Making David into Goliath. Joshua Muravchik
Praise for Making David into Goliath
“Part polemic, part intellectual history, this thoughtful and timely study. . . . provides a nuanced and illuminating guide to the ideological developments that have led many on the left to detest Israel.”
—Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal
“. . . meticulously researched. . . . beautifully written”
—Linda Chavez, New York Post
“An essential book”—Richmond Times Dispatch (editorial)
“Compelling”—Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe
“. . . timely, clear and comprehensive”
—Gary Rosenblatt, Editor and Publisher, The Jewish Week
“an illuminating analysis”—Melanie Phillips, The Jewish Chronicle
“A guide for those perplexed by the concerted effort to demonize and delegitimize Israel.”
—Max Eden, Washington Times
“First-rate.”—Tibor Kraus, Jerusalem Report
“. . . learned, philosophically powerful, argumentatively persuasive and politically significant. It makes for an exciting and essential read for anyone who cares about Israel’s survival.”
—Martin Peretz, former editor-in-chief, The New Republic
“Compelling, thoughtful, and highly readable . . . Muravchik is not an apologist for Israel or the mistakes it has made, but he is an advocate for fairness and balance—and for one having one set of standards to judge Israel and its neighbors. Rarely has a book been more timely.”
—Ambassador Dennis Ross, Middle East envoy and chief peace negotiator under President George H. W. Bush and President Bill Clinton
“In . . . rich and fascinating detail, [Muravchik] has produced one of the very best books ever written on the ongoing war the Arab/Muslim world has been waging against Israel since the day it came into existence.”
—Norman Podhoretz, former editor of Commentary, 1960–1995, and author of Why Are Jews Liberals?
“At once impassioned and clear-headed, this abundantly-researched discussion of Israel’s decline in world public opinion is necessary reading for all who care about this highly vulnerable country.”
—Philip K. Jason, Jewish Book World
“As conventional armies once threatened Israel’s borders and terrorists its civilian population, so, too, do those opposed to Israel’s existence now endanger its legitimacy. Joshua Muravchik makes a crucial contribution to our understanding of this grave threat and strengthens our ability to defend against it.”
—Ambassador Michael Oren, former Israeli ambassador to the United States
“An indispensable history of the New Left’s embrace of the Palestinians as the prize exemplar of a revolutionary Third World people [by] a writer of granular clarity.”
—Tom Wilson, Commentary
“The campaign to delegitimize Israel is a call to arms, a danger . . . If things were ordered rationally, Making David into Goliath would stop that campaign dead in its tracks.”
—David Pryce-Jones, National Review
“A thorough and illuminating analysis of the changing Western attitudes towards Israel, this book prompts the reader to ponder the larger question of how political judgments are made, influenced, and colored by non-rational, emotional factors. It reminds us that these judgments . . . have influential moral components.”
—Paul Hollander, Society
“A powerful indictment of the West’s serial moral failures regarding Israel and the Middle East conflict.”
—Sol Stern, Mosaic
“. . . the best source available to show readers how and why Israel is seen as a victimizer and oppressor . . .”
—Ronald Radosh, The Weekly Standard
“Excellent. . . . Thoroughly researched, it provides not only a reliable history of Europe’s shameful desertion of Israel but a persuasive analysis of its most critical factors. . . . [including a] powerful account of the way in which the new political trends came to be incorporated in academic and intellectual spheres.”
—Hillel Fradkin, The American Interest
“Rigorous and well-researched. . . . Muravchik’s explanation is admirably multi-faceted, highlighting the role of terrorism, European pusillanimity in the face of it, the Orientalist shift within academia, and Israel’s own mistakes. . . . Powerful.”
—Michael Allen, Fathom
“Thorough and important. . . . The historical details, of which Muravchik is a master, tickle our memories and restore the truth of many of Israel’s positions.”
—Shoshana Bryen, inFocus
“Remarkable . . . lays out the best liberal pro-Israel arguments . . . The very arguments raging today against Israel . . . are all discussed and masterfully defeated.”
—Elder of Ziyon blog
© 2014, 2015 by Joshua Muravchik
Preface © 2015 by Joshua Muravchik
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.
First American edition published in 2014 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax exempt corporation.
Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
First paperback edition published in 2015.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGUED THE HARDCOVER EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Muravchik, Joshua.
Making David into Goliath: how the world turned against Israel / Joshua Muravchik.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59403-740-5 (ebook)
1. Arab-Israeli conflict. 2. Arab-Israeli conflict—Public opinion. 3. Public opinion—United States. 4. Israel—Politics and government—Foreign public opinion. 5. Israel—Politics and government—Foreign public opinion, American. 6. Arab-Israeli conflict—Influence. I. Title.
DS119.7.M844 2014
956.9405’4—dc23
2013045687
For Isaiah, Aviv, Gabriel, Shai, Aaron, Erez, Ariel, and Quinn. May the Lord bless you and protect you.
Contents
Acknowledgments