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"Perception is power" says one former head of Mossad. If that's true, then Israel's international spy agency is very powerful indeed.

When the planes struck the twin towers in 2001, it was Mossad that the world's security agencies turned to, drawing on their decades of experience in fighting terrorism. Their reputation is based upon the drama and daring of the operations they mount. From the Wrath of God campaign against the Palestinians suspected of planning the Munich Olympics massacre to the assassination plots against prominent figures in Hamas and Hezbollah, Mossad attacks have regularly made headline news. Even when their operations go disastrously wrong, killing innocent people or leading to the arrest of their agents, they still serve to strike fear in the enemies of Israel.

In the first episode of ten examining the world of terrorism in the run-up to 9/11, Fergal Keane asks if the reputation of Mossad has been a help or a hindrance to peace in the Middle East. Has the agency's ruthlessness destroyed the efforts of moderate voices on both sides or stopped the worst perpetrators of violence in their tracks?

Fergal is joined by the author of a new history of Mossad, Ronan Bergman, by Palestinian activist and victim of a Mossad attack, Bassam Abu Sharif and by ex-Mossad chiefs, Shabtai Shavit and Efraim Halevy.

Producer: Alasdair Cross.