No one can deny that Israeli policies and politics create a flashpoint for divisiveness. However in his new book, The Case Against Israel’s Enemies, Alan Dershowitz demonstrates that the controversies surrounding the Jewish State have also given the uninformed, the shortsighted, and those lacking a conscience, an irresistible opportunity for exploitation. Self aggrandizement and career enhancement, Dershowitz argues, have become more important than facts and due diligence when it comes to all things Israel.
Using meticulous research articulated through sections that read as if they were legal briefs, Dershowitz lays bare not only the folly of Israel’s attackers, but their perverse motives as well. Jimmy Carter’s claim that Israel is an “apartheid state” is proven to be little more than a cowardly attempt to shore up a tattered legacy. Harvard professors Mearsheimer and Walt are shown to use discredited sources to make their sensationalistic claims — disparaging American Jews who support Israel— and thereby reach bestseller lists all over the world. Suicide bombers? Used by the politicians who order them into cafes and markets to forward their own agendas and solidify their power bases. And Iran? Ahmadinejad rails against Israel using outlandish propaganda in a barely concealed effort to divide the reasonable and try to conquer the region.
Alan Dershowitz is deft and damning. While carefully condoning reasoned criticism of Israeli policies backed by facts, he exposes those who employ slipshod or phony research to make their arguments and thereby enhance their ill-gotten celebrity. Appendix, author notes, index.
