Mishḳah Ben-Daṿid

Mishḳah Ben-Daṿid was born in 1952 in Giv'at Shmuel

Mishka (Moshe) Ben-David was born on March 22, 1952, in Giv'at Shmuel. He grew up there, the son of Holocaust survivor parents.

From 1977 to 1980 he was a community envoy of the Zionist Organization in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. During that time he earned a master's degree in comparative literature at the University of Wisconsin. In 1989 he received a doctorate in Hebrew literature from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with a thesis on the War of Independence novel from 1949 to 1958.

From 1980 to 1985 he directed the Beit Ross community center in Jerusalem. From 1987 to 1999 he served in the Mossad in field, intelligence and command roles and reached a senior rank. In 1997 he took part in the failed attempt on the life of Khaled Mashal, and on his commanders' orders he gave the Jordanians the antidote that saved Mashal.

His novels, including Duet in Beirut, draw on his Mossad years, and several became bestsellers translated into English, French and Turkish. He won the Prime Minister's Prize for Hebrew writers and headed the Israeli High School for Sciences and Arts in Jerusalem from 2005 to 2007. Since 1983 he has lived in Ramat Raziel, where he set up a horse farm, and he is married with 3 children.