The Chariot of Israel
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder | Harold Wilson |
| Products | Non-fiction book on foreign policy and Israel |
The Chariot of Israel: Britain, America and the State of Israel is a 1981 publication authored by former British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, which explores the foreign policies of the UK and the US regarding Israel. The book features Wilson’s firsthand narrative of his participation in the 1967 Six-Day War. It was released in May 1981 by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Michael Joseph in the United Kingdom, followed by a 1982 edition from W. W. Norton & Company in the United States. Critical responses to the book were varied.
Biographer Ben Pimlott characterized the work as a "dry appraisal" of diplomatic relations among the three nations. At the book’s unveiling, Lord Kissin, a businessman and close associate of Wilson, commended him for his sincere commitment to the subject matter. Wilson also conducted a signing session at Selfridges department store in London to promote the title.
Reception
Richard Owen of The Times expressed that the book’s early sections on Zionism and Israel’s establishment felt repetitive, noting that interest heightened when Wilson described his involvement during the Six-Day War. Wilson shares dialogues with US President Lyndon B. Johnson, French President Charles de Gaulle, and Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin, criticizing De Gaulle’s pro-Arab position. Owen pointed out that Israel’s swift military success rendered much diplomatic hesitation irrelevant. Wilson’s assertive Middle East policies stood in contrast to those of contemporaries like Roy Jenkins, who later labeled the book as "one of the most strongly Zionist tracts ever written by a non-Jew."
According to Kirkus Reviews, Wilson’s account was cautious and conventional, offering limited new perspectives on Israel’s origins or on British policy complexities such as those linked to the Balfour Declaration. The text supports Hugh Gaitskell’s opinion that the Suez Crisis should have been addressed by the United Nations while reaffirming Britain’s initial stance on protecting canal sovereignty.
In a joint review with John Darwin's Britain, Egypt and the Middle East published in The Economist, The Chariot of Israel was described as anecdotal yet competent and measured. Wilson criticizes Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s policies toward the book’s conclusion.
Historian Thurston Clarke offered a harsh critique in The New York Times, denouncing the book for its lack of thorough analysis, excessive use of lengthy quotations without clarification, and failure to address significant topics such as the White Paper of 1939. Clarke observed Wilson’s research was limited, involving few interviews and no examination of official archives, leading to unsupported or contradictory conclusions. He also reproached Wilson for omitting important personal diplomatic interactions related to the Six-Day War, concluding that despite its shortcomings, the book remains useful for insight into Wilson's perspectives on the Middle East.
Journalist Paul Foot condemned the book in The Spectator for downplaying Palestinian viewpoints, highlighting that Palestinians were mentioned only once despite their central role in regional history. Foot argued that Wilson overlooked critical events including the Palestinian displacement post-1948, the Deir Yassin massacre, and failures to implement UN partition plans, effectively rewriting history through omission. While recognizing that Wilson’s early socialist sympathy toward Zionism evolved toward greater Arab understanding among his contemporaries, Foot maintained that during the 1970s Wilson became increasingly pro-Zionist under influence from British businessmen supportive of Israel. He described the book as an effort to reinforce Zionist arguments during a period of vulnerability, concluding with cautious concern about Israel’s future prospects.