoned South Vietnamese C-130 Hercules cargo planes from Vietnam for $200,000 each, repaired them at a cost of $2 million each, and sold them to Iran for $12 million each.

Israel acquired grounded U.S.-made fighter jets from Marxist Ethiopia and used Swiss financiers to disguise the transaction funds. Ethiopian Chairman Mengistu Haile Mariam sold rusted F-4 jets to raise funds for his revolution. Swiss businessman Hans Kopp papered the financial trail through French brokers to avoid direct U.S. intervention before Israeli engineers refurbished the aircraft for Iran.

Hans Kopp documented a false money trail through the French broker SFAIR to funnel $1.8 million to Mengistu's Swiss bank account for 12 F-4 fighter jets.

Israel maintained a formal, rigorous multi-step governmental committee process for licensing foreign and domestic arms brokers. The Foreign Defense Sales Office of the Ministry of Defense, known as SIBAT, investigated applicants, verified end-user certificates, and prepared files for the director general. Final approval required a ministerial committee comprising the prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, and finance minister.

When Carlos Cardoen applied to SIBAT in 1979 for a license to sell Israeli arms in South America, his request was rejected because he was an unknown factor without professional military or political credentials.

• Submit an application form and attach an end-user certificate from the buyer to SIBAT
• Sibat staff investigates availability, political acceptability, authenticity of certificates, and broker trustworthiness
• Director general presents the file to a weekly ministerial committee of the prime minister, foreign minister, defense minister, and finance minister for final approval

Israel issued an ultimatum to Carlos Cardoen in September 1988, offering a lucrative manufacturing license in exchange for halting his chemical trade with Iraq. Empowered directly by Prime Minister Shamir, Ben-Menashe traveled to Chile in September 1988, met with Gen. Rodolfo Stange, and confronted Carlos Cardoen at his office. Ben-Menashe offered Cardoen a contract to produce Uzis, Galil rifles, and artillery under license from Israel Military Industries across South America if he abandoned his Iraqi contracts.

Ben-Menashe delivered a personal plea letter from Prime Minister Shamir to President Pinochet via his chief secretary, and left an open briefcase with a map pointing to Cardoen's Paraguay chemical plant to signal Israeli surveillance.

• Deliver a direct ultimatum giving targets a strict two-week deadline to halt illicit weapons production
• Offer a commercial partnership and licensing rights for standard military hardware as a financial alternative
• Provide clear, unmistakable warnings of lethal consequences if the supply of weapons of mass destruction continues

10 Key Ideas

1. Ari Ben-Menashe utilized intercepted diplomatic pouches and advanced computer analysis in Unit 8200 to break Iranian codes and uncover high-level political bribery.
2. Israeli intelligence agencies and the CIA formulated, but ultimately abandoned, a plan to eliminate Ayatollah Khomeini in France before the Shah's regime collapsed.
3. Representatives of the 1980 U.S. Republican presidential campaign covertly met with Iranian officials in Madrid and Paris to negotiate a delayed release of American hostages.
4. The IDF/MI-Mossad Joint Committee coordinated multi-billion-dollar arms sales to Iran, laundering millions in illicit profits through Central American intermediaries and Swiss bank accounts.
5. The Joint Committee established the Ora Group and used front companies, forged end-user certificates, and Swiss financial networks to ship military hardware to Iran while evading oversight.
6. Intelligence agencies weaponized the Inslaw database program Promis by embedding an external access trap door, deploying it worldwide to monitor dissidents, utilities, and foreign governments.
7. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir opened diplomatic and trade channels with the East Bloc to reduce dependence on the United States, utilizing Robert Maxwell's connections and Soviet-Israeli banking agreements.
8. Israeli intelligence procured massive quantities of restricted military hardware and aircraft from North Korea, Vietnam, and Ethiopia, funneling the weapons to Iran through European financial networks.
9. Billions of dollars in unbudgeted arms profits accumulated in numbered accounts to finance political campaigns, covert operations, West Bank settlements, and false-flag terrorist operations designed to frame Syria.
10. The book exposes a hidden apparatus where unelected intelligence insiders bypassed democratic oversight to manage global conflicts and direct secret foreign policy.