The Israeli Connection

This book tells a powerful story of international intrigue and covert action. It is a revealing account by a distinguished Israeli intellectual of the way Israel’s drive to retain political initiatives in the struggle with its Arab adversaries has given his country some distinctly strange bedfellows.Beit-Hallahmi explains how Israel has become the arms dealer and military trainer of last resort for clients as disparate as Guatemala’s military leaders, President Mobutu of Zaire and the Shah of Iran, not to mention - most recently - the Iranian Revolutionary regime of the Ayatollahs.But it is above all in this book’s revealing account of Israel’s secret alliance with South Africa that Beit-Hallahmi illustrates the tragic situation his increasingly isolated nation faces today. He suggests surprising parallels between the way South Africans view blacks and the way Israelis view Palestinians, and in detailing the extensive ties -from nuclear-weapon sharing to military aid, trade, and tourism - he explores what this policy means for Israel.With Israel’s role in the Iran-Contra scandal exposed, this book presents an extremely timely perspective on how Israel pursues its foreign policy goals and its intelligence and security interests through discreet military alliances and arms deals throughout the world.