Jewish Affairs - South African Jewish Board of Deputies

JEWISH AFFAIRS ROSH HASHANAH 2012a list of “Principal Characters” and a foreword bySir Martin Gilbert. Its thirty chapters are dividedinto three parts, headed respectively ‘Beginitesand Anti-Beginites’, ‘Coalitions and Oppositions’and ‘The Last Patriarch, Prime MinisterMenachem Begin, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol,Prime Minister Golda Meir, Prime MinisterYitzchak Rabin’. It concludes with an Afterword,Endnotes, a Bibliography and author details.Avner states that his book is “not aconventional biography or memoir, nor is it awork of fiction. It deals with real people…” Indeed it does so, admirably. In his foreword, Gilbertcorrectly observes: “Anyone who is interested inthe first fifty years of the history of the State ofIsrael will be both enlightened and entranced bythis book.” He concludes, “Yehuda Avner’s bookwith its cast of fascinating characters, its insights,its vigour, and its zeal, show how right Churchillwas. A State was formed, whose leaders guardedit and moved it forward. Their most recentchronicler, himself so often at the centre of theevents he describes, has done them proud.”In her review of the book, US Secretary ofState Hilary Rodham Clinton describes it as “…asweeping tome of Israeli politics and history.”Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calls it “…afascinating account of someone who was an eyewitness to many historic moments in the historyof the Jewish state. It provides “insight into theactions of our nation’s leaders and offers importantlessons for the future.” Brett Stephens in the WallStreet Journal regards the book as providing, “…a front-row seat to the drama of Israeli statecraftin moments of crisis and triumph, tragedy andjoy.” For Jerusalem Post editor David Horowitz,it is “one of the most remarkable accounts we areever likely to get of how Israel has been governedover the decades…the ultimate insider’s account.”I highly recommend this well-written andabsorbing, if perhaps rather lengthy, book to allthose who, in the words of Sir Martin Gilbert, areinterested in the first fifty years of the history ofthe State of Israel.The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative ofIsraeli Leadership by Yehuda Avner, Toby Press LLC,2010, 715ppWishing all ourJewish friends aHappy New Yearand well over the fast6 Vickers RoadCity DeepJohannesburgP.O. Box 86268City Deep 2049Tel: (011) 623-1332Fax: (011) 623-2188Email: info@africaspice.co.za012 319 8811 • 011 378 3200www.cityproperty.co.zaSUPPLIERS OF: *Spices *Castings *Packagingmaterial and all Butcher Requisites50