The Prime Ministers
| Author | Yehuda Avner |
|---|---|
| Country | Israel |
| Language | English |
| Subject |
Prime Minister of Israel Levi Eshkol Golda Meir Yitzhak Rabin Menachem Begin |
| Published | March 15, 2010 by Toby Press |
| Pages | 715 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 758724969 |
The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership is a 2010 book written by Yehuda Avner and published by Toby Press. It documented events related to 4 Israeli prime ministers—Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin. It was first published in Israel on 15 March 2010 and a wider publication was done on 1 September 2010. The book was well received by critics and was one of the finalists for the 2010 National Jewish Book Awards. In 2013, Moriah Films, the film division of the Simon Wiesenthal Center produced a two-part documentary based on the book that features Avner as the narrator, and Hollywood actors as the voices of Israel's prime ministers.
Yehuda Avner had served as Israel's ambassador to Great Britain, Ireland and Australia. He has also been speechwriter and secretory to Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir before becoming adviser to Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres. He had also worked with Rabin when he was serving as an ambassador to the United States. Impressed by Avner's writing skills, Begin called him "[his] Shakespeare." During his service he made notes and recorded several important events and conversations.
Avner wrote that the book was not a "conventional biography or memoir". Text from a condolence letter written by Jehan Sadat, Anwar Sadat's widow to Begin in November 1982 after the latter's spouse had died, was also included. Begin wanted to publish a memoir titled From Destruction to Redemption. He considered Henry Kissinger, the only United States Secretary of State who "ever truly understood the Israel-Arab conflict". During a diplomatic meeting in Israel, one of Kissinger's friend from his schooldays in Germany, greeted him. Instead of replying, Kissinger ignored him. Then his friend, a psychiatrist by profession gave Avner an analysis of Kissinger's psychology. He explained that though Kissinger presented himself as a man of strong will and self-assurance but he had "a tendency to paranoia, and an excessive sense of failure". He also asked Avner to inform Rabin that "deep inside" Kissinger was "an insecure and paranoid Jew." Avner also included account of his conversation with an English baroness who told him that Margaret Thatcher had Jews in her cabinet because she was "most comfortable among the lower-middle class." Though initially Avner hesitated to work with Begin, he considered him "exceptional" among all the 4 prime ministers discussed. Rabin advised Avner to work with Begin, as he was "[his] kind of Jew".
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