"During that period, in Mr Bergman's telling, Israel failed miserably to penetrate the Shia organisation. Time and again, long before the war of 2006, Hizbullah surprised Israel with its feats of espionage, novel tactics and new weapons. By contrast, he says, Israel's efforts against Hizbullah looked more like those of a bumbling Inspector Clouseau than a James Bond. To buttress these claims, the author gives plenty of chapter and verse, describing numerous specific Israeli operations, mostly failures, and naming and quoting some of their former commanders."