He recreates exchanges - conversations, as recorded in diaries and archives, and correspondence- between Churchill and many of the leading Zionists, from Weizmann to Vladimir Jabotinsky to David Ben-Gurion, and the warmth that often marked them.

With his extensive and intimate knowledge of Churchill, Gilbert draws the more personal and expansive picture. He was an early supporter of Zionism and a lifelong friend of Chaim Weizmann, taking many unpopular positions and holding fast to the pledge made in the Balfour Declaration in the face of political opposition and general British anti-Semitism.

From his father, Churchill inherited a close and comfortable relationship with Jews. “He was too fond of Jews.” From two different points of view, both Martin Gilbert - Winston Churchill’s official biographer - and Michael Makovsky- foreign policy director of the Bipartisan Policy Center in Washington, DC - explore Churchill’s long and deep connection to Jews and to the Zionism that lies behind this remark, with extensive documentation. “Even Winston had a fault,” an old friend of Churchill’s told Martin Gilbert in 1969.

Martin gilbert churchill books