The Jewish Wars: Reflections by One of the Belligerents [Hardcover]

Professor Edward Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 1996

These essays begin with a dissection of the intifada at the end of 1987 and deal with people and events through 1994, when Israel began to withdraw from the disputed territories. Ineffective militarily, Edward Alexander notes, the intifada proved a potent propaganda tool: "The spectacle of young Palestinian Arabs (at least in the early stages of the uprising, before the violence became highly organized) facing Israeli soldiers won for the Arabs precisely the victory they had sought: it swung liberal, including (if not especially) Jewish liberal, sympathy decisively to the side of the Arabs and against Israel."

Alexander’s book is the first to subject to withering criticism the "body of ideas that lured Israel into the quagmire called the ‘peace process.’" He excoriates prominent figures in politics, journalism, education, and literature who express hostility to, or open hatred of, Jews, Judaism, and Israel. Convinced that it is in the realm of ideas that the battle will be lost or won, Alexander has given special attention to "some of the more brazen and flamboyant combatants in. . . the ‘Jewish wars’—Edward Said, Patrick Buchanan, the late George Ball, Alexander Cockburn, Michael Lerner, Noam Chomsky and still more to certain omnipresent personality types: the timorous Jew cloaking his timidity in the robes of the biblical prophet; the treacherous Jew presenting betrayal of his own people as ethical idealism; the ferocious antisemite parading as a dispassionate ‘critic of Israeli policies’; the journalist and publicist exploiting the full public-address and public-relations systems afforded by his profession while complaining that his voice is being ‘stifled’ by ‘the Jewish establishment.’"

Recurring themes in Alexander’s essays are the relations between the Jews of America and those of Israel, the incorporation of anti-Zionism into the ideology of "multiculturalism" and the conventions of literary discussion, the politically motivated "distortion and exploitation" of the Holocaust, the strategies of moral and political discrimination used against Israel, the strategies employed by some prominent American and Israeli Jews to evade the implications of this discrimination, and the growing impunity with which antisemitism can be preached at both ends of the political spectrum.

Alexander also reproduces some of the lively debate engendered by his essays in Commentary and Congress Monthly.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Unfortunate is the time that needs a Zola; fortunate is the time that has its Zola. In a period characterized by extraordinary ideological shifts and by internationally pervasive deformations of history, and in the very hour when calumny has taken on a certain respectability, Edward Alexander’s ‘J’accuse’ arrives to insist on common decency, and to sweep away the rot. Here is our Zola, a biting and gloriously intolerant thinker who is neither patient nor gentle with the shady, the shabby, and the sham."—Cynthia Ozick, commenting on Edward Alexander’s The Holocaust and the War of ideas

About the Author

Edward Alexander, a professor of English at the University of Washington in Seattle, is a literary critic and political polemicist whose books range from Matthew Arnold and John Stuart Mill and Isaac Bashevis Singer to The Jewish Idea and Its Enemies and The Holocaust and the War of Ideas.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (April 24, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809320118
• ISBN-13: 978-0809320110
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,177,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Holocaust, The Hatred Of The Jews & The "Peace Process"., October 14, 2003

By 

M. D Roberts (Gwent, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jewish Wars: Reflections by One of the Belligerents (Hardcover)

This superb, secular study really brings home to the reader the levels of inherent, painful, frustration felt within so much of the Israeli populace at the levels of terrorism and violence which have racked their nation throughout the so called "peace process". The reader is also left with an almost tangible sense of how the individual Jew/Israeli feels amidst what the book translates as a deep, painful resentment at their betrayal by their so called "peace partners" and the International community as a whole. The writer's own indignation and personal exasperation permeate this work and almost transport the reader into the realm of the "Jewish experience".

Through a collection of essays this thought-provoking book examines a number of issues involving Israel, anti-Semitism (hatred of the Jews) in addition to the Middle East "peace process" itself. The reader should be aware that despite being a series of essays, the book really flows from beginning to end and is a compelling read. Although written in 1996, it will not take the reader long to discover that the superbly presented contents are as applicable and as blatantly relevant today as they were at that time. This is an excellent, readable work which is another extremely valuable contribution to the library of anyone interested in studying the Middle East.

The book investigates a number of prominent figures in the fields of politics, journalism & literature etc., who are described as personally manifesting hostility and even an open hatred of the Jewish people and Judaism. Amongst those mentioned are Edward Said, Patrick Buchanan, Michael Lerner, Noam Chomsky, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Yossi Beilin and Shimon Peres. Relevant quotations and references are supplied in each case.

The contents of this study dissect the Palestinian "intifada" and describe how it has proved an immensely potent propaganda weapon in engaging International sympathy against the Jewish state of Israel, amidst what the book further describes as the "quagmire of the peace process". The book analyses how the entire basis which allowed Israel and the International community to embrace PLO/Yasser Arafat as "participants" in the Middle East "peace process" was the PLO/Arafat's denunciation of terrorism, acknowledging the right of Israel to exist and an accord/promise to resolve ALL disagreements at the negotiating table WITHOUT RESORTING TO ANY VIOLENCE. These issues and the utter failure of Arafat/PLO to comply with these requirements are addressed in some detail. The book also analyses the disturbing manner and context in which many scores of Palestinian civilians are increasingly being brutally murdered as "suspected collaborators" with Israel.

A crucial reference is also made to the "media spectacle" in 1993 on the White House lawn where Rabin, Peres, Clinton & Arafat shook hands etc.. The book analyses how Yasser Arafat, LATER THE VERY SAME DAY, declared in Arabic on Jordanian television that all that he had actually done was to implement the "phased plan" for Israel's destruction. The book addresses how public reference to the "phased plan" to destroy Israel is frequently made to audiences in Arabic, but never in English. The book pulls no punches in elaborating that the "phased plan" referred to by Arafat actually calls for the creation of a Palestinian state in ANY territory vacated/ceded by Israel, as a FIRST stage only. The book proceeds to address how this "Palestinian state" would then being used as a base/platform for what the book quotes as the "continued armed struggle" against Israel. Further amplification here describing the purpose of this "armed struggle" as "INCITING A WAR" in which the neighbouring Arab states would then become involved and annihilate a smaller, weakened Israel.

The Holocaust, Holocaust denial and schemes used to delegitimise Jewish claims to the Holy Land are amongst a number of other issues addressed at some length. The book also investigates what it describes as the contribution of "self-hating Jews" towards the ideology and politics of such anti-Semitism in these and other pivotal issues. Page 173 actually questions whether in the history of diplomacy, there has ever been a "phenomenon" comparable to former Israeli leader Shimon Peres. The book alleging that the latter sometimes speaks as either the "foreign minister of an Arab country" or "the hired defense attorney for Yasser Arafat", even allegedly protecting the latter from accusations of murder and treachery.

The malicious allegation used by those hostile to Israel which equates "Jews with Nazis", is another pertinent subject examined. Something shown to actually antedate the establishment of the Jewish state itself. Author & politician Conor Cruise O'Brien is quoted as having traced such a policy to actually being a "British invention", where even in 1941 British official circles were unbelievably using the epithet "Jewish Nazi state" to refer to "Jewish Palestine". This is a comprehensive and informative book which will both move and frustrate the reader. A book that addresses issues which others have chosen to ignore. Highly recommended.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A slightly different approach to the Arab-Israeli conflict, August 16, 2004

By 

Jill Malter ([e-mail]) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jewish Wars: Reflections by One of the Belligerents (Hardcover)

This book is a collection of essays written about antizionist attacks on Jewish rights. Special attention is given to "some of the more brazen and flamboyant combatants" in what Alexander calls "the Jewish wars," such as Ed Said, Pat Buchanan, and Alex Cockburn. The book takes issue with people from all parts of the political spectrum.

One test that Alexander applies to Jewish critics of Israel is this: do they refuse to demand for themselves the same rights that they demand for others? While I think that Alexander thus underestimates the value of the writings of David Grossman and Leonard Fein, I have to agree that it is significant that they do not pass this test.

Alexander reserves his sharpest criticism for those who are politically committed to deny human rights to Jews. While Alexander exposes many misstatements by antizionists, he does not lose focus on the goals of those who write them. His main criticism of Ed Said is not for Said's "longstanding habit of confidently reciting the most preposterous falsehoods" but for Said's demands for the "right" to murder "collaborators" with Israel.

This is not a typical discussion of the Arab war against Israel, but given the biases and weaknesses of most books on the topic that can be found on college campuses today, I think it is a welcome addition to the bookshelf.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stellar defense of Israel, May 19, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Jewish Wars: Reflections by One of the Belligerents (Hardcover)

In these essays published in 1996 Alexander takes on some of the worse critics of Israel from the Chomsky- Cockburn- Said school and shows how distorted and hatefilled their thinking is. He also takes on the whole Oslo process, and rightfully sees how it will not lead to peace. Alexander also considers the propaganda - efforts of the Palestinians, and how they succeeded in moving much of Western sympathy to their side. Holocaust- denial and deniers is another subject Alexander considers.

These essays show him to be one of the most effective defenders of Israel and the Jewish people on the political polemic scene today.