The Case for Israel

Rating:
Summary: Can dissemination of the truth prevent another holocaust?
Review: Alan Dershowitz explains in this succinct and blanced work, the situation involving Israel's decades long struggle for survival, against an Arab campaign to annihilate every Jewish man, woman and child in the Land of Israel, or as the anti-Israel hatemongers call it "Palestine."
He objectively go's through the history of the region and explains why the Jews have a right to be there. Indeed, despite the cold-blooded deceptions by the left (especially in academia and the media) the struggle is simply of 5 million Israeli men, women and children just to survive in the little strip of land, which one can barely see on a world map-the ancient homeland of the Jewish people. The right, which the world granted in 1948 through the United Nations, and are now, through the United Nations, academia, the Media, the totalitarian Third world Lobby etc, are now attempting to withdraw.

The 'Palestinian' terrorist onslaught against the Jewish people in Israel, is every bit as cruel and relentless as that of the Nazis against the Jewish people in Europe 60 years ago. The monstrous and inhumane Arabs that call themselves 'Palestinians' usually target women and children, and are supported today in their unfathomable cruelty, by those who claim to be 'progressive' and 'humane'. It is simply nauseating and frightening to realize that the world has come to this.
Even worse some ultra-left Jews in the Diaspora, have also turned on their fellow Jews in Israel, throwing their influence behind the Arab campaign for a holocaust of Israeli Jewry.
The writer of this book explains that is deception to claim that anti-Israel hatred is not anti-Semitism. After all the people singled out for genocide by the pro-Palestinian lobby are Jews. The fact that they live in Israel does not make them any less so than the victims of the Nazis , because they happened to live in Europe!
Dershowitz, in this work, makes clear the facts that have been obscured and twisted around 180 degrees. Is it too much to hope that if enough of us try to outline the truth, another great and callous injustice against the Jews can be prevented, 60 years after Hitler's holocaust?

Rating:
Summary: The Middle East explained by a defender of human rites
Review: Dershowitz's book should be a setwork in every school around the world that teaches the history of the Middle East. However it doesn't read like "Accounts 101". A beautifuly thought out book that leaves the reader with a clear understanding of the massive task that awaits peace loving human beings in the Middle East. By bringing backround to major arguments and historical events as well as clearly defining the accusations as well as the defense, Dershowitz presents the History of the Middle-East conflict with a clarity that is truly astonishing. One of the most amazing aspects of this book is that Dershowitz steers clear of all pro-Israel Historians, Politicians and reporters choosing rather to document his writings with proofs, quotations and sources from (pro)Arab or "neutral" camps (eg. Mark Twain, British Secratary to Palastine, The PLO charter etc). This book is exeptionally well thought out, written and most importantly well referenced. This makes it, in my opinion, one of the authorative works on the middle East, The state of Israel and the Israeli and Palestinian struggle for peace and freedom against the primal evil that twists and corrupts the minds of innocents.
My only criticisim is that i can no longer sit calmly through a CNN news report.

Rating:
Summary: Old propaganda annually rehashed again
Review: It's hard to know where to start with a book like this - so I'll start at the beginning. The very first thing that becomes obvious from the very first chapter is that the primary thesis of this book is that there were no Palestinians in Palestine - that the people that were living in Palestine before the European Jews arrived simply did not exist in any significant numbers - and started to emigrate there only after the Zionists "developed" the area. This is the same thesis offered in the book called "From Time Immemorial" by Joan Peters from the mid 1980s that was exposed as a colossal hoax by some of the top Middle East historians of the late 20th century. Even Israeli authorities have distanced themselves from this work, and shortly thereafter the book quietly disappeared, although it seems to have crept back into circulation again.

Most of the references cited in Dershowitz's book were lifted wholesale from Peters' work. It's hard to believe that someone with a stature of Dershowitz would get involved with something like this - he is a Harvard professor, no less. There are tons and tons of fabrications here - for example, statements that Israeli forces have refrained from torturing the native population, where all the evidence clearly shows that Israel systematically tortures civilians - according to all the human rights groups such as B'tselem, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as reports from US government.
Other falsehoods propagated in this book state that Israel does not target civilians, where all the evidence and condemnations are known to everyone in the world. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and any decent human being that has the fortitude to continue reading this will be repulsed.

It's hard to judge a work that is based on outright lies and heinous vile fabrications and plagiarisms.
I just hope that decent people will find out the truth about what Israel is doing in the Occupied Territories for themselves and not be taken in by obscene propaganda such as this. The world knows the truth.

Rating:
Summary: An eloquent defense of a worthy ally
Review: I am not Jewish so I don't have an emotional investment in the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After reading this book, I simply can't understand how anyone could deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state within at least its pre-1967 borders. Dershowitz shows how time after time (1937, 1948, 1967, 2000) the Arabs consistently refused any sort of compromise with the Jews. His assertions are well-documented, and he does an especially fine job of exposing Noam Chomsky and Edward Said for the frauds that they are. Frankly, after reading this book, I felt a sense of outrage at the double standard that Israel must endure.

Rating:
Summary: a concise, clear read
Review: i was never a huge fan of dershowitz, but must commend him for this book. i must say though, that most of the information in this book is readily availible to anyone who cares enough to investigate for themselves the conflict in the middle east, albeit not through conventional news sources but through a careful perusing of facts and actual international law. people throw around terms like human rights, occupation, and illegal, but what do the laws and UN resolutions actually state regarding these issues? unfortunatly not enough people in the media care to investigate. here the laws and realities of the situation are documented, and one would be hard pressesd to deny arguments made in this book. kudos to Dershowitz for compiling all the information into one compendium, so that if you want to see what international laws and various treaties actually say, you dont have to expend the amount of effort i had to. an honest, concise read, highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Straightforward Commonsense
Review: Alan Dershowitz is truly an enigma. While most celebrated political intellectuals are firmly entrenched on either the left or right, the distinguished Harvard Law Professor is not so easy to pigeonhole. Most times he reliably takes the "Liberal" position, but as his recently published work The Case For Israel proves, he can sometimes find himself persuasively articulating the "Conservative" line. On whichever side he lands, his credentials as attorney, author, academic, and cable TV commentator promise that he'll present a strong case, and this sapient tome is no exception.

Discussing the often-lamented plight of the Palestinian people the author charges that although their case is "far less compelling from a moral perspective than the complaints of other occupied and stateless people such as the Tibetans, the Kurds, and Basques, the PLO's resort to Global terrorism has leapfrogged Palestinian claims over the more compelling claims of others." He laments that "the more vicious, unlawful, and lethal the Palestinian attacks against civilians became, the more diplomatic recognition they have been accorded by the United Nations, which singled out the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) from among all other representatives of stateless groups for special observer status." In a trenchant juxtaposition he speculates, "after the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II, just imagine how the world would have reacted if some Germans and Japanese had employed terrorism against the victorious powers then demanded equal status as bargaining partners in postwar negotiations."

To the accusation that Israel routinely brutalizes the defenseless Palestinians, he offers copious examples of near herculean measures employed by the Jewish state to minimize civilian casualties--usually at an increased danger to its own people. For a frank comparison, he offers "in distinct contrast to the modus operandi of Palestinian terrorists--to kill as many innocent Jews as possible by any means available--the innocent Palestinian civilians who have been killed by Israelis were not the intended targets...Israel tries to use rubber bullets and other weapons designed to reduce fatalities, and aims at the legs whenever possible." Yet there are no cases of homicide bombers taking any steps to spare even babies who just happen to be in the way.

Israel's humane warfare is not a new development; Dershowitz tells that during the famous 6-day war "the tiny number of Arab civilian casualties was lower than any comparable war in modern history." Not only does Israel meet the highest standards of ensuring minimal civilian injuries, its activist Supreme Court--the world's sole judicial body empowered with regulating military actions--mandates egregious precautions that admittedly put Israeli citizens and soldiers in harm's way. For over two decades, Israel had a successful policy of flushing out terrorists from their residential hiding places. If the killers failed to respond to surrender demands, an Arab neighbor would be sent to the hideout with a message. After one Palestinian was killed by a suspect who assumed he was an Israeli soldier, Israeli citizens filed suit and the Supreme Court outlawed the practice that had saved many soldiers' lives. The court unequivocally ruled "it is difficult to fight against persons who are prepared to turn themselves into living bombs'...(but) not every effective measure is also a lawful measure."

As Dershowitz concludes "no country in the modern history of warfare has been more protective of the rights of innocent noncombatant enemies than Israel." Tragically the efforts are not reciprocated. The author explains "since the end of the 1967 war, the entire focus of Palestinian aggression has been on civilians...global terrorism began in 1968 not as a last resort against a long occupation but as a first resort."

He also discusses the indoctrination campaigns that preach hatred of Israel and cites Palestinian textbooks that include test problems like "explain the reasons that made the Europeans persecute the Jews."

Palestinian supporters often decry that the creation of Israel displaced local dwellers by importing Jews from all over the world. Dershowitz shows that the vast majority of modern day Israel's residents have been Jews for centuries, but facts rarely get in the way of anti-Israeli cant. Powerfully, he sites Winston Churchill whose early trepidation of Adolph Hitler showed shrewd prescience. The English statesman demonstrated similar foresight regarding the creation of a Jewish state. In 1908 he declared it "manifestly right that the scattered Jews should have a national center and a national home and be reunited and where else but in Palestine...it will be good for the world, good for the Jews, good for the British Empire, but also good for the Arabs...they shall share in the benefits of Zionism." In 1937, the British sponsored Pell Commission looked into the feasibility of the recently resurrected two-state solution and recommended such a division. The proposal failed as badly then as it is destined to today. Sadly, the author notes "had the Arabs accepted the two-state solution...hundreds of thousands--perhaps even a million or more--European Jews could have been saved."

Now that the two state solution is regaining popularity Dershowitz points out how curious it is that the Palestinians never sought independence while their territories were under Egypt or Jordan's tutelage--both of which he argues treated them much worse than the Israelis do.

There are many other putative falsehoods that Dershowitz dispels with weighty facts. His effort is truly valuable and his overall ideological ambiguity lends further credence to his objectivity. His forceful reasoning should help change the minds of some who have heard little beyond widespread anti-Israeli and/or anti-Semitic propaganda.

Rating:
Summary: A review that seems almost redundant after the book itself
Review: I find it a bit surprising while sitting down to write this review that I am not bursting with almost ready-made paragraphs full of detailed points to make, unlike the usual case with books about which I am passionate. Certainly I had already mentally written half of my last review of an Alan Dershowitz book (While Terrorism Works). So what is different about The Case For Israel? Certainly it is an excellent work, and a beneficial read for both those who condemn or praise Israel's existence and actions.

The problem for me, oddly enough, is that the book speaks too well for itself. The title is clear and to the point. For those who criticize Israel unfairly (which is by far most often, though not always the case), here is the rebuttal. The case for Israel, if you will. Inside the table of contents one can get a point by point summary of which issues will be raised, and I could hardly go over them all here.

The amount of criticism, no, condemnation of Israel leveled at it by people who should know better is astounding. Really, some of the people who should most be standing up and applauding Israel's fully justified and obviously necessary defense of its very life are the ones that are (the second) most strident in tone, showing a bewildering hatred of that country whether they admit to it aloud or not. I remember myself the amazement I felt the first time I realized that there were good, solid liberals in every other sense whose brains seemed to be turned around backwards regarding this one single issue. This topic, the baffling level of abuse and scorn leveled at such an honorable country, makes up probably the largest sub-topic within the book. Dershowitz summarizes it best in the conclusion. There is, he says, a certain grotesque logic in why Islamic fundamentalists would favor the Palestinians. Ditto, in varying degrees, for world oil interests. For right wing bigots of the Pat Buchanan, David Duke sort. For sexists, homophobes, and racists, who would see fellow travelers among the Muslim Palestinians. For nihilists who disrespect life by promoting suicide bombings, even among their own children, and especially directed at Jewish children. For anarchist far leftists, who take instability over stability any day. For enemies of America and of democracy and freedom, and who favor the Hitlers and Husseins and bin Ladens of the world. Certainly for the neo-fascist skinhead types, who mourn Hitler's premature (for them) death. And of course, for those who just plain don't want peace, who want perpetual war or Israel's destruction. For all of these groups, there are understandable if heinous reasons why they would support the one group over the other. "But I cannot for the life of me understand why peace-loving people committed to equality and self-determination should favor the side that rejects all the values they hold dear and oppose the side the promotes these values. What then explains the widespread support for the Palestinians and the widespread opposition to Israel?" What indeed?

But justified bewilderment aside, the largest portion of The Case For Israel is a simple and straightforward point-by-point refutation of all the lying, illogical, farcical, and downright repugnant accusations that are flung about wildly by those enemies of Israel (whatever their motivation) and accepted by a frighteningly large number of people who fail to make the slightest effort to educate themselves on the matter. This is not even counting those criticisms that are indeed justified (and on planet Earth, every country will have plenty of these). The structure of the argument is almost monotonous for each chapter. There is the accusation, a list of sources of the accusation (Noam Chomsky and Edward Said are heavily quoted here, big surprise), the truth, and then for the bulk of each chapter, the proof. The moral correctness of Israel's position should be obvious to anyone, but here collected in one easy-to-read volume, are the facts. Here are the actual numbers. The data. The nitty gritty. Obviously it can't be comprehensive at 244 pages plus notes, but here is enough real, solid information that those people of good will and honest temperament can sit down and find out a few truths about the state of Israel. They need only made the effort, and it's not even such a great one.

Rating:
Summary: Good contribution - but misses the point
Review: In a nutshell, Israel acts "justly" only to the extent it fights the terror directed against it. No one can deny that individual Arabs who once owned land in what is now Israel, lost their rights to that land, and have not received compensation for its loss. No individual trials / hearings have been held to prove that these individuals collaborated with the Arab invaders or did anything else that might form a moral justification for keeping their land after they left. These Arabs / Palestinians / PEOPLE lost their land to Israeli Jews and never got it back. It is no wonder why they are pissed. Their anger doesn't justify murder however, let alone the murder of innocents. We (the U.S.) defend the thief, because even a thief has a right to live free of terror. It is the right thing to do. Israel has no moral culpability for the loss of life it suffers at the hands of terrorists. It needs to change its policy toward the Palesinians NOT because it will end terror, but because it is right and just not to take someone's land without paying for it.

Rating:
Summary: Islamicism = Racism
Review: This book should be subtitled "Everything You Need To Know About The Specious, Disingenuous Palestinian Cause In A Nutshell".

Dershowitz makes clear that hostility toward Israel derives from a pan-Islamic culture of depravity, bigotry, and intolerance, and that sympathy to this cause by the American and European Left, and by other nations, render them collaborators to the crime by either ignorance or intent. Dershowitz supports his thesis with hard documentray evidence and with cogent analysis and argument. I am unaware of the existence of any credible published rebuttal to this book. If I am wrong, please correct me.

I have grown weary of Arab self-righteousness and hostility toward Israel and the West in the face of its abysmal record of human rights abuses and of the appalling living conditions of most of its citizens. It is time for the Arab world to cease focusing its populace's frustrations on external issues like Israel and to start improving the lives of its people. It is time for the Arab world to use its considerable influence to broker a mutally beneficial, peaceful, and enduring solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is time for the Arab world, and for Islam, to stop living in the Middle Ages and get right with its God lest it be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the Age Of Reason.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book reminds us Palis were allied with Nazis
Review: This book is packed full of quotes, history and insight that cannot be refuted. Dershowitz intelligently breaks down Israel's accusers by proving their accusations to be just that and with no factual basnothing more than myth and BS. The myth of a stable Palestinian-Arab population that was displaced by European Zionists is proven to be false by recorded demographics and eyewitness accounts such as one by Mark Twain in 1867.

It was not surprising to find out that the first instance of ethnic cleansing in Palestine was carried out by Arabs against the Jews in Hebron on August 23rd, 1929. The entire Jewish population was murdered or driven out. A British police chief gave testimony of catching 2 Arabs and shooting them, One had decapitated a Jewish child while the other, an Arab policeman from Jaffa was stabbing a woman to death.

We must not forget that Palestinian leadership supported Hitler and the Nazis before and during WW2, this was so they could aid in the extermination of the Jews. Haj-Amin al Husseini was the Palestinian Nazi war criminal who organized attacks against Jews in Israel and met with Hitler to discuss genocide plans.
This book makes clear that the reason for occupation today is the long violent Arab history of massacring Jewish civilians. It bagan in 1834 when Egyptian Muslims occupied Palestine and were known to rape Jewish women and murder others in Jerusalem and Hebron. This violence has never stopped and went on long before Israel decided to defensively occupy the west bank (Judea/Samaria) and Gaza. Thousands of Jewish civilians were murdered between 1917 and 1967 by Palestinian terrorists and this was before occupation.

Since 1967 thousands more have been murdered including American diplomats and travelers, Christian pilgrims, Olympic athletes, nursery school children, international travelers and many others. These cowardly Palestinians threw grenades at children, shot women and civilians sleeping in beds and tried poisoning a water supply.

It's ironic that a few reviewers accuse Israel of being apartheid when it is the Palestinian leadership and other Arab nations that ascribe to apartheid policies such as Jordan's banning of Jews from entering the country. Israel and the Jewish people have long been the victims of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide by Arabs.

Israel has always been the victim of double speak by Arab leaders and media. They always accuse Israel of human rights violations when in reality Israel has killed fewer civilians in a conflict than any other nation facing similar violence. Israel has never committed crimes like King Abdullah whose Jordanian forces killed 10,000 Palestinians in one month during 1970, or Saddam Hussein who killed tens of thousands of Arabs.

Israel is still the Jew of the world and must still fight terrorists and history revisionists for its right to exist.
It is also important to note that the Palestinian/Arab rejection of a nation in 1917, 1937, 1947, and 2000 have been excuses for them to resort to terrorism, it is sad that the UN and European union choose to reward Palestinians with land even though they have always been the aggressors who endedup on the losing side.