Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel

by Joshua Muravchik

During the Six Day War of 1967, polls showed that Americans favored the Israelis over the Arabs by overwhelming margins. In Europe, support for Israel ran even higher. In the United Nations Security Council, a British resolution essentially gave Israel the terms of peace it sought and when the Arabs and their Soviet supporters tried to override the resolution in the General Assembly, they fell short of the necessary votes.

Fast forward 40 years and Israel has become perhaps the most reviled country in the world. Although Americans have remained constant in their sympathy for the Jewish state, almost all of the rest of the world treats Israel as a pariah.

What caused this remarkable turnabout? Making David into Goliath traces the process by which material pressures and intellectual fashions reshaped world opinion of Israel. Initially, terrorism, oil blackmail, and the sheer size of Arab and Muslim populations gave the world powerful inducements to back the Arab cause. Then, a prevalent new paradigm of leftist orthodoxy, in which class struggle was supplanted by the noble struggles of people of color, created a lexicon of rationales for taking sides against Israel. Thus, nations can behave cravenly while striking a high-minded pose in aligning themselves on the Middle East conflict.

Genres: Israel, Nonfiction, History, Politics, Middle East, Jewish, War

296 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 2014

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have often wondered how from being supported by almost the entire world (except for the Arab/Muslim world and the Soviet bloc) including the non-Stalinist left, which saw the justice of Israel;s cause and why Israel needs to survive , Israel has become across the world a victim of such bottomless and unrelenting hate across the world including by powerful interest groups, the United Nations, the world mainstream media, the EU, third world regimes, churches, and almost the entire left. Today Palestinian privilege means Palestinians can bully little Jewish children , attack Jewish babies in strollers, murder Jewish parents in front of kids, send rockets to Israel civilians and still be regarded as the victim.
In this pivotal and insightful, penetrating and hard hitting work, Joshua Muravchik explains.
In his introduction the author refers to the perfidious 2009 Goldstone Commission was unjustly accused of crimes against humanity in Operation Cast Lead , an operation in 2008/2009 to prevent Hamas from launching rockets at civilian Israeli targerts (including schools) and to prevent Hamas plans for a mega attack on Israel's civilian populace.
the phrase 'crimes against humanity' which was invented at the Nuremberg trials into Nazi atrocities.

As Muravchik points out "The moment underlined a dramatic change in international opinion that would have seemed unthinkable a few decades earlier. Little more than forty years had elapsed since the underdog Israel had fought a six day war against it's Arab neighbours in which the Western world had cheered for it's victory...But by 2009 this sympathy seemed a distant memory in the United Kingdom and the rest of Western Europe , and the United Nations was arrayed overwhelmingly against Israel" the UN General Assembly had gone so far as to support terrorist attacks against Israel's population as 'legitimate resistance'

"In short the 'global community had stamped Israel as an outcast. what had happened in the intervening decades to occasion such a dramatic turnaround?"

The first reason is that the Arab world which has always been explicitly homicidal it its aims towards Israel and thoroughly infused with genocidal rhetoric , is no longer seen as the massive axis threatening tiny Israel but now the 'Palestinian cause' has become widely sympathized with and is an extremely 'progressive' and fashionable cause.
Israel has certainly gained the ability to defend itself and has become a military power as a result and the Palestinians have suffered casualties but however much they are outgunned and however much they might be suffering heavier casualties. They are the aggressors, they are the ones who have been attempting genocide against Israel's population for nearly a century. While Israel has always engaged in defensive measures and targeted terror networks, the Arabs have always aimed at murder of Israel's civilian population (often specifically (and they make no bones about this targeting women and children)
This is one sided war-only one side the Palestinians and Muslim world want this war.
What has changed the paradigm to a large degree has been the change whereby the left abandoned class struggle for supporting the 'noble struggles' of dark skinned third world people against the demonized West (particularly whites) Third worlders can do no wrong (unless they aligned with the West) in this world view and are always the victims. The White Westerners are the epitome and root of all evil in the world
(West vs the Rest) Israel (though half it's Jewish population are dark skinned and originate from the Middle east and North Africa, are seen as Western and White and therefore evil and the Palestinians are seen as noble dark skinned oppressed victims.

A current example of this anti-white racism is how left wing feminists who historically campaigned against rape and the right of women to dress as they pleased now defend Muslim migrants in Europe in their rape jihad against European women and girls and even go so far as to say the victims are at fault for not dressing in a way that 'provokes' the Muslim migrants.
This world view has also led the international left to support some of the cruelest and even genocidal tyrannies of modern times such as the Islamic Republic of Iran, North Korea, Sudan of Omar al Bashir, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe , Saddam Hussein's genocide of the Kurds and Communist China's suppression of Tibet.
Chapter One takes us from the Balfour Declaration of 1917 to the 1967 Independence War and covers the time 'When Israel Was Admired (Almost All Around)
Chapter Two how the Arab cause became 'Palestinian' and 'progressive'
"No longer was it Israel versus the Arabs. Now it was Israel versus the homeless Palestinians. David had become Goliath"
The Palestinians after realizing they could never win militarily alone launched a two pronged strategy of terror and the greatest propaganda machine since the Third Reich (perhaps even greater as it is more widespread and global)
"Now however a critical makeover had been achieved No longer did Israel enjoy the public relations gifts of opponents who were collaborators of Hitler and Goebbels , now they faced the comrades of such chic ro
manticized figures as Che Guevara and ho Chi Minh. Not only had David become Goliath but on the other side the frog had become a prince"

The book explains in successive chapters about the use of terrorism by the Palestinians and their left wing fellow travelers, the use of the Arab world's oil weapon to pressure the world against Israel, the Arab takeover of the United Nations and how it became a body determined to destroy Israel.
How under the malignant influence of Austria's execrable Jewish-born Chancellor Bruno Kreisky the Socialist International was turned against Israel, and how 'Edward Said conquers academia for Palestine'

The book has chapter on Israel's own internal political culture and in Chapter Eight 'On the Wrong side of the Left's New Paradigm, deals with the International Solidarity Movement which supports the killing of Israeli civilians and refuses to work with even Israel left wing groups.
Their poster girl Rachel Corrie (killed with interfering with an Israeli anti-terror operation ) herself showed scant compassion for Israeli victims of terror.

The author delves into the world of Jews who nurse a pathological hatred of all things Israeli including such evil and malignant figures as academic Norman Finkelstein (every Nazi's favourite Jew) and 'UN Human Rights Council 'Special Raconteur on Israel's violations' and Princeton law professor Richard Falk who supported the Islamic Republic of Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini and today describes Israelis as Nazis and praises suicide bombings as legitimate resistance'
Chapter eleven entitled Israel in the Dock describes the pillorying, demonization and delegitimization of Israel in the wake of the so called second intifada of 2000-2005
How Israel has even been brought to trial in the International Criminal court in the Hague for a purely defensive measure - the Security Fence built by Israel after 1000 of her people were murdered in terror attacks on buses, religious ceremonies (such as the 2002 Netanya Pesach Seder) , discotheques, pizza parlous and Jewish children shot to death in their homes The implication being Israel has no right at all to defend herself against terror. by any means at all

The author describes the sick irony of how Israel is consigned by the world left to darkness and villainy even though according to the left's nominal values such as freedom, democracy , tolerance of religious racial and sexual diversity and social justice Israel is among the world's best and it's enemies rank among the worst.
In his conclusion the author describes how the demonization, delegitimization, isolation and onslaught against Israel imperils its existence and puts its six million Jews at risk of a second holocaust
'Should Israel's enemies succeed the result would be a second Holocaust. This would be a tragedy of unspeakable proportions for the Jews
but not only for them. The world would have lost one of it's most creative countries and the devastation of the Jewish people would cause incalculable harm to the spiritual life of the West and perhaps beyond"
This remarkable book is vital reading for anyone who wishes to know why and how Israel has gone from being one of the most admired countries in the world to one of the most reviled and the total injustice of this. Every decent person in the world will stand by Israel in her hour of need and tell those who mean her harm "Stop bullying Israel! Israel will not become one more Islamic state!"

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best thing I've read in a long time about the Arab-Israeli conflict. At the time of the Six Day War (1967), Israel had enormous support and sympathy--from academics, European nations, labor, Socialists, civil rights leaders, churches, Leftists, peace advocates, journalists. Today, that support has not only fallen away, but been replaced by vitriolic hostility and demonization of Israel, even as its very existence is threatened by surrounding enemies almost daily.
How did this happen? That's what this book attempts to answer, going one by one through the above groups and more. It's a "how it happened" more than a "why it happened," especially when exploring the unprecedented hatred toward Israel expressed by many Jews and Israelis themselves--the "new historians" and other academics. Yoram Hazony notes this as a phenomenon with "no parallel in history"--that is, a huge segment of Israel's intelligentsia "identifying with people openly committed to our annihilation." For the "why" of this self-hatred, one needs the expertise of others besides historians-- see The Oslo Syndrome, by Harvard psychiatry professor Kenneth Levin-- but for clarification of the historical trends of the last several decades leading to Israel's isolation of today, this volume was quite superb.

[Kim Calhoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a deep read on the change of opinion about Israel from 1948 until today.

[Laila · Rating 5 out of 5]

This turned out to be an absorbing and sobering read.
I like the way the author presents his case as to how the world turned against Israel.
What's in this book support my opinion that the UN is a corrupt international entity that no longer functions for the good of all its members and obviously susceptible to manipulation by those who know how to play the system and there's nothing one can do about it if one is in minority. The UN is in dire need of an overhaul that will put in place a system of check and balance that is practical and effective to ensure it's free from abuse of power and functions the way it should.
There's a clever bugger (sorry couldn't recall his name) who said that Europe had lost it's way back in WWI and I've to agree with him based on what took place during WWII and also what's happening today throughout Europe that indicates Europe lack leadership and vision. Europe no longer stand up for truth, good will and what is just but instead easily intimidated by rouge forces and easily manipulated by clever propaganda particularly against Israel. (From slightly different angle but complimentary nonetheless read Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam).
Watch out for NGOs.
There's a solution for Arab-Israeli conflict but the Arabs could never bring themselves to accept that the Jews are there to stay and as Israel continue to proper economically the deeper the resentment are because they can never measure up.
There's a lot one can discuss from this book and before you know it, it turns into an essay but I am not going to do that.
Here's what really bug me: What's up with Jews who at some point in their lives turned into self-hating Jews and then saw the need to channeled this self-loathing into a crusade against fellow Jews and Israel, allowing themselves to be the enablers for the enemies knowing full well that their sole purpose is to seek the annihilation of the Jews as people and Israel from existence. Why?

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Appreciated the perspective and insight into how it has come to be that Israel is so often seen as "the aggressor" in mainstream media today. Took me a little while to get through, as it's reading that requires frequent thought and mental acuity, but well worth the read. I would recommend to anyone that has an interest in a greater understanding of world politics in what is ostensibly the center of civilization.

[Ido · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on how Israel has gone from the underdog that was cheered by the left and the West to being a vilified, maligned country that has been characterized as a greater threat to world peace than Iran or North Korea. Joshua Muravchik details how the Arab and Muslim world used oil and their defacto numerical superiority in the UN to slander and malign Israel over the past 50 years since the Six Day War. In addition he details how the left in Europe and the US as well as in the broader academic community have joined themselves at the hip with the Arab and Muslim world in their denigration of Israel and in attacking it wherever they can - media, political arena and social arena. It's rather chilling to see how this is a coordinated effort by these groups to destroy the one stable, democratic, and free country in the Middle East. He does an amazing job of debunking all of the claims by the left and the Arab and Muslim world in their claims against Israel. What's most distressing is how Jews in the West have fallen for these slanderous statements made by the left and their Arab and Muslim allies and have fallen lock-step in accusing Israel of the most heinous crimes. All the while - the UN has devolved into a useless, feckless organization who seems more intent on destroying a sovereign nation and smearing it as much as possible with false allegations of human rights violations while turning a blind eye to other countries who are real violators of human rights - women's right, gay rights, and indigenous rights.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The title basically says it all: Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel. In the first couple of decades after the establishment of Israel it was attacked by its neighbors who had overwhelming sizes of population and military. The odds were definitely not in its favor. This resulted in sympathy and general support among non-middle eastern countries for Israel as the underdog. But after Israel successfully defended itself and actually gained significant territory as a result of each engagement, the surrounding powers changed tactics. They began using their oil money and control of oil pricing to intimidate non-middle eastern countries into supporting their anti Israel agenda or at least remaining neutral in order to isolate Israel from the world community. The UN General Assembly added more members that had been former colonies that identified more with the Islamist, Communist, anti Israel block to constantly pass measures condemning Israel, more than any other nation. Another major factor in changing world opinion against Israel is the use of the Palistinans to provoke and attack Israel creating photo ops and anti Israel propaganda even comparing the Israelis to Nazis and fascists because Israel was powerful and the Palestinians were portrayed as freedom fighters, thus turning David into Goliath. This was an interesting read with a lot of behind the headlines facts that were frustrating to read but also required to understanding the dynamics at play in the region and the politics of the UN.

[Lina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought parts of this were interesting--particularly the chapter about the UN Human Rights Council, but much of the book was hard to focus on so distracted was I by the sounds of axes grinding.

[Meilech · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you want some nuance about the Israeli Arab conflict, i would highly recommend this.

[Cliff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating book about how the public perception of Israel and conflict in the Middle East has changed over time, and, to a lesser extent, how that perception has formed how events have changed.

It should come as no great surprise to the casual observer what has happened, Israel went from being recognized by the United Nations to being condemned as inherently racist by the same organization, for the same reason, in less than 30 years, for example. Yet it is far more than a single problem. Muravchik deconstructs how the perception has changed in the domestic politics of many countries, how it has changed in the media, how it has changed at the UN, and how it has changed in the academy. All of them are interrelated, of course.

I won't spent time here reiterating his analysis and conclusion, you'd be better to read the book. But I will say that, in 2012, a platform amendment supporting Israel was inserted into the Democratic party platform by party elites over the howls of most of the convention goers. If it had actually been put up to a fair vote, it would have failed. This is a massive sea-change in domestic American politics in less than two decades. Muravchick would make the case that the perception, more than the reality of the situation, has changed in the intervening years. I think he's right, but even if not, you owe it to yourself to hear his case. Because this sort of change will have major effects on our foreign policy going forward.

[Barry Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely essential reading if you want to understand the conflict in the Middle East

This book explains clearly why it is that support for Israel around the world has been weak even though Israel upholds the values of the Western World and its enemies represent the antithesis of those values. Unless the world wakes up and sees reality for what it is, that Israel is not the enemy but rather that it should be supported, the world will be committing moral suicide and the world will become a far more ugly place.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for anyone interested in Israel and events in the Middle East. How this small nation continues to stand against all odds and incredible double standards can only be explained through a biblical lens, in my view. That is not, however, the point of the book--rather it simply recounts the events and political realities which have confronted the Jewish people in that land since nationhood in 1948. Fascinating to the end. I will read news accounts in a different way after reading this book. Highly recommended.

[Chaimpesach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another reviewer said that this book was interesting but distracted due to the author's axe-grinding. I agree - it is an enjoyable read and informative, but reads less like a book and more like a very long and disparately connected series of essays. That said, it was enjoyable. The chapters on the UN and Bruno Kreisky are most interesting I would say.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, illuminating, infuriating

[daniel dirnfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book of how israel have striked back in the when least expected.