NOTE: I was not paid to review this book. It is an unbiased and objective review. If you have a book with Jewish or Israel related content and would like me to write a review, contact me for details of where to send me a review copy of the book.

Book Review: The Ambassador, by Yehuda Avner and Matt Rees

"What if" scenarios have intrigued the world for ages. It even has found its place in literature and at times even in moral and ethics debates and classes.

The one that, I think, is the most famous, and is itself a popular discussion, is "would you kill Baby Hitler?". If you came across Adolf Hitler when he was still a baby,,, if you could go back in time - for example, to when Hitler was a baby, would you kill him as a baby before he did anything wrong?

I have even read a book about what the world would look like had Germany won World War II and the Third Reich ruled the world.

It seems World War II topics are popular with this genre, or maybe it is just because of my Jewish connection to it that I notice it. Maybe there are books written and debates held about "what if JFK wasn't assassinated" or Abraham Lincoln. Or what if the USA had won Vietnam. Or what if the Iron Curtain did not fall. etc.

The Ambassador, by Yehuda Avner and Matt Rees, is another such book, exploring a "what if" scenario, but from a different, and new, angle.

The Ambassador is a novel, fictional, that explores what would have happened had Israel been declared a state in 1937 based on the recommendation of the Peel Commission, rather than waiting until 1948.

In The Ambassador, the authors, Yehuda Avner (who wrote the amazing book The Prime Ministers) and Matt Rees, explore how World War II would have looked. They stay as true as possible to the character and nature of the real life characters referenced, even using their actual words and events in this fictional tale. The young State of Israel sends a diplomatic mission to Nazi Germany in order to save as many Jews as possible from the Nazis. The young ambassador has to work directly with Nazis such as Eichmann to deal with the emigration of the Jews to Israel, in order to rid Germany of the Jews, though that eventually becomes an attempt to save as many as possible from extermination. The book deals with internal debates of whether to work with the despicable Nazis and help as many Jews emigrate or not cooperate, even at the expense of not saving some Jews, but keeping your own hands clean. Debates such as assassination are considered. Israeli doctors healing Germans and Nazis. Germans who helped the Jews and were anti-Nazi are in the book.

The Ambassador is a great book. As a novel it is a fascinating read, it is intriguing, it is exciting, it is fast moving, it is well-written and the characters are well developed. As a "what if" scenario" it is brilliant.



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