Americans and the Birth of Israel
Americans and the Birth of Israel

Author: Lawrence J. Epstein

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2017-04-01

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 144227123X

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Americans and the Birth of Israel tells the dramatic story of how a ragtag group of Americans of all religions worked, often in secret and facing the possibility of arrest and imprisonment, to make sure that after the Holocaust a refuge for Jews would be born. It is a story that is not well-known but deserves to be. The book tells the story of how Americans raised money, gathered munitions, ships, and planes, rescued Holocaust survivors and sneaked them past the British patrols, helped Israel prepare militarily, engaged in dramatic political efforts in Washington and the United Nations to secure Israeli statehood, participated in cultural activities to support the Zionist cause, and in other ways made a decisive difference in allowing Israel to be born. From well-known figures like Golda Meir to little-known individuals, Americans and the Birth of Israel brings these compelling stories to light and explores the complex relationship between the United States and Israel historically and today.

Against All Odds - The Magnificent Trio That Built the Israeli Air Force
Against All Odds - The Magnificent Trio That Built the Israeli Air Force

Author: Hugo N. Gerstl

Publisher: Samuel Wachtman's Sons, Incorporated

Published: 2012-08

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781888820317

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1947 - The UN declares that the British Mandate over Palestine will come to an end. In May 1948 Israel and Arab Palestine will be divided into two independent states. The Arab world reacts immediately: There will be no Jewish state; it will be driven into the sea! Sixty-five million Arabs against six hundred thousand Israeli Jews. Britain has washed its hands of the problem. The United States, under the guise of the Neutrality Act, makes it a felony for any American to supply either side with any arms. Americans Al Schwimmer, Hank Greenspun, and Charlie Winters boldly defy the Neutrality Act and risk convictions by purchasing twenty-three former Nazi Messerschmitt Bf-109s in Czechoslovakia, painting out the swastikas on the tails with Jewish stars of David, and smuggling them to Israel; founding a "Panamanian" airline and flying seven large aircraft out of Panama "to do an aerial survey," but never returning; securing a huge cache of ammunition from a sympathetic junk dealer in Hawaii; smuggling weapons to Mexico on a hijacked yacht, and ultimately shipping them "to Nationalist China" - via Israel. Stripped of most of their rights as US citizens, Schwimmer is recruited to start a small aircraft maintenance plant in Israel, which will become Israel Aircraft Industries, a billion-dollar-a-year operation; Greenspun purchases a defunct newspaper, which he turns into the Las Vegas Sun and is among the first to call witch-hunting Senator Joseph McCarthy to account; Winters returns to importing and exporting fruit and diamonds between Israel and the United States. After the 1967 Six-Day War, when France reneges on its commitment to sell Israel fifty advanced fighter jets, the trio manages to "steal" plans from a friendly engineer in Geneva. Within six months Israel turns out its own homegrown Mach 2 fighter aircraft. And that's just the beginning. International best-selling author Hugo N. Gerstl has crafted a tantalizing, rewarding, magnificently readable tour de force based on the true life stories of three of Israel's most unheralded heroes, cementing and enhancing his reputation as a master storyteller.

Hawkeye
Hawkeye

Author: Giora Even-Epstein

Publisher: Grub Street Publishing

Published: 2020-12-11

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 1911667653

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A fast-moving account that details Even-Epstein’s experiences particularly in the intense conflicts of 1967, the Six Day War, and 1973, the Yom Kippur War. For more than thirty years, Giora Even-Epstein flew fighters for the Israel Air Force, achieving recognition as a highly skilled military aviator and the highest-scoring jet-mounted ace with the most number of confirmed victories in the French Mirage. Having overcome numerous hurdles just to learn how to fly, he went on to compile a record of Arab MiGs and Sukhoi kills that bettered any other combat aviators’ tally in the entire world. The reader shares the cockpit with him as he describes every action he undertook with 101 and 105 Squadron, including the greatest jet-versus-jet air battle in history with four MiG-21 kills in one engagement. His final score was seventeen. After his last battle he became commander of the First Jet Squadron, 117, began civilian flying, retrained to command 254 MMR Squadron in the 1982 Lebanon War, and flew the F-16 at the age of fifty before retirement. Along the way he met numerous fighter pilot legends such as Douglas Bader, Al Deere, Pierre Clostermann and Randy Cunningham. Affable and enthusiastic, Giora gained the nickname “Hawkeye” because of his amazing vision of more than 20/15, enabling him to pick out enemy aircraft long before his squadron mates. His story is of one man’s unfaltering dedication to his dreams and his country. “A book filled with stories about his time as a paratrooper and jet pilot that keeps you on the edge of your chair.” —AviationBookReviews.com

Act of War
Act of War

Author: Jack Cheevers

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-12-03

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13: 1101638648

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WINNER OF THE SAMUEL ELIOT MORISON AWARD FOR NAVAL LITERATURE “I devoured Act of War the way I did Flyboys, Flags of Our Fathers and Lost in Shangri-la.”—Michael Connelly, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author In 1968, the small, dilapidated American spy ship USS Pueblo set out to pinpoint military radar stations along the coast of North Korea. Though packed with advanced electronic-surveillance equipment and classified intelligence documents, its crew, led by ex–submarine officer Pete Bucher, was made up mostly of untested young sailors. On a frigid January morning, the Pueblo was challenged by a North Korean gunboat. When Bucher tried to escape, his ship was quickly surrounded by more boats, shelled and machine-gunned, forced to surrender, and taken prisoner. Less than forty-eight hours before the Pueblo’s capture, North Korean commandos had nearly succeeded in assassinating South Korea’s president. The two explosive incidents pushed Cold War tensions toward a flashpoint. Based on extensive interviews and numerous government documents released through the Freedom of Information Act, Act of War tells the riveting saga of Bucher and his men as they struggled to survive merciless torture and horrendous living conditions set against the backdrop of an international powder keg.

1967
1967

Author: Tom Segev

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2007-05-29

Total Pages: 710

ISBN-13: 1429911670

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"A marvelous achievement . . . Anyone curious about the extraordinary six days of Arab-Israeli war will learn much from it."—The Economist Tom Segev's acclaimed works One Palestine, Complete and The Seventh Million overturned accepted views of the history of Israel. Now, in 1967—a number-one bestseller in Hebrew—he brings his masterful skills to the watershed year when six days of war reshaped the country and the entire region. Going far beyond a military account, Segev re-creates the crisis in Israel before 1967, showing how economic recession, a full grasp of the Holocaust's horrors, and the dire threats made by neighbor states combined to produce a climate of apocalypse. He depicts the country's bravado after its victory, the mood revealed in a popular joke in which one soldier says to his friend, "Let's take over Cairo"; the friend replies, "Then what shall we do in the afternoon?" Drawing on unpublished letters and diaries, as well as government memos and military records, Segev reconstructs an era of new possibilities and tragic missteps. He introduces the legendary figures—Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Gamal Abdul Nasser, and Lyndon Johnson—and an epic cast of soldiers, lobbyists, refugees, and settlers. He reveals as never before Israel's intimacy with the White House as well as the political rivalries that sabotaged any chance of peace. Above all, he challenges the view that the war was inevitable, showing that a series of disastrous miscalculations lie behind the bloodshed. A vibrant and original history, 1967 is sure to stand as the definitive account of that pivotal year.

The Paths of Heaven The Evolution of Airpower Theory
The Paths of Heaven The Evolution of Airpower Theory

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Airpower is not widely understood. Even though it has come to play an increasingly important role in both peace and war, the basic concepts that define and govern airpower remain obscure to many people, even to professional military officers. This fact is largely due to fundamental differences of opinion as to whether or not the aircraft has altered the strategies of war or merely its tactics. If the former, then one can see airpower as a revolutionary leap along the continuum of war; but if the latter, then airpower is simply another weapon that joins the arsenal along with the rifle, machine gun, tank, submarine, and radio. This book implicitly assumes that airpower has brought about a revolution in war. It has altered virtually all aspects of war: how it is fought, by whom, against whom, and with what weapons. Flowing from those factors have been changes in training, organization, administration, command and control, and doctrine. War has been fundamentally transformed by the advent of the airplane.

Making Strategy
Making Strategy

Author: Dennis M. Drew

Publisher:

Published: 2002-04

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780898758870

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National secuirty strategy is a vast subject involving a daunting array of interrelated subelements woven in intricate, sometimes vague, and ever-changing patterns. Its processes are often irregular and confusing and are always based on difficult decisions laden with serious risks. In short, it is a subject understood by few and confusing to most. It is, at the same time, a subject of overwhelming importance to the fate of the United States and civilization itself. Col. Dennis M. Drew and Dr. Donald M. Snow have done a considerable service by drawing together many of the diverse threads of national security strategy into a coherent whole. They consider political and military strategy elements as part of a larger decisionmaking process influenced by economic, technological, cultural, and historical factors. I know of no other recent volume that addresses the entire national security milieu in such a logical manner and yet also manages to address current concerns so thoroughly. It is equally remarkable that they have addressed so many contentious problems in such an evenhanded manner. Although the title suggests that this is an introductory volume - and it is - I am convinced that experienced practitioners in the field of national security strategy would benefit greatly from a close examination of this excellent book. Sidney J. Wise Colonel, United States Air Force Commander, Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education

The Avengers
The Avengers

Author: Rich Cohen

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2013-10-02

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0804151202

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Riveting, poignant and uplifting, The Avengers is a powerful exploration of resistance and revenge, of courage and dedication, and an inside look at some of the intrepid individuals who fought against the Holocaust and the nazi occupation of Europe. Rich Cohen, author of the acclaimed Tough Jews, again narrates a little-known episode of Jewish history, this time altering what we thought we knew about the Holocaust. Abba Kovner, Vitka Kempner, Ruzka Korczak-comrades, lovers, friends. In the Lithuanian ghetto of Vilna, they were the heart of a breathtakingly courageous underground movement, and when the ghetto was liquidated, they fled to the forests and joined other partisans in continued sabotage and resistance.

Perceptions of Palestine
Perceptions of Palestine

Author: Kathleen Christison

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2023-04-28

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 0520922360

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For most of the twentieth century, considered opinion in the United States regarding Palestine has favored the inherent right of Jews to exist in the Holy Land. That Palestinians, as a native population, could claim the same right has been largely ignored. Kathleen Christison's controversial new book shows how the endurance of such assumptions, along with America's singular focus on Israel and general ignorance of the Palestinian point of view, has impeded a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Christison begins with the derogatory images of Arabs purveyed by Western travelers to the Middle East in the nineteenth century, including Mark Twain, who wrote that Palestine's inhabitants were "abject beggars by nature, instinct, and education." She demonstrates other elements that have influenced U.S. policymakers: American religious attitudes toward the Holy Land that legitimize the Jewish presence; sympathy for Jews derived from the Holocaust; a sense of cultural identity wherein Israelis are "like us" and Arabs distant aliens. She makes a forceful case that decades of negative portrayals of Palestinians have distorted U.S. policy, making it virtually impossible to promote resolutions based on equality and reciprocity between Palestinians and Israelis. Christison also challenges prevalent media images and emphasizes the importance of terminology: Two examples are the designation of who is a "terrorist" and the imposition of place names (which can pass judgment on ownership). Christison's thoughtful book raises a final disturbing question: If a broader frame of reference on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict had been employed, allowing a less warped public discourse, might not years of warfare have been avoided and steps toward peace achieved much earlier?

Sadness Is a White Bird
Sadness Is a White Bird

Author: Moriel Rothman-Zecher

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-02-13

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1501176285

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**A Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist** **A National Jewish Book Award Finalist for Debut Fiction** In this “nuanced, sharp, and beautifully written” (Michael Chabon) debut novel, a young man prepares to serve in the Israeli army while also trying to reconcile his close relationship to two Palestinian siblings with his deeply ingrained loyalties to family and country. The story begins in an Israeli military jail, where—four days after his nineteenth birthday—Jonathan stares up at the fluorescent lights of his cell and recalls the series of events that led him there. Two years earlier: Moving back to Israel after several years in Pennsylvania, Jonathan is ready to fight to preserve and defend the Jewish state. But he is also conflicted about the possibility of having to monitor the occupied Palestinian territories, a concern that grows deeper and more urgent when he meets Nimreen and Laith—the twin daughter and son of his mother’s friend. From that morning on, the three become inseparable: wandering the streets on weekends, piling onto buses toward new discoveries, laughing uncontrollably. They share joints on the beach, trading snippets of poems, intimate secrets, family histories, resentments, and dreams. But with his draft date rapidly approaching, Jonathan wrestles with the question of what it means to be proud of your heritage, while also feeling love for those outside of your own family. And then that fateful day arrives, the one that lands Jonathan in prison and changes his relationship with the twins forever. “Unflinching in its honesty, unyielding in its moral complexity” (Geraldine Brooks, Pulitzer Prize–winning author), Sadness Is a White Bird explores one man’s attempts to find a place for himself, discovering in the process a beautiful, against-the-odds love that flickers like a candle in the darkness of a never-ending conflict.