David Shamni, a British national, working undercover as a Palestinian civil servant, has spent most of his adult life spying for the CIA for the benefit of Israel. He is abducted after having covertly dropped off some particularly critical information. Igal Ruben, ex-Mossad officer, now retired olive grower, is drafted in by his former employer on an unofficial assignment to find out who is behind the abduction, Hamas or Fatah. Igal is flattered to be asked after many years of retirement and agrees to one last assignment. What initially seems like a straightforward investigation into a...

An examination of the disturbing rise of 'scrounger-phobia' in the media and society at large, and how this has fuelled popular hostility towards benefit claimants.