In today’s world, mis­in­for­ma­tion, dis­in­for­ma­tion, and skewed facts about Israel abound. Now, more than ever, we need clear, accu­rate, infor­ma­tion about the Jew­ish peo­ple, the State of Israel, and the world that sur­rounds them. Jared Stone presents us with just such a resource. This book is both time­ly and time­less, pro­vid­ing us with a his­tor­i­cal record in a clear and engag­ing manner.

Impor­tant fig­ures in Jew­ish and Israeli his­to­ry are list­ed with brief sum­maries of their lives and accom­plish­ments, dates dur­ing which they lived, and the­mat­ic motifs which tie them togeth­er and high­light the impor­tance of each. We read a clear, inci­sive sum­ma­ry of the Jew­ish peo­ple from Abra­ham through the Tem­ple peri­ods, then the restruc­tur­ing of Jew­ish life in exile and per­ti­nent world events that influ­enced and affect­ed Jew­ish his­to­ry. Relent­less anti­semitism, the rise of Zion­ism, and the estab­lish­ment of the State of Israel, as well as its ongo­ing con­flict with its Arab neigh­bors are addressed, help­ing elu­ci­date many of the issues which are at the fore­front of cur­rent events today. The rise of Israel as an impor­tant polit­i­cal enti­ty and eco­nom­ic pow­er­house as well as a moral force res­cu­ing Jews in dis­tress world­wide spot­lights the sig­nif­i­cance of Israel on the world stage today.

Israel’s most recent con­flict, start­ing with the Octo­ber 7th sur­prise attack and its after­math is addressed in light of world pol­i­tics, Israel’s secu­ri­ty, and its efforts to ensure a ​“safer mid­dle east for all its inhab­i­tants.” A sec­tion of fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions is append­ed in an effort to address the mis­con­cep­tions which abound on the inter­net and in the pop­u­lar press. Ques­tions such as: ​“Is Zion­ism racist?” and ​“Is Israel an apartheid state?” as well as ques­tions about BDS, the Unit­ed States and its rela­tion­ship with Israel, and the plight of the Pales­tini­ans debunk wide­spread myths and set the record straight. This ques­tion-and-answer for­mat is effec­tive and use­ful in pre­sent­ing Israel’s case and pro­vides a com­pelling argu­ment demol­ish­ing care­ful­ly con­struct­ed attacks on Israel. A curat­ed list of ref­er­ences and rec­om­mend­ed read­ings is includ­ed to fur­ther deep­en and ampli­fy the read­er’s knowl­edge base. 

This book will be of val­ue to stu­dents of his­to­ry, and oth­ers want to know more about Israel and its place in today’s world.