Secret Army

At it's rebirth in 1948, the fledgling Israel's chances for survival looked bleak, outnumbered and outflanked by a ring of belligerent Arab states bent on her destruction and those of every Jew in Israel down to the last child. Having been denied an army under the British mandate, and prevented from receiving arms under an American embargo, Israel had to fight for her life under overwhelming circumstances. Before and throughout the war of Independence Britain shipped millions of dollars worth of the most up to date military equipment to Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Transjordan. Meanwhile Britain had successfully pressured the USA to declare a total arms embargo against Israel. This book tells of the clandestine operations of Jews and their friends to smuggle arms from Europe to Israel, some of which were brought from Czechoslovakia. Butt he book is essentially about the volunteers from around the world who while the ovens that had incinerated millions of Jews in Europe, were still warm, could not stand by and watch another holocaust by the Arabs (with British help). This book mainly focuses on the volunteers from English speaking countries like the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Britain. They were men and women of great valour. Interesting to see how the United Kingdom, was essentially a participant in the War of Independence on the Arab side (so much for the loathsome claim of anti-Israel propagandists that Israel was a tool of "world imperialism"). Towards the end of the war the RAF even took up operations from Egypt against Israel.