Operation Balak: The History of the Weapons Smuggling Operation that Helped Israel Win the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

Less than two weeks after the creation of Israel, the state's leader, David Ben-Gurion, announced the creation of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). This represented the combined military forces that would protect the new state, and while it might have sounded impressive on paper, the reality was very different. The new army was comprised mainly of ex-members of several paramilitary organizations that had fought for the establishment of the new state, but they lacked heavy weapons, armor and...