Book Event: Jerusalem and Washington: A Life in Politics and Diplomacy

Agenda:

5:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. - Pre-Event Reception
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. - Event

Bookselling and signing to follow the event. 

In his forthcoming memoir, Jerusalem and Washington: A Life in Politics and Diplomacy, diplomat and raconteur Zalman Shoval leads readers behind closed doors into the rooms where prime ministers and presidents made history altering decisions about the first Gulf War, the fate of Jonathan Pollard, the role of the PLO, and Israel’s responses to international criticism and hostilities.

First elected to the Knesset inheriting David Ben-Gurion’s seat, Shoval served with many of the State of Israel’s founding fathers. As one of the founders of Israel’s Likud party and before that of the “Rafi” party (headed by Ben-Gurion), Shoval was an early ally of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and a two-time ambassador to the United States. Shoval deftly navigated the complicated relationships among Israel’s various ministers and political parties. But no relationship was more fraught with uncertainty than Jerusalem and Washington’s in the 1990s, when Israel’s financial dependence on the U.S. ignited tensions that threatened Shoval’s diplomatic expulsion.

Since Israel’s founding seventy years ago, Shoval has championed its independence, survival, and global reputation. Shoval’s Jerusalem and Washington gives a rare glimpse behind the scenes of an extraordinary life and the dramatic events that helped shape a nation.

This event is made possible through general support to CSIS.