The original printing of this book is rare and goes for too much money, which sadly means I had to read a 2025 reprint, no doubt spurred by the rabid pro-Palestine monkeys, and this reprint was poorly formatted and full of typos. I'm unsure if the original is like that, but if you do go to pick up this book avoid the 2025 edition. On top of the typos the cover (an edit of the Statue of Liberty with a kippah ) was garish and embarrassing.

All that aside, I think this is a very good book. The author makes a point of noting that this is a history of isolated geo-political incidents and ought not to be taken as a general history. It's well-sourced, taken mainly from official documents and FOIA requests.

It shows Israel's and America's policy in the Middle East to be essentially militaristic. At every opportunity, Israel, with the aid of America, broke ceasefires and peace agreements. Support for Israel was almost always militaristic in nature.

Israel had almost always been the bully, too. Portrayed in the media as the victim, Israel, during every conflict, outmanned and outgunned its Arab opponents. The media line that they were constantly under threat and only acting out of self-defence is a complete lie.

An important note was that this relationship was sorely one sided. The US ostensibly had and has nothing to gain from such support in the Middle East. It has, in fact, destabilised US relations with every state in the region, the UN and the USSR/Russia.

The Israelis also stole US uranium to produce nuclear weapons against every treaty and agreement for the time, and of course, the well-known USS Liberty incident.

Importantly, the author does note different factions within the Israeli government. Some were sincerely looking for peace in the region, but the militant elements obviously won out in the end. David Ben-Gurion and his cartoonishly evil-looking goon, Moshe Dayan, have done irreparable damage to the region, taken countless lives and made peace impossible, all the while staining the credibility and reputation of Israel.

Anyway eff Israel.

Taking sides

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Taking sides (1984)

Taking sides (1984)

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