Product Description

A major figure in Israeli politics chronicles his long career and his fervent belief in Zionism, recounting how he left Poland to join the Jewish underground of Palestine, spent years in the Mossad, and became Prime Minister. 12,500 first printing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4376621 in Books
• Published on: 1994-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover

From Publishers Weekly
Shamir's life story is full of high drama. Born in Poland in 1915, he emigrated to Palestine at age 20 and married his courier in the Zionist underground, Shulamit Levy. Deported by the British in 1946 to Eritrea, he left behind his wife and one-year-old son, whom he did not see again until the birth of Israel in 1948, after he made a dangerous escape from prison. In this outspoken autobiography, Israel's former prime minister defends his Likud Party's hard-line policies, recalls his exploits as a Mossad intelligence agent and as foreign minister, gives an insider's account of the Israeli air force's annihilation of an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and aims withering barbs at Jimmy Carter, Shimon Peres, Meir Kahane and others. Shamir, who was defeated in the 1992 elections, castigates the Labor government for its pact with the PLO, calling it a reckless mistake that imperils Israel's security. Photos.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Like many other Israelis, the author was born in the early part of this century in a small village in Poland. As a young man, he became a member of the Zionist youth movement, which did much to forge his strong ideological commitment even before he emigrated at age 20 to Palestine, then a British mandate, in 1935. Shamir became an active participant in the violence of the time, serving as a member of the infamous Stern Gang, for which he was arrested and briefly exiled. Here he reviews his activities in the newly formed government of Israel, culminating with his service to the nation as its foreign minister and then prime minister. A major contribution of this book is the account of the much-publicized rancor between Shamir and American President George Bush, which brought relations between the two countries to a low point. Absolutely essential for any collection dealing with either Israel or Middle Eastern affairs.
Sanford R. Silverburg, Catawba Coll., Salisbury, N.C
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Before the author plunged into Israel's boisterous politics at the late age of 58, and later become the hard-line (or steadfast, depending on one's outlook) prime minister, he led a startling, painful, though not untypical life of a Polish-born Jew, the background of so many fighters in the Zionist movement. His family perished at Treblinka, but before the horror, he had emigrated to Palestine in 1935 and spent the next dozen years in the underground, responsible, in his words, "for planning and executing reprisals." He describes orders resulting in at least five killings, "part of the payment demanded from us for national survival, and I recall them as such, without apology or regret." Such patriotic defiance conveys the flavor of the man, who was equally straightforward during the years (1977-92) of his Likud bloc's governance of Israel. He is unstinting in his admiration for mentor Menachem Begin; however, he says of Shimon Peres, his socialist rival, "it steadily became harder to find any saving grace in him"; and former President Bush, he insinuates, was anti-Semitic--for denying Shamir's 1991 request for housing loan guarantees. So this memoir, unpolished and blunt, records a life of simple but adamant beliefs derived from complex, wrenching experiences. Because he rejected a land-for-peace settlement with the Arabs and because his epilogue swells with gloomy predictions about recent concessions to the PLO, Shamir's account ought to pull in wide interest--from supporters, detractors, and the apolitical--all of whom might be attracted by the Israeli state's short, dramatic history. Gilbert Taylor

Customer Reviews

Shamir, often left behind, not forgotten
Mr. Shamir, former member of the Stern Gang should be lionized as one of the great leaders of the Israeli right. Yet he has been forgotten. He has been relegated to the trash bin so that leaders like Mr. Netanyahoo and Mr. Begin can have the limelight(should I include Sharon). This is his story, told in his words. Few books on Israel detail the reign of Shamir and even fewer seem to judge him in a fair light. A founder of the Israeli republic, he should not be forgotten. This book talks about his ideas and his many struggles. But alas, the book also has weakness in that it does not describe all th events that took place under his premiership. He descibes more the scandals then the positions he stood for. Mostly this is due to the fact that this book was written soon after his retirement and he felt the reader would be familiar with his struggles, but 20 years later we are not familiar.

The tough fighter for and defender of Israel
Yitzhak Shamir was , in my judgment, one of the finest of Israel's Prime Ministers. He was tough, and strong. Reality helped make him that way. He was an underground leader in the struggle to oust the British and end the Mandate. He was then a Mossad operative . Called to politics he worked his way up and became a two- term Prime Minister of Israel.
No doubt one of the formative incidents of his life was the murder of his parents in the Shoah.
Shamir was a pragmatic leader for whom Security was the first consideration. He did not trust and believe in Arab good intention. And he was dedicated to attaining and preserving all the land of Israel for the Jewish people. Towards the end of his term under American pressure he went to the Madrid conference, a conference which was a predecessor of the misfortunate Oslo

An interesting book about an unusual leader
This is the fascinating story of a person who did something truly atypical, going from the life of an outsider who led a violent gang to a life of genuine public service.

Shamir tells of his childhood in Poland and his education in Hebrew there. He then tells of his political hero, Vladimir Jabotinsky, who advocated free enterprise, possessed a "deeply rooted liberalism" and strongly objected to "acts of an extra-legal nature." While Jabotinsky in fact approved of "illegal" immigration into what is now Israel, that was only if all other channels were closed. And Jabotinsky was equally opposed to "evacuating" Arabs and to creating a binational state with them.

By 1935, the 20-year old Shamir was already in the Levant. Why? Because Josef Goebbels had planned a visit to Warsaw. That was the last straw for Shamir. On hearing the news of this, he left Poland at once.

As Shamir explains, the 1939 White Paper that basically shut down Jewish immigration to the Levant earned the British his "profound hostility." While he explains that he has never hated people, he then realized that the Jews of the area had to be rid of the British, and that an alliance with the British would not work. Shamir then joined the Stern Gang. In perhaps the best line in the book, Shamir says that he has always believed that "war is a conflict between the forces of evil." You read this and you wait for the second half of the sentence...maybe he'll say that it is between the forces of evil and those of good, or something. But there is no second half to the sentence.

The author then tells of the war against the British, "a war fought not for territory or glory but for immigration certificates for Jews."

The book then explains how Shamir went from being a leader of an outlawed group to a responsible citizen. The biggest step came in 1955, when he joined the Mossad. This gave him a chance to use the leadership skills he had developed in the Stern Gang to work for a responsible government. After that, he slowly managed to get into normal politics.

Shamir makes a few points that are worth remembering. First, the dismantling of Yamit was a very bad precedent, not just for Jews or Israel, but in general. Second, the American media generally show unfairness towards Israel. Third, the nature of the dispute with the Arabs is not territorial: Israel's 28,000 square kilometers not being excessive compared with the 14,000,000 square kilometers belonging to the Arabs, whose population is not even 50 times that of the Jews, let alone 500 times.

The author explains his opposition to the disastrous Oslo agreement. And he concludes that he can only hope that the people of Israel, whose judgment and endurance he trusts, "will look for, and find, alternative paths - even if they are rockier and steeper - to lead them to a viable peace that has not been bought with their security, their land, or their rights."

I agree with these sentiments, and I recommend this book.