A book certain to fan the flames of a seemingly unquenchable fire.
A controversial manifesto against the one-state, two-peoples approach to peace in the Middle East.
Since 1950, Israel has had a Law of Return, granting Jews the right of Israeli citizenship. The Palestinians, however, want to have a Right of Return—not to their own country, but into the State of Israel. Schwartz, a one-time correspondent for Haaretz, and Wilf, a former Labor MP, count themselves among peace-inclined Israelis on the political left. However, they mount a vigorous, methodical argument against such a Palestinian Right of Return. Their disillusionment with the process begun at Camp David and came with the realization that the Palestinian leadership did not want the two-state solution but instead demanded a "right to return" to what is now Israel and form a political majority. “We no longer want to throw the Jews in the sea,” they quote one Fatah official as saying, “but ‘to live together’ ”—shorthand, the authors hold, for “one state, with no right of self-determination for the Jews.” The authors argue that the majority of Palestinians are no longer refugees properly speaking, as they were after the partition of 1948, but instead citizens of neighboring states as well as Germany and the U.S. “In Jordan,” they write, “there exists a situation unlike anywhere else in the world, whereby citizens of a state, most of whom were born in that state, have lived there their entire lives…are designated as refugees from a different state.” Even so, the UN gives refugee status to descendants of displaced Palestinians, and by supporting the agency that issues such a designation, the authors write, the West tacitly endorses the Palestinian goal of a wholly Arab nation “from the River to the Sea.” For this reason, they charge, the Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) should be dismantled.
A book certain to fan the flames of a seemingly unquenchable fire.Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-25276-0
Page Count: 304
Publisher: All Points/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 25, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.
Known for her often contentious perspectives, New York Times opinion writer Weiss battles societal Jewish intolerance through lucid prose and a linear playbook of remedies.
While she was vividly aware of anti-Semitism throughout her life, the reality of the problem hit home when an active shooter stormed a Pittsburgh synagogue where her family regularly met for morning services and where she became a bat mitzvah years earlier. The massacre that ensued there further spurred her outrage and passionate activism. She writes that European Jews face a three-pronged threat in contemporary society, where physical, moral, and political fears of mounting violence are putting their general safety in jeopardy. She believes that Americans live in an era when “the lunatic fringe has gone mainstream” and Jews have been forced to become “a people apart.” With palpable frustration, she adroitly assesses the origins of anti-Semitism and how its prevalence is increasing through more discreet portals such as internet self-radicalization. Furthermore, the erosion of civility and tolerance and the demonization of minorities continue via the “casual racism” of political figures like Donald Trump. Following densely political discourses on Zionism and radical Islam, the author offers a list of bullet-point solutions focused on using behavioral and personal action items—individual accountability, active involvement, building community, loving neighbors, etc.—to help stem the tide of anti-Semitism. Weiss sounds a clarion call to Jewish readers who share her growing angst as well as non-Jewish Americans who wish to arm themselves with the knowledge and intellectual tools to combat marginalization and defuse and disavow trends of dehumanizing behavior. “Call it out,” she writes. “Especially when it’s hard.” At the core of the text is the author’s concern for the health and safety of American citizens, and she encourages anyone “who loves freedom and seeks to protect it” to join with her in vigorous activism.
A forceful, necessarily provocative call to action for the preservation and protection of American Jewish freedom.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13605-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2019
A heartfelt if somewhat unsurprising view of old age by the former president. Carter (Living Faith, 1996, etc.) succinctly evaluates the evolution and current status of federal policies concerning the elderly (including a balanced appraisal of the difficulties facing the Social Security system). He also meditates, while drawing heavily on autobiographical anecdotes, on the possibilities for exploration and intellectual and spiritual growth in old age. There are few lightning bolts to dazzle in his prescriptions (cultivate family ties; pursue the restorative pleasures of hobbies and socially minded activities). Yet the warmth and frankness of Carter’s remarks prove disarming. Given its brevity, the work is more of a call to senior citizens to reconsider how best to live life than it is a guide to any of the details involved.
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1998
ISBN: 0-345-42592-8
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1998
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