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Saving Israel: The Unknown True Story of Smuggling Weapons and Winning a Nation's Independence
At the opening of its war for independence in 1948, Israel needed weapons, aircraft in particular, and with a U.S. ban on arms sales, it needed a creative solution. Enter Al Schwimmer, who feared a repeat of the Holocaust, and Charlie Winters, the Boston son of Irish immigrants--two Americans with experience purchasing and flying planes in World War II and with sympathy to the Jewish state. Connected to both the aviation industry and the Jewish underground, they arranged to smuggle weapons to Israel, including, ironically, old German Messerschmitt fighters and, more significantly, American B-17 bombers, one of which Winters piloted across the Atlantic himself. Part of a squadron known as The Hammers, the bombers formed the nucleus of the new Israel air force. This pair of American made vital contributions to Israel's victory and independence, and both were later convicted of violating the 1939 Neutrality Act. Schwimmer would be pardoned by Bill Clinton and Winters by George W. Bush, their cause having attracted the support of Steven Spielberg, among others. This is history that reads like a thriller. The participants risked their lives, freedom, and citizenship to prevent what they viewed as a possible second Holocaust, and their story is one of a covert operation involving smuggling, evading the FBI and State Department, connections to underground Jewish intelligence and military groups, and acts of personal bravery in purchasing weapons, ferrying them across thousands of miles, and taking them into combat.
672 pages, Hardcover
Published January 10, 2020
7 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Boaz Dvir
3 books3 followersAward-winning storyteller Boaz Dvir’s “Saving Israel” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020) follows the turbulent journey of World War II aviators who risked their lives and freedom in 1947-49 to prevent what they viewed as an imminent second Holocaust. The Washington Times book reviewer Joshua Sinai described this nonfiction book as a “fascinating and dramatic account filled with lots of new information about a crucially formative period.”
An assistant professor of journalism at Penn State University, Dvir wrote a chapter for “Homegrown in Florida” (University Press of Florida, 2012), an anthology edited by William McKeen that includes childhood stories by Michael Connelly, Carl Hiaasen, Zora Neale Hurston, and Tom Petty.
Dvir writes, directs and produces documentaries about ordinary people who, under extraordinary circumstances, transform into trailblazers who change the world around them. They include an average inner-city schoolteacher who emerges as a disruptive innovator and a national model (Discovering Gloria); an uneducated truck driver who becomes a highly effective child-protection activist (Jessie’s Dad); a French business consultant who sets out to kill former Nazi officer Klaus Barbie and ends up playing a pivotal role in history’s most daring hostage-rescue operation (Cojot); and a World War II flight engineer who transforms into the leader of the secret operation to save Israel (A Wing and a Prayer).
Dvir teamed up with Retro Report to produce a documentary short How Special Ops Became Central to the War on Terror, for The New York Times. His most recent release, the child-poverty short, El País de la Eterna Primavera (Land of the Eternal Spring), has been an official selection at 16 film festival around the world—from Milan to Moscow to Miami—winning Best Director, Most Inspirational Short Film, and Best Micro Film in three of them.
His films have been distributed by PBS, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Google Play and other outlets. Lifetime and Investigation Discovery have incorporated footage from his documentaries into their programs.
Dvir’s work has received coverage by such media as the Huffington Post, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Times, MSNBC, the New York Post, The Miami Herald, and Stars and Stripes. His films have won several prestigious awards. For instance, A Wing and a Prayer was named Best Documentary at the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Dvir has written for many publications, including New York’s Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Miami Herald, the Tampa Bay Times, the Houston Chronicle, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Las Vegas Sun, the Jerusalem Post, The Satirist, Scripps Howard’s Treasure Coast Newspapers, the Times of Israel, and Salon and Explore magazines.
Dvir wrote a syllabus on multimedia journalism ethics for Harvard University’s Kennedy School. He has also taught journalism and documentary filmmaking at the University of Florida. Working with Pennsylvania’s Department of Education, and organizations such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and his Penn State colleagues, Dvir is leading the creation of an innovative Penn State teacher-development initiative expected to revolutionize the instruction of difficult, vital subjects to children and adolescents.
]Dvir served as editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal and managing editor of the South Florida Business Journal, which are part of the Newhouse-owned American City Business Journals. He appeared on “Week in Review” and wrote commentaries for WJCT, Jacksonville’s NPR/PBS station.
Dvir created a documentary short about PALS, which helped the nonprofit that aids troubled teens receive an official nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants. Dvir received a Lilly Endowment grant from the Religion News Service to research spiritual aspects of the Holocaust.
An assistant professor of journalism at Penn State University, Dvir wrote a chapter for “Homegrown in Florida” (University Press of Florida, 2012), an anthology edited by William McKeen that includes childhood stories by Michael Connelly, Carl Hiaasen, Zora Neale Hurston, and Tom Petty.
Dvir writes, directs and produces documentaries about ordinary people who, under extraordinary circumstances, transform into trailblazers who change the world around them. They include an average inner-city schoolteacher who emerges as a disruptive innovator and a national model (Discovering Gloria); an uneducated truck driver who becomes a highly effective child-protection activist (Jessie’s Dad); a French business consultant who sets out to kill former Nazi officer Klaus Barbie and ends up playing a pivotal role in history’s most daring hostage-rescue operation (Cojot); and a World War II flight engineer who transforms into the leader of the secret operation to save Israel (A Wing and a Prayer).
Dvir teamed up with Retro Report to produce a documentary short How Special Ops Became Central to the War on Terror, for The New York Times. His most recent release, the child-poverty short, El País de la Eterna Primavera (Land of the Eternal Spring), has been an official selection at 16 film festival around the world—from Milan to Moscow to Miami—winning Best Director, Most Inspirational Short Film, and Best Micro Film in three of them.
His films have been distributed by PBS, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Google Play and other outlets. Lifetime and Investigation Discovery have incorporated footage from his documentaries into their programs.
Dvir’s work has received coverage by such media as the Huffington Post, The Guardian, Haaretz, The Washington Times, MSNBC, the New York Post, The Miami Herald, and Stars and Stripes. His films have won several prestigious awards. For instance, A Wing and a Prayer was named Best Documentary at the 2016 Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Dvir has written for many publications, including New York’s Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, The Miami Herald, the Tampa Bay Times, the Houston Chronicle, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Las Vegas Sun, the Jerusalem Post, The Satirist, Scripps Howard’s Treasure Coast Newspapers, the Times of Israel, and Salon and Explore magazines.
Dvir wrote a syllabus on multimedia journalism ethics for Harvard University’s Kennedy School. He has also taught journalism and documentary filmmaking at the University of Florida. Working with Pennsylvania’s Department of Education, and organizations such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and his Penn State colleagues, Dvir is leading the creation of an innovative Penn State teacher-development initiative expected to revolutionize the instruction of difficult, vital subjects to children and adolescents.
]Dvir served as editor of the Jacksonville Business Journal and managing editor of the South Florida Business Journal, which are part of the Newhouse-owned American City Business Journals. He appeared on “Week in Review” and wrote commentaries for WJCT, Jacksonville’s NPR/PBS station.
Dvir created a documentary short about PALS, which helped the nonprofit that aids troubled teens receive an official nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants. Dvir received a Lilly Endowment grant from the Religion News Service to research spiritual aspects of the Holocaust.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 22, 2022
Very interesting book
Covers a little-known subject. Well worth what I paid. Would love to see a documentary about this. These men were heroes.
Covers a little-known subject. Well worth what I paid. Would love to see a documentary about this. These men were heroes.
June 9, 2020
This is a truly fascinating subject and is compelling to read about, but the delivery in this book could have been better. The cast of characters in this book is pretty long and a lot are introduced right from the beginning, so it became rather entangled and difficult for me to follow until I could get everyone straightened out. I don't necessarily blame the author for that, I'm not great with names, but it was difficult for me to follow.
Aside from that, once I got about 2/3 of the way into the book, I found myself really enjoying it. This is a true story fraught with danger and deception, with secretive actions and quiet conversations that is sure to thrill anyone who likes to glimpse the real world abroad. It is rather like reading spy fiction that you know is true instead. The things these people had to go through in order to ensure the success of the new state are incredible to read about.
Overall, I thought this was a good book and would happily recommend it to others who are interested in the formation of the State of Israel and its foundations.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Aside from that, once I got about 2/3 of the way into the book, I found myself really enjoying it. This is a true story fraught with danger and deception, with secretive actions and quiet conversations that is sure to thrill anyone who likes to glimpse the real world abroad. It is rather like reading spy fiction that you know is true instead. The things these people had to go through in order to ensure the success of the new state are incredible to read about.
Overall, I thought this was a good book and would happily recommend it to others who are interested in the formation of the State of Israel and its foundations.
This review is based on a complimentary copy from the publisher, provided through Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
May 5, 2024
In the years following World War II, leaders of the Yishuv in Palestine were tasked with two major challenges. Transporting displaced Jewish refugees to their new homeland was impeded by the British blockade and obtaining weaponry for the Haganah was restricted by international embargoes. As statehood approached, an imminent Arab invasion threatened the entire Jewish community.
Desperate to get around the British, clandestine operations were launched to airlift weapons and aircraft. The story of efforts to save the Jewish state before its birth is told in Saving Israel: The Unknown Story of Smuggling Weapons and Winning a Nation’s Independence by Boaz Dvir (Stackpole Books, January 2020).
If you search for Operation Zebra on the Internet the result will be a mine clearance operation by the U.S. Navy in July 1945. There was no operation by this name in Palestine. Not officially. In his book the author has grouped together separate efforts as an umbrella mission which he defined as “a secret and illegal operation by American aviators to save the Jewish state following World War II.”
Zebra is code for the Czech town Žatec, which served as hub of the operations and a training base for the aviators. American war veterans risked their lives to stock up on rifles, bullets, and engine parts; procure decommissioned warplanes; and transport them in pieces for reassembly in Žatec ahead of flying them to Palestine undetected by the British.
With the FBI hot on their trail, and knowing what they were doing was illegal, the Americans purchased Messerschmitts and Flying Fortresses, stole B-17s, and even created a fictitious Panamanian national airline. They smuggled arms from Mexico and aircraft from California, overloading transport planes which frequently crashed due to the excess weight. Technicians battled to get the planes into the air where pilots engaged in dogfights, occasionally in the skies over Tel Aviv.
Based on extensive research, the book reads like a historical thriller. Veterans, whose efforts on Israel’s behalf are still unrecognized, come to life and although their dialogues are fictional, their heroic actions are a matter of record.
The aviators’ operation ultimately led to the creation of the Israeli Air Force. Their fascinating story was the subject of the author’s 2015 documentary “A Wing and a Prayer.” Narrated by William Baldwin, the documentary featured firsthand accounts from operation leader Al Schwimmer.
"This group of American aviators -- both Jews and non-Jews -- risked their lives and freedom to bring weapons to my grandfather and others," said the author, referring to his grandfather who fought with a German rifle during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Dvir's visit to Auschwitz as part of his research and the realization that “the evil that fueled it still roams the earth ... further inspired [his] interests in writing this book.” The result is a tale of heroism against all odds, a story that must be told to fully understand Israel’s success in its War of Independence.
Desperate to get around the British, clandestine operations were launched to airlift weapons and aircraft. The story of efforts to save the Jewish state before its birth is told in Saving Israel: The Unknown Story of Smuggling Weapons and Winning a Nation’s Independence by Boaz Dvir (Stackpole Books, January 2020).
If you search for Operation Zebra on the Internet the result will be a mine clearance operation by the U.S. Navy in July 1945. There was no operation by this name in Palestine. Not officially. In his book the author has grouped together separate efforts as an umbrella mission which he defined as “a secret and illegal operation by American aviators to save the Jewish state following World War II.”
Zebra is code for the Czech town Žatec, which served as hub of the operations and a training base for the aviators. American war veterans risked their lives to stock up on rifles, bullets, and engine parts; procure decommissioned warplanes; and transport them in pieces for reassembly in Žatec ahead of flying them to Palestine undetected by the British.
With the FBI hot on their trail, and knowing what they were doing was illegal, the Americans purchased Messerschmitts and Flying Fortresses, stole B-17s, and even created a fictitious Panamanian national airline. They smuggled arms from Mexico and aircraft from California, overloading transport planes which frequently crashed due to the excess weight. Technicians battled to get the planes into the air where pilots engaged in dogfights, occasionally in the skies over Tel Aviv.
Based on extensive research, the book reads like a historical thriller. Veterans, whose efforts on Israel’s behalf are still unrecognized, come to life and although their dialogues are fictional, their heroic actions are a matter of record.
The aviators’ operation ultimately led to the creation of the Israeli Air Force. Their fascinating story was the subject of the author’s 2015 documentary “A Wing and a Prayer.” Narrated by William Baldwin, the documentary featured firsthand accounts from operation leader Al Schwimmer.
"This group of American aviators -- both Jews and non-Jews -- risked their lives and freedom to bring weapons to my grandfather and others," said the author, referring to his grandfather who fought with a German rifle during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.
Dvir's visit to Auschwitz as part of his research and the realization that “the evil that fueled it still roams the earth ... further inspired [his] interests in writing this book.” The result is a tale of heroism against all odds, a story that must be told to fully understand Israel’s success in its War of Independence.
August 4, 2023
Captivating historical (and romanticized) account of the crucial role that the trafficking of weapons and fighter planes carried out by idealistic volunteers (Jews and non-Jews) played in the survival of the State of Israel in the troubled years of 1947/48/49
Despite the writing style not being my favorite (style of a novel/adventure book and not a didactic history book), the book hooked me and provided me with a lot of unknown historical data (hence my interest in this book).
One of the most commendable aspects of Dvir's work is his attention to detail and meticulous research. It draws on a wide range of primary sources, including interviews with surviving smugglers and their families, to build a comprehensive and authentic historical account. The result is a compelling narrative that leaves readers with a deep understanding of the immense sacrifices made by those involved in clandestine operations.
There is another book that I would recommend the reading along with this book by Dvir. "Angels in the Sky" by Robert Gandt.
Dvir's book brings up more subjects in his book: arms smuggling volunteers, the Aliyah Bet, and plane smuggling. Gandt's Book is more focused on the smuggling of planes, on the lives of the pilots and more detailed on the aerial combats that these volunteer pilots fought in defense of the newborn Jewish state.
Despite the writing style not being my favorite (style of a novel/adventure book and not a didactic history book), the book hooked me and provided me with a lot of unknown historical data (hence my interest in this book).
One of the most commendable aspects of Dvir's work is his attention to detail and meticulous research. It draws on a wide range of primary sources, including interviews with surviving smugglers and their families, to build a comprehensive and authentic historical account. The result is a compelling narrative that leaves readers with a deep understanding of the immense sacrifices made by those involved in clandestine operations.
There is another book that I would recommend the reading along with this book by Dvir. "Angels in the Sky" by Robert Gandt.
Dvir's book brings up more subjects in his book: arms smuggling volunteers, the Aliyah Bet, and plane smuggling. Gandt's Book is more focused on the smuggling of planes, on the lives of the pilots and more detailed on the aerial combats that these volunteer pilots fought in defense of the newborn Jewish state.
May 25, 2020
In 1948 the modern State of Israel declared independence, regaining statehood after 2,000 years of subjugation from the plethora of mid-eastern countries, the Ottoman Empire and, lastly, the Brits. On the same day that independence was declared, six Arab Armies invaded with the intention of wiping the new State off of the map and declaring (in the words of many Arabs and Brits) to finish what Hitler didn't...massacre all of the Jews. Only a couple countries were willing to help the new Israelis and, in even those cases, it was done very clandestinely, and at great risk of those helping. Even the U. S. would not allow weapons to help the Israeli. The U. S. State Dept. was riff with people who felt that Israel was going to swing into the Soviet Orbit, therefore declaring no help. This book outlines how many people from the U. S., Canada, and several European countries put their lives on hold, and at risk, to help the new Israel. Many lost their lives bringing in arms, and several lost their lives flying planes that should not have been flown, but were to help the new State. If you're into history, I believe you'll like the book. It's a quick easy read and it provides interesting insight as to how and why people help others.
February 5, 2025
It's written as a movie with dialogue so all characters speak and the author reveals their thinking when there is no dialogue. It's a fresh style great for audiobook format. Yet this same style is not ideal for history. I needed facts and clear descriptions. Start out telling me who is the leader where and who is doing what. This rather focuses on the great story.
This is perfect for an expensive mini series. I'm not sure it's ideals for a book format. It's an engaging listen but I would have understood the setting more with greater guidance. It's a lot of geopolitics presented in the background. Too much for me. But you get a feel for the men and how their minds work. It's focused on psychology and planning and working together. I can see why millions will enjoy this style more than regular history.
Maybe I'll reread it one day to see what I missed. I'm definitely being a tad harsh in the 4 star rating.
This is perfect for an expensive mini series. I'm not sure it's ideals for a book format. It's an engaging listen but I would have understood the setting more with greater guidance. It's a lot of geopolitics presented in the background. Too much for me. But you get a feel for the men and how their minds work. It's focused on psychology and planning and working together. I can see why millions will enjoy this style more than regular history.
Maybe I'll reread it one day to see what I missed. I'm definitely being a tad harsh in the 4 star rating.
January 29, 2025
should have been better, i think.
because all the elements of a compelling, dramatic story are there. all of it.
yet it's a bit of a slog to get through, & hampered by some rather dreary, clumsy, not very engaging writing.
the characters never get properly drawn. you never really get a feel for anyone's character or personality. a lot of names are mentioned, but it is pretty hard to truly get a fix on any individual.
it's a great story let down by a writer who i feel may not have been up to the task.
because all the elements of a compelling, dramatic story are there. all of it.
yet it's a bit of a slog to get through, & hampered by some rather dreary, clumsy, not very engaging writing.
the characters never get properly drawn. you never really get a feel for anyone's character or personality. a lot of names are mentioned, but it is pretty hard to truly get a fix on any individual.
it's a great story let down by a writer who i feel may not have been up to the task.
April 19, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. This is a story that should be easily told. The idea and birth of the nation of Israel is, on the whole, fascinating and important. The problem here is that Dvir spends far to much effort building up what he thinks is human interest but in result just offers a chaotic mishmash of characters and events that do not flow. This impairs the reader in understanding what is happening and when. Could have been much better.
April 23, 2020
This story wouldn’t be believed if it wasn’t true. Mr Dvir creates a presence as if you are there with these astonishing men. It’s an honor to get a glimpse into the lives of these men, they have such a story to tell.
Dvir captures the importance of what was done and lets us in as he discovers and shares the brave actions taken.
Dvir captures the importance of what was done and lets us in as he discovers and shares the brave actions taken.
January 13, 2024
Was really confused with the style of the book including descriptions and dialogue, whilst trying to convey quite secretive operation from history. Didn't feel as truthful or documentary quality as a result
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews