Carmi Gillon

Hebrew Books Carmi Gillon

"Citizen C" is a fascinating, pragmatic and thoughtful autobiographical document, penned by the man who was revealed to be "C', Head of the Shabak" (the Israeli Security Agency) nearly twenty years ago, who presently observes events unfolding in the country he never stopped serving with the concerned gaze of an involved citizen. Carmi Gilon, who exposed the Jewish Underground movement as a senior Shabak official, draws a straight line in his book between it and the greatest of all dangers - the threat of the bombing of the mosques on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. He critically analyzes the Israeli reality, and he intertwines in his piercing analyses both a thread of irony and entertaining stories based on the professional and personal stations throughout his life. His courageous voice, direct and attentive to his surroundings, is the voice of a public servant, one who was raised in a long-standing Jerusalem family of honest and humble public servants. He served in numerous senior roles in the Shabak over the course of 25 years, culminating in his final role as the head of the agency; he spent countless hours alongside Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin and President Shimon Peres as an active partner in prominent policy decisions; he took overall responsibility for the agency's failure to protect the life of Prime Minister Rabin; and following his resignation from the position of head of the agency, he went on to serve the public in the civilian sector. He studied the business field as CEO and Director of the Peres Center for Peace; became acquainted with Israeli foreign relations as Israel's ambassador to Denmark; studied educational, welfare and political issues as head of the Mevasseret Zion Council; and plunged into the realm of Israeli innovation as Vice President of the Hebrew University and as the head of a start-up company focused on cyber defense.