Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars [Paperback]

Yaacov Lozowick (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 9, 2004

For more than a half-century, Israel has been forced to defend its existence against international political disapproval, racist calumny, and violence visited upon its citizens by terrorists of many stripes. While nations have always been made to defend their moral, political, economic, or social actions, Israel has the unique plight of having to defend its very right to exist.

Covering Israel's struggle for existence from the British occupation and the UN’s partition of Palestine, to the dashed hopes of the Oslo Accords and the second intifada, Yaacov Lozowick trains an enlightening, forthright eye on Israel’s strengths and failures. A lifelong liberal and peace activist, he explores Israel’s national and regional political, social, and moral obligations as well as its right to secure its borders and repel attacks both philosophical and military. Combining rich historical perspective and  passionate conviction, Right to Exist sets forth the agenda of a people and a nation, and elegantly articulates Israel’s entitlement to a peaceful coexistence with its surrounding Arab neighbors and a future of security and pride.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For Lozowick, author of Hitler's Bureaucrats and director of the archives at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust museum, "[i]t is astonishing how deep-seated the fear of covert Jewish power really is." This book is his attempt at "a moral evaluation of the facts" of the various wars and current struggles among Israel, Palestine and other Arab states. Lozowick is deeply critical of the "confusion, ineptitude, bad faith, waste, poor taste, callousness and stupidity" that he finds within Zionism (as in "any other large-scale human project"), but he nevertheless concludes that "the will to murder Jews was never the result of oppression and can never be resolved by removing it."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Lozowick is a historian and director of archives at Israel's Holocaust Museum. Like the proverbial liberal who is mugged into conservatism, he is a former peace activist who voted for Ariel Sharon in response to the collapse of the Oslo process and the ongoing violence directed at Israeli civilians. Lozowick convincingly asserts that Israel is now, as before, struggling against opponents whose goal is the eventual destruction of the Jewish state. In examining the entire history of the Zionist enterprise, he illustrates both the moral justification of that enterprise and of the wars Israelis have been compelled to fight to preserve their independence. He refutes the oft-repeated screeds that Israel is a "racist" state, and he reserves special contempt for those European "peace activists," who are, in effect, apologists for those who deliberately blow up themselves and children. Those who demand that the U.S. pursue a more "balanced" approach to the conflict will not like this book, but it is an eloquent and necessary justification of Israel's right to defend itself. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400032431
• ISBN-13: 978-1400032433
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,828 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Passionate, moral evaluation of the facts re Mid-East. December 22, 2003

By M. D Roberts

Format:Hardcover

This absorbing, well written, impassioned study by a historian and director of Israel's Holocaust museum, is extremely well presented, providing what could be called a "moral evaluation" of the facts surrounding the historical context pertaining to the ongoing situation in the Middle East. A study which exposes how the present, "flawed" perception of the Arab-Israeli conflict permeating the International community is shown to have fanned the flames of an ever increasing hatred of the Jewish people and their nation.

The book is quite powerful and transports the reader into the experience & world of the Jew with the sense of frustration being almost palpable from the text. A study that will hold the reader's attention throughout .

The title of this work ("Right To Exist") speaks volumes in itself and is described as a damning indictment upon much of modern day society where many intellectuals & public figures (including University professors, media distorters, anti-Semites and alleged "peace activists") are said to have used their positions as platforms from which to unjustly vilify the State of Israel. The implications of their actions are discussed at various places in the text.

The book in no way objects to criticism of the Jewish State as long as that analysis of Israel is "comparative, contextual, and fair". However the book contends strongly that the Jewish nation is the only one criticized for faults that are far worse among other nations and that this criticism crosses the line from being acceptable to blatantly anti-Semitic.

The source of this work describes himself as a "lifelong liberal, peace activist and a seeker of justice", critical of some Israeli Government policies, but someone whose attitude changed following the increase of Palestinian terrorism etc. and who eventually found himself voting for the "hardline" Israeli leader Ariel Sharon.

The book begins with a description of how many innocent Jewish civilians including women, children and the elderly are murdered by Palestinian terrorists whilst the Arab World responds with more cries of "death to the Jews" whilst the rest of the World simultaneously looks away or pretends not to hear. The resounding silence being described as endorsement and support for the killers of these Jews to continue with their murderous policies.

The study proceeds to argue that there is no "cycle of violence" in the Middle East in which each side is morally culpable and moves to destroy what are described as numerous lies and myths about the history as well as the ongoing Arab-Israeli issue.

The reader is provided with quite a detailed context surrounding the beginning of the "second intifada" in relation to the offers made by Israel at the Clinton/Barak/Arafat summit and also what are called the true facts surrounding the beginning of the ensuing violence.

Another matter addressed is what is cited as the "impossible task" of appeasing the Palestinian populace. Reference provided as to how lightening restrictions upon Palestinian movement for security purposes has always been accompanied by a sharp rise in Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians. The effects of all these issues on the writer are also presented together with some advice for those who consider that "peace" will result from Israel giving to the Arab world (Palestinians) the territories of the ancient Jewish homeland re-captured in 1967.

The book traces the long struggle to establish and defend the Jewish State in the face of Arab resistance and International hostility arguing that it is impossible to understand the conflict in the Middle East without accepting the reality that from the very beginning the overt strategy of the Arab leadership has been to eliminate the existence of any Jewish state and to destroy the Jewish population.

The text mirrors this International hatred with reference to the vast number of Arab/Muslim sponsored UN Resolutions against the Jewish State described as being out of all proportion to other nations and issues etc. and which has seen Israel uniquely singled out for censure, divestment and boycott . By way of comparison the reader is shown from the text that there existed a blatant disregard for any UN Resolutions within the Arab world whilst it pursued the genocide of the Jewish people from their midst during the Arab-Israeli wars which the writer proceeds to analyse in some depth throughout a large part of this study.

The reader is shown how nations are often called upon to defend their policies, and sometimes even their history, but few if any need to actually justify their existence. A process which the book cites Israel as having been mired in through the past 55 years of Palestinian terrorism and Arab rejection with nearly all of the Arab world still refusing to recognise the mere right of Israel to even exist.

As an evangelical Christian my own personal perspective in relation to the Jewish people and their Land differ somewhat from that described in this work . However, I have not allowed this to prejudice my review on this book which indeed contains a wealth of material bearing an enormous amount of merit which is worthy of reading irrespective of the individual's stance on the subjects covered. Thank you.

40 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A very good book by a very thoughtful man March 28, 2005

By Abdul

Format:Hardcover

I am not a Jew myself, nor a particularly religious person. I come from an Iranian Muslim family. This fact, in and of itself, would ordinarily be irrelevant were it not for the depressing reality that Muslim attitudes toward Israel are drearily predictable in their mendacity and barbarically ignorant racism. Having already absorbed more than a few helpings of Islamofascist and radical leftist sewage on the subject of Israel, I found this book an immensely refreshing contrast. Lozowick is not a "right wing" Israeli of the kind committed to the settlements (though even if he were, that in and of itself would not make him a bad person, especially given that even the most militant Jewish settlers still seem quite civilized when compared to the Palestinian thugs who would like nothing better than to "finish the job Hitler started.") He is often critical of Israeli policies, and is willing to acknowledge the basic justice of the Palestinians' desire for political independence. That being said, he does a wonderful job of exposing the truly grotesque hypocrisy inherent in the way pompous and self-righteous leftists, especially in Europe, present the Israeli-Palestinian struggle (and I will bet good money that every "one-star" reviewer of this book is either a neo-Nazi, an Islamic fascist, or a leftist, the differences between these groups being largely cosmetic). These sycophantically pro-Palestinian Western leftists must rank with the most disgustingly absurd people on the planet. But for the fact that their mouths are eternally open in vitriolic condemnation of Israel, one might think their lips had been surgically attached to the rear ends of Hezbollah representatives. Apparently, for some of our "bien-pensants," Jew-hatred is acceptable if it can be tarted up as multiculturalist concern for some "poor, oppressed people of color" du jour. The fact that the "people of color" we are dealing with here are the Palestinians makes the hypocrisy of the Israel-haters even more nauseating, for if there was ever a people who have contributed mightily to their own misery it is the Palestinians. When you BEGIN with the premise that the other guys, namely the Israelis, don't even have a right to exist; when your principal negotiating tactic is essentially reducible to the formula of "give us whatever we want or we'll suicide-bomb you into submission," then it is clear that your oppression is more self-inflicted than imposed from without.

Anti-Israel belligerents like to propagate the sophistry that Israel is the aggressor because she is militarily more powerful than the Palestinians. But as any student of history can see, aggression is not a function of how many weapons you have. It flows from hatred and the desire to do violence in the human heart. When the Nazis marched into the Rhineland in 1936, they were in no military position to withstand the 100 French divisions on their border had the French chosen to respond militarily. Militarily the Nazis were considerably weaker than the French in 1936; yet no one disputes that they were the aggressors. So too in the Middle East, it is the militarily weaker Palestinians who are the aggressors, for they are the ones who teach their children racial hatred of Jews; they are the ones who glorify acts of terrorist murder. For their part, if the Israelis want anything, it is to be left alone, and most of them would gladly give up the West Bank if the Palestinians ever became sincere about wanting only a compromise. Indeed, the very fact that the Palestinians are constantly resorting to terrorism to pick a fight with the militarily superior Israelis is an ironic admission that the Israelis, for all their flaws, are immensely superior to the Palestinians not only militarily, but above all, morally. If Israel's behavior even remotely resembled that of the typical Arab state, the Palestinians wouldn't dare provoke them in so barbaric a fashion, for to do so would be tantamount to inviting their own annihilation.

All of this is demonstrated very effectively by Lozowick, a man who nevertheless comes across as having more genuine sympathy for the Palestinians than in my estimation the latter have ever deserved. And although I don't think Lozowick intended to place Israelis on some kind of pedestal, his book nicely illustrates the fact that a people, like the Israelis, can be far from perfect and yet still remain infinitely preferable to their morally Neanderthal antagonists. So even if you ARE a critic of Israel, assuming you have at a minimum a rudimentary capacity for fair-mindedness, try reading this book. Unless you are a committed anti-Semite, or the sort of leftist buffoon who may not hate Jews per se, but who must always take the most virulently anti-Israeli stance as an oblique way of expressing your anti-American hatred, "Right to Exist" SHOULD challenge your assumptions. If Lozowick's arguments cannot get through your skull, then short of a direct hit from a cruise missile I suspect nothing will.

74 of 88 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Making the Case for Israel's Morality November 6, 2003

By dougrhon

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

The tiny, democratic, western industrialized nation of Israel has been under relentless attack, not just by its Arab enemies but by a growing class of haughty post-modern European elites. In their efforts to de-legitimize Israel, her enemies not only wrongly attack her present efforts to defend against a murderous onslaught but, in Orlwellian fashion, recreate history to create a phony justification for Israel's pariah status. Many of Israel's own defenders and supporters have fallen into a trap by accepting the premise that Israel is an immoral state, born in sin. As Yaacov, Lozowick, former Labour supporter, current Sharon voter, demonstrates in this excellent book, nothing could be farther from the truth. In presenting the moral case for Israel's actions to ensure its own survival, Lozowick makes no effort to cover up or exonerate Israel's wrongful actions, of which their are many. Indeed, he makes no excuses for the relatively rare number of atrocities committed by Jews against Arabs but simply points out how such actions are always rejected by Israeli society at large while the reverse is surely not true. Moreover, he is critical of numerous Israeli actions and policies that he thinks were wrong or incorrect but that don't really rise to the level of "atrocity", such as Israel's settlement policies or the Lebanon War. It is this willingness to criticize that which cannot be defended that strengthens his argument that Israel is a just society that fights wars in a just manner even while its enemies commit savage crimes against humanity.

Lozowick's purpose here is not to write a history of Israel's wars but to set forth a moral justification for those wars. In this he fully succeeds merely by presenting the truth in a coherent manner. He succinctly examines the facts of each of Israel's wars and concludes, with the exception of the Lebanon war, that they are all justified under theories of just war, under international law and under the Geneva Convention while the reverse is clearly not the case. The bottom line of course is that Israel, a tiny country founded largely by peace desiring socialists, has been under attack from all of its neighbors since before its creation in 1948. Despite constant harassment and threat, which devolved into open warfare five separate times, Israel has almost always behaved in a scrupulously moral way, seeking to avoid harming civilians, offering to return its gains in exchange for a genuine peace. Even when misguided, such as in the relentless pursuit of settlements amidst hostile Arab populations, Israel's policies have always been for the pursuit of a secure relationship with her neighbors.

In the last part of the book, Lozowick spends a good deal of space analyzing the Oslo years and the ensuing war which is still going on. While Lozowick was a supporter of Oslo, he now, looking back, acknowledges that he and people like him willfully deluded themselves that the Palestinians were prepared to end the conflict. The evidence shows him that no peace is possible and he expects it won't be for at least 150 years. I tend to agree with his assessment. In discussing Israel's response to the eruption of massive terrorism and the creation of a Palestinian death cult, cultivated and promoted by Arafat and his henchman, Lozowick makes a strong argument for Sharon's policy of proportionate military action designed to put things in a holding pattern until the Palestinians are genuinely willing to make peace. Like the majority of Israelis but unlike his former political allies, Lozowick does not see capitulation under fire as an option. This book is really an excellent read and I recommend it along with its cousin, Alan Dershowitz' "The Case for Israel" for any defenders of Israel as well as anyone interested in truth rather than propaganda.