This new book by Jeffrey C. Herf, a prolific historian of modern European politics and societies at the University of Maryland, examines an early and important post-1945 geopolitical question facing governments: whether to favor or oppose the establishment of a sovereign Jewish state on the eastern rim of the Mediterranean Sea. This issue deeply divided Western governments, Western publics, and international bodies, whereas Soviet-bloc governments were unified on the matter. From May 1947 to May 1949, to the surprise of many, the United States and the Soviet Union cooperated for one remarkable moment in facilitating the launch of the nascent state of Israel onto the regional and world scene.
This is the story Herf heavily documents and tells in Israel's Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945–1949. He magnifies the centrality of European affairs in the first half of the twentieth century and highlights...