![]() ![]() In his preface, Friedman quotes the grand master of spying and writing about it, John Lecarre’, who called espionage, “the secret theatre of our society.” Shoshan and the three Cohens are fascinating characters, portrayed with sympathy, but Spies of No Country is about more than their exploits. The Cohens were not only not related, each came from different places and different backgrounds, and although they proved to be a very effective team, they did not always agree on tactics or strategy. Israeli journalist and author Matti Friedman’s book Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel focuses on one team of pre-Israeli spies sent to Beirut, Lebanon to learn what they could about the military preparations and civilian attitudes of the Arab world at the dawn of a war that would determine the fate, the survival of a Jewish state in the Middle East.įriedman’s fine book tells of the activities “behind enemy lines” of Gamliel Cohen (alias Yussef), Isaac Shoshan (alias Abdul Karim), Havakuk Cohen (a.k.a Ibrahim) and Yakuba Cohen (called Jamil). ![]() Which is why the Palmach, the special forces branch of the Haganah, the “underground army” of the Israeli liberation movement, decided to create an “Arab Section” to penetrate behind enemy lines to gather intelligence to defeat those enemies and protect the lives of Jewish citizens of a country that did not yet exist. ![]() Even before there was a State of Israel, the Jews living there were surrounded by Arab enemies. ![]()
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