Customer Reviews

Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

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Watch out for reviews from people like Shalom Freedman. It's ironic that this reviewer summons the line "Have you no shame?" while at the same time dismissing all Jews he doesn't agree with as self-hating. Rather than counter their arguments with his own, this type of lazy reviewer seeks to circumvent intellectual discussion altogether with ugly ad hominem attacks. His hateful screeds aren't just directed at books, but at their authors as well. He leaves the same bankrupt reviews for any and every book that dares criticize Israel or Zionism. Mr. Freedman clearly has nothing better to do with his time than bash books and authors whom he has clearly not even bothered to read. Where is YOUR shame, Mr. Freedman?

Finally, an account--or rather, many voices adding up to an welcome and complicated account--of American Jewish identity and Jews' relationship with Israel. There are pieces here that touch the political questions that any Jew of conscience is grappling with while considering recent events in Israel, including many--even from less famous people than Susan Sontag or Arthur Miller--whose writing is powerful and beautiful. Some are short, some longer--making this book perfect for the person who wants to dip in or take a brief selection for a syngagogue reading group, or to immerse him or herself in the issues. I am enjoying it immensely, and I wouldn't identify myself as progressive.

This important collection of essays presents a wide variety of views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (in fact, at least one of the folks collected here is Jewish-Canadian, not Jewish-American, but that if anything adds to the richness of the collection). The Jewish community does not speak with a single voice on these issues. For an active member of this community such as myself who often feels out of step with national organizations that pretend to speak for me, a book like this is a particular breath of fresh air. I certainly don't agree with everything in it (indeed, as the introduction points out, the essays often disagree with each other). But its mere existence puts the lie to the notion that all American Jews are Likudniks, that the only way to support Israel is to endorse every action taken by its government.

The two editors, Kushner and Solomon, are also two of our most cherished writers in the United States, working now. I trust that they both wrestled deeply inside themselves to achieve this rare and vital work. I salute them both and am personally grateful for the book, which offers insights to a history that we tend not to see. Simply, Kushner and Solomon have uncovered a rock, and allowed the creepy crawly feelings to come out and be examined.

As sad as it is to say, the truth about the situation in Palestine and the origination of the State of Israel is dark, melicious, and disheartening. It is, however, encouraging to see a group of Jewish intellectuals willing to stand up and face the establishment and speak the truth. Coming from American Jewish mouths, these truths will be quite hard to invalidate or to accuse of being anti-Semitic, the favorite claim of pro-Israeli critics. Of course, I am sure these people will be called "self-hating Jews" or some garbage along those lines because when Zionists run out of accusations, they always turn to "self-hatred," as if it were a real emotion.
There will be reviewers who will give this book a low evaluation and use childish remarks to try and delegitimize its authors and editors; ignore these people. This book is a fundamental collection of works that should be ready by anyone interested in the honest truth behind the bloody establishment of the Jewish State and the consequences of its ever-more-bloody policies.

This book was writen by a group of intellectuals who legitimize themselve by claiming Jewishness. Writing out of the security of their homes in America they tell Israeli how to live and how to conduct their lives. Surely Israel wants "peace", but how can you achieve it when a rain of Qassam missiles and mortars are falling on Israeli civilians? Jewish spirituality will not deter Hamas which seeks the destruction of Israel (see Hamas covenant). Wakf is what they proclaim! Kushner buddies are the same as Neturei Karta except that they are not religious and know little about Judaism. Judaism cannot be separated from Zionism. Lastly, if a group of intellectuals in China would have advised Texas and California to become part of Mexico, what would our intellectuals say? Leave the Israeli and the Palestinians to solve their problems, create their philosophy and modus vivendi. It is their right and not the right of people who do not live there permanently and are not familiar with delicate balances that happen there. It is not an intellectual exercise for them, but a question of life and death.

This important series of essays probes the situation of Israel, Zionism, and the crisis of the Jewish state. Non-Jewish voices have been either been silenced, or tossed in the towel in a hopelessly vexed situation where mere grumbling out loud can be called antisemitic. It is hard to to match the discourse of Jews themselves. Getting to the facts is almost a full time job, especially with the flying fortress amicus curiae stuff of people like Dershowitz in 'The Case for Israel'. Among many essays one probes the current post-Camp David 'cover story', 'Arafat's fault'...
One essay about Constantinian Judaism is especially insightful and the slow progression from ethical culture to power state is unnervingly on the mark. Jews are supposed to be smart people, but apparently not enough to grasp the slow but steady political destruction of the Jewish idea, too fragile to withstand the corrosive treatment of Machiavellian in Old Testament Hollywood applied to Palestinians.
Worth reading, agree or not, in a twisted news environment.

The authors in this volume are intelligent. And while some folks may call them "self-hating Jews," I sure don't. These people think very highly of themselves and, for that matter, of each other. Nevertheless, I do not think highly of most of them, and it is worth pointing out why.

Some of the earlier articles are historical. It is revealing to compare Ahad Ha'am, Judah Magnes, and Martin Buber with the more recent contributors. Ha'am found plenty of fault with Herzl, but never supported terror by either side. Magnes also demanded Jewish rights. And Buber was willing to defend Jewish rights in the Levant, and he did so in a famous letter in 1939 to Mahatma Gandhi. It was Gandhi who denied the Jews any rights there.

The problem is that many of the more modern contributors have been cajoled or otherwise convinced to support fascist thugs.

The politics of the authors is really up to them. I don't happen to agree with them politically, but there is a little more to it than that. For one thing, it isn't merely a political issue. We're also seeing some rather serious misrepresentations of Israel and Zionism by many authors. And second, I feel that on top of that, the authors are falsely pretending to have a genuine commitment to liberalism when they are actually defending reactionary terrorism. A final problem is that the editors failed to include any articles to counter this steady barrage of misleading essays.

I turn slightly green when I see praise of ISM members such as Rachel Corrie in this book. And that's only one of a few dozen examples of the attacks on human rights, justice, and truth I was deluged by in this volume.

Normally, I would point out that opposition to truth, justice, and human rights will eventually discredit one's cause. One example in particular is the discrediting of German Paganism following World War Two. But upon reflection, I think this is a poor analogy. I think most of the authors have no cause. They certainly do not espouse liberalism or human rights. And that's part of the reason I think so poorly of them.

I have a very poor opinion of the Icelanders who surrendered to the Christians without a real fight a thousand years ago. These Vikings were experts at fighting who lay down their swords. And experts at writing who lay down their pens. The authors of this book are behaving the same way. They ought to have picked up their pens to stand up for truth, justice, and human rights. Instead, they wrote to support those who attack truth, justice, and human rights.

Avoid this book. Go watch a movie instead. I recommend "Relentless."

This Book features far too many writers who only pretend to care about the future of the human beings who populate the land of Israel. The great majority of writings are overly sympathetic to those who actively support terrorism. Furthremore these 'educated' people choose to ignore and often also fabricate historical information in order to paint the Israelis as barbaric and blood thirsty Arab haters.
Where are the liberal and left wing voices that truly care about human life and who treasure facts over fiction, peace over war?
The fact of the matter is that while there is dissent in the Jewish opinion over Israel most Jews who think logically and without the need for appeasing the supposedly enlightened Anglo world stand with Israel.
What this and other works fail to realize is that the Israelis and Jews are simply imperfect just as are all of humanity. But even in this imperfection they have consistently tried to do their best. Had a people created themselves in the late 60s and demanded the destruction of an entire nation in any other part of the world they would have been exterminated without remorse. Only Israel has tried over and over to put forth treaties, agreements and concessions all the while children are being blown up on the way home from school.
I'm a liberal and this book is definately not liberal. Being a liberal means loving life and being logical and informed on the issues. This book is just the opposite, it encourages hate and blood lust.
Don't waste your money... spend it on something useful like a pair of socks or a cup of coffee.

This book is a small contribution to the effort to blame, stigmatize, and ultimately delegitimize the state of Israel.
It has its heart an unfair and untrue historical reading of the Arab -Israel conflict over the Holy Land. It puts the onus of blame on the situation which has emerged after over eighty years of struggle on the Israeli side. The fact is historically the naysaying throughout, and the initiation of violence has come from the Arab side. This was as true in 1929 and 1936-9 as it is today. Today however the situation has worsened because of both the Islamization of the 'Palestinian cause', and the increasing fanatical use of every means, including suicide- bombings to kill civilians.
It is distressing too to see the way this book fudges the differences in position between those who radically oppose Israel and those who are critical of it at certain points. It is also distressing to see some of these people use the familiar fake tactic of saying that they do not oppose Israel but want a bi-national state i.e. This is the formula for destroying the Jewish state and leading to an Islamic majority state. We all know what happens to places in which Islam is the faith of the majority people. One by the way only has to look today to the Holy Land to see what has happened to Christian populations ( Palestinian Christians( living under Palestinian Arab rule. They are increasingly driven out.
Again my main criticism of this book is a 'moral one'. It blames the wrong side, and in effect supports evil.
I would say to the editors of this volume what the late lawyer Robert Welsh said to Senator McCarthy in their famous confrontation 'Sir ,have you no shame?'