the Israeli most was Wilson’s impressive command of military history and his keen understanding of weapons and tactics. Rafiah quickly realized that Wilson had developed a powerful identification with the Israeli cause, and when the congressman said he wanted to go to Israel immediately, Rafiah was quick to accommodate.
Three days later Wilson was driving in a jeep in the Sinai with fellow representative Ed Koch. The Israeli army was taking them to the front of the Yom Kippur War, sweeping them past still burning Soviet tanks. He was ecstatic to be in the presence of these heroic warriors. It was the beginning of a ten-year love affair with everything to do with Israel. “I bought the whole thing—the beleaguered democracy surrounded by Soviet-armed barbarians—survivors of Nazi concentration camps—David versus Goliath.”
Wilson would go on to become one of Israel’s most important congressional champions: a non-Jew with no Jewish constituents. Years later Zvi Rafiah would muse on this curiosity: “I visited his district once, and I was very impressed with the oil pumps and the big fat cows lying in the shade. Every time I describe a rich country, I describe this scene in Lufkin—the cows in the shade of the oil pumps. But believe me, there are no Jews in Lufkin.”
There was perhaps another ingredient beyond his mother’s exhortations that went into Wilson’s embrace of Israel. His future co-conspirator in Afghanistan, the CIA’s Gust Avrakotos, suggests that Charlie had a kind of James Bond syndrome: “As I saw it, the tie that bound us together was chasing pussy and killing Communists.” Avrakotos’ blunt language tends to turn people off, but the CIA man has a raw genius for understanding what makes Wilson tick. And his point is that, along with a worthy underdog to champion, two other ingredients were necessary to fully mobilize Charlie Wilson: a Communist bully to put down and a beautiful woman by his side.
In Israel it began with a raven-haired captain in the Israeli Defense Forces. She was the congressman’s official guide to the war zone, and Wilson’s infatuation began on that first trip into the desert to see the burning Russian tanks. Ed Koch still remembers his horror when the beautiful captain’s commanding officer, offended by her growing fascination with the goy in the cowboy hat, ordered her not to return the next day. Koch saw Wilson as a potentially invaluable asset to Israel: a non-Jew on the Foreign Affairs Committee who was more passionate about Israel than any of its Jewish members. “He was unique,” Koch recalls. “An oil man who was pro-Israel.” Koch quickly took the commander aside. “Are you crazy?” he asked. “The woman is twenty-one. Let her take care of herself.” Captain Lilatoff remained at her post.
Wilson admits that he was infatuated with the beautiful officer whose husband was off fighting in Egypt. But he says the relationship remained purely platonic, mainly because a few days later, in the lobby of his hotel, he was introduced to Israel’s leading movie star, Gila Almagor. “I remember thinking, This is a hell of a place. You get Russian tanks burning on the desert, beautiful captains, and movie stars.” To Wilson, Israel was filled with nothing but glorious underdogs who didn’t want or need Americans to fight their wars for them. All they were asking for was U.S. military supplies and economic assistance, to counter the Arabs who wanted nothing less than to use their Soviet arsenals to annihilate Israel.
By the time he got back to Washington, Wilson had become, in his own words, “an Israeli commando” in the U.S. Congress. And quite to his surprise and delight, a remarkable thing happened: The Jews of Houston and Dallas discovered the congressman from Lufkin. Without any solicitation, contributions began rolling in from all over the country. “The AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] people loved me because here I was, a cowboy
Three days later Wilson was driving in a jeep in the Sinai with fellow representative Ed Koch. The Israeli army was taking them to the front of the Yom Kippur War, sweeping them past still burning Soviet tanks. He was ecstatic to be in the presence of these heroic warriors. It was the beginning of a ten-year love affair with everything to do with Israel. “I bought the whole thing—the beleaguered democracy surrounded by Soviet-armed barbarians—survivors of Nazi concentration camps—David versus Goliath.”
Wilson would go on to become one of Israel’s most important congressional champions: a non-Jew with no Jewish constituents. Years later Zvi Rafiah would muse on this curiosity: “I visited his district once, and I was very impressed with the oil pumps and the big fat cows lying in the shade. Every time I describe a rich country, I describe this scene in Lufkin—the cows in the shade of the oil pumps. But believe me, there are no Jews in Lufkin.”
There was perhaps another ingredient beyond his mother’s exhortations that went into Wilson’s embrace of Israel. His future co-conspirator in Afghanistan, the CIA’s Gust Avrakotos, suggests that Charlie had a kind of James Bond syndrome: “As I saw it, the tie that bound us together was chasing pussy and killing Communists.” Avrakotos’ blunt language tends to turn people off, but the CIA man has a raw genius for understanding what makes Wilson tick. And his point is that, along with a worthy underdog to champion, two other ingredients were necessary to fully mobilize Charlie Wilson: a Communist bully to put down and a beautiful woman by his side.
In Israel it began with a raven-haired captain in the Israeli Defense Forces. She was the congressman’s official guide to the war zone, and Wilson’s infatuation began on that first trip into the desert to see the burning Russian tanks. Ed Koch still remembers his horror when the beautiful captain’s commanding officer, offended by her growing fascination with the goy in the cowboy hat, ordered her not to return the next day. Koch saw Wilson as a potentially invaluable asset to Israel: a non-Jew on the Foreign Affairs Committee who was more passionate about Israel than any of its Jewish members. “He was unique,” Koch recalls. “An oil man who was pro-Israel.” Koch quickly took the commander aside. “Are you crazy?” he asked. “The woman is twenty-one. Let her take care of herself.” Captain Lilatoff remained at her post.
Wilson admits that he was infatuated with the beautiful officer whose husband was off fighting in Egypt. But he says the relationship remained purely platonic, mainly because a few days later, in the lobby of his hotel, he was introduced to Israel’s leading movie star, Gila Almagor. “I remember thinking, This is a hell of a place. You get Russian tanks burning on the desert, beautiful captains, and movie stars.” To Wilson, Israel was filled with nothing but glorious underdogs who didn’t want or need Americans to fight their wars for them. All they were asking for was U.S. military supplies and economic assistance, to counter the Arabs who wanted nothing less than to use their Soviet arsenals to annihilate Israel.
By the time he got back to Washington, Wilson had become, in his own words, “an Israeli commando” in the U.S. Congress. And quite to his surprise and delight, a remarkable thing happened: The Jews of Houston and Dallas discovered the congressman from Lufkin. Without any solicitation, contributions began rolling in from all over the country. “The AIPAC [American Israel Public Affairs Committee] people loved me because here I was, a cowboy
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