The Case Against Israel's Enemies: Exposing Jimmy Carter and Others Who Stand in the Way of Peace

Alan M. Dershowitz

Language: English

Publisher: Wiley

Published: Sep 28, 2008

Description:

About the Author

Alan Dershowitz , the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, is one of the country's foremostappellate lawyers and a distinguished defender of individual liberties. He appears frequently on television and has contributed articles to the New York Times and other newspapers and magazines. His many books include the New York Times bestsellers The Case for Israel and Chutzpah as well as Blasphemy , The Case for Peace , Preemption , Finding Jefferson , and I s There a Right to Remain Silent?: Coercive Interrogation and the Fifth Amendment after 9/11.

Product Description

The New York Times bestselling author of The Case for Israel takes on the greatest threats faced by Israel today

In addition to Hamas, which provoked the recent war and Gaza with its rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, Alan Dershowtiz argues that Israel's most dangerous enemies include Jimmy Carter and other western leaders who would delegitimize Israel as an apartheid regime subject to the same fate as white South Africans; Israel's academic enemies, led by professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, who would accuse supporters of Israel of dual loyalty and indeed disloyalty to America; and Iran, led by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which threatens Israel by its development of nuclear weapons, which it has publicly threatened to use against the Jewish state.

  • Persuasively argues that Jimmy Carter and other enemies of Israel are also enemies of peace, imperiling not only Israel but the rest of the world
  • Sparks controversy and lively discussion across the entire spectrum of opinion on the Middle East
  • Passionate and outspoken: "As always when Israel needs to be defended . . . Alan Dershowitz speaks with great passion and personal courage."-Elie Wiesel

Alan Dershowitz is at his outspoken, thought-provoking best in The Case Against Israel's Enemies , changing both the tone and the focus of the debate about Israel's adversaries at a time when the future existence of Israel is increasingly imperiled.

From the Inside Flap

Jimmy Carter declares that Israel is guilty of apartheid; Professors Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer proclaim that the "Israel lobby" is a huge, monolithic organization whose only purpose is to manipulate American foreign policy in Israel's favor; Noam Chomsky and Richard Falk compare Israeli policies and actions to those of Nazi Germany. Are these well-known and respected figures honest critics working toward peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis alike? Or are they peddling lies, half-truths, and false accusations in the guise of serious diplomacy and scholarship? Israel has never suffered from a shortageof enemies, but these men and others provide a patina of respectability to even the most radical and unfounded accusations against the Jewish state.

In this book, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz confronts these foes head-on. Writing with passion and power, he challenges the claims and actions of those he views to be Israel's most dangerous enemies in the West, including Carter, Walt, Mearsheimer, Chomsky, and Pat Buchanan, as well as British academic unions that are seeking to boycott Israeli scholars and researchers, and the Presbyterian Church, which has launched a divestiture campaign against Israel.

With the precision of a first-class scholar and the disciplined approach of an experienced attorney, Dershowitz presents his adversaries' statements in their own words and fully in context. He analyzes each charge and the facts that are presented to support it, along with contradictory facts that are conveniently left out of each accusation. He points out that Carter, for example, ignores the fact that 1.3 million Israeli citizens are Arabs who enjoy the rights and freedoms of other Israelis, and far more than they would have in any Arab country.

Dershowitz also takes on Israel's military enemies, including suicide bombers and those who incite them; Hamas, Hezbollah, and others who launch rockets against Israeli civilians while hiding behind their own civilians; and Iran with its nuclear weapons program. He points out that Israel poses no threat to any of these groups; if they were to lay down their weapons tomorrow, peace would ensue. Then he invites any fair-minded person to imagine what would happen if Israel were to do the same.

Filled with brilliant analysis, telling anecdotes, and startling revelations of the motives that drive many of Israel's most virulent detractors, The Case Against Israel's Enemies is compelling reading for anyone interested in current events or international affairs and a must-have for friends of Israel concerned about the future of the Jewish state.

From the Back Cover

"As always when Israel needs to be defended.... Alan Dershowitz speaks with great passion and personal courage."
— Elie Wiesel

"This is a compelling book that unmasks the dangerous revisionism that distorts the real Israel. Dershowitz debunks former President Jimmy Carter's apartheid analogy, Walt and Mearsheimer's canard of dual loyalty, the immorality of the British boycott of Israeli academics, and the bigotry of the anti-Israel hard left and right. He also assesses the existential threats against Israel and the options available to the Jewish state. A must-read for all who care about international justice and Israel's survival in a world of biased enemies."
—The Honorable Irwin CotlerMember of Parliament and former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada; Professor of Law (on leave from McGill University)

Praise for Alan Dershowitz:

"Dershowitz . . . knows how to construct an argument. . . . Especially effective at pointing to the hypocrisy of many of Israel's critics."
New York Times Book Review

Review

  • The explicit intent of this confrontational book is to intellectually engage prominent “enemies of Israel” in “the open marketplace of ideas.” Harvard law professor Dershowitz ( The Case for Israel ) begins with a vehement denunciation of his onetime friend Jimmy Carter, and he concludes with an appendix that systematically refutes many claims advanced in Carter’s book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. Though the former president receives Dershowitz’s most thorough criticism, the author also identifies and scrutinizes many other “enemies,” from Noam Chomsky and Patrick Buchanan to Hezbollah and the Iranian government. Dershowitz assumes the posture of a litigator, but his deep convictions and previous history with many of the book’s subjects lend a more personal tone to his critiques, as Dershowitz himself admits. Chapters on terrorism and Iran, which are less targeted at specific individuals, take a more effective philosophical and historical approach. Despite its stated goal of eliciting further debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict, this provocative book will likely appeal to sympathizers and alienate readers less disposed to its author’s positions. (Oct.) ( Publishers Weekly , August 25, 2008)

From Publishers Weekly

The explicit intent of this confrontational book is to intellectually engage prominent enemies of Israel in the open marketplace of ideas. Harvard law professor Dershowitz ( The Case for Israel ) begins with a vehement denunciation of his onetime friend Jimmy Carter, and he concludes with an appendix that systematically refutes many claims advanced in Carter's book Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. Though the former president receives Dershowitz's most thorough criticism, the author also identifies and scrutinizes many other enemies, from Noam Chomsky and Patrick Buchanan to Hezbollah and the Iranian government. Dershowitz assumes the posture of a litigator, but his deep convictions and previous history with many of the book's subjects lend a more personal tone to his critiques, as Dershowitz himself admits. Chapters on terrorism and Iran, which are less targeted at specific individuals, take a more effective philosophical and historical approach. Despite its stated goal of eliciting further debate on the Israel-Palestine conflict, this provocative book will likely appeal to sympathizers and alienate readers less disposed to its author's positions. (Oct.)
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Review

"As always when Israel needs to be defended... Alan Dershowitz speaks with great passion and personal courage."
—Elie Wiesel