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Israeli government and politics have undergone significant changes since the second edition of this study was published in 1983. Intended to familiarize those interested in Israel's government with its origins, evolution, and practices, this completely revised third edition offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the dynamics of Israeli politics today. Bibliography. Notes. ... Read more

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Great Delivery, perfect book!
The book was exactly what I needed - information about Israeli Public Administration and it's history.Good price, great delivery time!

easy to understand breakdown of government in Israel
This is an easy to read book focusing on all aspects of Israeli government.This book was used as the primary source for a senior level university research paper on the political structure of Israel.Topicsdiscussed in the book include: (1) Historical Origins of Israel (2)Political Culture (3)Political Parties and Ideologies (4) ElectoralSystem (5) Interest Groups (6) How The Government Works (7)GovernmentAdministration and Public Policy. ... Read more

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While most current studies on law and politics in Israel focus on the legal aspects of public policymaking within the courts, this book explores the relationship between law and government from a positive perspective. That is to say that the question asked is: how the political relationships between the three branches of government affect public policy and hence social outcomes.

The eleven contributors to this volume concentrate on Israel from theoretical, comparative and critical approaches, and hence the analysis presented could as well be applied to other polities.

This book was published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.

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Few western nations have religion so tied into their national psyche as the State of Israel. Surrounded on all sides by Arab Muslim theocratic monarchies, in the cases of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, or quasi-totalitarian states, in the cases of Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria, Israel is herself in many ways a contradiction. Israel is not a theocracy, but rather a democracy burdened by an official state faith and by religious legislation that often serves more to divide than to unite its people.

Founded in the secular, socialist European tradition, Israel now struggles with its identity as an increasing number of religious extremists who deny the basic maxims of democratic politics pull the state toward the right in an attempt to establish a theocratic state. One of the greatest problems Israel faces today is the struggle toward modernity; while the mainstream Israeli government, bolstered by a string of secularist decisions by the Israeli Supreme Court, embraces the challenges of the modern world, the Orthodox community and its increasing political clout is seen by many as rejecting modernity, “a by-product of the observance of Jewish law and its integrity.”

The development of government and the evolution of religious sentiment in the State of Israel have roughly paralleled each other during the last fifty years, following a steady movement to the right that began in earnest in the early 1970s, picked up speed in the 1980s, and reached its full efflorescence with the elections of 1996 and 1999. The government’s move to the right has been met with, or perhaps instigated by, the retreat of modern Orthodoxy and the strengthening of ultra-Orthodox tendencies.

This work, a short critical essay on religion, government, and the State of Israel, considers the history and development of Israeli democracy and the interplay of religion and government in the Jewish state. One of the essay's major themes is the ways in which these complex relationships have impacted Israel's move toward modernity and the Jewishness of the State of Israel. ... Read more

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"Recognizing that students today need a grounding in history before they can understand contemporary politics, this concise text begins with a clear discussion of the historical development of the Israeli state. Gregory Mahler then explains Israel's politi" ... Read more

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The ideal text for Israeli politics
The author of this book starts from the position that most American students do not understand democratic systems different from their own and are not familiar with the history of other countries. This is a fair assumption. As a result he provides much historical background dealing with Zionism, the Arab-Israeli conflict and the early history of Israel. He also ends with a chapter on the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian politics and a separate chapter on the peace process (although in my opinion he does not provide enough information on the pre-Oslo peace process). This is ideal for undergraduate classes on Israeli politics or the Middle East as a basic text on Israel. It can also serve as a good background for those independent readers interested in Israeli politics for following developments in the Middle East or for policy makers lacking a detailed background. Those who already have a good background might want to go to Asher Arian's "The Second Republic: Politics in Israel" or Don Peretz and Gideon Doron's "The Government and Politics of Israel," which provide more information on the parties and on the dynamics of coalition formation. The Peretz and Doron text is ideal for those wishing to understand Israeli politics in more depth. ... Read more

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An unforeseen effect of the Iraq war is that it has allowed more Americans to speak freely about the role of the Israel lobby. When and how was it born? While it is generally understood that American interest groups played a crucial role in creating the state of Israel in 1948 and supporting politicians who would stand up for Israel, other facts have remained elusive. Grant F. Smith reveals that many of the functions the Israel lobby smoothly and quietly executes in political life today were formed in the late 1950s and early 1960s: the crucial political contributions and unrelenting campaign to convince Americans that Israel and the United States share common interests and enemies, whether the old Communist bloc—or Islamic radicals in the 21st century. Smith documents the lobby’s awesome resistance to public accountability for its actions before Congress and the Justice Department. That fascinating history is the terrain of this book.Referencing over 1,000 previously classified documents released under a Freedom of Information Act filing, Smith follows Isaiah L. Kenen's path from registered foreign agent for the Israeli government to founder of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC. Smith unearths a formerly secret non-prosecution agreement, the "subvention caveat" reached between the Israel lobby and the US Department of Justice.The agreement reveals a great deal about the latitude of the lobby’s operations and the US government's institutional aversion to challenging it. America's Defense Line may forever change the debate about US Middle East policy formulation. ... Read more

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Zionist Efforts in USA
Grant smith's book, America's Defense Line, is about the efforts of the American government to force the Zionists in the USA to register their organizations with the federal government, as is required by law in order to give the American public the transparency they need to judge the agendas and motives of what they read in the media.It was a long history - the reason it covers an entire 208 page text - and goes into well-researched recounting of the many people invoved on both sides of the effort, including many American presidents who were personally involved, and because of whose political problems and needs, the Zionist organizations have always been able to avoid the requirement of registering their propaganda efforts under the Agents for Foreign Governments Act.Some of the documentation referred to by the author is copied intact in the 84 pages of appendices that follow the text, and his sources are listed in another 22 pages following the appendices.Everything in the book is important for Americans, but of special interest are the individual reasons that personally governed the decisions of Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Clinton, and other well known figures.Most Americans will not even know the names of such people as Isaiah Kenen who orchestrated most of the Zionist efforts in the US, or Abraham Feinberg who collected and personally gave Truman the money he needed for a cross county-wide whistlestop train tour that allowed Truman to overcome Dewey's lead in the campaign and pull out an upset victory in his campaign for the presidency. The interesting sideline to that story is that the first approaches to Truman by the Zionists was through a Missouri Jew, Edward Jacobson, who had been a partner of Truman's in the failed haberdashery business that preceded Truman's entry into politics.The book also covers the conflicts that the Zionist agencies had with other Jewish relief agencies in the USA who were collecting money for Jewish support world wide, and who resented the efforts of the Zionists to channel all collected monies into creation of the new state in Palestine.The book covers that fight over the proceeds from American charitable donations, how the Zionists slowly got control of these charity assets, and how the other Jewish agencies kept complaining to the US government about the non-transparent ways in which the Zionists were avoiding complying with US law.

Horribly Written Propaganda
Grant F. Smith is one of those wacky outliers that comes with volatile political issues. This propaganda effort reflects this. A friend of mine told me about this book and I flipped through it. If you've read the title, you've read the book. I did some research on Smith online and concluded he was one of those shrill voices that nobody listens to and is out there...way out there.

Smith holds himself out as the 'research director' of something he calls the Institute for Research: Middle East Policy. IRMEP is not a serious organization and is described as a non-profit which, by the lack of attention his writing is receiving, approximates that effort as well. In reality, he is the IRMEP--he runs it out of his apartment. The 'institute' is simply a website. He founded it in 2002 on the heels of 9/11. He is a noted apologist for Islamic terrorism/terrorists. The IRMEP is a two issue organization--pro-Islamic terrorism, anti-Israel.

Smith's books and articles are known for sensationalistic, anti-Israel information, much of which can't be verified. Paying attention to him is not worth the effort. He's a sad case, really.

How the Israel Lobby Undermined U.S. Law
Grant Smith continues his scholarly exegesis into the history of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). His previous works included- "Foreign Agents: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee from the 1963 Fulbright Hearings to the 2005 Espionage Scandal" and "Deadly Dogma: How Neoconservatives Broke the Law to Deceive America." His latest study- "American's Defense Line: A Declassified History of the Justice Department's Battle to Regulate the Israel Lobby as Agents of a Foreign Power"- is based on heretofore unavailable classified government documents. Smith tells the depressing tale of how U.S. law was systematically undermined by base political motives and questionable loyalties. The Smith trilogy is timely and required reading by all Americans concerned about the integrity and future of the United States. Smith dispassionately reveals how United States foreign policy in the Middle East was high jacked by a cadre of agents representing a foreign country- Israel. While his current study documents how AIPAC and its predecessors successfully evaded U.S. law to register as a "foreign agent," is it also a study in the usurpation of national sovereignty. This challenge to American sovereignty can no longer be ignored, as the consequences to the United States have been disastrous. The intrusion of the Israeli lobby goes well beyond ensuring that Israel receives its customary tribute from hard working American taxpayers. The Iraq War demonstrates this danger where Israel lobby cadres and fellow travelers were able to manipulate a weak, poorly informed president after the 9-11 crises to effect a launch a long-planned invasion of Iraq. While Iraq presented no discernable threat to the United States, it was a long-term adversary of Israel, as outlined in another Smith book- "Neocon Middle East Policy: the Clean Break Plan Damage Assessment". Thus, Israeli regional interests were advanced at the expense of American lives and treasure. This story within the Israel lobby narrative still needs to be told. Once again we are witnessing a repeat of Iraq with Iran- the House of Representatives recently passed a non-binding resolution urging a United States blockade of Iran's gasoline imports- a clear act of war. This resolution was authored at AIPAC and transmitted to a spineless Congress for passage. I suspect it was largely conceived in Jerusalem. The prostration of all major U.S. candidates before AIPAC should shame Americans watching each candidate outbid the other in the annual "pandering" exercise¬- Obama pledges Jerusalem will never leave Israeli control; McCain would move our embassy there immediately regardless of the consequences to vital U.S. interests while Clinton promised to "obliterate" the nation of Iran if it attacked Israel!

"American's Defense Line" can be described as the "Pentagon Papers" of AIPAC. Smith has combed through hundreds of recently declassified documents- internal letters, legal briefs, analyses, reports- to produce the first objective, detailed analysis of the struggle of the Department of Justice (DoJ) to regulate the American Zionist Committee (AZC)- the precursor of today's AIPAC.The DoJ was determined that the AZC be classified as an agent of Israel. Its investigations along with those of Senator Fulbright's and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, documented that the AZC was funded and directed by the State of Israel. As such, AZC was required to publicly disclose it's funding and all lobbying and public relations activity with the U.S. government. The AZC opposed this classification, as it would give lie to its claims to represent legitimate domestic political interests. "American Defense Line" is thoroughly documented having more than 437 footnotes and previously unpublished declassified papers, which allow readers to verify Smith's claims and undertake further research at their own leisure.

"America's Defense Line" is an admirably readable book. While the book deals with complex legal and historical issues spanning sixty years, the layman need not be dissuaded. No prior knowledge of law or Middle East affairs is required.Smith uses clear, concise prose and takes time to explain the historical context as each event in this sorry saga of American history unfolds. There are heroes in this book- Senator Fulbright, a rare political figure that courageously stood against the ruinous power of the Israel lobby and DoJ employees, such as Irene A. Bowman, who refused to subvert U.S. law to foreign interests to gain political favor. There are also cowards and cynics who compromised U.S. strategic interests to gain temporary political advantages. Smith neither plays partisan favors nor spares any of the players. The usual suspects will surface to discredit this book. Given the extraordinary documentation and research invested by Smith in "America's Defense Line," this reader looks forward to seeing Smith and his opponents do something the lobby avoids at all costs: an honest public debate.
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Israel Government and Business Contacts Handbook (World Investment and Business Library) ... Read more

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This study offers the first comprehensive analysis of governmental structure and authority in Israel. Well known as a centralized state, Israel traces the roots of this conception of authority to the political culture the Jewish people have carried with them since the beginning of their history and the European concepts of state sovereignty drawn from Israel's founders. It shares with other new societies a conception of government as a contractual or covenantal relationship among individuals and groups. In recent times, internal problems such as the shock surrounding the Yom Kippur War of 1973 have weakened old norms and lessened the general degree of trust in the state's institutions. "Local Government in Israel" provides a detailed analysis of the foundations of local government in Israel and the recent restructuring that has led to greater autonomy of local governments. ... Read more

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This text is part of a series which brings together significant journal articles from the field of comparative politics since the 1960s. The aim is to render readily available a range of essays which provide a basis for understanding both the established conceptual terrain and more modern views in the rapidly-changing field of comparative political analysis. This text provides a comparative political analysis of Israel. ... Read more

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This 1972 work explains how Mapai governed Israel from 1948 to 1969 when it gave up its independent identity to become a major partner to the newly formed Israeli Labour Party. It analyses how Mapai's dominant role in Israeli society was built up before 1948 and how it successfully adapted itself to the changes which resulted from it becoming an independent state. Society, party and state are seen as the three main foci for this study of Mapai and the party is seen to perform the central political role of connecting the social forces within the population to the state institutions. This book demonstrates how Mapai's dominance rested upon its success in gaining the support of these social forces, including new ones that arose after 1948 as a result of immigration and socio-economic change. it also illuminates the organisational flexibility which Mapai demonstrates in incorporating these diverse and often competing groups. ... Read more

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A historical analysis of local authorities in Arab communities before and since the establishment of the state of Israel. The authors discuss the workings of Arab local councils, municipalities and national political groupings and the circumstances of internal conflicts in Arab settlements. ... Read more

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This book analyzes and tests the many political reforms proposed and implemented in Israel. ... Read more

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Surveys the history of the Food and Drug Administration describing its structure, function, and influence on American society. ... Read more

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job well done
an excellent and interesting book about the FDA
infomative and easy to understand.
Important truths revealed ... Read more

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A history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from its founding to the present describing its functions, procedures, crime-detecting techniques, and its influence on American society. ... Read more

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The 1948 war ended in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their villages and homes. Israeli settlers moved in to occupy their land and the Palestinian refugees found themselves in refugee camps, or in neighboring Arab countries. Today there are nearly four million Palestinian refugees -- and they want the right to go home. Their problem is the greatest and most enduring refugee problem in the world.

Since 1948 Israeli refugee policy has become a classic case of denial: the denial that Zionist "transfer committees" had operated between 1937 and 1948; denial of any wrong-doing or any historical injustice; denial of the "right of return"; denial of restitution of property and compensation; and indeed denial of any moral responsibility or culpability for the creation of the refugee problem.

The aim of this book is to analyze Israeli policies towards the Palestinian refugees as they evolved from the 1948 catastrophe (or nakba) to the present. It is the first volume to look in detail at Israeli law and policy surrounding the refugee question. Drawing on extensive primary sources and previously classified archive material, Masalha discusses the 1948 exodus; Israeli resettlement schemes since 1948; Israeli approaches to compensation and restitution of property; Israeli refugee policies towards the internally displaced ('present absentees'); and Israeli refugee policies during the Madrid and Oslo negotiations.

Masalha asks what rights Palestinians possess under international law? How can a refugee population be compensated, and will they ever be able to return to their homes? Masalha questions the official Israeli position that the only solution to the problem is resettlement of the refugees in Arab states or elsewhere. This book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in the subject that lies at the heart of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. ... Read more

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