Book Reviews: The Spy Who Fell to Earth by Ahron Bregman and The Angel by Uri Bar-Joseph.

Both books recount the compelling story of Ashraf Marwan, the Egyptian at the top level of Anwar Sadat’s regime who spied for the Mossad.

Spies, it is said, are attracted to espionage for one of four reasons: Sex, money, ideology, or ego. For Ashraf Marwan, Nasser’s ambitious son-in-law, it was mostly about ego and the interesting if unusual reason that, after Egypt’s catastrophic loss in 1967, he wanted to be on the winning side. Continue reading “Book Reviews: The Spy Who Fell to Earth by Ahron Bregman and The Angel by Uri Bar-Joseph.”

Classic Song: Jerusalem of Iron

During the three-week waiting period that preceded the Six Day War, the most popular song in Israel was “Jerusalem of Gold,” written by Naomi Shemer for the Israel Song Festival, and sung by a young soldier, Shuli Natan. The song, somber and sentimental, evoked the yearning of the Jewish people for their eternal capital. Israeli paratroopers sang the song as they rode to Jerusalem to take part in the liberation of the city.

Continue reading “Classic Song: Jerusalem of Iron”