Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

by Max Blumenthal (Author)

401 customer reviews

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ISBN-13: 978-1568586342

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In Goliath, New York Times bestselling author Max Blumenthal takes us on a journey through the badlands and high roads of Israel-Palestine, painting a startling portrait of Israeli society under the siege of increasingly authoritarian politics as the occupation of the Palestinians deepens.

Beginning with the national elections carried out during Israel's war on Gaza in 2008-09, which brought into power the country's most right-wing government to date, Blumenthal tells the story of Israel in the wake of the collapse of the Oslo peace process.

As Blumenthal reveals, Israel has become a country where right-wing leaders like Avigdor Lieberman and Bibi Netanyahu are sacrificing democracy on the altar of their power politics; where the loyal opposition largely and passively stands aside and watches the organized assault on civil liberties; where state-funded Orthodox rabbis publish books that provide instructions on how and when to kill Gentiles; where half of Jewish youth declare their refusal to sit in a classroom with an Arab; and where mob violence targets Palestinians and African asylum seekers scapegoated by leading government officials as "demographic threats."

Immersing himself like few other journalists inside the world of hardline political leaders and movements, Blumenthal interviews the demagogues and divas in their homes, in the Knesset, and in the watering holes where their young acolytes hang out, and speaks with those political leaders behind the organized assault on civil liberties. As his journey deepens, he painstakingly reports on the occupied Palestinians challenging schemes of demographic separation through unarmed protest. He talks at length to the leaders and youth of Palestinian society inside Israel now targeted by security service dragnets and legislation suppressing their speech, and provides in-depth reporting on the small band of Jewish Israeli dissidents who have shaken off a conformist mindset that permeates the media, schools, and the military.

Through his far-ranging travels, Blumenthal illuminates the present by uncovering the ghosts of the past—the histories of Palestinian neighborhoods and villages now gone and forgotten; how that history has set the stage for the current crisis of Israeli society; and how the Holocaust has been turned into justification for occupation.

A brave and unflinching account of the real facts on the ground, Goliath is an unprecedented and compelling work of journalism.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for the author:
''A brave and resourceful reporter adept at turning over rocks.'' --New York Times Book Review, praise for the author

About the Author

MAX BLUMENTHAL is one of the most frequently cited young liberal journalists in America. He is a correspondent for the Daily Beast, a research fellow for Media Matters, and a Puffin Foundation writing fellow at the Nation Institute. He lives in Brooklyn.

Product Details

File Size: 3086 KB
Print Length: 522 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1568589514
Publisher: Nation Books; 1 edition (October 1, 2013)
Publication Date: October 1, 2013
Sold by: Hachette Book Group
Language: English
ASIN: B00B3M3TPC
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

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Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #430,945 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #201 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > History > Middle East > Israel
- #328 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Violence in Society
- #790 in Books > History > Middle East > Israel & Palestine

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Customer Reviews

401

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5 star		61%
4 star		6%
3 star		3%
2 star		2%
1 star		28%

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Top Customer Reviews

The awful truth

ByPamela Olsonon September 26, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I've been following Israeli news and politics and visiting the region for ten years, so there was little in this book that was fundamentally new to me. But for anyone who didn't have time to keep up with the evolution of Israeli culture and politics over the last several years, this book is an excellent (and grimly entertaining) way to catch up.

An increasingly proudly racist segment of Israeli society has become mainstreamed and acceptable, saying things about Palestinians (or rather 'Arabs,' since they won't deign to use the word 'Palestinian') that would make any Jim Crow partisan cringe with shame, kicking Bedouin off of land they have lived on for generations and into ghettos/reservations simply because they are not Jewish, forming vigilante groups to keep Jewish women from dating Arab men, and marching provocatively through Muslim neighborhoods in shows of force, contempt, and intimidation.

And this is in Israel proper. In the Palestinian territories, the situation is even more dire. From "price tag" operations to rabbis who advocate the killing of non-Jewish children, it's a parallel universe, a parade of horrors of blind hatred and violence likened in many cases to "pogroms" even in the Israeli press.

When the vast majority of the Jewish Israeli public supported the grisly, pointless slaughter of Operation Cast Lead, it was truly a new low. The US government supports the Israeli government and its policies to the tune of $8 million every day, yet the American press tells us virtually nothing about these trends.

There are good people and great activists in Israel doing terrific and genuine work toward peace. But to understand what they are really up against -- not to mention what the Palestinians are up against -- this is an important book to read and an important set of realities to understand.

1,1691,169 comments 734 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Unlike any other book on topic

ByK. Bouloson October 16, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

From the moment I received this book I wasn't able to put it down. It's made up of short succinct chapters, each of which is a snapshot of Israeli society and politics, interwoven with deeply personal and human stories, historical background, and on the ground investigative journalism. While there are hundreds of books telling us about the how and the what of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this book talks about something that nobody touches upon in mainstream discourse, the WHY. Max Blumenthal steps deep into the belly of Israeli society and thoroughly documents the racism, fanaticism, religious fundamentalism, greed, violence, and hysteria that animates the state and its institutions. Once you understand these aspects of Israeli society, understanding the political, demographic and geographic dimensions of the conflict becomes a simple matter of logic.

I doubt that many of the one star reviewers actually read this book. This is evidenced by the fact that most of them use a single template of first attacking the author then trying to scare people away from buying the book (a really desperate tactic). But there are those that did read the book and I think their reviews are completely understandable. If your worldview necessitates a belief that Israel is inherently righteous, facts to the contrary are deeply disturbing. The cognitive dissonance of seeing these facts (full references are provided for everything in the book) and trying to square that with your faith in Israeli righteousness must be a nightmare.

3131 comments 344 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Deeply Reported, Expertly Written and Profoundly Disturbing

ByAndrew Epsteinon October 8, 2013

Format: Hardcover

Contrary to what partisans may assume--and, for those who don't actually read this masterful book, will likely tell others in all-caps and insults--Max Blumenthal has entered the world of Israeli politics with eyes wide-opened, valuing rigorous and fair-minded reportage over judgement and aspersion. Mostly, he let's his subjects speak. And what they say is deeply disturbing.

Operating within the space carved out by liberal Zionists who also worry about the "demographic problem," large and growing segments of the Israeli right have become proto-fascist. I do not say this lightly. But from the slew of anti-democratic laws, street harassment of Arabs, immigrants, and dissidents, racist fear-mongering as a matter of routine political practice, and the repression of an already compliant media, this is the only rational conclusion one can draw.

The brilliance of "Goliath" is not that Blumenthal tells us this frightening conclusion; he vividly shows us.

I cannot more highly recommend this book.

44 comments 376 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth - Albert Einstein

ByAnaison October 15, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

My best friend growing up was from Israel. Her argument for Zionism resonated with me deeply. Who can argue that Jews are not amongst the most persecuted and 'otherized' people on the planet? The strength of her argument fell to ruin upon my first trip to Israel in the late nineties.To not see apartheid in Israel is simply to not see Israel at all.

A large part of my education on this issue has been due to the unrelenting, truth telling of journalist Max Blumenthal. That education continues with the reading of Goliath. If you seek comfort in the lies of the Likud, and indeed the lies of our very own government- then this book is not for you. If your agenda is to support the ethnic cleansing of a people in the name of a 'Jews only' state - then this book is not for you.

If you wish to delve into the heart of darkness that shapes the pervasive nature of racism - read Max's book.

88 comments 257 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Organized book bashing, by the usual suspects

ByJezzieon December 1, 2013

Format: Hardcover

I couldn't help noticing that dozens of this book's five star reviews are from customers who bought, & presumably actually have read the book, since their posts are identified as an "Amazon Verified Purchase". Of course, others may have purchased it somewhere other than Amazon. But, that made me curious, so I also checked the 64 one star reviews. Not a single one of them (out of 64!!), was a "Verified Amazon Purchase". Now, that's way beyond odd! It seems as though there's a campaign going on to bash this book, by people who in all likelihood have never even read it. And they don't want us to read it, either! They don't want us to hear what the author has to say. Which is why I'm placing my order for this book. Will try to return with my thoughts on content, after a careful reading.

1313 comments 82 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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