Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.
The Case for Israel and over 300,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
79 used & new from $3.74
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Case for Israel
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book
Start reading The Case for Israel on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.
 
  

The Case for Israel (Paperback)

by Alan Dershowitz (Author) "The Jewish nation of Israel stands accused in the dock of international justice..." (more)
Key Phrases: divestment petition, comparable dangers, binding international law, United States, United Nations, World War (more...)
3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (168 customer reviews)
List Price: $12.95
Price: $10.10 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.85 (22%)
Upgrade this book for $1.29 more, and you can read, search, and annotate every page online. See details
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Only 5 left in stock--order soon (more on the way).

Want it delivered Wednesday, July 8? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
37 new from $3.99 39 used from $3.74 3 collectible from $12.95
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Kindle Edition (Kindle Book) $9.99
Hardcover $19.95 $14.96 130 used & new from $0.50
Audio Cassette 5 used & new from $10.98
Paperback 2 used & new from $256.82
Amazon Short - Read Alan M. Dershowitz for just 49¢
Amazon Shorts are exclusive short stories and essays by favorite authors, delivered digitally.
The Israel-Hezbollah War for only $0.49

Frequently Bought Together

The Case for Israel + The Case Against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace + The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved
Price For All Three: $38.44

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved

The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can be Resolved

by Alan Dershowitz
3.4 out of 5 stars (34)  $11.21
Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Myths and Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict

by Mitchell G Bard
4.4 out of 5 stars (40)  $13.45
The Case Against Israel (Counterpunch)

The Case Against Israel (Counterpunch)

by Michael Neumann
3.3 out of 5 stars (47)  $10.55
Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History

Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History

by Norman G. Finkelstein
3.9 out of 5 stars (75)  $10.85
The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict: Seventh Revised and Updated E

The Israel-Arab Reader: A Documentary History of the Middle East Conflict: Seventh Revised and Updated E

by Walter Laqueur
4.8 out of 5 stars (10)  $12.24
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Noting that he has been working on versions of these arguments since 1967, famed Harvard law professor Dershowitz offers "a proactive defense of Israel," a kind of amicus brief to "the court of public opinion." Not least among the exhibits are a WWII-era Muslim Palestinian leader who was "a full fledged Nazi war criminal, and he was so declared at Nuremberg"; a "vastly underpopulated" late 19th-century Palestine, to which European Jews began emigrating; and a 75-year-long Arab-Israeli war that features "Arab nations dedicated to genocidal aggression against civilians." Each of the 32 chapters begins with a commonly heard accusation against Israel, with long quotes from reputable "Accusers" (including newspapers and intellectuals), followed by "The Reality" as Dershowitz sees it, and "The Proof," often drawing on the historical record.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
Dershowitz is one of the nation's most prominent and visible defense attorneys, and he is also an ardent, eloquent, but not always uncritical defender of Israel. This book is written in the form of a legal brief. He does not seek to defend particular policies of the current Israeli government. In fact, Dershowitz has frequently criticized some Israeli policies toward Palestinians, particularly regarding West Bank settlements. Rather, here he attempts to rebut what he views as the more general and blatantly discriminatory criticisms of Israel as a state and culture. Some of these criticisms deny the "right" of Israel to exist. In response, Dershowitz asserts both the practical and moral justification for the continued existence of Israel as Jewish state. He also convincingly refutes several other oft-repeated myths, including the supposedly benign treatment of Jews in Arab lands and the "cycle of violence" canard that morally equates Palestinian suicide bombings with Israeli efforts to arrest or kill bombers before they act. As usual, Dershowitz is a passionate but generally fair and honest advocate for his position. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley (August 25, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0471679526
  • ISBN-13: 978-0471679523
  • Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (168 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,080 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #1 in  Books > History > Middle East > Palestine
    #19 in  Books > History > Middle East > Israel

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
The Jewish nation of Israel stands accused in the dock of international justice. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
divestment petition, comparable dangers, binding international law, grand mufti, targeted assassination, extensive historical research, collective accountability, human rights violators
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
United States, United Nations, World War, Camp David, Middle East, Tel Aviv, Yasser Arafat, Gaza Strip, Peel Commission, New York Times, European Jews, First Aliyah, Noam Chomsky, Israeli Supreme Court, Balfour Declaration, Edward Said, Saudi Arabia, Deir Yassin, Prince Bandar, Saddam Hussein, Six-Day War, Amnesty International, Ehud Barak, Jews of Palestine, Temple Mount
New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 31 books:
See all 31 books this book cites
 
26 books cite this book:
See all 26 books citing this book

Books on Related Topics (learn more)
 
Righteous Victims by Benny Morris
A History of Israel by Howard M. Sachar
 

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.
(16)
(15)
(10)
(9)
(8)
(8)
(8)
(7)
(5)
(5)
(4)
See all 70 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more
 

Customer Reviews

168 Reviews
5 star:
 (95)
4 star:
 (33)
3 star:
 (6)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (30)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (168 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
49 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Read beyond chutzpah as a follow up to this book, March 8, 2008
When you first read this book a lot of the claims made seems convincing, but if you read another side of the argument his argument begins to fall apart. First his heavy reliance of Joan Peters "From Time Immemorial" speaks volumes about the sources he uses. Joan Peters book has been regarded by most serious scholars as a hoax. It was initially reviewed well but after some time (specifically after the doctoral thesis of NOrman Finkelstein) The book was denounced as nothing more than a threadbare hoax. But dershowitz regards Peters book as the rule of law.
Secondly Dershowitz claim that during the 1948 war most refugees left at the exhortations of Arab leaders is simply false. For example he quotes BEnny Morris extensively during this chapter, but Benny Morris was actually one of the New Historians and the central thesis of his book runs counter to dershowitz's claims. Specifically the New HIstorians came out to refute what dershowitz actually said. Read The ethnic cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe (a fellow new historian) to find out what really happened during the 1948 war. Third Dershowitz claims that Israel has never been accused of war crime by human rights organizations, but infact they have been accused of that many times. If you read beyond Chutzpah it reveals all of the war crimes committed by Israel. Even Btselem the Israeli human rights group is highly critical of Israels record. BUt according to dershowiz he believes that those reports aren't true. COuld n't he have stated that they are accused of war crimes then proceed to say why he believes all these mainstream human rights organizations are false, instead of simply denying it altogether without giving the reader an informed view. Another point related to this is that he says more noncombatants have been killed on the israeli side since 2000 but when you check the ststistics this turns out to be false. He responds to this by stating that these humans rights organizations should redefine the concept of civilianality. I think that is being extremely disingenuous to distort the records and then claim that the statistics dont fit your definition of a war crime. One should report all these war crimes and the number of noncombatants killed by humans rights organizations and then if you dispute them go on to say why. Frankly i dont know how he can dispute the allegations of a consensus of humans rights groups and claim they are false, and in his book act as if these groups never existed. So these concerns raise questions about dershowitz's ability to produce a non biased piece of work on such a contentious issue.

Update: Ok, there still seem to be some people that this book is worth reading. First thing i'd like to add is that Dershowitz essentially subscribes to the Peter's thesis that Palestine was essentially an empty land with a decreasing population. The fact is that Peter's thesis is thoroughly discredited absolutely no one even cites the book not even scholarly pro israeli works. See Professor Peroth's review called Mrs. Peter's Palestine in the NYRB to find out why. Unlike Peters Professor Peroth is a leading expert on the Palestinian National movement. Second really important issue i would like to point out is that Dershowitz absolutely misrepresents the refugee problem especially Israel's role in it. The statistic he uses to say that 68 percent of palestinians left without seeing a soldier, the poll was taken by the institute of Palestinian studies. This would seem to be a crucial piece of evidence he adduces to support his case about the 1948 exodus. But the poll was about the 1967 exodus and not the 1948 exodus. Another example is that he says Deir Yassin was an abberation and it was the only Jewish atrocity that took place. Well Benny Morris explicitly states in the Birth and Righteous victims and maybe also in the book 1948 that the Zionist forces committed far more atrocities than the arab side. That was one of the core findings of his research. Another example is worth noting is the example of Jaffa. Dershowitz says the residents left and Ben Gurion was surprised and commented why the inhabitants left. He cited Morris for this assertion but unfortunately for him MOrris paints a different picture. The Irgun militia basically let loose on the town turning hotels into hosptitals with their indiscriminate Mortar fire. This is what Morris wrote
" [T]he objectives of the mortar barrage, which went on without respite for three days, with nine tons of explosives being delivered on day two of the attack, were clear, as described by IZL OC operations, Amihai Paglin, in his pre-battle briefing to his troops: "To prevent constant military traffic..., to break the spirit of the enemy troops, [and] to cause chaos among the civilian population in order to create a mass flight."
Then Morris introduces Ben Gurions surprise to the as clearly ironic but dershowitz skips over the paragraph i just quoted and mentions Ben Gurion's surprise as if Morris agrees with him. I could go on and on but i think these examples should suffice.
Comment Comments (11) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
88 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Beware , September 6, 2005
Professor Dershowitz has written an apology for Israeli politics designed to lend credibility by means of his pedigree to mainstream Zionist opinion in this country. The typical reader, I suspect, agrees with Dershowitz and relies upon the author's academic credentials to lend credibility to his/her opinion. However, Dershowitz's academic credentials apply only to his ability as a professor of law and not as an historian, and this is all too obvious. His book deliberately ignores an international consensus about human rights abuses committed by the IDF against Palestinians in the occupied territories. Unfortunately for Professor Dershowitz, historians actually exist and have read his book. The most damaging expose comes from Norman Finkelstein who reveals point by point Professor Dershowitz's wanton misuse of Israeli history and the record on Israel's human rights abuses. More damaging to Dershowitz's argument is his extensive and unattributed borrowing from Joan Peter's book, From Time Immemorial, which is a well-documented fraud. While I don't necessarily agree with Finkelstein assertion that the book is a plagiarism (though it appears to be based upon Harvard's own plagiarism guidelines), it is striking that Professor Dershowitz would be so lazy in his research that he would cite such an unreliable source so often. It is also striking that he would publish such a book and not foresee the justifiable criticisms that would inevitably follow in response. The only thing that Professor Dershowitz has going in his defense is the source of the criticism: Finkelstein is easy to ridicule and Professor Dershowitz does just that in The Case for Peace. But Finkelstein's Beyond Chutzpah really nails the peculiar ahistory of Dershowitz's work. Finkelstein may be crazy but he is also correct. For those of you who want to see Finkelstein lay waste to Dershowitz, check out the Democracy Now website ([...]) to watch a debate between the two. Dershowitz is really out of his league and in the debate it is all too obvious.
Comment Comments (6) | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
67 of 96 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An eloquent defense of a worthy ally, March 13, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: The Case for Israel (Hardcover)
I am not Jewish so I don't have an emotional investment in the the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After reading this book, I simply can't understand how anyone could deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state within at least its pre-1967 borders. Dershowitz shows how time after time (1937, 1948, 1967, 2000) the Arabs consistently refused any sort of compromise with the Jews. His assertions are well-documented, and he does an especially fine job of exposing Noam Chomsky and Edward Said for the frauds that they are. Frankly, after reading this book, I felt a sense of outrage at the double standard that Israel must endure.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Book's main source is "Bandar" Bush - Saudi Ambassador to the US
This book may seem interesting on the surface, but check his sources. A main source is the Saudi Ambassador to the US. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jonathan Brun

1.0 out of 5 stars If you can defend a confirmed murderer you can write anything
If you are willing to read more than 200 pages of Israeli apologetics based on nothing more than the writer's biased opinion without resort to historical fact or reason, then go... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Dana Abed

5.0 out of 5 stars mythbuster
This book is great not only because of how well it is written, but this book busts all the common myths you've probably heard about Israel on the internet, and TV media,... Read more
Published 1 month ago by John Michaels

4.0 out of 5 stars Where the spirits are parted
Facing the facts about Israel and its stand in the Middle East one has two options. One is accepting the rights of Israel, the other rejecting it. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Roman Nies

1.0 out of 5 stars Keep reading, people
That is the best advice I can give you: keep reading. Read everything you can get your hands on. This debate often tends toward the bitter and inflammatory, and one of the only... Read more
Published 4 months ago by W. W. Roberts

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that speaks the truth
This book provides facts backed by solid evidence for the case of Israel. The reason this book is being debunked by many is because it strongly supports israel and opposers have... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Ben Excalibur

1.0 out of 5 stars These "case" isn't valid anymore
I'm sorry professor Dershowitz but The Case For Israel has been dismissed by reality: Israel is the oppressor and like all oppressors throughout history, it too will be overcome... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Aleister K.

1.0 out of 5 stars Funny
This book makes me laugh so hard, I cry tears. Dershowitz is truly a funny guy.
Published 7 months ago by Ehud Olmert

4.0 out of 5 stars Very convincing!
I have just finished reading "The Case for Israel" which is authored by none other than the noted jurist Mr. Alan Dershowitz. Mr. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Frank Desparrois

1.0 out of 5 stars Complete Fabrication
This book is full of lies and contradictions. I cannot believe that someone had actual published this book. It is also mostly plagiarized. Read more
Published 10 months ago by incognito911

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
This product's forum (1 discussion)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
Finklestein disagrees 3 1 month ago
› See all discussions...  
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

RotoZip Makes Difficult Cuts Easy

Shop all Rotozip products
RotoZip is proud to offer high-performance accessories, attachments, and tools to cut through a wide variety of materials.
 

Best Books of 2008

Best of 2008
Find our top 100 editors' picks as well as customers' favorites in dozens of categories in our Best Books of 2008 Store.
  

Dive into Summer Reading

Summer Reading for Kids and Teens
Don't even think about hitting the beach without browsing the books in our Summer Reading Store. Discover bestsellers, paperback picks, beach reads, and more terrific titles all summer long.
 

Warm Those Winter Blues

Shop for Heaters
Warm up a cold spot efficiently and safely this winter with an extra space heater or baseboard heater.

›Shop all heating products

  

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Where's My Stuff?

Shipping & Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue shopping: Top Sellers
Paranoia
Paranoia by Joseph Finder
4.1 out of 5 stars (184)$0.00
 Glenn Beck's Common Sense
Glenn Beck's Common Sense by Glenn Beck
3.8 out of 5 stars (195)$6.59
 Glenn Beck's Common Sense
Glenn Beck's Common Sense by Glenn Beck
3.8 out of 5 stars (195)$6.59
 Darkfever
Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning
3.7 out of 5 stars (216)$0.00

amazon.com Amazon.com Home  |   Directory of All Stores
International Sites:  Canada  |  United Kingdom  |  Germany  |  Japan  |  France  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Build an eCommerce Site  |  Advertise With Us  |  Developer Services  |  Self-Publish with Us
Help  |  View Cart  |  Your Account  |  1-Click Settings
Investor Relations  |  Press Releases  |  Careers at Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates