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A review by books_ergo_sum
Ten Myths About Israel by Ilan Pappé
informative
reflective
5.0
Ten chapters. Ten myths. Less than 200 pages.
And the myths he challenged were:
1. Palestine was an empty land
2. The Jews were a people without a land
3. Zionism is Judaism (and criticism of Zionism is antisemitism)
4. Zionism is not colonialism
5. The Palestinians “voluntarily left” their homeland in 1948
6. The June 1967 War was a war of “no choice”
7. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East
8. The Oslo Accords were about peace, not increasing Israel’s colonial power
9. Hamas is to blame for attacks on Gaza
10. The two-state solution is the only way forward
I’d recommend this book to anyone.
But if you’re the kind of person who wants to understand dafuq is happening in Gaza yet you looked at some of the Chonky™️ nonfiction in this genre and said, “Babe, I can’t read this history book—the names, the dates, it’s not me!”
Then I especially recommend it for you.
Because this book is so argument-forward and so neatly organized into these ten chapters, that you don’t need to memorize who Yizhak Rabin or Ben Gurion are (though you can!) in order to understand the heart of the matter and what’s at stake.
This book came out in 2017 but both the audiobook and my library’s ebook copy had a Forward from 2024 so, super relevant? Check.
And the myths he challenged were:
1. Palestine was an empty land
2. The Jews were a people without a land
3. Zionism is Judaism (and criticism of Zionism is antisemitism)
4. Zionism is not colonialism
5. The Palestinians “voluntarily left” their homeland in 1948
6. The June 1967 War was a war of “no choice”
7. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East
8. The Oslo Accords were about peace, not increasing Israel’s colonial power
9. Hamas is to blame for attacks on Gaza
10. The two-state solution is the only way forward
I’d recommend this book to anyone.
But if you’re the kind of person who wants to understand dafuq is happening in Gaza yet you looked at some of the Chonky™️ nonfiction in this genre and said, “Babe, I can’t read this history book—the names, the dates, it’s not me!”
Then I especially recommend it for you.
Because this book is so argument-forward and so neatly organized into these ten chapters, that you don’t need to memorize who Yizhak Rabin or Ben Gurion are (though you can!) in order to understand the heart of the matter and what’s at stake.
This book came out in 2017 but both the audiobook and my library’s ebook copy had a Forward from 2024 so, super relevant? Check.