Customer Reviews

One Nation Under Israel

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1 star:		(3)

 

 

I found this book totally enthralling because it tells us a story that is crying out to be told, particularly in the United States. It tackles so many of the questions that have arisen over the years with regard to the Middle East and which can never be satisfactorily answered by a press and, dare I say it? An entire US population, that is not allowed to speak of things as they really are.

Hurley writes superbly and never rants. He doesn't need to: a calm, factual telling with credible documentation is all that's required. He speaks of how the original, more idealistic vision of Ben Gurion (albeit ably abetted by the terrorism of Begin & Shamir's bloody gangs) was later hi-jacked as these two entered politics as the Likud in 1977 and the entire future of Israel was jeopardized for the pseudo-religious dream of a "Greater Israel"; holding onto captured territories whatever the cost to ordinary Israelis, Palestinians and Americans (and it is great - to all!).

Hurley shows how virtually the entire US Congress is under the control of AIPAC, the huge Israeli lobby group; how successive administrations have been hamstrung by AIPAC in their efforts to achieve peace. AIPAC virtually makes US policy in all matters relating to Israel and this policy may often be against the interests of Israel AND, ominously, against the interests of the people of the United States. The most chilling revelations, for me, come when Hurley speaks of Israeli espionage in the USA. According to him, the US foreign policy-making and military research establishments are fully penetrated by Israeli intelligence: often, a new and top secret weapon will have hardly left the drawing board before Israeli defense experts are at the Pentagon asking for it. Sometimes acquiring it ahead of the US military.

Hurley sees Israel as being on a path to destruction and urges that it is the duty of the USA to demonstrate `tough love' and deny Israel's extremist leaders, and especially AIPAC, the free hand they now have. He points out that AIPAC claims to represent all US Jewry but that many dissident voices have been suppressed under dire threat of social and career consequences. If these voices could only speak out loud and clear, Hurley says that the race to destruction could be halted.

Two deficiencies appear in the book. The first is that Likud is squarely blamed for Israel's taking the path to destruction, yet there were ten years following the six-day war and the subsequent election of Begin in which the Labor party was in power and could have avoided this. The second deficiency is that most of the book dwells in the late 1980s and we hunger for an update yet, as we read, we realize that things have changed very little and we see shadowy events of those times in bright sunlight today!

If and when ever America awakens to these undeniable realities, things will go badly for Israel and AIPAC will have much to answer for.

This book should be read with an open mind by everybody who cares about the future of the US and Israel.

I can't recommend this book emphatically enough. It's thoroughly well-researched and logically laid out. If you somehow doubted that Israel deliberately and relentlessly attacked the USS Liberty in 1967 and that our own government shamelessly conspired to cover up the heinous deed, neither the slimmest doubt nor the most emphatic, imploring claim of anti-Semitism can ever again persuade you to look away from the seamless facts presented in One Nation Under Israel. Everyone, whether American, Israeli or citizen of the world should read this book.

Andrew Hurley puts into print what many people have known or suspected for many years. The extent of power that the AIPAC holds is mindblowing and a threat to democracy. Hurley does an incredable job of presenting the facts, both sides of arguement and then his opinion. This book is a must read for all Americans. We need to learn why our governments foreign policies, specifically in the middle east, has been such a failure.

As it says in the Preface: "This book is concerned with the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and the threat it poses to the survival of Israel and to world peace. It is not primarily intended as a literary work-- but rather as a means of advancing a plan for peace in the Middle East." I found this book to be a valuable resource toward my understanding of the Middle East and why our U.S. Congress is so actively and financially pro-Israel.

This book is an eye-opener. Americans need to learn that Israel is not an ally of the US. The abuse and corruption of our government by Israel is ghastly. Please read this book.

This book is such a great book. I read many books about Israel becase i am Israeli and i just love this book. It is at the top of my list along with others. This book should be read not only Israelis or Jews but by all. This can get you more in-depth in the bible. It shows you the past and what may happen in the future. It shows the strugle of the Israeli people throughout the years. Very important book to read by all.

Theorists like this one have repeatedly charged that Israel intentionally and knowingly attacked a US spy ship, the USS Liberty, during the 1967 Six Day War. They claim to have uncovered new evidence, but the charges directly parallel demonstrably false charges leveled in earlier books and "reports." None of these charges are credible--at all.

Anyone taken in by them should at least consult Michael B. Oren's magnificent article on the USS Liberty in the Spring 2000 issue of Azure--available online. He debunks them entirely.

On the absolutely key point of motive, many conspiracy theorists charge that Israel attacked the Liberty on June 8th, 1967 to prevent the US from knowing the extent of Israeli victories in the war and to prevent the imposition of a cease-fire:

Their theory falls apart, however, in the face of the facts: The very DAY of the Liberty attack, June 8, 1967, banner headlines in the New York Times literally screamed the news: Israelis Rout the Arabs, Approach Suez, Break Blockade, Occupy Old Jerusalem; Agree to U.N. Cease-fire; U.A.R. Rejects It (New York Times, June 8, 1967). Some secret.

Does anyone really think those clever Israelis somehow prevented the President and his advisers from noticing these headlines? Please.

Furthermore, Israel accepted the U.N. cease-fire while the U.A.R. (ie, Egypt and Syria) rejected it.

Other passages hinting at extreme animus for Israel perhaps explain why this and other conspiracy theorists would publish such nonsense. Numerous apparently careless errors undermine their believability.

Merely consulting old newspapers demolishes these patently false theories. Case closed.

---Alyssa A. Lappen

This book is in the same category as the James Ennes book: JUNK. If you are interested about the actual occurences of this incident, read the actual sworn testimony that crewmembers gave days after the attack.

"I yelled to machine gun 51 to tell him to hold fire. I realized that there was a possibility of the aircraft having been Israeli and the attack had been conducted in error." (Sworn testimony of Cdr. William L. McGonagle, June 14, 1967)

Mr. Ennes had this lie in his book, which no doubt appears in Mr. Carlson's:
McGonagle must have been mistaken about sighting the Israeli flag at this point in the attack. For one thing, it would have been practically impossible to identify a tiny and wildly fluttering Star of David a mile away, particularly since any flags displayed by the torpedo boats would have streamed back, away from McGonagle and out of his line of sight. (Assault on the Liberty, p 149 )

Cdr. McGonagle, who had binoculars, obviously did not agree. In addition, the Israeli jets attacked the Liberty along the length of the ship, so that Liberty's flag would also have "streamed back, away from" the "line of sight" of the pilots

Michael Oren and other independent investigators have found the same thing that the Navy, CIA, NSA, Senate and Congress have reiterated for 35 years: THE ATTACK WAS ACCIDENTAL

The title of Hurley's initial chapter, "The March of Folly" is really the most fitting overview of this interesting, yet seriously flawed book. Herein, Hurley attempts to describe the awesome power of the Israeli lobby in American government and its impact on the state of Israel. The behind the scenes machinations of such organizations as AIPAC are well documented, and the points made in that regard are well taken. But, with that solid grounding, the author then proceeds to blame the government of the United States for the ongoing Middle East quagmire. This logic is sort of like that employed by the abusive husband who blames his wife for provoking him.

Throughout the book, Hurley describes the insanity of the Likud party policies and the real and present danger of the religious radicals who seem to exercise influence over that gangster party and their apologists in the United States. But then he reverts to the astounding conclusion that the paranoia of Israel is justified in terms of the myth of the six million Jews who supposedly died at the hands of the Nazis in World War II. In this, the double-mindedness of the author is shocking. But therein, I believe lies the insanity of the zionist positon, which this book rather clearly defines.

Two stark criticisms are necessary. One is that the absence of an index makes this a less than useful reference. The other is a rather astounding omission in the author's rendering of early Jewish history. He recounts the division of the nations of Israel and Judah, the Babylonian and Assyrian captivities, the reign of Herod, the Roman occupation, and some fair detail around first century Jerusalem. In this account, one key character is somehow missing. That character is Jesus Christ. The omission can only have been intentional. Given that the entire system of ordering how we keep track of time in Western Civilization is based on the life of Christ and that Hurley seems to intentionally avoid any recognition of His influence, we can only conclude that Mr. Hurley has tried, and failed, to describe a most momentous aspect of our current world situation without paying any attention to the most important character to ever grace this fallen world. This omission can not have been accidental and deeply tarnishes this work.

Horrible books such as this one make it possible to judge more reasonable ones. This book does indeed make mincemeat out of truth and scholarship. But the biggest problem it has is not the untruths. It is the absurd conclusions it draws from them. Even if Israel were in fact guilty of some of the more absurd things Hurley says, it would still have every right to exist, and Jews would still be human beings who would deserve human rights just like all other human beings.

By making a connection between anti-Israeli propaganda and a justification for denying human rights to Jews, books such as this one make it tough on a liberal historian of Israel. What if a decent and honest person wants to write a history of Israel, and happens to feel like concentrating on Israeli mistakes and on events that make Israel look bad? That's a perfectly reasonable thing to do. But now there is a very real threat that such a book could be regarded (especially by those who find a few honest mistakes in it) as anti-Israeli propaganda.

Well, there's no risk of that happening to this book. It isn't good scholarship. And it opposes human rights.

Politically, the book blasts the Likud government of Israel. That does not bother me. Even if I were an Israeli, I'd have never voted Likud.

Hurley begins with some history of ancient Israel. And he points out, quite rightly, that there was a problem with the Jewish Zealots. I tend to agree with him about that. Matter of fact, I think the Arab suicide bombers of today are at least as wacky as those Zealots.

Next, the author explains that many Jews are in the Diaspora by choice and would prefer not to live in Israel. That is true. But it is also true that many Jews would prefer to live in Israel, and that they ought to be permitted to do so. Moreover, Israel is small, so it is anything but greedy for Jews to have sovereignty over all of it.

We then see an account of Mandate history. The British 1939 White Paper is mentioned, but it is whitewashed. It is not shown how it directly made a state of Israel necessary. And Hurley insists that there was nothing the British could have done to let more Jews escape from Nazi Europe. That's false. They could have done nothing, instead of coming up with the White Paper. That would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.

There are some untruths about Levantine Arab nationalism in the White Paper era, along with casual misstatements such as the Irgun launching an "unrestricted campaign of terror" against the British in February, 1944. The word "unrestricted" is a manifest falsehood.

After this, there is a caricature of the history of Israel's wars, as though Israel's only purpose were to annihilate the Arab people rather than build a state which would defend Jewish rights to life, liberty, and property. And there is a long section on the Israeli lobby. This lobby, in real life, is strong because it has an easy product to sell: truth, freedom, justice, and human rights. It is not as strong as Hurley pretends, but it is certainly stronger than he wishes it were!

Of course, Hurley discusses the case of the US ship, the Liberty, which was mistakenly attacked by Israel in the 1967 war. And he also misrepresents the Pollard spy case. Pollard broke the law and was sent to prison for it. Those who complained about what they considered Pollard's relatively severe sentence generally challenged only the plea-bargain aspect of the case, but Hurley doesn't tell us this.

Hurley does not come out against those who demand to steal Israeli land, or who demand that Israel make "concessions" that they would demand from no other nation. Instead, he tries to confuse the matter by implying that some Israelis are greedy! Yes, it is true. Some Israelis are greedy. Some are chauvinists. Some are racists. And so on. Does he really want to go into this? Has it occurred to him that Israel comes out looking very pretty in all these respects when one compares it to its neighbors?

Hurley has a chapter where he explains that the Jews have no right to a homeland. Only the Arabs have a right to Jewish land! After all, to him, Jews are thieves and Arabs are innocent.

The author and those like him are not going to be able to fight the tide of freedom and human rights forever. Right now, plenty of people are intent on being arbitrary and are trying to make sure that Jews have very limited rights at best in the Middle East. But it is likely that one day, people will focus on other issues. Jews (and other minorities) will then wind up with their fair share, give or take, just like everyone else. And that fair share will be less than Hurley says they want. But it will be far more than they have now, and vastly more than Hurley thinks they deserve.