Natan and the Jewish Book Council are thrilled to announce the Fall 2023 Natan Notable Book: Target Tehran: How Israel Is Using Sabotage, Cyberwarfare, Assassination – and Secret Diplomacy – to Stop a Nuclear Iran and Create a New Middle East by Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar (Simon & Schuster, September 2023).
Twice a year, Natan Notable Books recognizes recently published or about-to-be-published non-fiction books that promise to catalyze conversations aligned with the themes of Natan’s grantmaking: reinventing Jewish life and community for the twenty-first century, shifting notions of individual and collective Jewish identity, the history and future of Israel, understanding and confronting contemporary forms of antisemitism, and the evolving relationship between Israel and world Jewry.
With the situation in the Middle East tenser than it has been in many years, hardly a day goes by when Iran or Iranian-backed groups are not in our news cycles. The concern about a nuclear Iran has troubled countries across the globe, prompted summits and treaties, and all manner of diplomacy. For Israel, a nuclear Iran is a threat that they are, understandably, unwilling to allow. In Target Tehran, Yonah Jeremy Bob and Ilan Evyatar, investigative journalists and contributors to The Jerusalem Post, tell the story of Israel’s “secret war” on Iran, the campaigns by the Mossad to expose, sabotage, and prevent Iran’s nuclear plans. Through interviews with many very highly ranked officials, Evyatar and Bob weave a thrilling narrative – one that reads like a spy novel – which outlines and foreshadows the complicated machinations of one of the most complex regions in the world.
Reflecting on the choice, Matt Hiltzik, longtime member of the Natan Notable Books committee, shared, “As we are all starting to better understand the realities and dangers of our post 10/7/23 world, Yonah’s and Ilan’s Target Tehran provides readers with unique insights into the Mossad’s challenges and successes in limiting Iran’s capabilities to inflict further harm on Israel, both directly and through its proxies. This is exactly the type of content that Natan’s Notable Book series hopes to highlight because understanding these historical dynamics is crucial to understanding the complexities of Iran’s goals and its impact elsewhere in the Middle East.”
The authors will receive a $5,000 cash prize, as well as customized support for promoting the book and its ideas, drawing on Natan’s and Jewish Book Council’s extensive networks throughout the Jewish philanthropic and communal worlds.
An event celebrating the authors and discussing the book will be on Monday, June 17 at 7 pm at Kehilath Jeshurun in Manhattan in partnership with the New York Jewish Week.
For those interested in submitting a recent or soon-to-come non-fiction title, the deadline for submission for Spring 2024 Natan Notable Books is April 26, 2024. Titles must have a publication date between September 1, 2023 and October 31, 2024. Inquiries can be directed to natannotable@jewishbooks.org.
For more information on the award and eligibility or to submit a title, go to https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/awards/natan-notable-books.
Natan Notable Books at the Jewish Book Council has previously been awarded to Bari Weiss’ How to Fight Anti-Semitism (2019), Susie Linfield’s The Lion’s Den (2019), Ilan Stavans’ The Seventh Heaven (2020), Nancy Sinkoff’s From Left to Right (2020), Dara Horn’s People Love Dead Jews (2021), Michael Frank’s One Hundred Saturdays: Stella Levi and the Search for a Lost World (2022), and Feeding Women of the Talmud, Feeding Ourselves: Uplifting the Voices of Talmudic Heroines and Honoring Them with Simple, Vegan Recipes edited by Kenden Alfond (2022), The Land of Hope and Fear: Israel’s Battle for its Inner Soul by Isabel Kershner (2023). Natan Notable Books is an evolution of the Natan Book Award, which was previously awarded to Matti Friedman’s Spies of No Country (2018) and Ari Shavit’s My Promised Land (2013).
About Natan
Natan catalyzes emerging philanthropists to become actively engaged in building the Jewish future by giving collaboratively to cutting-edge initiatives in Israel and in Jewish communities around the world, and by building an interconnected community of givers through grantmaking, events and other programs. Natan believes that engaged and entrepreneurial philanthropy can transform givers, grant recipients, and the fields in which Natan invests.
About Jewish Book Council
Jewish Book Council is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating, enriching, and strengthening the Jewish community through Jewish interest literature. With over 270 touring authors each year; over 2,800 book clubs; 1,400 events; its annual print publication, Paper Brigade; the National Jewish Book Awards; Natan Notable Books; its popular literary series Unpacking the Book: Jewish Writers in conversation; and a vibrant digital presence, JBC ensures that Jewish-interest authors have a platform, and that readers are able to find these books and have the tools to discuss them with their community.