The Case for Israel

• Presents a passionate look at what Israel's accusers and detractors are saying about this war-torn country.
• Dershowitz accuses those who attack Israel of international bigotry and backs up his argument with hard facts.
• Widely respected as a civil libertarian, legal educator, and defense attorney extraordinaire, Alan Dershowitz has also been a passionate though not uncritical supporter of Israel.

A whole plethora of secular issues are discussed in this work in order to provide a pro-active defence of the Jewish State. Despite this the book declares that it in no way defends every policy or action of the Israeli Government but vehemently defends the right of Israel to exist and to protect it's citizens from terrorism under the principle of self defence afforded every sovereign nation. The contents of this work depicting this principle as frequently being denied Israel by some elements of the International community. The latter being depicted as regularly singling out the Jewish State for unique criticism which is not directed at any other nations or at it's neighbouring Arab countries for that matter. The latter entities being demonstrated as having far worse human rights records than Israel. An underlying attitude described in the book as "International bigotry" which crosses the line into the realms of anti-Semitism.

The book addresses many fundamental points such as the historical fact that the Palestinians have been offered Statehood on three separate occasions, in 1937, 1947 and 2000-2001. On each occasion the book describes how each offer was rejected and on each occasion the response has been increased terrorism. A parallel issue addressed here is that the Palestinian Arabs never sought Statehood when they were "occupied" by Jordan and Egypt and that the claim began as a tactic to eliminate the Jewish State of Israel. The PLO even being formed by Egypt in 1964 when the "West Bank" and Gaza are described as being Arab occupied. The Arab-Israeli wars also receive attention and the book documents how it was actually the Arabs that were responsible for the Palestinian "refugee" issue.

The so called "settlement" issue is also addressed, with references being shown that the Arabs/Palestinians refused to make peace with Israel when there were no "settlements" in existence and also when Ehud Barak offered to remove them all. The Sinai "settlement" issue being illustrated as no barrier to the "peace" agreement between Israel and Egypt. The book declaring that the real barrier to "peace" is that the Palestinians are utterly unwilling to accept the existence of a Jewish State in ANY part of what they describe as "Palestine".

The book describes that Palestinian propagandists regularly invoke the "human rights" issue merely as a tactic against Israel, whilst the Palestinian Authority is depicted here as having no respect for tolerance or human rights itself with a policy of "torturing and killing alleged collaborators", often publicly, without even a semblance of a due process of law or trial. An issue which is described as being of little consequence to World opinion, which prefers to concentrate on alleged Israel wrongdoings.

Also relating to "human rights" the book investigates the UNHCR and what it describes as a substantive assault upon Israel, quoting the vast percentage of it's resolutions being against Israel which is the only nation to be subject to an entire agenda EVERY year. By comparison the book shows that the UNHCR has never passed a resolution against states such as Syria, China, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Chad, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen or Zimbabwe, all of which are depicted as committing gross and systematic human rights abuses.

Another disturbing issue addressed is that in chapter 29 of society's growing willingness to attach what is described as a "moral equivalence between Palestinian terrorism & Israeli responses to terrorism." A parallel issue also being addressed is the alleged "moral equivalence" between Palestinians casualties sustained during acts of violence/terrorism against Israeli targets and the Israeli casualties sustained amongst innocent civilians just going about their daily lives.

The Balfour Declaration is also studied & the promise of a Jewish homeland in then "Palestine" and how the British detached 80% of the original area and created an Arab State in the land with a Palestinian majority named Transjordan. (An Arab emirate which the book describes as demanding the total exclusion of all Jews). The book illustrates how this left the Jews with only a small remaining area, which the UN saw fit to divide further between the Jews and the "Palestinian Arabs" at a later date. Something which the book describes the Jews as still being prepared to accept, whilst the Arabs rejected even this offer.

The allegations of Israel being a "racist state" are also examined and dismissed. Parallel attention is also paid to every other "State" in the area, including the Palestinian Authority which is described as having an officially established religion (Islam), discriminating both in law and in fact against non-Muslims, especially Jews. Chapter 21 contrasting Israel as a secular state which is religiously/racially pluralistic, allowing freedom of religion for all, quoting neighbouring Jordan as just one regional example as having a law explicitly prohibiting Jews from citizenship.

Reference is also made to what are depicted as the "far superior" territorial claims of the Tibetans, Kurds, Basques, Chechens, Turkish Armenians & other stateless groups who pursue their own homeland. The claims of these groups described as being leap-frogged in terms of World attention due to the Palestinian murder of thousands of innocent people. Groups like the Tibetans never having resorted to violence and others only spasmodically. Yet, in what the book describes as "repeatedly rewarding Palestinian terrorism", the UN has accorded the PLO far greater recognition than any other stateless group which has not resorted to terrorism.


THE CASE FOR ISRAEL by Alan Dershowitz   September 2, 2003
Bernard J. Shapiro (USA)
198 out of 316 found this review helpful

THE CASE FOR ISRAEL by Alan Dershowitz
Reviewed by Bernard J. Shapiro

Alan Dershowitz is widely respected as one our nation's most brilliant
Professors of Law (Harvard University) and defense attorney. His has a
resolute and unshakable belief in the liberties granted to Americans in the
Bill of Rights and is ready to defend them. These qualities make him an
ideal defender of Israel.

Israel faces an onslaught of anti-Semitic propaganda generated by the
Islamic/Arab nations and joined by both the Fascist Right and Extreme Left
in Europe, the US, the UN and many other nations from Africa to the Far
East. Dershowitz organizes his book like a good defense attorney organizes
his case. There are 32 chapters in his book representing the 32 major
accusations or slanders against Israel. He presents each in the following
order: the accusation, the accuser, the reality and finally the proof. This
format is easily understood by any reader and performs an immeasurable
service to the defense of Israel's reputation in a world full of hostility
and distorted hatred toward it.

There are many places in the book where Dershowitz interjects his own
philosophy and conception of what is best for Israel and the prospects for
"peace" in the Middle East. Examples of this can be found in his acceptance
of the following:

1. That a two-state solution is good
2. There is a real possibility for peace in the Middle East
3. That nations like Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia have accepted Israel in
their region
4. Israel must help create a Palestinian State by withdrawing from the
"occupied" territories
5. That Jewish residents of YESHA (Judaea, Samaria, & Gaza) are extremist
because they oppose withdrawal from their homes and the creation of a
Palestinian State.

Each of these positions could be soundly be rejected in an honest debate
based on intelligence/strategic analysis, geographic/hydrological analysis
and a study of Islamic/Arab history and psychology. This, of course, is not
the purpose of this book review. Despite differences, I still believe that
Dershowitz's book is extremely valuable and should be on every bookshelf of
persons interested in separating fact from anti-Semitism and Arab propaganda
from the history of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

The chapters include detailed discussion and analysis of history and
international law. Some examples are listed below:

1. Is Israel a Colonial, Imperialist State?
2. Did European Jews displace Palestinians?
3. Have the Jews Exploited the Holocaust? Or did the Arabs Join Forces with
the Nazis to Exterminate the Jews of Palestine and Europe?
4. Was the U.N. Partition Plan Unfair to Palestinians?
5. Did Israel Create the Arab Refugee Problem and Who Has Prevented Its
Solution?
6. Did Israel Start the Six-Day War?
7. Has Israel Engaged in Genocide against Palestinian civilians?
8. Is Targeted Assassination of Terrorist Leaders Unlawful?
9. Is There a Moral Equivalence between Palestinian Terrorist and Israeli
Responses?

10. Why Do So Many Jews and Even Israelis Side with the Palestinians?

Remember there are 32 (not 10) of these chapters and this is what makes this
book so unique in its defense of Israel. Dershowitz concludes with a concept
that the Israel is "the Jew among the nations." In other words the
anti-Semites look at Israel as a macrocosm of "the Jews" they hate, fear
and wish to destroy. Other writers have used this analogy, but Dershowitz
carries it much further with his astute analysis and historical
presentation.

I hope readers of this review will look past any ideological differences
with Dershowitz and take advantage of this excellent book as a necessary
preparation to defend Israel against its many accusers.

====================
Bernard J. Shapiro is the Executive Director of the Freeman Center For
Strategic Studies <[website]> and editor of its monthly Internet magazine,
THE MACCABEAN ONLINE <[website]>
and editor of its daily news and commentary broadcast freemanlist.


Buyer Beware   September 7, 2005
Jeffrey A. Leib (New York, NY)
72 out of 99 found this review helpful

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.


A Light of Truth   September 15, 2003
66 out of 93 found this review helpful

Dershowitz unveils the "Big Lies" that seem to permeate so much of the world's perception of the world's only Jewish state. This book tears away the mantle of rationality and respectability shrouding so much of the anti-semitism that is leveled at Israel. ... A Must Read for anyone concerned about human rights, justice, and the right of this oasis of democracy and civilization to exist.


An eloquent defense of a worthy ally   March 13, 2004
64 out of 88 found this review helpful

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.