My mother is the only member of my maternal family, besides myself, who isn't a zionist. I've been anti-zionist since the first time I read anything about what's happening in Palestine, in the late '90s or early 2000s. It struck me as one of the most obvious cases settler colonialism imaginable, before I even knew what those words meant. In 2024 it feels like you have to be intentionally blind not to see it, but still, I figured I'd read a book so I could learn more about the history of the area.

This book was published in 2017, six years before the most blatant genocide since the holocaust. Zionists have weird memories these days: they remember biblical times (which may or may not have even happened), the holocaust, and October 7th; but seemingly nothing in between. The reality is a lot different though, and Pappe does a good job of explaining history while dismantling a few commonly believed myths. He admits in the introduction that it isn't a balanced book, but instead it's “yet another attempt to redress the balance of power on behalf of the colonized, occupied, and oppressed Palestinians,” and I appreciate that.

I'd love to write a long review, complete with a breakdown of each of the chapters, but who has time for that? I'll tell you my favorite myth-busting chapters though: “Palestine was an empty land,” “Zionism is Judaism,” and “the Oslo mythologies.” Of all the books I've read about that area of the world, this one has perhaps given me the most things to hold on to.

I would recommend this book for everyone, but I'm afraid the zionists have completely lost their minds. So many liberal zionists have been ruthless to Trump supporters over the past eight years for their inability to comprehend facts that go against their belief system, for their racism and xenophobia, and for their hate-backed anger. Now they are becoming the same people. If facts in their faces every day don't do anything to get them to be against genocide, then reading a book won't either. ( )

Quick yet dense 150 pages that act as a good introduction to this issue. I still have questions but I'm left feeling like I have a better basic grasp on the situation than I ever have. ( )

This book contains great information and I learned a lot. However, this reads like a college textbook and probably is used as one. I wasn't exactly prepared to read a textbook, so that affected my experience. I'll recommend it though. ( )

I've been holding off on reviewing this book for over a week now, because it frightens me to review this book, and it makes me feel ashamed not to review this book. Or rather, I feel shame at my own reluctance to review this book. I have already lost friends over the years even as I endeavored not to discuss these issues, and was pressed, forced finally, into telling my reluctant opinion. And then I was ostrascized for it.

What he says is in very great measure true. The modern State of Israel is not a democratically run state by the rules of Good Governance (especially given the uneven treatment of varying groups within the state, and the control of all life-cycle events and the Kotel by the Chief Rabbinate, which excludes most Jewish officials). Many things being done by the government are unethical and inexcusable, and the state of Israel does not speak for the Jewish people. And no one, these days to my knowledge, still claims that the land was empty at the time of the start of the Zionist movement. I may be wrong there, but I seem to think that it has been clear for years that British authorities were playing both sides against the middle during the Mandate period. Nor does anyone universally equate Zionism with Judaism, even if the majority of Jews declare as Zionists out of fear of where to go in the event of another Holocaust. Many, and that number is growing, Jews are speaking out as non-Zionists and advocating changes in the liturgy to reflect more universalist trends within Judaism (see J Street, [b:The First Jewish Catalog: A Do-It-Yourself Kit|1744496|The First Jewish Catalog A Do-It-Yourself Kit|Richard Siegel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441289745s/1744496.jpg|1742164] , and siddur [b:Siddur Birkat Shalom|22672889|Siddur Birkat Shalom|Havurat Shalom Siddur Project|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|42177290] by Havurat Shalom in Somerville, MA).

Yet, also, the idea he puts out that the Jews had multiple homelands is simply not so. And his chapter does not address this, but rather chronicles how the British pushed for a Jewish state in the Palestinian Mandate area even before the Ottoman empire lost it. This may be true, but negates the rejection of Jews all around the world during WWII.

I admit to being shocked by what he said about the 1967 war, and also about the Oslo accords. That left me disheartened and depressed, particularly as he also negates the possibility of a 2-state solution. What then is left? ( )

I've been holding off on reviewing this book for over a week now, because it frightens me to review this book, and it makes me feel ashamed not to review this book. Or rather, I feel shame at my own reluctance to review this book. I have already lost friends over the years even as I endeavored not to discuss these issues, and was pressed, forced finally, into telling my reluctant opinion. And then I was ostrascized for it.

What he says is in very great measure true. The modern State of Israel is not a democratically run state by the rules of Good Governance (especially given the uneven treatment of varying groups within the state, and the control of all life-cycle events and the Kotel by the Chief Rabbinate, which excludes most Jewish officials). Many things being done by the government are unethical and inexcusable, and the state of Israel does not speak for the Jewish people. And no one, these days to my knowledge, still claims that the land was empty at the time of the start of the Zionist movement. I may be wrong there, but I seem to think that it has been clear for years that British authorities were playing both sides against the middle during the Mandate period. Nor does anyone universally equate Zionism with Judaism, even if the majority of Jews declare as Zionists out of fear of where to go in the event of another Holocaust. Many, and that number is growing, Jews are speaking out as non-Zionists and advocating changes in the liturgy to reflect more universalist trends within Judaism (see J Street, [b:The First Jewish Catalog: A Do-It-Yourself Kit|1744496|The First Jewish Catalog A Do-It-Yourself Kit|Richard Siegel|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441289745s/1744496.jpg|1742164] , and siddur [b:Siddur Birkat Shalom|22672889|Siddur Birkat Shalom|Havurat Shalom Siddur Project|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|42177290] by Havurat Shalom in Somerville, MA).

Yet, also, the idea he puts out that the Jews had multiple homelands is simply not so. And his chapter does not address this, but rather chronicles how the British pushed for a Jewish state in the Palestinian Mandate area even before the Ottoman empire lost it. This may be true, but negates the rejection of Jews all around the world during WWII.

I admit to being shocked by what he said about the 1967 war, and also about the Oslo accords. That left me disheartened and depressed, particularly as he also negates the possibility of a 2-state solution. What then is left? ( )