A review by cpalisa
Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel by Matti Friedman

4.0

3.5 stars. True account about 4 Jewish spies around the time of the the Israeli war for independence. I always connect Israel with European Jews, when in fact there were a lot of Islamic Jews in the area. The spies in this story were Jewish but were from places like Syria and could pass for Arabs. They spoke Arabic languages and knew the customs. They lived as Arabs while spying for what was to ultimately become Israel. The story is based on extensive oral interviews and memoirs from the key players. Pretty interesting and thought provoking. The only negative was that it jumped around a bit and was confusing to keep track of some of the names/aliases, and the writing style was odd at times.