The author is a renowned journalist, political scientist, and professor of journalism at New York University. He headed The New Republic magazine and is the author of four books. Named among the hundred “global thinkers” by Foreign Affairs, he is widely present in American media, particularly as an editor-at-large for Jewish Currents.
A practicing Jew of South African origin, he was raised within the ideology of National Judaism, a movement that integrates ritual aspects of traditional Judaism with Zionist ideology. A few years ago, he renounced Zionism and became a fierce critic of the segregation and injustice that characterize the Zionist state. He also changed his stance on the U.S. invasion of Iraq, which he had once ardently supported.
The book begins with a letter to a former friend in which Beinart admits that every time he enters his synagogue, he does not know how he will be received. Indeed, the fate of a modern, practicing, anti-Zionist Jew is not simple—neither for himself nor, especially, for his children who attend Jewish schools. It is easier for the ultra-Orthodox, for whom “Zionist” is a bad word, or for so-called unaffiliated Jews, who rarely go to synagogue. Beinart hopes that the break with his former friend—i.e., with mainstream Judaism—is not definitive and that “our journey together is not done” (p. 5).
However, calls to excommunicate anti-Zionists “from within the Jewish people” are becoming increasingly insistent. “In most of the Jewish world today, rejecting Jewish statehood is a greater heresy than rejecting Judaism itself. … We have built an altar and thrown an entire [Palestinian] society on the flames” (p. 102). The author sees the destruction of Gaza as a turning point in Jewish history, a moment imposing a moral judgment on the cruelty of Israeli Jews and those who encourage them to ignore all moral norms “in the name of survival“. “The false innocence, which pervades contemporary Jewish life, camouflages domination as self-defense.” (p. 10). He hopes to bring Jews back to their original calling:
“Except for a religiously observant minority, we no longer describe ourselves as a people chosen by God to follow laws engraved at Sinai. We instead describe ourselves as a people fated by history to perpetually face annihilation but, miraculously, to survive.” (p. 13)
For him, this new consciousness is a moral evasion that fuels the narrative of Jewish innocence (p. 14) and, consequently, erases the central concept of reward and punishment. This degeneration of Judaism has been visible for a long time. Beinart quotes Hannah Arendt who, although not a practicing Jew, concluded in 1963: “The greatness of our people was once that it believed in God. And now this people believes only in itself.” (p. 72-73).
As a result, “the problem with our communal story is not that it acknowledges the crimes we have suffered. The problem is that it ignores the crimes we commit” (p. 31). In the title of his book, Beinart focuses—without justifying Hamas’s attack—on what Israel has done after October 7, 2023. He recalls that the Palestinians of Gaza lived in an open-air prison, from which, as General Moshe Dayan had already observed in 1956, they could see their former homes now inhabited by the Israelis who had expelled them.
It is not religious beliefs but rather pain and personal resentment that motivate the violence of Hamas and other resistance groups. Beinart refers to several studies based on interviews with their leaders and members, which demonstrate that the violence suffered by Palestinians at the hands of Israelis is their primary motivation, later reinforced by religious and political considerations. But even when resistance is peaceful, it is quickly condemned by Israel and its supporters: “We demand that Palestinians produce Gandhis, and when they do, American Jewish organizations work to criminalize their boycotts and Israeli soldiers shoot them in the knees.” (p.49-50).
Drawing on his South African experience, Beinart cites Nelson Mandela, who, in 1964, stated that he could no longer preach nonviolence when the government used force against peaceful demands (p. 53). Citing various examples (Ireland, the American South, and, of course, South Africa), the author acknowledges that the ruling minority often perceives equality as an existential threat: “White South Africans were just as afraid of being thrown into the sea as Israeli Jews are now.” (p. 109). However, according to numerous studies, oppression fuels violence, whereas equal rights and the possibility of political change bring it to an end (p. 108-114).
Beinart’s historical account is sharp and documented. He explains that it was the expulsion of Palestinians by Zionist militias that triggered the 1948 war with Arab countries and that, consequently, it was not the war that caused their exodus—contrary to the myth perpetuated by Israeli hasbara (p. 20-28). Some comparisons with South Africa illustrate the nature of Jewish supremacy under Israeli control, particularly the justification of apartheid by “the right of the white nation to self-determination” (p. 24).
Although a large part of the book is dedicated to political and historical analysis, it lays the groundwork for powerful religious observations. Beinart paraphrases Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel:
“If we put down our amulets and look Gaza in the eye, we’ll never get its images out of our head. We’ll look at our prayer books, many of which include prayers for the [Israeli] army … and see Gaza’s burning, starving flesh. We’ll see it on the walls of our synagogues and Jewish Community Centers, at our Passover seders and Shabbat meals. The ground underneath us will grow unsteady.” (p. 69)
Beinart also dedicates an entire chapter to anti-Semitism and its Zionist instrumentalization. He presents statistics proving that Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students in the United States experience more violence than they commit (p. 94).
In criticizing the Zionist slogan “Israel’s right to exist“, Beinart recalls: “The legitimacy of a Jewish state – like the holiness of the Jewish people – is conditional on how it behaves. It is subject to law, not a law in and of itself.” (p. 100). He draws analogies between Gaza’s destruction and colonial wars (p. 65) but avoids calling Israeli destruction of Gaza a genocide.
Beinart frequently addresses Israel’s defenders with rational arguments and historical facts. However, he repeatedly emphasizes that they are unlikely to influence them since support for Israel has become a pillar of Jewish identity and faith for many: “Remove Jewish statehood from Jewish identity and, for many Jews around the world, it is not clear what is left.” (p. 107). Even those horrified by Gaza’s devastation argue that Israel has no choice—ein berera. Beinart is convinced that there is a choice: equal rights, which will liberate both the oppressed and the oppressors.
The book is brief but raises questions that go far beyond Judaism, doing so in a way that is accessible to non-experts. The style is fluid, reflecting the author’s journalistic experience. One might broaden the book’s title and ask how one can remain human after witnessing genocide unfold in real time on millions of screens. No one can say, “I didn’t know.”
