Introducing oneself while keeping their identity hidden can prove to be a challenge.

Yariv Inbar is the pseudonym of an Israeli novelist whose real identity has been banned from publication by the Israeli authorities.

But we’ll get to that later.

First and foremost, he is a family man, married with three children. Born in the late seventies in a small town in the north of Israel, Inbar has always been curious with the goal of living a meaningful life. This desire led him to enroll in a military command college during his youth, one of Israel’s most prestigious educational institutions. This choice ultimately resulted in many exciting years at the forefront of Israel’s defense. At that time, he could never have imagined that his experiences, observations, and knowledge of the intelligence world would one day be the subject of his books.

Yariv never intended to become a writer; it happened naturally. He felt compelled to share his insight on a security matter that was an essential topic of discussion amongst Israelis at that time. This led him to write his debut novel, The End Justifies. He aimed to create a fictional story that could be plausible, one whose plot was fictitious but with words founded in truth. Yediot Books, one of Israel’s most prominent and respected publishers, released it in 2016, and it became a bestseller almost immediately. The reader and critical reviews, combined with the joy he experienced over the four years of writing the book, made him realize that he had discovered a new and exciting path in life.

Yariv held key positions in the Israeli intelligence community for many years and still serves as a lieutenant colonel in the reserves. Consequently, he can’t reveal his real identity yet. The law in Israel requires authors like him to acquire permission before publishing a book. A special committee in the Ministry of Justice must decide under what conditions the book can be published and what changes must be made to ensure that no classified information is accidentally revealed as, even though his stories are fictional, they are based on real-life experiences, procedures, emotions, and thoughts.
And here we come to it.

Yariv Inbar’s novels address issues that pique his curiosity, and he explores them through the lives of the shadow people. Fans of his novels claim the books are remarkably unique offering a rare glimpse into the world of espionage, revealing the intricacies of the hidden lives of spies. In fact, his readers appreciate that the books delve deeper – they provide a window into the characters’ souls and daily Sisyphean struggles. After all, spies are human beings, and their lives are no different from those of others. So, his real name is unnecessary, but if you read between the lines,
you can learn many of his secrets.