Undeclared Wars with Israel
East Germany and the West German Far Left, 1967–1989

This book examines antagonism to Israel by East and West Germany, from the Six-Day War through the Cold War.

Jeffrey Herf (Author)

9781107461628, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 May 2016

500 pages, 22 b/w illus.
23.1 x 15.3 x 2.8 cm, 0.68 kg

'Herf has written a readable and informative study of the GDR's position toward Israel, which adds a new chapter to the research of the history of German-Israeli relations. It is based on a large corpus of primary sources and is methodologically well composed. Undeclared Wars with Israel will be a useful source for those studying German and Israeli history, the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the history of international relations, and the history of the European left.' Philipp Lenhard, H-Judaic

Undeclared Wars with Israel examines a spectrum of antagonism by the East German government and West German radical leftist organizations - ranging from hostile propaganda and diplomacy to military support for Israel's Arab armed adversaries - from 1967 to the end of the Cold War in 1989. This period encompasses the Six-Day War (1967), the Yom Kippur War (1973), Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and an ongoing campaign of terrorism waged by the Palestine Liberation Organization against Israeli civilians. This book provides new insights into the West German radicals who collaborated in 'actions' with Palestinian terrorist groups, and confirms that East Germany, along with others in the Soviet Bloc, had a much greater impact on the conflict in the Middle East than has been generally known. A historian who has written extensively on Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, Jeffrey Herf now offers a new chapter in this long, sad history.

1. Introduction
2. East Germany and the Six-Day War of June 1967
3. An anti-Israel left emerges in West Germany: the conjuncture of June 1967
4. Diplomatic breakthrough to military alliance: East Germany, the Arab states, and the PLO 1969–73
5. Palestinian terrorism in 1972: Lod airport, the Munich Olympics, and responses
6. Formalizing the East German alliance with the PLO and the Arab states: 1973
7. Political warfare at the United Nations during the Yom Kippur War of 1973
8. 1974: Palestinian terrorist attacks on Kiryat Shmona and Maalot and responses in East Germany, West Germany, Israel, the United States, and the United Nations
9. The UN 'Zionism is racism' revolution of November 10, 1975
10. The Entebbe hijacking and 'selection' and the West German 'revolutionary cells'
11. An alliance deepens: East Germany, the Arab states, and the PLO: 1978–82
12. Terrorism from Lebanon to Israel's 'operation peace for Galilee': 1977–82
13. Loyal friends in defeat: 1983–9 and after
14. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Military history: post WW2 conflicts [HBWS], Middle Eastern history [HBJF1], European history [HBJD]