Friends in Deed: Inside the U.S.-Israel Alliance [Hardcover]

Yossi Melman (Author), Dan Raviv (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1994

The best-selling authors of Every Spy a Prince journey behind the scenes to examine the four-decade evolution of the complex political, strategic, and economic relationship between Israel and the United States. 75,000 first printing. $75,000 ad/promo.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Raviv and Melman here examine the growth of the pro-Israel lobby in Washington, the spread of American popular culture in Israel, the profound effect of the Six-Day War on American Jews, the importance of the link between American Christians and Israel, and many other events and developments in the unique, complicated partnership between the two countries. The authors explore tensions in the relationship, such as defense secretary Caspar Weinberger's attempt to torpedo relations between President Reagan and Prime Minister Menachem Begin, the strain placed on the alliance by the arrest of secret agent Jonathan Pollard by Israel in 1985, and the "hate at first sight" reactions of both President Bush and Prime Minister Yitshak Shamir. Raviv and Melman suggest that the Jewish community in America is becoming less of a rock-solid base of support for Israel and that each succeeding generation shows signs of being less connected to the Jewish state. Readable and informative, this account will have an even wider readership than the authors' bestselling Every Spy a Prince. Raviv is a CBS News correspondent; Melman is an Israeli journalist. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This is one of the most readable accounts of U.S.-Israeli relations in recent years. Both authors have impeccable credentials in the field of journalism and Israeli politics and successfully coauthored Every Spy a Prince (LJ 7/90), which detailed the activities of the Israeli intelligence community. As they chronicle the political give-and-take between the two countries from Harry Truman's presidency onward, fascinating pieces of the hardball reality that is international politics float to the surface. Thus, we learn that it was the Israelis who suggested focused bombing raids to eliminate Saddam Hussein during Desert Storm; during the 1980s, Israel was so well received in Washington that Secretary of State George Shultz and others would solicit Israeli help in getting certain pieces of legislation passed by Congress. Eminently readable, Friends in Deed is highly recommended for all libraries with collections in this field.
David P. Snider, Casa Grande P.L., Ariz.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 537 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books; 1st edition (April 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786860065
• ISBN-13: 978-0786860067
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,375,648 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, if a bit focused, December 5, 2005

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Friends in Deed: Inside the U.S.-Israel Alliance (Paperback)

This is one of those books which you wished included a bit more information, at times. The authors recount the history of Israel's relationship with the United States from the founding of Israel (1949) to the mid-90s. Especially in the early part of the book, I was constantly curious for more information with regards to various issues, for instance the early Soviet support for Israel and its evaporation (was the US involved in that?), earlier espionage by Israel in the US (when we weren't that friendly), and other issues. The authors tend to skim over this period some. Then, later, the book stops approximately when it was written (in the mid-90s) so of course you're wishing it would continue on through the various gyrations that the Peace Process took in the late 90s, and of course the second Gulf War and the war on Terror are in the future from this perspective.

That makes this a good book, but somewhat dated. I'd be interested to see if the authors had any thought of revising and updating the work, and what they would say about current events.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book for high school students., March 2, 2008

By 

Gregory A. Salts (New Hampshire, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This is a good book covering the history of the Israeli-American relations with a great deal of emphasis on the impact of AIPAC on American policy makers. The biggest negative for me was the constant referencing to conservatives as "right-wingers" with the blaring absence of thus referring to liberals as "left-wingers". This and the overt portrayal of mainstream conservatives in a negative light is a bitter pill to swallow, but one most American readers are used to and smart enough dismiss as typical deep-ceded liberal bias. The book is predictably unkind to the Likud party and subsequently minimized the threat of Arafat to Jews and his effect on the two great nation's relations. Overall, I recommend this book because the history of Judeo-Christian relations is the second most important factor in keeping Israel alive and thriving; the first is obviously, the God of Israel.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's an ok book, but it overlooks some things, May 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Friends in Deed: Inside the U.S.-Israel Alliance (Paperback)

Melman and Raviv maintain that it is odd for the US a capitalist nation to be so staunchly allied to the "Socialist" Israel. They fail to realize that the socialist zionism is essentially a dead concept, that zionism has become a right-wing capitalist ideaology. It's simple, we finally created a nation based on zionism and where did it tend to capitalism or communism? capitalism...