Ahron "Ronnie" Bregman (; born 1958) is a UK-based

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

of Israeli origin, as well as a writer and journalist, specialising on the

Arab–Israeli conflict The Arab–Israeli conflict is a geopolitical phenomenon involving military conflicts and a variety of disputes between Israel and many Arab world, Arab countries. It is largely rooted in the historically supportive stance of the Arab League ...

Biography

Bregman was born and raised in Israel. He served in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

and as an

artillery Artillery consists of ranged weapons that launch Ammunition, munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during sieges, and l ...

officer participated in the 1978 Litani campaign and the

1982 Lebanon War The 1982 Lebanon War, also called the Second Israeli invasion of Lebanon, began on 6 June 1982, when Israel invaded southern Lebanon. The invasion followed a series of attacks and counter-attacks between the Palestine Liberation Organization ...

. After the war, he left the army to study

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

and

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. He also worked as a

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

ary assistant in the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

. After giving an interview in 1988 to the ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

'' newspaper declaring that he would refuse to serve as a military

reservist A reservist is a person who is a member of a military reserve force. They are otherwise civilians, and in peacetime have careers outside the military. Reservists usually go for training on an annual basis to refresh their skills. This person ca ...

in the

Israeli-occupied territories Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prio ...

, he left Israel and settled in England. There he joined the

Department of War Studies, King's College London The Department of War Studies (DWS) is an academic department in the School of Security Studies within the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy at King's College London in London, United Kingdom. Senior government officials, members of t ...

, and completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1994. Bregman is the writer of several books and articles on the

and Middle Eastern Affairs. Since 1994 he has been ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

''s writer of

obituaries An obituary (obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Acco ...

, covering the

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

world and Israel. A senior teaching fellow at the Department of

War Studies War studies, sometimes called polemology, is the multi-disciplinary study of war. It pertains to the military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfa ...

and a journalist, Bregman lives in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He has three children.

Marwan affair

In 2002, Bregman claimed that the Egyptian Ashraf Marwan, the son-in-law of President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...

, was a

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

spy. According to Bregman, Marwan volunteered for the Mossad in 1970 but then proceeded to mislead the Israelis before the 1973

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was fought from 6 to 25 October 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states led by Egypt and S ...

. Although Marwan insisted that Bregman's claim was "a stupid detective story", they became friends and Marwan made Bregman a consultant on his memoirs. On 27 June 2007, the day that Bregman and Marwan were due to meet up in central London, Marwan's body was discovered in a small rose garden, just under the balcony of his London flat. A police investigation failed to establish whether Marwan was pushed, jumped, or fell by accident. In 2016, Bregman published a book titled ''The Spy Who Fell to Earth'' on his relationship with Marwan. In December 2017, Salon Pictures purchased the rights to turn it into a feature documentary. ''The Bregman Collection'', which includes papers and tapes related to the Marwan Affair, is kept at the Liddell Hart Archives,

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...

. A documentary about Ashraf Marwan and Bregman's work, ''The Spy Who Fell to Earth'', came out on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

in April 2019.

Productions

Bregman is the author of several books, as well as being associate producer/

consultant A consultant (from "to deliberate") is a professional (also known as ''expert'', ''specialist'', see variations of meaning below) who provides advice or services in an area of specialization (generally to medium or large-size corporations). Cons ...

of two major

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

Books

* ''The Spy Who Fell to Earth: My Relationship with the Secret Agent Who Rocked the Middle East'' * ''Living and Working in Israel'' * ''Israel's Wars: A History since 1947'' * ''Israel and the

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

s: An Eyewitness Account of War and Peace in the Middle East'' * ''The Fifty Years War: Israel and the Arabs'' (co-authored with Jihan El-Tahri, accompanying the below series) * ''Israël et les Arabes: la guerre de cinquante ans'' ( French) * ''Israël en de Arabieren: De vijftigjarige oorlog'' ( Dutch) * اسرائيل والعرب : حرب الخمسين عاما (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

) * 以色列史 ( Chinese) * ''Israel's Wars: 1947-93'' * ''A History of Israel'' * ''Elusive Peace: How the Holy Land Defeated

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

'' (accompanying the below series) * ''Warfare in the Middle East since 1945'' (editor) * ''Cursed Victory: A History of Israel and the Occupied Territories''Blood brothers: How to explain the toxic atmosphere in Israel and the occupied territories
economist.com.

Television

He was also an associate producer and academic consultant on two

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television series: * ''Israel and the Arabs: The Fifty Years War'' * ''Israel and the Arabs: Elusive Peace''

References

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQmGPqQrMwc

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bregman, Ahron 1958 births Living people Israeli journalists Israeli political scientists Alumni of King's College London Israeli political writers Hebrew University of Jerusalem Faculty of Social Sciences alumni Israeli emigrants to the United Kingdom Israeli military writers Collections of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives