Overview

An unprecedented behind-the-scenes history of the decades-long hidden relationship between Israel and South Africa. FIRST TIME IN PAPERBACK. VINTAGE Prior to the Six-Day War, Israel was a darling of the international left, vocally opposed to apartheid and devoted to building alliances with black leaders in newly independent African nations. South Africa, for its part, was controlled by a regime of Afrikaner nationalists who had enthusiastically supported Hitler during World War II. But after Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories in 1967, the country found itself estranged from former allies and threatened anew by old enemies. As both states became international pariahs, a covert-and lucrative-military relationship blossomed between these seemingly unlikely allies. Based on extensive archival research and exclusive interviews with former generals and high-level government officials in both countries, The Unspoken Alliance tells a troubling story of Cold War paranoia, moral compromises, and startling secrets.

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9780307388506

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Reviews

<p> Hugely impressive . . . [Polakow-Suransky] probes in groundbreaking detail the illicit relationship Israel maintained with South Africa. <br>--Dan Ephron, Newsweek <br> The best-documented, most thorough, and most credible account ever offered of the secret marriage between the apartheid state and Israel . . . Polakow-Suransky is no knee-jerk critic of Israel, and he tells his story more in sorrow than in anger . . . [an] important new book. <br>--Glenn Frankel, Foreign Policy <br> [I]mportant, provocative, and occasionally disturbing. <br>-- Publishers Weekly<br> <br> A meticulously researched book that reads like a spy thriller . . . Polakow Suransky spent seven years on his project, conducting interviews with key players from Israel and South Africa, mining South Africa's apartheid-era archive and resurrecting documents and articles that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would prefer remained forgotten. Rich with intrigue and shocking details but written without a trace of

<p> A hugely impressive book. . . . Groundbreaking. <br>-- Newsweek <br> Important. . . . The best-documented, most thorough, and most credible account ever offered of the secret marriage between the apartheid state and Israel. <br>-- Foreign Policy <br> Tantalizing. . . . Stands out because of the new material its author has dug up, which may be deemed to provide a measure of insight into ongoing and tricky proliferation issues. <br>-- The New York Review of Books <br> Rich with intrigue and shocking details but written without a trace of stridency, [this] is the most authoritative account to date. . . . A meticulously researched book that reads like a spy thriller. <br>-- The Nation <br> Fascinating. . . . Deft and fair. . . . A well-crafted work of history, not to be mistaken for another jeremiad. . . . A tale of clandestine missions, surreptitious shipments, and elaborate political theater between two states perched precariously on the margins of both their continents and the Cold War. <br>-- The National Review <br> A harrowing account of a Mephistophelian bargain between two rogue states, told with indisputable fact--many of them new--and on-the-record interviews. No moralizing needed. Israel's twenty-year collaboration with South Africa betrayed its founding principles and, more tragically, anticipated the cynicism with which it conducts its Palestinian policy today. <br>--Seymour Hersh <br> A compelling history. . . . All states engage in secret diplomacy, but Israel offers some of the most shocking examples. . . . Although he deplores Israel's ties to the apartheid regime, Polakow-Suransky has treated the handful of officials in the two countries implementing that alliance fairly, even empathetically. <br>-- Foreign Affairs <br> A deft, pacy and revealing account. . . . Admirably dispassionate. <br>-- The Economist <br> The extent to which these two countries began to rely on each other economically and militarily in the

<p> A hugely impressive book. . . . Groundbreaking. <br>-- Newsweek <br> Important. . . . The best-documented, most thorough, and most credible account ever offered of the secret marriage between the apartheid state and Israel. <br>-- Foreign Policy <br> Tantalizing. . . . Stands out because of the new material its author has dug up, which may be deemed to provide a measure of insight into ongoing and tricky proliferation issues. <br>-- The New York Review of Books <br> Rich with intrigue and shocking details but written without a trace of stridency, [this] is the most authoritative account to date. . . . A meticulously researched book that reads like a spy thriller. <br>-- The Nation <br> Fascinating. . . . Deft and fair. . . . A well-crafted work of history, not to be mistaken for another jeremiad. . . . A tale of clandestine missions, surreptitious shipments, and elaborate political theater between two states perched precariously on the margins of both their conti

Author Information

Sasha Polakow-Suransky is an editor at The New York Times op-ed page. He was a senior editor at Foreign Affairs from 2007 to 2011 and holds a doctorate in modern history from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar from 2003 to 2006. His writing has appeared in The American Prospect, The Boston Globe, The International Herald Tribune, The New Republic, and Newsweek. He lives in Brooklyn.

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