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Cross on the Star of David
The Christian World in Israel's Foreign Policy, 1948-1967
by Uri Bialer
Published by: Indiana University Press
14 b&w photos, 1 bibliog., 1 index
- eBook
- 9780253111487
- Published: October 2005
$9.99
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The official establishment of the State of Israel in May 1948 constituted the realization of the Zionist vision, but military victory left in its wake internal and external survival issues that would threaten this historic achievement for decades to come. The refusal of the international community to recognize the political, geographic, and demographic results of the War of Independence presented Israel with a permanent regional security threat, while isolating and alienating it in the international arena. One of the most formidable problems Israeli foreign policy faced was the stance of the Christian world toward the new state. Attitudes ranged from hostility and categorical non-recognition by the Catholic Church, through Protestant ambivalence, to Evangelical support. Cross on the Star of David presents the first scholarly analysis, based on newly declassified documents, of Israeli policymaking on this issue. Uri Bialer focuses on the impact that modes of thinking rooted in the historical tradition of Jewish-Christian interactions had on Israeli policymakers and concludes that they were not innocent of the perceptions and biases that influenced the Christian world's behavior toward Israel. The result is a fine-grained, original interpretation of an important dimension of Israeli foreign policy from the founding of the State to the 1967 War.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I. Jerusalem vs. the Vatican: Israel's Church Diplomacy
1. The Sense of Threat Emerges
2. The Struggle for Jerusalem: The Papal Connection
3. At the Gates of the Vatican
4. Theology and Diplomacy
Part II. Christians, Christianity, and the Land in Israeli Policy
5. Missionary Activity
6. Goat and Chicken Diplomacy: Israel and Its Christian Communities
7. Israel and the Question of the Russian Ecclesiastical Assets
8. Land in the Shadow of the Cross: German Lutheran, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox Property in Israel
Epilogue: On Viewing the Enemy and Bridge Building
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Uri Bialer holds the chair in International Relations—Middle East Studies in the Department of International Relations at Hebrew University. He is author of Oil and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Cross on the Star of David is a major contribution to our knowledge on an important topic in Israeli history. The book will certainly become a highly welcome tool that historians of the State of Israel as well as of contemporary Christianity will use extensively. Uri Bialer should be commended for a fine achievement.Volume 26, Issue 1 March 2007
~Yaakov Ariel, Department of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina
Every intelligent reader will enjoy reading Bialer's painstakingly researched and fascinatingly told account.FEBRUARY 2007
~TuviA FRILING, American Historical Review
This is a valuable study on an important subject which had considerable impact of Israel's foreign policy.Vol. 42, No. 3, , May 2006
~Jacob Abadi, Middle Eastern Studies
Bialer's book faithfully and insightfully records the Israeli side of numerous events which led in the end to the historic Fundamental Agreement between the Catholic Church and the State of Israel.92.3 (2006)
~EUGENE J. FISHER, Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Built on newly available Israeli sources, this monograph suggestively rather than definitively explores the fledgling state's early interactions with Christianity.Volume 92 Issue 307 July 2007
~SIMON DAVIS, Bronx Community College of the City University of New York
Bialer's book is different from other publications in this sphere. Whereas most of the literature has focused on the theological perspectives and on the attitudes and policies of the various churches toward Israel, Bialer's book concentrates on the Israeli political perspective. Indeed, it offers a new perspective and explanation of Israeli relations with Christianity, and especially with the Catholic Church.2007
~Gabriel (Gabi) Sheffer, Hebrew University
Bialer, a historian of international relations, provides a balanced and insightful survey of Israeli foreign policy toward Christian states and organizations.2008
~Shalom L . Goldman, American Jewish History
This is obviously a work that has been produced by an expert and a proven archival studies expert at that. The author's ability to synthesize and link up various archival fragments into a single, coherent and collective whole must be recognised and commended.Volume 7, Number 1, May 2008
~Samuel J. Kuruvilla, Holy Land Studies: A Multidisciplinary Journal
. . . this is a very rich book, and one that greatly adds to our knowledge of Israeli diplomacy in the 1948–1967 period.Vol. 26, No. 4 2008
~Robert O. Freedman, Baltimore Hebrew Universityand Johns Hopkins University
For those interested in the relationship between the Jewish state and the Christian world, this book is essential reading.Volume 3, Issue 1 2008 Article 6
~Michael B. McGarry, Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem
[This book]is a documentary tour de force that has already gained a well-earned place in the literature.Volume 23, Number 2, Winter 2008
~Neville Lamdan, Truman Institute, The Hebrew University
Bialer writes in a lucid fashion and deploys with great skill a large scope of archival material. The result is an account that is both authoritative and intriguing.60.2 (Spring 2006)
~Zach Levey, Division of International Relations, University of Haifa, Israel
. . . Bialer's book is a meticulous, substantially researched book. It is recommended to anyone interested in the Christian churches in the Holy Land and in Israel's foreign policy.Spring 2008
~Daphne Tsimhoni, Ph.D., Hebrew University of Jerusalem
. . . Cross on the Star of David . . . shows how historical research is done. This is the kind of research that historians wait for . . . .
~Books & Culture
A particular strength of Bialer's work . . . is the extensive use of newly declassified archival material. His analysis is heavily grounded in material from the Israeli State Archives, and he uses this new material to offer a more balanced account of Christian—Israeli relations by introducing the Israeli perspective. . . . provid[es] a sympathetic analysis of the failures, shortcomings, and successes that the new state faced in dealing with the Christian world.
~American Jewish Archives Journal
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