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The Case Against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace
The New York Times bestselling author of The Case for Israel takes on the greatest threats faced by Israel today In addition to Hamas, which provoked the recent war and Gaza with its rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, Alan Dershowtiz argues that Israel's most dangerous enemies include Jimmy Carter and other western leaders who would delegitimize Israel as an apartheid regime subject to the same fate as white South Africans; Israel's academic enemies, led by professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, who would accuse supporters of Israel of dual loyalty and indeed disloyalty to America; and Iran, led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which threatens Israel by its development of nuclear weapons, which it has publicly threatened to use against the Jewish state. Alan Dershowitz is at his outspoken, thought-provoking best in The Case Against Israel's Enemies , changing both the tone and the focus of the debate about Israel's adversaries at a time when the future existence of Israel is increasingly imperiled.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
19 people are currently reading
220 people want to read
About the author
Alan M. Dershowitz
146 books318 followersAlan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is known for his career as an attorney in several high-profile law cases and commentary on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
He has spent most of his career at Harvard, where, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor in its history, until Noam Elkies took the record. Dershowitz still holds the record as the youngest person to become a professor of law there.
As a criminal appellate lawyer, Dershowitz has won thirteen out of the fifteen murder and attempted murder cases he has handled. He successfully argued to overturn the conviction of Claus von Bülow for the attempted murder of Bülow's wife, Sunny. Dershowitz was the appellate advisor for the defense in the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
He has spent most of his career at Harvard, where, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor in its history, until Noam Elkies took the record. Dershowitz still holds the record as the youngest person to become a professor of law there.
As a criminal appellate lawyer, Dershowitz has won thirteen out of the fifteen murder and attempted murder cases he has handled. He successfully argued to overturn the conviction of Claus von Bülow for the attempted murder of Bülow's wife, Sunny. Dershowitz was the appellate advisor for the defense in the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.
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August 12, 2023
We are living in times of a bottomless hatred of Israel and it's people and friends that is frightening in it's irrational venom.
It certainly resembles the hatred of Nazis for Jews in the 1930s and 40's in it's sheer viciousness, what a Jewish women who witnessed Kristallnacht as a child on that excellent documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West as 'the type of hatred that makes your hear beat faster'.
Liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, describes being attacked by a mob of Israel-haters outside Faneuil Hall in Boston points out that this hatred is unexplainable on any rational basis. Phyllis Chesler describes this hatred as 'eroticized'.
Desrhowitz agrees and says that the hatred he saw there was 'passionate hatred, ecstatic hatred, orgasmic hatred, it was beyond mere differences of opinion'.
Again the type of hatred on would have seen at Hitler's Nuremberg rallies or during Kristallnacht.
Dershowitz points out that for a tiny country the size of New Jersey, with a population of 6 million , no other country has as many destructive enemies as Israel.
No other country has been targeted with divestment and boycotts, been the object of so many hostile UN resolutions, been singled out for editorial abuse in the international media , been the victims of as many aggressive protests on colleges and universities and been threatened with annihilation and physical destruction and genocide against it's people.
As an example of the genocidal rhetoric aimed at Israel's population, Hamas MP Ahmed Abu Halabiya speaking from a large mosque in Gaza in June 2003 thundered "Have no mercy on the Jews no matter where they are in any country...Wherever you are kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them...We will not give up a single inch of Palestine from Haifa to Jaffa'.
British MP Clare Short actually said that Israel will cause the end of the human race diverting attention away from global warming! Not China or the USA, but tiny Israel, one of the most environmentally conscious countries on this planet.
Dershowitz devotes one of the chapters in his book to condemning Jimmy Carter for his canards against Israel in his shameful and slanderous book 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'
Carter has demanded that the European Union and the United States recognize the mass murderous and racist terror organisation Hamas, and has had cordial meetings with Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and has described Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as very nice.
Dershowitz (who supports peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians a two state solution and territorial compromise) actually has discovered that Carter had pressuring Palestinian leaders to take the maximalist position of rejecting compromises and effectively settlement that Israel could reasonably accept without risking it's existence.
Carter played a role in persuading Arafat in 2000 to reject the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's generous offer of a contiguous Palestinian state including all of Gaza, 95 % of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. Arafat rejected the offer and launched the intifada that has led to loss of thousands of Israeli and Arab lives.
Therefore far from preaching and pointing fingers Carter should hang his head in shame for the blood on his hands.
Most importantly Dershowitz demolishes the charge by Carter of Israel practising Apartheid (the system of rigid racial segregation that was exercised by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994). He quotes two prominent Black South African woman ,who have courageously stood up against the violent tsunami of anti-Israel hatred and the campaign slander and libel against Israel, Rhoda Kadalie and Julia Bertelsmann : "Israel is not an apartheid state...Arab citizens of Israel can vote and serve in the Knesset. Black South Africans could not vote until 1994. There are no laws in Israel that discriminate against Arab citizens of separate them from Jews. South Africa has a job reservation policy for White people; Israel has adopted pro-Arab affirmative action programmes in some sectors. Israeli schools , universities and hospitals make no distinction between Jews and Arabs. An Arab citizen who brings a case before an Israeli court will have that case decided on the basis of merit, not ethnicity. This was never the case for Blacks under Apartheid"
Carter has accused Israel of genocide while referring to the genocide in Rwanda as 'ancient history' and condemned those who use the word 'genocide' in reference to the mass murder by Sudan's government in Darfur in which hundreds of thousands of Black Africans have been butchered, millions displaced and hundreds of thousands of women raped.
Derhshowitz also has a chapter condemning both extreme Left anti-Israel bigots (such as John Dugard, Richard Falk, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Michael Lerner) and extreme right anti-Israel bigots (such as Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Neo-Nazi David Duke, Joseph Sobran and Taki Theodoracopulos).
He confronts such leftwing extremists as South African UN commissioner John Dugard who has justified suicide bombings against Israeli women and children and compared Arab terrorists who target Israel women and children to the resistance movements that fought against Nazism during World War II.UN commissioner Richard Falk (a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah and well as a variety of despotic regimes including Iran and Zimbabwe) who has compared Israel's defensive actions in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.
Norman Finkelstein has stated that Israel's human rights record is worse than that of Nazi Germany and called on the world to support openly genocidal terrorist and anti-Semitic organisation Hezbollah whose leader leader Hassan Nasrallah said of the Jews after the 2006 Lebanon War "If they gather in Israel it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide"
Hezbollah carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center killing 87 men, women and children.
One of the most important chapters is the Case Against Boycotting Israeli Academics, taking on a vile and racist campaign by far-left academics to ban any co-operation between their universities and Israeli universities and to ban all Israeli academics (regardless of their political views) as well as the campaigns for divesting from Israeli businesses.
The author points out the hypocrisy of these boycotts in attacking the campaign by Britain's largest labour union, UNISON, for an economic, cultural sporting and economic boycott on Israel.
As Dershowitz points out: "These unions (and other institutions) did not call for boycotts of any other countries such as China (which has occupied Tibet for over half a century and denies academic freedom to Tibetan critics, among other abuses), Russia (which has brutally suppressed the Chechens) North Korea (which is probably the most oppressive, closed and tyrannical state on earth) , Iran (an oppressive theocracy and supporter of terrorism whose president often threatens genocide against Israel, or tyrannical regimes in Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Syria, Belarus, Libya, Zimbabwe and so on".
The author points out that the terrorist organizations that Israel is defending her population against (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad) not only deliberately and predominantly target Israel's civilian population but also deliberately put their own civilians in the line of fire, knowing that casualties among Arab populations will result in more strident hype against Israel in the world.
Therefore for the terrorist groups, both Arab and Israeli casualties are a win-win situation. Israel has done more than any other nation in modern warfare
to avoid civilian casualties . Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008/2009 was a reaction to thousands of missiles fired at Israel population centers, often targeting school and Israeli children on their way to school. The reason Israeli deaths have been lower than the Palestinian terror networks have intended was because of Israel's measures taken to protect her own civilians and in many cases what could only be put down to miracles (as if Israel must apologize that more of her people have not died), and the fact that Palestinian spokesmen have counted among their casualties the suicide bombers themselves armed terrorists, terrorist leaders, Arabs killed by Palestinian terror bands themselves, bomb makers whose bombs have exploded prematurely and those killed in the vicinity , Arabs hit by rockets aimed at Israel and even people killed in the gunshots fired at Palestinian rallies.
This book is vital to read for those who want to investigate the vile charges levelled against Israel and the motivations and moral turpitude of her enemies.
Highly recommended.
Merged review:
We are living in times of a bottomless hatred of Israel and it's people and friends that is frightening in it's irrational venom.
It certainly resembles the hatred of Nazis for Jews in the 1930s and 40's in it's sheer viciousness, what a Jewish women who witnessed Kristallnacht as a child on that excellent documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West as 'the type of hatred that makes your hear beat faster'.
Liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, describes being attacked by a mob of Israel-haters outside Faneuil Hall in Boston points out that this hatred is unexplainable on any rational basis. Phyllis Chesler describes this hatred as 'eroticized'.
Desrhowitz agrees and says that the hatred he saw there was 'passionate hatred, ecstatic hatred, orgasmic hatred, it was beyond mere differences of opinion'.
Again the type of hatred on would have seen at Hitler's Nuremberg rallies or during Kristallnacht.
Dershowitz points out that for a tiny country the size of New Jersey, with a population of 6 million , no other country has as many destructive enemies as Israel.
No other country has been targeted with divestment and boycotts, been the object of so many hostile UN resolutions, been singled out for editorial abuse in the international media , been the victims of as many aggressive protests on colleges and universities and been threatened with annihilation and physical destruction and genocide against it's people.
As an example of the genocidal rhetoric aimed at Israel's population, Hamas MP Ahmed Abu Halabiya speaking from a large mosque in Gaza in June 2003 thundered "Have no mercy on the Jews no matter where they are in any country...Wherever you are kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them...We will not give up a single inch of Palestine from Haifa to Jaffa'.
British MP Clare Short actually said that Israel will cause the end of the human race diverting attention away from global warming! Not China or the USA, but tiny Israel, one of the most environmentally conscious countries on this planet.
Dershowitz devotes one of the chapters in his book to condemning Jimmy Carter for his canards against Israel in his shameful and slanderous book 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'
Carter has demanded that the European Union and the United States recognize the mass murderous and racist terror organisation Hamas, and has had cordial meetings with Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and has described Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as very nice.
Dershowitz (who supports peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians a two state solution and territorial compromise) actually has discovered that Carter had pressuring Palestinian leaders to take the maximalist position of rejecting compromises and effectively settlement that Israel could reasonably accept without risking it's existence.
Carter played a role in persuading Arafat in 2000 to reject the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's generous offer of a contiguous Palestinian state including all of Gaza, 95 % of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. Arafat rejected the offer and launched the intifada that has led to loss of thousands of Israeli and Arab lives.
Therefore far from preaching and pointing fingers Carter should hang his head in shame for the blood on his hands.
Most importantly Dershowitz demolishes the charge by Carter of Israel practicing Apartheid (the system of rigid racial segregation that was exercised by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994). He quotes two prominent Black South African woman ,who have courageously stood up against the violent tsunami of anti-Israel hatred and the campaign slander and libel against Israel, Rhoda Kadalie and Julia Bertelsmann : "Israel is not an apartheid state...Arab citizens of Israel can vote and serve in the Knesset. Black South Africans could not vote until 1994. There are no laws in Israel that discriminate against Arab citizens of separate them from Jews. South Africa has a job reservation policy for White people; Israel has adopted pro-Arab affirmative action programmes in some sectors. Israeli schools , universities and hospitals make no distinction between Jews and Arabs. An Arab citizen who brings a case before an Israeli court will have that case decided on the basis of merit, not ethnicity. This was never the case for Blacks under Apartheid"
Carter has accused Israel of genocide while referring to the genocide in Rwanda as 'ancient history' and condemned those who use the word 'genocide' in reference to the mass murder by Sudan's government in Darfur in which hundreds of thousands of Black Africans have been butchered, millions displaced and hundreds of thousands of women raped.
Derhshowitz also has a chapter condemning both extreme Left anti-Israel bigots (such as John Dugard, Richard Falk, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Michael Lerner) and extreme right anti-Israel bigots (such as Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Neo-Nazi David Duke, Joseph Sobran and Taki Theodoracopulos).
He confronts such leftwing extremists as South African UN commissioner John Dugard who has justified suicide bombings against Israeli women and children and compared Arab terrorists who target Israel women and children to the resistance movements that fought against Nazism during World War II.UN commissioner Richard Falk (a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah and well as a variety of despotic regimes including Iran and Zimbabwe) who has compared Israel's defensive actions in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.
Norman Finkelstein has stated that Israel's human rights record is worse than that of Nazi Germany and called on the world to support openly genocidal terrorist and anti-Semitic organization Hezbollah whose leader leader Hassan Nasrallah said of the Jews after the 2006 Lebanon War "If they gather in Israel it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide"
Hezbollah carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center killing 87 men, women and children.
One of the most important chapters is the Case Against Boycotting Israeli Academics, taking on a vile and racist campaign by far-left academics to ban any co-operation between their universities and Israeli universities and to ban all Israeli academics (regardless of their political views) as well as the campaigns for divesting from Israeli businesses.
The author points out the hypocrisy of these boycotts in attacking the campaign by Britain's largest labour union, UNISON, for an economic, cultural sporting and economic boycott on Israel.
As Dershowitz points out: "These unions (and other institutions) did not call for boycotts of any other countries such as China (which has occupied Tibet for over half a century and denies academic freedom to Tibetan critics, among other abuses), Russia (which has brutally suppressed the Chechens) North Korea (which is probably the most oppressive, closed and tyrannical state on earth) , Iran (an oppressive theocracy and supporter of terrorism whose president often threatens genocide against Israel, or tyrannical regimes in Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Syria, Belarus, Libya, Zimbabwe and so on".
The author points out that the terrorist organizations that Israel is defending her population against (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad) not only deliberately and predominantly target Israel's civilian population but also deliberately put their own civilians in the line of fire, knowing that casualties among Arab populations will result in more strident hype against Israel in the world.
Therefore for the terrorist groups, both Arab and Israeli casualties are a win-win situation. Israel has done more than any other nation in modern warfare
to avoid civilian casualties . Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008/2009 was a reaction to thousands of missiles fired at Israel population centers, often targeting school and Israeli children on their way to school. The reason Israeli deaths have been lower than the Palestinian terror networks have intended was because of Israel's measures taken to protect her own civilians and in many cases what could only be put down to miracles (as if Israel must apologize that more of her people have not died), and the fact that Palestinian spokesmen have counted among their casualties the suicide bombers themselves armed terrorists, terrorist leaders, Arabs killed by Palestinian terror bands themselves, bomb makers whose bombs have exploded prematurely and those killed in the vicinity , Arabs hit by rockets aimed at Israel and even people killed in the gunshots fired at Palestinian rallies.
This book is vital to read for those who want to investigate the vile charges levelled against Israel and the motivations and moral turpitude of her enemies.
Highly recommended.
It certainly resembles the hatred of Nazis for Jews in the 1930s and 40's in it's sheer viciousness, what a Jewish women who witnessed Kristallnacht as a child on that excellent documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West as 'the type of hatred that makes your hear beat faster'.
Liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, describes being attacked by a mob of Israel-haters outside Faneuil Hall in Boston points out that this hatred is unexplainable on any rational basis. Phyllis Chesler describes this hatred as 'eroticized'.
Desrhowitz agrees and says that the hatred he saw there was 'passionate hatred, ecstatic hatred, orgasmic hatred, it was beyond mere differences of opinion'.
Again the type of hatred on would have seen at Hitler's Nuremberg rallies or during Kristallnacht.
Dershowitz points out that for a tiny country the size of New Jersey, with a population of 6 million , no other country has as many destructive enemies as Israel.
No other country has been targeted with divestment and boycotts, been the object of so many hostile UN resolutions, been singled out for editorial abuse in the international media , been the victims of as many aggressive protests on colleges and universities and been threatened with annihilation and physical destruction and genocide against it's people.
As an example of the genocidal rhetoric aimed at Israel's population, Hamas MP Ahmed Abu Halabiya speaking from a large mosque in Gaza in June 2003 thundered "Have no mercy on the Jews no matter where they are in any country...Wherever you are kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them...We will not give up a single inch of Palestine from Haifa to Jaffa'.
British MP Clare Short actually said that Israel will cause the end of the human race diverting attention away from global warming! Not China or the USA, but tiny Israel, one of the most environmentally conscious countries on this planet.
Dershowitz devotes one of the chapters in his book to condemning Jimmy Carter for his canards against Israel in his shameful and slanderous book 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'
Carter has demanded that the European Union and the United States recognize the mass murderous and racist terror organisation Hamas, and has had cordial meetings with Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and has described Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as very nice.
Dershowitz (who supports peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians a two state solution and territorial compromise) actually has discovered that Carter had pressuring Palestinian leaders to take the maximalist position of rejecting compromises and effectively settlement that Israel could reasonably accept without risking it's existence.
Carter played a role in persuading Arafat in 2000 to reject the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's generous offer of a contiguous Palestinian state including all of Gaza, 95 % of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. Arafat rejected the offer and launched the intifada that has led to loss of thousands of Israeli and Arab lives.
Therefore far from preaching and pointing fingers Carter should hang his head in shame for the blood on his hands.
Most importantly Dershowitz demolishes the charge by Carter of Israel practising Apartheid (the system of rigid racial segregation that was exercised by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994). He quotes two prominent Black South African woman ,who have courageously stood up against the violent tsunami of anti-Israel hatred and the campaign slander and libel against Israel, Rhoda Kadalie and Julia Bertelsmann : "Israel is not an apartheid state...Arab citizens of Israel can vote and serve in the Knesset. Black South Africans could not vote until 1994. There are no laws in Israel that discriminate against Arab citizens of separate them from Jews. South Africa has a job reservation policy for White people; Israel has adopted pro-Arab affirmative action programmes in some sectors. Israeli schools , universities and hospitals make no distinction between Jews and Arabs. An Arab citizen who brings a case before an Israeli court will have that case decided on the basis of merit, not ethnicity. This was never the case for Blacks under Apartheid"
Carter has accused Israel of genocide while referring to the genocide in Rwanda as 'ancient history' and condemned those who use the word 'genocide' in reference to the mass murder by Sudan's government in Darfur in which hundreds of thousands of Black Africans have been butchered, millions displaced and hundreds of thousands of women raped.
Derhshowitz also has a chapter condemning both extreme Left anti-Israel bigots (such as John Dugard, Richard Falk, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Michael Lerner) and extreme right anti-Israel bigots (such as Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Neo-Nazi David Duke, Joseph Sobran and Taki Theodoracopulos).
He confronts such leftwing extremists as South African UN commissioner John Dugard who has justified suicide bombings against Israeli women and children and compared Arab terrorists who target Israel women and children to the resistance movements that fought against Nazism during World War II.UN commissioner Richard Falk (a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah and well as a variety of despotic regimes including Iran and Zimbabwe) who has compared Israel's defensive actions in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.
Norman Finkelstein has stated that Israel's human rights record is worse than that of Nazi Germany and called on the world to support openly genocidal terrorist and anti-Semitic organisation Hezbollah whose leader leader Hassan Nasrallah said of the Jews after the 2006 Lebanon War "If they gather in Israel it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide"
Hezbollah carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center killing 87 men, women and children.
One of the most important chapters is the Case Against Boycotting Israeli Academics, taking on a vile and racist campaign by far-left academics to ban any co-operation between their universities and Israeli universities and to ban all Israeli academics (regardless of their political views) as well as the campaigns for divesting from Israeli businesses.
The author points out the hypocrisy of these boycotts in attacking the campaign by Britain's largest labour union, UNISON, for an economic, cultural sporting and economic boycott on Israel.
As Dershowitz points out: "These unions (and other institutions) did not call for boycotts of any other countries such as China (which has occupied Tibet for over half a century and denies academic freedom to Tibetan critics, among other abuses), Russia (which has brutally suppressed the Chechens) North Korea (which is probably the most oppressive, closed and tyrannical state on earth) , Iran (an oppressive theocracy and supporter of terrorism whose president often threatens genocide against Israel, or tyrannical regimes in Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Syria, Belarus, Libya, Zimbabwe and so on".
The author points out that the terrorist organizations that Israel is defending her population against (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad) not only deliberately and predominantly target Israel's civilian population but also deliberately put their own civilians in the line of fire, knowing that casualties among Arab populations will result in more strident hype against Israel in the world.
Therefore for the terrorist groups, both Arab and Israeli casualties are a win-win situation. Israel has done more than any other nation in modern warfare
to avoid civilian casualties . Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008/2009 was a reaction to thousands of missiles fired at Israel population centers, often targeting school and Israeli children on their way to school. The reason Israeli deaths have been lower than the Palestinian terror networks have intended was because of Israel's measures taken to protect her own civilians and in many cases what could only be put down to miracles (as if Israel must apologize that more of her people have not died), and the fact that Palestinian spokesmen have counted among their casualties the suicide bombers themselves armed terrorists, terrorist leaders, Arabs killed by Palestinian terror bands themselves, bomb makers whose bombs have exploded prematurely and those killed in the vicinity , Arabs hit by rockets aimed at Israel and even people killed in the gunshots fired at Palestinian rallies.
This book is vital to read for those who want to investigate the vile charges levelled against Israel and the motivations and moral turpitude of her enemies.
Highly recommended.
Merged review:
We are living in times of a bottomless hatred of Israel and it's people and friends that is frightening in it's irrational venom.
It certainly resembles the hatred of Nazis for Jews in the 1930s and 40's in it's sheer viciousness, what a Jewish women who witnessed Kristallnacht as a child on that excellent documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West as 'the type of hatred that makes your hear beat faster'.
Liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, describes being attacked by a mob of Israel-haters outside Faneuil Hall in Boston points out that this hatred is unexplainable on any rational basis. Phyllis Chesler describes this hatred as 'eroticized'.
Desrhowitz agrees and says that the hatred he saw there was 'passionate hatred, ecstatic hatred, orgasmic hatred, it was beyond mere differences of opinion'.
Again the type of hatred on would have seen at Hitler's Nuremberg rallies or during Kristallnacht.
Dershowitz points out that for a tiny country the size of New Jersey, with a population of 6 million , no other country has as many destructive enemies as Israel.
No other country has been targeted with divestment and boycotts, been the object of so many hostile UN resolutions, been singled out for editorial abuse in the international media , been the victims of as many aggressive protests on colleges and universities and been threatened with annihilation and physical destruction and genocide against it's people.
As an example of the genocidal rhetoric aimed at Israel's population, Hamas MP Ahmed Abu Halabiya speaking from a large mosque in Gaza in June 2003 thundered "Have no mercy on the Jews no matter where they are in any country...Wherever you are kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them...We will not give up a single inch of Palestine from Haifa to Jaffa'.
British MP Clare Short actually said that Israel will cause the end of the human race diverting attention away from global warming! Not China or the USA, but tiny Israel, one of the most environmentally conscious countries on this planet.
Dershowitz devotes one of the chapters in his book to condemning Jimmy Carter for his canards against Israel in his shameful and slanderous book 'Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid'
Carter has demanded that the European Union and the United States recognize the mass murderous and racist terror organisation Hamas, and has had cordial meetings with Hamas and Hezbollah leaders and has described Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as very nice.
Dershowitz (who supports peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians a two state solution and territorial compromise) actually has discovered that Carter had pressuring Palestinian leaders to take the maximalist position of rejecting compromises and effectively settlement that Israel could reasonably accept without risking it's existence.
Carter played a role in persuading Arafat in 2000 to reject the then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's generous offer of a contiguous Palestinian state including all of Gaza, 95 % of the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem. Arafat rejected the offer and launched the intifada that has led to loss of thousands of Israeli and Arab lives.
Therefore far from preaching and pointing fingers Carter should hang his head in shame for the blood on his hands.
Most importantly Dershowitz demolishes the charge by Carter of Israel practicing Apartheid (the system of rigid racial segregation that was exercised by the government in South Africa between 1948 and 1994). He quotes two prominent Black South African woman ,who have courageously stood up against the violent tsunami of anti-Israel hatred and the campaign slander and libel against Israel, Rhoda Kadalie and Julia Bertelsmann : "Israel is not an apartheid state...Arab citizens of Israel can vote and serve in the Knesset. Black South Africans could not vote until 1994. There are no laws in Israel that discriminate against Arab citizens of separate them from Jews. South Africa has a job reservation policy for White people; Israel has adopted pro-Arab affirmative action programmes in some sectors. Israeli schools , universities and hospitals make no distinction between Jews and Arabs. An Arab citizen who brings a case before an Israeli court will have that case decided on the basis of merit, not ethnicity. This was never the case for Blacks under Apartheid"
Carter has accused Israel of genocide while referring to the genocide in Rwanda as 'ancient history' and condemned those who use the word 'genocide' in reference to the mass murder by Sudan's government in Darfur in which hundreds of thousands of Black Africans have been butchered, millions displaced and hundreds of thousands of women raped.
Derhshowitz also has a chapter condemning both extreme Left anti-Israel bigots (such as John Dugard, Richard Falk, Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein and Michael Lerner) and extreme right anti-Israel bigots (such as Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Neo-Nazi David Duke, Joseph Sobran and Taki Theodoracopulos).
He confronts such leftwing extremists as South African UN commissioner John Dugard who has justified suicide bombings against Israeli women and children and compared Arab terrorists who target Israel women and children to the resistance movements that fought against Nazism during World War II.UN commissioner Richard Falk (a supporter of Hamas and Hezbollah and well as a variety of despotic regimes including Iran and Zimbabwe) who has compared Israel's defensive actions in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.
Norman Finkelstein has stated that Israel's human rights record is worse than that of Nazi Germany and called on the world to support openly genocidal terrorist and anti-Semitic organization Hezbollah whose leader leader Hassan Nasrallah said of the Jews after the 2006 Lebanon War "If they gather in Israel it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide"
Hezbollah carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center killing 87 men, women and children.
One of the most important chapters is the Case Against Boycotting Israeli Academics, taking on a vile and racist campaign by far-left academics to ban any co-operation between their universities and Israeli universities and to ban all Israeli academics (regardless of their political views) as well as the campaigns for divesting from Israeli businesses.
The author points out the hypocrisy of these boycotts in attacking the campaign by Britain's largest labour union, UNISON, for an economic, cultural sporting and economic boycott on Israel.
As Dershowitz points out: "These unions (and other institutions) did not call for boycotts of any other countries such as China (which has occupied Tibet for over half a century and denies academic freedom to Tibetan critics, among other abuses), Russia (which has brutally suppressed the Chechens) North Korea (which is probably the most oppressive, closed and tyrannical state on earth) , Iran (an oppressive theocracy and supporter of terrorism whose president often threatens genocide against Israel, or tyrannical regimes in Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Syria, Belarus, Libya, Zimbabwe and so on".
The author points out that the terrorist organizations that Israel is defending her population against (such as Hamas, Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad) not only deliberately and predominantly target Israel's civilian population but also deliberately put their own civilians in the line of fire, knowing that casualties among Arab populations will result in more strident hype against Israel in the world.
Therefore for the terrorist groups, both Arab and Israeli casualties are a win-win situation. Israel has done more than any other nation in modern warfare
to avoid civilian casualties . Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza in 2008/2009 was a reaction to thousands of missiles fired at Israel population centers, often targeting school and Israeli children on their way to school. The reason Israeli deaths have been lower than the Palestinian terror networks have intended was because of Israel's measures taken to protect her own civilians and in many cases what could only be put down to miracles (as if Israel must apologize that more of her people have not died), and the fact that Palestinian spokesmen have counted among their casualties the suicide bombers themselves armed terrorists, terrorist leaders, Arabs killed by Palestinian terror bands themselves, bomb makers whose bombs have exploded prematurely and those killed in the vicinity , Arabs hit by rockets aimed at Israel and even people killed in the gunshots fired at Palestinian rallies.
This book is vital to read for those who want to investigate the vile charges levelled against Israel and the motivations and moral turpitude of her enemies.
Highly recommended.
February 8, 2011
This is a very powerful book that shows how Israel's enemies have endeavoured to revise history. Dershowitz discusses how being critical of Israel's policies does not necessarily mean one is an anti-Semite. Indeed, Dershowitz has been quite critical of Israel in the past. However, hypocritical, double-standard, revisionist, and demonizing are trademarks of Israel's enemies. Jimmy Carter, Patrick Buchanan, Noam Chomsky, Amnesty International, and the Human Rights Watch are all guilty of lying, double standards, and unconstructive criticism. They all demonize Israel, because they all have deeply anti-Semitic agendas that they pursue. Dershowitz has very carefully and comprehensively documented the writings and speeches given by Israel's enemies--the evidence is pretty devastating. They are all afraid to debate Dershowitz in public, as they know that he will expose their lies in the face of well documented facts.
February 9, 2009
Once again Alan Dershowitz delivers! Just like his previous books on the subjects, he breaks down the statements used by Israel's critics and enemies and uses historical fact to disprove them. He is very rational and the book is well researched.
This book is important to fight the slanderous lies and false perceptions on Israel policy towards the conflict. It is simple, one side is an imperfect Democracy that values life and freedom. The other side are facists that hide behing civiliam populations and send their women and children to do their dirty work, then cry foul when those people are hurt.
I look forward to reading Alan Dershowitz's future books on the subject, if he shall write another one.
This book is important to fight the slanderous lies and false perceptions on Israel policy towards the conflict. It is simple, one side is an imperfect Democracy that values life and freedom. The other side are facists that hide behing civiliam populations and send their women and children to do their dirty work, then cry foul when those people are hurt.
I look forward to reading Alan Dershowitz's future books on the subject, if he shall write another one.
June 2, 2009
A must for anyone interested in this subject.
November 15, 2018
Jimmy Carter is a moron.
April 9, 2013
Holding Israel to a Much Stricter Standard
Is this book, Alan Dershowtiz, the Harvard law professor and criminal defense attorney, takes to task those public intellectuals who are holding Israel to a stricter moral standard than any other country. In particular, he criticizes:
• Ex-president Jimmy Carter and his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and
• John J. Mearsheimer (professor at the University of Chicago) and Stephen M. Walt (professor at Harvard University) and their book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.
Is Israel Guilty of Apartheid?
Dershowitz points out that in his book Carter does not define what he means by his use of the term apartheid. Carter cannot mean the kind of apartheid that once existed in South Africa: racial segregation, second-class citizenship for blacks, and torturing human rights activists, because that kind of abuse does not exist in Israel. The security fence in the West Bank was built to stop suicide bombers, and does not prevent peaceful Arab Palestinians from entering Israel to work. Israeli Arabs have full citizenship, the right to vote, and are represented in the Knesset.
Exodus of Christians
Carter blames Israel for an exodus of Christians from the Holy Lands, when actually the Palestinian Christian Arabs fled the Muslim terrorists, and were welcomed by the Israelis.
Six-Day War
Carter accused Israel of a preemptive strike against Jordan in the Six-Day War, while Dershowitz says that Jordan struck first. Mearsheimer and Walt assert that Egypt was not threatening an invasion of Israel when the Israelis took out Egypt’s air force on the ground at the beginning of the Six-Day War. Dershowitz claims that Michael Oren’s book on the war shows that Egypt started the war, not Israel.
Yasser Arafat
When Jimmy Carter visited the Middle East in 2008, he laid a wreath at the grave of PLO terrorist chief Yasser Arafat, and called Arafat a dear friend.
Carter Center
The Carter Center has received more than a million dollars from Arab countries. Agha Hasan Abedi of BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International) was also a founder of the Carter Center. There was a huge scandal in the late 1980s when BCCI was found to be involved in money laundering, organized crime and funding terrorism. The Carter Center also accepted a gift of half a million dollars from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi, and a prominent holocaust-denier.
AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee)
Mearsheimer and Walt assert that AIPAC helped persuade the Bush administration to invade Iraq in 2003, but Dershowitz says that AIPAC did not favor the invasion of Iraq.
Civilian-Combatant Casualty Ratio
In urban warfare in Gaza and the West Bank, the Israelis kill many times more combatants than they do civilians. In most regions of conflict, the ratio is usually the reverse: more civilians are killed than combatants. Israel goes to great efforts to avoid killing civilians, but this is difficult, because the Arab terrorists often use their own women and children as human shields. Dershowitz points out that Israel has a much better civilian-combatant ratio than has Russia, the United States, Great Britain, or any other country fighting terrorism.
Hard Left Anti-Semites
Dershowitz criticizes a number of critics of Israel that are on the political left: Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, Professor Richard Falk of Princeton University, and Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun.
Hard Right Anti-Semites
Dershowitz also criticizes a number of critics of Israel that are on the political right: Pat Buchanan, Bob Novak, Joseph Sobran of the National Review, and Taki Theodoracopulos, columnist for the British weekly, The Spectator.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky
I was surprised to learn that the great Russian novelist hated Jews.
Is this book, Alan Dershowtiz, the Harvard law professor and criminal defense attorney, takes to task those public intellectuals who are holding Israel to a stricter moral standard than any other country. In particular, he criticizes:
• Ex-president Jimmy Carter and his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, and
• John J. Mearsheimer (professor at the University of Chicago) and Stephen M. Walt (professor at Harvard University) and their book, The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy.
Is Israel Guilty of Apartheid?
Dershowitz points out that in his book Carter does not define what he means by his use of the term apartheid. Carter cannot mean the kind of apartheid that once existed in South Africa: racial segregation, second-class citizenship for blacks, and torturing human rights activists, because that kind of abuse does not exist in Israel. The security fence in the West Bank was built to stop suicide bombers, and does not prevent peaceful Arab Palestinians from entering Israel to work. Israeli Arabs have full citizenship, the right to vote, and are represented in the Knesset.
Exodus of Christians
Carter blames Israel for an exodus of Christians from the Holy Lands, when actually the Palestinian Christian Arabs fled the Muslim terrorists, and were welcomed by the Israelis.
Six-Day War
Carter accused Israel of a preemptive strike against Jordan in the Six-Day War, while Dershowitz says that Jordan struck first. Mearsheimer and Walt assert that Egypt was not threatening an invasion of Israel when the Israelis took out Egypt’s air force on the ground at the beginning of the Six-Day War. Dershowitz claims that Michael Oren’s book on the war shows that Egypt started the war, not Israel.
Yasser Arafat
When Jimmy Carter visited the Middle East in 2008, he laid a wreath at the grave of PLO terrorist chief Yasser Arafat, and called Arafat a dear friend.
Carter Center
The Carter Center has received more than a million dollars from Arab countries. Agha Hasan Abedi of BCCI (Bank of Credit and Commerce International) was also a founder of the Carter Center. There was a huge scandal in the late 1980s when BCCI was found to be involved in money laundering, organized crime and funding terrorism. The Carter Center also accepted a gift of half a million dollars from Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, emir of Abu Dhabi, and a prominent holocaust-denier.
AIPAC (American-Israel Public Affairs Committee)
Mearsheimer and Walt assert that AIPAC helped persuade the Bush administration to invade Iraq in 2003, but Dershowitz says that AIPAC did not favor the invasion of Iraq.
Civilian-Combatant Casualty Ratio
In urban warfare in Gaza and the West Bank, the Israelis kill many times more combatants than they do civilians. In most regions of conflict, the ratio is usually the reverse: more civilians are killed than combatants. Israel goes to great efforts to avoid killing civilians, but this is difficult, because the Arab terrorists often use their own women and children as human shields. Dershowitz points out that Israel has a much better civilian-combatant ratio than has Russia, the United States, Great Britain, or any other country fighting terrorism.
Hard Left Anti-Semites
Dershowitz criticizes a number of critics of Israel that are on the political left: Noam Chomsky, Norman Finkelstein, Israeli historian Ilan Pappé, Professor Richard Falk of Princeton University, and Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun.
Hard Right Anti-Semites
Dershowitz also criticizes a number of critics of Israel that are on the political right: Pat Buchanan, Bob Novak, Joseph Sobran of the National Review, and Taki Theodoracopulos, columnist for the British weekly, The Spectator.
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky
I was surprised to learn that the great Russian novelist hated Jews.
August 30, 2015
Professor Dershowitz does what he often does in this book. He takes the arguments of those with whom he disagrees, and makes a passionate case against them, and advocates strongly for his own views. It is true that this process is far from unbiased, but saying so is to miss the point. Dershowitz is not acting as a judge, he is acting as an advocate. To be an effective advocate, you need to at least be fair to your opponents. That does not entail making the strongest case for their arguments, necessarily, but it does mean giving them their due.
In this case, Dershowitz takes on views he sees as being anti-Israel, and usually anti-Semitic, that cloak themselves in concern for Palestinians and/or anti-Zionism. Dershowitz is far from an extremist by any fair measure, his passionate advocacy of a two-state solution as well as his criticism of numerous Israeli policies put him well to the left of many American Israeli advocates. But it is this fact, regardless of how much his opponents want to deny it, that make his relentless advocacy against the ideas of his opponents so effective. It's hard to be even remotely fair minded and characterize him as a zealot. Passionate, yes, but unfailingly prudent and moderate.
Of course, some of his targets, particularly people Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, and Richard Falk, make it easy by engaging in far less honest tactics and holding extremists views that would never be given any credit whatsoever if they were not members of the academy. Jimmy Carter, who was named in the title undoubtedly because it would be seen as more provocative, provides plenty of fodder as well, but while Dershowitz does a good job of digging into his troublesome views, which border on incoherence when delved into deeply, he doesn't quite reach the level of Finkelstein and Chomsky. He does an equally good job of taking apart people like Robert Novak and Pat Buchanan, making it clear that he is no respecter of political ideology, particularly when it comes to Israel or the fate of the Jewish people.
He doesn't only target people, however, and his work is stronger for it. His passionate assault on the "divest" movement, while more difficult to directly attack as are the arguments of one individual, is perhaps his greatest accomplishment. His case against Israel's violent enemies, Hamas and other terrorist organizations, is perhaps easiest to make, but necessary given how many people try to justify or at least excuse them.
Perhaps the only part of the book I found troublesome was his chapter against Iran's nuclear program. While I don't disagree with the substance of his arguments, he oddly pays the charade of Iranian elections as if they are significant. It's not that there isn't some truth to the matter that voters do not register their opinions on some level at the polls in Iran, however cloudy the legitimacy of even this already limited democratic outlet is (see: The Green Revolution), and I think it's fair to say that there are many, many Iranians do not share the views of Ahmadinejad. But it's equally obvious to say that when the President of Iran serves someone they unironically call the "Supreme Leader", you might want to take that into account. Dershowitz, oddly, largely ignores this.
Nonetheless, this remains a book is written by one of the most interesting public intellectuals of our time, on one of the most important and controversial topics of our time. Dershowitz makes a very strong case that this is true, mostly because Israel's enemies use dishonest, intellectually lazy, and propagandizing arguments far more often than substantive ones. While I admit I was sympathetic to this view before reading this, I think this book makes these views hard to deny.
In this case, Dershowitz takes on views he sees as being anti-Israel, and usually anti-Semitic, that cloak themselves in concern for Palestinians and/or anti-Zionism. Dershowitz is far from an extremist by any fair measure, his passionate advocacy of a two-state solution as well as his criticism of numerous Israeli policies put him well to the left of many American Israeli advocates. But it is this fact, regardless of how much his opponents want to deny it, that make his relentless advocacy against the ideas of his opponents so effective. It's hard to be even remotely fair minded and characterize him as a zealot. Passionate, yes, but unfailingly prudent and moderate.
Of course, some of his targets, particularly people Norman Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky, and Richard Falk, make it easy by engaging in far less honest tactics and holding extremists views that would never be given any credit whatsoever if they were not members of the academy. Jimmy Carter, who was named in the title undoubtedly because it would be seen as more provocative, provides plenty of fodder as well, but while Dershowitz does a good job of digging into his troublesome views, which border on incoherence when delved into deeply, he doesn't quite reach the level of Finkelstein and Chomsky. He does an equally good job of taking apart people like Robert Novak and Pat Buchanan, making it clear that he is no respecter of political ideology, particularly when it comes to Israel or the fate of the Jewish people.
He doesn't only target people, however, and his work is stronger for it. His passionate assault on the "divest" movement, while more difficult to directly attack as are the arguments of one individual, is perhaps his greatest accomplishment. His case against Israel's violent enemies, Hamas and other terrorist organizations, is perhaps easiest to make, but necessary given how many people try to justify or at least excuse them.
Perhaps the only part of the book I found troublesome was his chapter against Iran's nuclear program. While I don't disagree with the substance of his arguments, he oddly pays the charade of Iranian elections as if they are significant. It's not that there isn't some truth to the matter that voters do not register their opinions on some level at the polls in Iran, however cloudy the legitimacy of even this already limited democratic outlet is (see: The Green Revolution), and I think it's fair to say that there are many, many Iranians do not share the views of Ahmadinejad. But it's equally obvious to say that when the President of Iran serves someone they unironically call the "Supreme Leader", you might want to take that into account. Dershowitz, oddly, largely ignores this.
Nonetheless, this remains a book is written by one of the most interesting public intellectuals of our time, on one of the most important and controversial topics of our time. Dershowitz makes a very strong case that this is true, mostly because Israel's enemies use dishonest, intellectually lazy, and propagandizing arguments far more often than substantive ones. While I admit I was sympathetic to this view before reading this, I think this book makes these views hard to deny.
August 7, 2018
A Nicely Crafted Argument
Dershowitz writes clearly and effectively counters the arguments made on both the far left and far right. To be pro-Israel is not to be anti-Palestinian, whereas the reverse is almost always the case, as illustrated in the opening chapter. Commendations as well to the student researchers who helped substantiate much of what Dershowitz wrote in the book.
The longest treatment is reserved for the increasingly irrelevant Jimmy Carter who is covered in Chapter 1 and in the well cited Appendix. He portrays the former President as one who never met a dictator he didn't like and, through donations to the Carter Center, one who is in the pocket of Arab interests including Saudi Arabia, the bin Ladin Group, BCCI Bank and funder of Holocaust denial Sheik Zyed bin Sultan al Nahyan whom Carter counts as a "personal friend". He takes apart Carter's reference to apartheid as well as his hyperbole that Israel's occupation is "worse than Rwanda" - any such comparison is obscene. Of interest is that fact that the moderate speech of Carter that was presented at Brandeis University ( one that Dershowitz actually had no problems with) was in fact crafted by Dershowitz's former student Stuart Eisenstadt who had recommended Carter to Dershowitz when Carter first ran for President.
Dershowitz's coverage of Mearsheimer and Walt's book is equally compelling. He demolishes their contention that they were somehow silenced (they got a fat U.S. advance on their book and Meirsheimer's academic chair is funded by a pro Israel Jewish Zionist), and refers to their use of biased sources. He cites the misuse of historian Benny Morris' work by citing BM and hilites how M&W conflate advocacy for the war in Iraq by Bush and his inner circle with AIPAC(neutral) and Israel (opposed). In my own Amazon review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (Sept 7, 2008 - see my other reviews) I go further by pointing out more of their historical inaccuracies and misstatements.
Latter chapters look at attacks on Israel from both the far left and the far right, esp. Pat Buchanan, the British columnist "Taki" and left wing British academics who seek to boycott Israeli academics or force them to swear to a disloyalty oath, and the effective counter measures against it. Chapters 5 and 6 go to the Middle East. The discussion on Iran which,the he terms worlds first "suicide nation" are quite interesting. He balances a discussion of Ahmadijihad's rantings and Iran's military buildup with an analysis of that country's internal politics indicating that Iran might be persuaded to change course.
What Dershowitz does make evident is that those who would seek to weaken American support for Israel or label Jewish Americans as part of a cabal are less interested in human rights than they pretend.
One does not have to agree with Prof. Dershowitz in all respects but he does present an accessible main stream approach. The material is current to this year. I bought my copy at a talk he gave in Toronto - he speaks as well as he writes, indeed the whole tone of the text is that of a conversation.
Recommended.
Dershowitz writes clearly and effectively counters the arguments made on both the far left and far right. To be pro-Israel is not to be anti-Palestinian, whereas the reverse is almost always the case, as illustrated in the opening chapter. Commendations as well to the student researchers who helped substantiate much of what Dershowitz wrote in the book.
The longest treatment is reserved for the increasingly irrelevant Jimmy Carter who is covered in Chapter 1 and in the well cited Appendix. He portrays the former President as one who never met a dictator he didn't like and, through donations to the Carter Center, one who is in the pocket of Arab interests including Saudi Arabia, the bin Ladin Group, BCCI Bank and funder of Holocaust denial Sheik Zyed bin Sultan al Nahyan whom Carter counts as a "personal friend". He takes apart Carter's reference to apartheid as well as his hyperbole that Israel's occupation is "worse than Rwanda" - any such comparison is obscene. Of interest is that fact that the moderate speech of Carter that was presented at Brandeis University ( one that Dershowitz actually had no problems with) was in fact crafted by Dershowitz's former student Stuart Eisenstadt who had recommended Carter to Dershowitz when Carter first ran for President.
Dershowitz's coverage of Mearsheimer and Walt's book is equally compelling. He demolishes their contention that they were somehow silenced (they got a fat U.S. advance on their book and Meirsheimer's academic chair is funded by a pro Israel Jewish Zionist), and refers to their use of biased sources. He cites the misuse of historian Benny Morris' work by citing BM and hilites how M&W conflate advocacy for the war in Iraq by Bush and his inner circle with AIPAC(neutral) and Israel (opposed). In my own Amazon review of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (Sept 7, 2008 - see my other reviews) I go further by pointing out more of their historical inaccuracies and misstatements.
Latter chapters look at attacks on Israel from both the far left and the far right, esp. Pat Buchanan, the British columnist "Taki" and left wing British academics who seek to boycott Israeli academics or force them to swear to a disloyalty oath, and the effective counter measures against it. Chapters 5 and 6 go to the Middle East. The discussion on Iran which,the he terms worlds first "suicide nation" are quite interesting. He balances a discussion of Ahmadijihad's rantings and Iran's military buildup with an analysis of that country's internal politics indicating that Iran might be persuaded to change course.
What Dershowitz does make evident is that those who would seek to weaken American support for Israel or label Jewish Americans as part of a cabal are less interested in human rights than they pretend.
One does not have to agree with Prof. Dershowitz in all respects but he does present an accessible main stream approach. The material is current to this year. I bought my copy at a talk he gave in Toronto - he speaks as well as he writes, indeed the whole tone of the text is that of a conversation.
Recommended.
October 7, 2017
Alan Dershowitz's "The Case Against Israel's Enemies" is an interesting read and helpful resource for people feeling the need to defend Israel in the court of public opinion. Dershowitz explains in the introduction that the negative and accusatory title of this book does not mean he is not hopeful about a future peaceful agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, which allows both parties to live in dignity and guaranteed peace.
The court of public opinion on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is sadly heavily distorted on several sides of the conflict (pro- and anti-Israel); this distortion is mainly based on religious, emotional as well as intentionally misleading circulated arguments and facts. Dershowitz concisely demonstrates that Israel-bashers are to be found on the fringes (and unfortunately today also in the mainstream) of both politically left- and right-orientated groups.
He also exposes how notable Israel-bashers such as Noam Chomsky and especially Jimmy Carter tend to use the bait-and-switch method (accused Israel of Apartheid practices in the title of Carter's book for example, and then going on to barely substantiate those claims while already having caught the readers attention) and I would like to add topic-hopping (accusing Israel of a crime or abuse, however when people try to present contrary evidence, the accusers quickly denounces further and unrelated actions).
In today's hyper-connected age during which people seem to barely have the time or motivation to read beyond headlines or live in their own digital-echo chamber, it is of special importance to stand up and defend what one believes to be right. This book is structured in a way that allows adolescents, college students and others to access concise and accurate refutations to the most common detractors and principled-haters of Israel. While the information presented is very helpful and presented in a digestible way, I would have enjoyed the book to have more separate sections (for example regarding apologists of Amin Al-Husayni) so as to be able to come back to specific portions more easily when using the book as a resource for argumentative essays or debates.
Overall a very enjoyable read, and I hope Dershowitz releases more books in this vain.
Hopefully there will one day be peace in the Middle East. Salam and Shalom.
The court of public opinion on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is sadly heavily distorted on several sides of the conflict (pro- and anti-Israel); this distortion is mainly based on religious, emotional as well as intentionally misleading circulated arguments and facts. Dershowitz concisely demonstrates that Israel-bashers are to be found on the fringes (and unfortunately today also in the mainstream) of both politically left- and right-orientated groups.
He also exposes how notable Israel-bashers such as Noam Chomsky and especially Jimmy Carter tend to use the bait-and-switch method (accused Israel of Apartheid practices in the title of Carter's book for example, and then going on to barely substantiate those claims while already having caught the readers attention) and I would like to add topic-hopping (accusing Israel of a crime or abuse, however when people try to present contrary evidence, the accusers quickly denounces further and unrelated actions).
In today's hyper-connected age during which people seem to barely have the time or motivation to read beyond headlines or live in their own digital-echo chamber, it is of special importance to stand up and defend what one believes to be right. This book is structured in a way that allows adolescents, college students and others to access concise and accurate refutations to the most common detractors and principled-haters of Israel. While the information presented is very helpful and presented in a digestible way, I would have enjoyed the book to have more separate sections (for example regarding apologists of Amin Al-Husayni) so as to be able to come back to specific portions more easily when using the book as a resource for argumentative essays or debates.
Overall a very enjoyable read, and I hope Dershowitz releases more books in this vain.
Hopefully there will one day be peace in the Middle East. Salam and Shalom.
June 15, 2018
I found Alan Dershowitz's book to be an excellent read. The author is a great communicator. I have met Mr. Dershowitz in person. He is a dynamic speaker as well. As a lawyer, the author shows history past and present about the Middle East. Mr. Dershowitz shows that when it comes to Israel there is a double standard. No nation is judged as harshly as Israel. Alan Dershowitz has facts, in his book, that show this is true. I often wonder if the countries and people who are so fast to criticize Israel would be in the same situation, what they would do to protect themselves. Israel is the only Democracy in the Middle East. Like any country, they have a right to protect their citizens. In conclusion ," The Case Against Israel's Enemies", is worth reading!
November 23, 2011
I think Alan Dershowitz does a tremendous job of exposing the hypocrisy of Israel's biggest critics and bringing to light the reality of ignorance of so many of Israel's critics in understanding the seriousness of Israel's security threats.
January 11, 2025
I mean, I think he makes a logical case.
Want to read
April 7, 2009But... jimmy Carter hunts! He can't be ALL bad...right?...
January 27, 2016
Well-researched and thoughtful response to difficult subject matter
June 8, 2017
Great book the lies of jimmy carter Dershowitz acts like the accuser
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews