Israel Books

As America Has Done to Israel

John P. McTernan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Outstanding! 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This book opened my eyes to some things that had not occured to me before. My copy is all dog-eared and marked up with a yellow highlighter after having read it. I can't imagine the research that must have gone into connecting times that the US pressured Israel to divide her land in exchange for peace, to incredible disasters that have subsequently come upon America. The chapter titled "Jerusalem, God's Anvil" speaks loudly as to how God continues to use the Jewish people to reveal Himself to the world as He said that He would through His word.

If you have any interest in the history of Zionism, the roots of Islamofascism, and the soon coming of the Day of the Lord, get this book. It's extremely well researched and easy to read.

Editorial Review:

God s everlasting promise to bless those who bless Israel and curse those who curse Israel is still in effect today.  Throughout its history, America has been in a unique position to bless the Jewish people, and has experienced many blessings as a result.  In more recent years, however, America has failed to consistently stand by Israel and suffered dramatic disasters.

In this interesting and thorough book, McTernan traces the history of the Jewish people in America and how America s spectacular rise to power was tied to blessing the Jews.  He examines America s integral role in fulfilling God s plan for the rebirth of the Jewish nation, and details the times when our nation defaulted on this call.  Through a step-by-step analysis of political events, McTernan gives conclusive proof that God s judgment on those who curse Israel is still active.  In every case where America has failed Israel, it has faced dramatic consequences within 24 hours.

The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy

John J. Mearsheimer, Stephen M. Walt

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Total reviews: 196 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Israel Lobby,” by John J. Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen M. Walt of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, was one of the most controversial articles in recent memory. Originally published in the London Review of Books in March 2006, it provoked both howls of outrage and cheers of gratitude for challenging what had been a taboo issue in America: the impact of the Israel lobby on U.S. foreign policy.  Now in a work of major importance, Mearsheimer and Walt deepen and expand their argument and confront recent developments in Lebanon and Iran. They describe the remarkable level of material and diplomatic support that the United States provides to Israel and argues that this support cannot be fully explained on either strategic or moral grounds. This exceptional relationship is due largely to the political influence of a loose coalition of individuals and organizations that actively work to shape U.S. foreign policy in a pro-Israel direction. Mearsheimer and Walt provocatively contend that the lobby has a far-reaching impact on America’s posture throughout the Middle East—in Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, and toward the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—and the policies it has encouraged are in neither America’s national interest nor Israel’s long-term interest. The lobby’s influence also affects America’s relationship with important allies and increases dangers that all states face from global jihadist terror.  Writing in The New York Review of Books, Michael Massing declared, “Not since Foreign Affairs magazine published Samuel Huntington’s ‘The Clash of Civilizations?’ in 1993 has an academic essay detonated with such force.” The publication of The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy is certain to widen the debate and to be one of the most talked-about books of the year.

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

Jimmy Carter

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 695 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

About time 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Nobel Prize Laurate Jimmy Carter wrote the necessary. Some might not agree with the book, but truth be told this is a must read with those who are obssessed with the holocaust, but cant see the jews commiting the same atrocities they love to complain about.

An HONEST reflection of reality 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

In this book, Carter succeeded in transparently describing the middle-east crisis through his personal experience, while avoiding hypocrisy and bias. Thus, the text presents an objective and highly ordered presentation of a very misinterpreted reality...

Carter means well - but misses the whole point of peace 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Former President Carter understands that the Palestinian Arabs are suffering. However, the majority of the suffering stems from the Arab countries who have kept the Palestinians locked in camps for 40 years and kept out of the Arab cities (and countries) so that they could be used as a political football. He glosses over the Jew hatred by the Palestinians and Arab leadership and tries to lay the blame for the Mideast peace failuires at the feet of the Israelis. While the Israelis made peace with Egypt decades ago, the Egyptian press, government and people have continued to hate Jews and accuse this tiny minority of everything from controlling the world economy to trying to conquer the entire Arab world.
Israel withdrew from Lebanon and was thanked with Hizbollah bombs; Israel withdrew from Gaza and was thanked with Hamas bombs. President Carter cannot get beyond his own prejudices to fairly deal with this subject. The book is either extremely naive or misplaced propoganda.

Editorial Review:

PRESIDENT CARTER'S COURAGEOUS ASSESSMENT OF WHAT MUST BE DONE TO BRING PERMANENT PEACE TO ISRAEL WITH DIGNITY AND JUSTICE TO PALESTINE

The Lemon Tree

Sandy Tolan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 64 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

floored by this book 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 3 people found this review helpful.

yes, after 1948 there were many conflicts between jews and arabs, but what some reviewers here fail to highlight is the very critical timeline of the conflict: no arab ever had a problem with jews prior to 1948, prior to when israel took what was without any interpretation arab land and declared itself a country. did the reviewers even read what they wrote? the grouping of the arabs against the jews was nothing other than solidarity with their kinsmen for losing their land to a newly-, arbitrarily-created country. imagine if a group of muslims joined the significant muslim population in an american city, suddenly declared themselves a country, then cried about the injustice of "all the american states unifying against them"...ludicrous to expect otherwise. Of course this book doesn't portray EVERYTHING, but if it portrays the conflict somewhat favorably towards palestinians, it is because that's the way the facts played out. Some israelis think that an unbiased report means a neutral report, most are willing to accept some fault for starting the whole mess.

From Beirut to Jerusalem

Thomas L. Friedman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 180 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Understanding The Middle East 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I have always admired Thomas Friedman as an insightful writer of truth. Although a Jew his writing is impartial. He clearly states that he has friends both Israeli and Arab, and has been criticized by his American countrymen. I have often wondered why his opinions are not solicited by U.S. government officials, but perhaps no one wants to face the truth that on all sides of the Middle Eastern difficulties there are human beings whose opinions need to be heard and their concerns recognized.

In an spellbinding anecdotal presentation of the facts Mr. Friedman treats the reader with substance often lacking in the usual reporting that at best presents a few highlights of daily events.

Kenneth Ray Taylor author of Standup Comedian: The Secret and Beyond

Editorial Review:

Winner of the 1989 National Book Award for nonfiction, this extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thought-provoking book ever written about the Middle East. Thomas L. Friedman, twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, and now the Foreign Affairs columnist on the op-ed page of the New York Times, drew on his ten years in the Middle East to write a book that The Wall Street Journal called "a sparkling intellectual guidebook... an engrossing journey not to be missed." Now with a new chapter that brings the ever-changing history of the conflict in the Middle East up to date, this seminal historical work reaffirms both its timeliness and its timelessness. "If you're only going to read one book on the Middle East, this is it." -- Seymour Hersh. "From Beirut To Jerusalem is the most intelligent and comprehensive account one is likely to read." -- New York Times Book Review.

Unholy Business: A True Tale of Faith, Greed and Forgery in the Holy Land

Nina Burleigh

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Total reviews: 40 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

In 2002, an ancient limestone box called the James Ossuary was trumpeted on the world's front pages as the first material evidence of the existence of Jesus Christ. Today it is exhibit number one in a forgery trial involving millions of dollars worth of high-end, Biblical era relics, some of which literally re-wrote Near Eastern history and which could lead to the incarceration of some very wealthy men and embarrass major international institutions, including the British Museum and Sotheby's.

Set in Israel, with its 30,000 archaeological digs crammed with biblical-era artifacts, and full of colorful characters—scholars, evangelicals, detectives, and millionaire collectors—Unholy Business tells the incredibly story of what the Israeli authorities have called "the fraud of the century." It takes readers into the murky world of Holy Land relic dealing, from the back alleys of Jerusalem's Old City to New York's Fifth Avenue, and reveals biblical archaeology as it is pulled apart by religious believers on one side and scientists on the other.

All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror

Stephen Kinzer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 137 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Sometimes the truth has a liberal bias 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

To write a good history book like this one an author needs to do well in three separate areas. He needs to research the topic at hand, write a readable account and finally analyze the events. Kinzer performs exceptionally well in all three areas. First, the book is meticulously researched. He discusses appropriate history without going into unnecessary or boring details to give the reader an appropriate context and background leading up to the 1953 coup. He also uses a diverse set of resources which leaves no holes in the story.

Second, Kinzer's writing is engaging and at times suspenseful. In fact at the end of many chapters, I was unable to put the book aside and take a break from reading due to the suspense Kinzer created. The story is very easy to follow and the reader needs practically no background to follow the events. This is particularly impressive given the relative short length of the book. My only criticism is that I wished he had summarized the cast of characters in an appendix or in the beginning as many similar books do.

Finally, his analysis, while many have called too liberal, is even handed. He makes a leap by implying that 9/11 events may have not happened if it weren't for the 1953 CIA led coup. Of course we will never know for sure. He supports his claims convincingly that the coup led to the eventual 1979 hostage crisis and the anti-American feelings in the Middle East. Liberal bias? The facts speak for themselves. The CIA using American tax payer money to overthrow a popular and democratically elected government. We, in the USA, would not appreciate if foreigners overthrew our government so why have a double standard? Perhaps Mossadegh is being glorified too much and ultimately he would have led Iran towards the wrong path, but the point remains that we will never know thanks to the coup. Kinzer does entertain the possibilities that Mossadegh would have been terrible for Iran and the West so I reject the idea that he has a strong liberal bias.

If you, like me, find the "Death to USA" chants and hostage taking barbaric and puzzling, this book will offer you fresh insights and help you understand the roots of these actions. You will become a lot smarter and more knowledgeable about the Middle East after reading it. I highly recommend this book.

Editorial Review:

With a thrilling narrative that sheds much light on recent events, this national bestseller brings to life the 1953 CIA coup in Iran that ousted the country’s elected prime minister, ushered in a quarter-century of brutal rule under the Shah, and stimulated the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism in the Middle East. Selected as one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post and The Economist, it now features a new preface by the author on the folly of attacking Iran.

Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East

David Fromkin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 126 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Still Sorting Out the Ottoman Empire 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

World War One brought about the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the modern Middle East. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine (including a somewhat conditional Jewish Homeland), and the Transjordan were carved out mainly by the British. Turkey established itself as a separate entity including both European (East Thrace) and Asian parts. David Fromkin leads the reader through the changes that occurred between 1914 and 1922 in meticulous detail. Indeed, this reader found the book's main shortcoming to be the welter of specific facts that sometimes obscured the larger picture.

Fromkin's book was published in 1989 so that it has an interesting historical perspective. The Iranians had thrown out the Americans and the so-called Afghan Arabs had played their (exaggerated) role in pushing the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan, but 9-11 remained over a decade in the future. Nonetheless, Fromkin detected the strength of Islam as the most important force in the region.

Fromkin notes that the Middle East was the final area of the world to fall to Western (mostly British) imperialism. He also observes that this extension of Western power had long been anticipated with the main question being which country would get how much. In the end the British obtained more paper power than they could reasonable have hoped for, but then they found that by 1922 they had neither the will nor the wherewithal to exert that power. The Great War drained them of both. The British, and to a lesser degree the French and Americans, created weak countries and left major issues such as the fate of Kurds, Jews, and Palestinian Arabs unresolved.

An even more fundamental challenge remained and remains. In every other area of the globe subjected to Western dominance, Western forms and principles prevailed, but Fromkin notes that "at least one of those assumptions, the modern belief in secular civil government, is an alien creed in a region most of whose inhabitants...have avowed faith in a Holy Law that governs all life, including government and politics." Fromkin puts his finger right on the problem that the West has in understanding much of the region.

Even more daunting, Fromkin argues that the Middle East still has not sorted itself out after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. He notes discouragingly that it took Western Europe about more than a millennium to "resolve its post-Roman crisis of social and political identity". The region's politics lack any "sense of legitimacy" or "agreement on the rules of the game - and no belief, universally shared in the region...that the entities that call themselves countries or the men who claim to be rulers are entitled to recognition as such." The last such rulers were the Ottoman sultans.

With regard to the current troubles in Iraq, one fervently wishes that someone in Washington had appreciated the penetrating analysis by the British civil commissioner Arnold Wilson in 1920 about the area just then being called Iraq. While he was called upon to administer the provinces of Basra, Baghdad, and Mosul, he did not believe they "formed a coherent entity". As he saw it the Kurds of Mosul would never accept an Arab leader, while the Shi'ite Moslems would never accept domination by the minority Sunnis, but, to directly quote Wilson, "no form of Government has yet been envisaged, which does not involve Sunni domination." And on and on it goes.

The book features a number of familiar figures, Winston Churchill most prominent among them. Fromkin's favorable treatment of Churchill strongly suggests that Winston was repeatedly ill-served by subordinates, bad luck, and bad press. By 1922, Churchill was finished as a British politician (or so it seemed). Other major figures include Lord Kitchener, David Lloyd George, T.E. Lawrence (about whom many questions are raised). A plethora of lesser known British and French military and civil leaders abound in the pages of Fromkin's lengthy tome, not to mention the odd Russia and German. Turkish leaders, such as Enver Pasha and Mustapha Kemal often bewilder their Western counterparts.

Perhaps the oddest historical artifact reproduced by Fromkin was the belief, generally accepted among British intelligence and high-ranking civil and military leaders, in a conspiracy between Prussian generals and Jewish financiers manipulating Russian Bolsheviks and Turkish nationalists to the detriment of British interests! Moreover, in this conspiratorial view, Islam was controlled by Jewry. At this point, the reader is tempted to quietly murmur that the British should go home where they might understand something of what they are about. (The dangers of drawing too direct lessons from history are great and while the US leadership did not harbor any notions quite this crackpot, it bears notice that the US seem not to have understand Iraq, its history, or its people before sending in troops.)

Fromkin produced a fine book, not an easy read, with a wealth of information and an excellent closing summary. It suffered, at times from the size of the subject - the transformation of an entire region during a worldwide war - and the maze of characters and details. A book that bears a second reading and a subject (subjects, really) for further study. Highly recommended.

Editorial Review:

This definitive, fascinating account of the creation of the modern Middle East is panoramic, absorbing, highly readable and richly detailed. Depicting the breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and the formation of the states known collectively as the Middle East, Fromkin's descriptions involve some of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century. Chosen as a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice Best Book of 1989.

The Case Against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace

Alan Dershowitz

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"As always when Israel needs to be defended...  Alan Dershowitz speaks with great passion and personal courage."
--Elie Wiesel

"This is a compelling book that unmasks the dangerous revisionism that distorts the real Israel. Dershowitz debunks former President Jimmy Carter's apartheid analogy, Walt and Mearsheimer's canard of dual loyalty, the immorality of the British boycott of Israeli academics, and the bigotry of the anti-Israel hard left and right. He also assesses the existential threats against Israel and the options available to the Jewish state. A must-read for all who care about international justice and Israel's survival in a world of biased enemies."
--The Honorable Irwin CotlerMember of Parliament and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; Professor of Law (on leave from McGill University)

Praise for Alan Dershowitz

"Dershowitz . . . knows how to construct an argument. . . . Especially effective at pointing to the hypocrisy of many of Israel's critics."
--New York Times Book Review

The Iron Cage: The Story of the Palestinian Struggle for Statehood

Rashid Khalidi

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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A timely and compelling examination of the Palestinian dilemma, named one of the 100 best books of the year by Publishers Weekly

In Resurrecting Empire, Rashid Khalidi dissected the failures of colonial policy over the entire span of the modern history of the Middle East, predicted the meltdown in Iraq that we are now witnessing with increasing horror, and offered viable alternatives for achieving peace in the region. His newest book, The Iron Cage, hones in on Palestinian politics and history. Once again Khalidi draws on a wealth of experience and scholarship to elucidate the current conflict, using history to provide a clear-eyed view of the situation today.

The story of the Palestinian search to establish a state begins in the era of British control over Palestine and stretches between the two world wars, when colonial control of the region became increasingly unpopular and power began to shift toward the United States. In this crucial period, and in the years immediately following World War II, Palestinian leaders were unable to achieve the long-cherished goal of establishing an independent state—a critical failure that throws a bright light on the efforts of the Palestinians to create a state in the many decades since 1948. By frankly discussing the reasons behind this failure, Khalidi offers a much-needed perspective for anyone concerned about peace in the Middle East.

"Rashid Khalidi is a historian's historian. The Iron Cage is his most accomplished effort to date . . . Magisterial in scope, meticulous in its attention to detail, and decidedly dispassionate in its analysis, The Iron Cage is destined to be a benchmark of its genre."
—Joel Schalit, Tikkun

"At heart a historical essay, an effort to decide why the Palestinians . . . have failed to achieve an independent state." —Steven Erlanger, New York Times

"Khalidi, tackling 'historical amnesia,' brilliantly analyses the structural handicap which hobbled the Palestinians throughout 30 years of British rule . . . Khalidi restores the Palestinians to something more than victims, acknowledging that for all their disadvantages, they have played their role and can (and must) still do so to determine their own fate." —Ian Black, Guardian

"Khalidi uses history to provide a clear-eyed view of the region and assess the prospects for peace. He strives successfully for even-handedness."
—Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet and Make No Law

". . . we have to open a dialogue with Hamas—not to embrace it, but to lay out a gradual pathway that will bring it into relations with Israel. As Rashid Khalidi, Columbia University's Palestinian expert and author of The Iron Cage points out: 'If we let the Palestinian Authority be destroyed, and then we keep Hamas isolated'—even though it won a democratic election that we sponsored—'we will end up with the hard boys, the gangs you see today on the streets of Gaza, who respond to no authority at all.'"
—New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman