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Israel was established with the support of the two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States, and in particular the Soviet Union, whose support was more substantial. The State of Israel was quickly recognised by the Soviet government after its establishment. A honeymoon period of Soviet-Israeli relations ensued, but relations between the two sides gradually deteriorated from late 1949 until 1953 when the two countries broke off diplomatic relations. Why was the Soviet government hostile to the Zionist movement before World War II? Why did Stalin support Zionist statehood in Palestine after the war? What role did Moscow play in the establishment of Israel's statehood? What were the reasons for the deterioration of relations between the Soviet Union and Israel? The author analyses these questions step by step on the basis of detailed research and interpretation of Russian, British, American and Israeli archival documents published in recent years, taking as a clue the changes in the development of Soviet-Israeli relations in the early post-World War II period.