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Hamas's Trap: Why Israel Has the Right to Defend Itself
The war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip is the most morally clear conflict in modern history. It pits an actual terrorist group that just engaged in the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust against a democratic country that protects citizens Jewish, Muslim and Christian.
The formula is Love Jews; love Israel. Hate Jews; hate Israel. Opposing Israeli action may not be antisemitism, but it sure does have a funny habit of backing the agenda of antisemites.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "Right now, there is no higher priority in Gaza than protecting civilians, surging humanitarian assistance and ensuring the security of those who provide it."
Of course, there is a higher priority for victory.
But America is no longer interested in victory.
It turns out that the alternative to an America confident in its own moral role—and an America willing to stand with its allies—is a world of chaos. We are now living in that world. And things will get much, much worse before the end of this era of moral vacillation and cowardice in the face of evil.
The formula is Love Jews; love Israel. Hate Jews; hate Israel. Opposing Israeli action may not be antisemitism, but it sure does have a funny habit of backing the agenda of antisemites.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "Right now, there is no higher priority in Gaza than protecting civilians, surging humanitarian assistance and ensuring the security of those who provide it."
Of course, there is a higher priority for victory.
But America is no longer interested in victory.
It turns out that the alternative to an America confident in its own moral role—and an America willing to stand with its allies—is a world of chaos. We are now living in that world. And things will get much, much worse before the end of this era of moral vacillation and cowardice in the face of evil.
119 pages, Paperback
Published July 24, 2024
2 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
About the author
Ben Shapiro
37 books2,517 followersBenjamin Shapiro was born in 1984 and entered UCLA at the age of 16, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in June 2004 with a BA in Political Science. He graduated Harvard Law School cum laude in June 2007. Shapiro was hired by Creators Syndicate at age 17 to become the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the U.S.
His columns are printed in major newspapers and websites including Townhall, ABCNews, WorldNet Daily, Human Events, FrontPage Mag, Family Security Matters, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Sun-Times, Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com, Arizona Republic, and Claremont Review of Books, among others. He has been the subject of articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Associated Press, and Christian Science Monitor; he has been quoted on "The Rush Limbaugh Show," "The Dr. Laura Show," at CBS News, in the New York Press, in the Washington Times, and in The American Conservative magazine, among many others.
The author of the national bestsellers, Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (WND Books, May 2004), Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (Regnery, June 2005), and Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (Thomas Nelson, 2008), Shapiro has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows around the nation, including "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "Fox and Friends" (Fox News), "In the Money" (CNN Financial), "DaySide with Linda Vester" (Fox News), "Scarborough Country" (MSNBC), "The Dennis Miller Show" (CNBC), "Fox News Live" (Fox News Channel), "Glenn Beck Show" (CNN), "Your World with Neil Cavuto" (Fox News) and "700 Club" (Christian Broadcasting Network), "The Laura Ingraham Show," "The Michael Medved Show," "The G. Gordon Liddy Show," "The Rusty Humphries Show," "The Lars Larson Show" (nationally syndicated), "The Larry Elder Show," The Hugh Hewitt Show," "The Dennis Prager Show," among others.
His columns are printed in major newspapers and websites including Townhall, ABCNews, WorldNet Daily, Human Events, FrontPage Mag, Family Security Matters, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Sun-Times, Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com, Arizona Republic, and Claremont Review of Books, among others. He has been the subject of articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Associated Press, and Christian Science Monitor; he has been quoted on "The Rush Limbaugh Show," "The Dr. Laura Show," at CBS News, in the New York Press, in the Washington Times, and in The American Conservative magazine, among many others.
The author of the national bestsellers, Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (WND Books, May 2004), Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (Regnery, June 2005), and Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (Thomas Nelson, 2008), Shapiro has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows around the nation, including "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "Fox and Friends" (Fox News), "In the Money" (CNN Financial), "DaySide with Linda Vester" (Fox News), "Scarborough Country" (MSNBC), "The Dennis Miller Show" (CNBC), "Fox News Live" (Fox News Channel), "Glenn Beck Show" (CNN), "Your World with Neil Cavuto" (Fox News) and "700 Club" (Christian Broadcasting Network), "The Laura Ingraham Show," "The Michael Medved Show," "The G. Gordon Liddy Show," "The Rusty Humphries Show," "The Lars Larson Show" (nationally syndicated), "The Larry Elder Show," The Hugh Hewitt Show," "The Dennis Prager Show," among others.
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January 5, 2026
On page 1, Ben says, without any evidence, that Palestinians (and NOT Israelis) use human shields. He conjectures w/o evidence Israel is under assault by a “Palestinian population largely interested in its destruction.” On page 2 he again conjectures saying “BOTH left and right agree” that Palestinians and Israelis have to stay separate; everyone I know on the Left believes in a single state solution – both living together in peace, just as they do in the US, which is theoretically Ben’s country. On the same page, Ben says the occupation of Palestinians “will remain permanent as long as they continue supporting terrorism” – the March of Great Return of 2018, neatly disproves that; it was the Palestinians doing exemplary Gandhi-style peaceful protest but Ben can’t mention that because that totally destroys his point. On page 3, Ben fear mongers about Iran and nukes, but won’t tell us how Israel has had nukes but pretends it doesn’t. He calls Iran “delusionally anti-Western and anti-Semitic” intentionally NOT telling his readers how Iranians rightfully hate the US for overthrowing Iran’s democratically elected leader in 1953 and installing the brutal dictatorship of the Shah despised by Iranians. And Iranians being against Israel’s illegal actions is NOT being anti-Semitic.
Then Ben calls Obama “a hardcore, anti-Israel fanatic” and “Jew hating”. But those who read, know war criminal Obama happily kissed Israel’s ass publicly dozens of times and EVEN obsequiously addressed AIPAC in 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2015. He even says Obama is surrounded by Israel haters, and he “always has” hated Israel. Sadly, Ben thinks his readers are incapable of basic fact checking. On page 6, Ben speculates that Muslims think “Passover matza” contains the “blood of non-Jewish children” and that “Iran is far from rational” even though Israel’s known list of war crimes against civilians is hundreds of times longer than Iran’s. On page 10, he intentionally conflates wanting Zionism to adhere to international law with the world directly fighting Judaism. On page 11, Ben repeats his canard that Hamas uses “women and children as human shields”. Everyone spend two minutes searching for video proof that Hamas uses human shields, then spend two minutes searching the same proof that Israel does what they are accusing. A search in Google video gets you LOTS of Israeli use of human shields and not ONE video proof of Hamas doing so. On page 12, Ben w/o evidence accuses even boring centrist CNN of having an “anti-Israel bias.” That’s like accusing Kermit of hating Big Bird. And where’s the proof?
On page 16, Ben strangely says “success is the ultimate indicator that your philosophy is evil.” Is the success of Christianity or Judaism proof that both are evil? The success of the Beatles proof they are evil? Does Ben even proofread his own books? Success is of course neither good nor bad – a successful murder is not a good thing – a successful souffle is not a bad thing. On page 17, Ben says “Israel is fair game because it is Jewish.” A minimum of 15% of Jews today are anti-Zionist – only an idiot would blame ALL Jews for the crimes of Israelis. But Ben and Zionism both demand that anti-Zionism is conflated with anti-Semitism, to INCREASE false anti-Semitism and sympathy for an unsympathetic ethnostate. Also on page 17, Ben parades as fact his fantasy that the ONLY reason Muslims might disagree with Israel is because it is Jewish. Ben demands conflation when on page 18 he writes, “Love Jews, love Israel”. That makes as much logical sense as, “Love the US? Then also love its Vietnam War, My Lai Massacre, Abu Graib, Jim Crow, lynchings, and Tulsa Massacre…” On page 19, he pretends the US and not the Soviets won WWII – those of us who read know 80% of Nazi deaths came on the Eastern Front. And we know from US military leaders (Leahy, LeMay) that the Japanese were clearly ready to surrender before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that gave Ben boners. Books like this with zero footnotes need to be relentlessly fact checked. On page 20, Ben says Obama would rather “disarm” Americans than stop “those who slaughter babies”. What babies? When and where, Ben? Even Goebbels and Göring would have given more propaganda detail so that it MIGHT be believable. On page 22, Ben attacks centrist-right Obama from the far right saying, “at least Chamberlain loved his country.” When you’re noticing Ben is addicted to passing off conjecture as fact, he steps it up further and conjectures Obama somehow wants Iran to take over the Middle East. Good grief. On the same page Ben adds, “At least Israel won’t drop a couple of bombs on Iran’s nuclear reactors.” What? Those of us who read know Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities in mid-2025. Fact Check it yourself: Israel struck Arak, Isfahan, Natanz, Karaj, and Fordow nuclear sites. Why does Ben keep deliberately lying to his readers? On page 23 Ben pulls from his own ass that Obama said “F--- the Jews” and that Iran pursues terrorist activity, though Israel has a far more documented record of pursuing terrorist activity, good luck finding any evidence of Iran committing Terrorism. On page 24, Ben calls even known Zionist lapdog Chuck Schumer a “supposed” friend of Israel. Ben is vying to be a more extreme (and dangerous) Zionist than Dershowitz, Tishby or Netanyahu.
On page 25, Ben rightfully muses, “What if the people who engage in some cultures are more likely to engage in terrorism?” Ben is right – but it is Zionist culture and NOT Islam that since 1947 has committed the most documented cases of terrorism – settler-colonialism has always demanded terrorism because no people in history gave up their land without serious terrorism by the invader. On page 26 Ben calls refugee camps “hotbeds of rape and child abuse” – zero evidence supplied. Then Ben boldly says old racist trope Western “culture is superior” to others. Ben blathers on (p. 30) about the “destruction of radical Islam” even knowing that you cannot eradicate extremist anything – there will always be extremists – Ben should know – he’s a Zionist extremist – does anyone think that will change? On page 31, Ben tells you about “Palestinians who invade homes and slaughter old men and women” – zero evidence or footnote is supplied – Ben doesn’t need evidence to make wild accusations and instead relies entirely on jacking up the fear of his readers – could Goebbels or Göring propagandize better? Probably yes, actually, because this book eschews evidence for angry flamethrowing. On the same page Ben rolls on with the ‘every accusation is a confession’ saying, “radical Islam is a greater threat to human life than Christianity or Judaism.” Since October 7th, Israel has been a “greater threat to human life” and has a far bigger body count than radical Islam, so Ben once again says whatever he wants to his readers and facts be damned.
On page 32, Ben writes that Linda Sarsour has called for certain Muslims to have their genitals removed, which the internet clearly says is false and then Ben starts discussing the “Palestinian terror regime”. If Palestinians want Israel to follow international law, or end Israel’s 77-year illegal occupation, give Palestinians in the OPT equal rights, then to Ben, they can only be terrorists. Yawn… Then on page 33, Ben is off to call the UN “a hive of scum and villany” because it condemns Israel “publicly for exercising the most basic standards of morality.” So Israel training dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, and raping Palestinians in the ass with metal sticks is considered by Ben “the most basic standards of morality”? On page 39, Ben says the IDF responds with restraint – if snipers targeting children and hospital workers intentionally with headshots, and boys in the groin or burying bound screaming Palestinian children alive by bulldozer is “restraint”, what does LACK of restraint look like? On the same page he calls the Palestinian’s 2018 March of Great Return “a slow-rolling terror assault”. Let’s parse that, shall we? During the ENTIRE March of Great Return no Israeli was killed – a single soldier was “slightly wounded” by shrapnel on May 14th according to Wikipedia. That’s constitutes the WHOLE of Ben’s shocking Palestinian “terror assault”. During that same March, Israel shot 8,000 Palestinians with live ammunition, injured 36,100, and killed 223. On page 40, Ben says “the West was founded on Jerusalem” – what on earth does that mean? Those of us who actually read would say the West was founded on white privilege, and unchecked brutal colonialism (see 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas and the openly racist Doctrine of Discovery). On page 42, Ben says w/o evidence Hamas “is evil. It celebrates evil.” Then he says “the international community is a joke” – which is Ben’s way of saying international law therefore has no right to judge anything Israel does.
On page 44, Ben says radical Islam is “responsible for an estimated 84,000 deaths in 2017” – let’s break that down: Of that number, around 48,164 were deaths of the extremists themselves, and 10,337 were security personnel. So, Ben is intentionally misleading his readers and even the Global Terrorism Index states the 2017 death toll is 25,673. Ben’s readers HAVE to fact check his wild conjectures, but he’s banking on them being too lazy to do so. On page 45, Ben switches to the Straw Man argument (favored by those who otherwise can’t win a debate) and recalls one of the “favorite ditties” the protestors used outside his talk at Berkeley was, “Speech is Violence”. There is zero evidence that ANYONE said that that day, let alone that it was a “favorite ditty”. Lefties are huge supporters of the First Amendment and the ACLU and there is a long record of Keir Starmer, Berlin courts, AIPAC and Canary Mission thinking “speech is violence”, rather than pro-Palestinian protestors thinking so. So, Ben blasts protestors for saying what there is ZERO record of them saying, then tells readers, “speech is not violence”, which should be obvious to any reader. On page 48, Ben says Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib “revel” in their anti-Semitism and “obvious Jew Hatred”. On page 52, Ben says the extrajudicial murder of Iran’s Soleimani was “richly earned.” So, war crimes are ok if Ben says they are ok. Lesson learned. On page 53, Ben again projects saying “Iran has been rogue for decades” when the US and Israel have openly acted as rogue states for decades. Compare Iran’s death toll to the US and Israel, look then at how Iran has complied with international law and FINALLY note that in the 1980’s Israel and the US voted together in the Security Council AGAINST a ICJ resolution urging all states compliance with international law. Israel & the US alone voting FOR the freedom to be the very definition of a rogue state.
Jeez, every accusation by Ben Shapiro is a confession. On page 54, Ben blames Iran for funding terrorism. Once again, those of us who read know that Ben’s hero Netanyahu funded Hamas (who Ben says only “celebrates evil”) for over a decade. Explain deliberately financing evil Ben. The story was covered in the New York Times, Times of Israel, and Haaretz – couldn’t miss it. On page 55 Ben mentions the boycotts of Nazi Germany but won’t tell readers about the 1933 Haavara Agreement where Zionists intentionally ignored the Nazi boycott to work directly WITH the Nazis and help all Zionist Jews in Germany at the EXPENSE of all non-Zionist German Jews. That sell-out Haavara deal gave lots of money to the Reich – check it yourself.
For those of us with intact morals, “Never Again” means “Never Again for Anyone”. We don’t want to see that evil WWII genocide happen again to ANYONE. On page 56, Ben wants you to think Never Again only means not even diaspora Jews but just fellow fellow Zionists – fellow paranoid Sabra who revel in Dahiya Doctrine, Hannibal Directive, and, one day, the Samson Option. On page 57, Ben says it is a myth that in order to have peace that Israel has to give back ANY of the land it stole. Reading Ben is like reading the private diaries of Jon Lovitz or Michael Rappaport. He makes Dershowitz almost look human. On both pages 59 and 69, Ben focuses on the Hamas Charter of 1988 which we all know was amended by a very reasonable Charter of 2017. But as a sometimes lawyer (like Dershowitz) Ben knows the value of inflaming the emotions of the jury when the facts won’t work in your favor. If Hamas is so evil, Ben, why did your hero Netanyahu fund it for over a decade (as those who actually read, read it in the New York Times, Times of Israel and Haaretz)? Ben, like Dershowitz, is a lawyer, and so historically feels compelled to ONLY show one side of a conflict, which forces his readers to be part of his propaganda experiment. This isn’t black/white thinking, this is grey thinking, and the less thinking his readers do, the better for Ben. Also on page 59 Ben says, “Hamas aims its rockets indiscriminately at civilians.” First off, rockets by definition, cannot be aimed. Second, the definition of missile, is a rocket that can be aimed (through a guidance system). Third, disingenuous Ben knows the difference but he wants to inflame not educate his readers. Fact check all Ben’s bits or become one of his “inflamed” Apaths breathlessly awaiting his next humorless diatribe.
On page 60, Ben repeats Noa Tishby’s intentionally misleading trope that, “Arabs are full citizens of Israel” while knowing full well that NO Arab in the Occupied Territories is a full citizen of Israel. Then Ben misleads readers saying Israel totally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but won’t say, Israel since 2005 has Gaza under total siege, Gazans have had no freedom of movement, freedom of import or export, clean water, steady power, its fishermen have been drowned by the IDF merely trying to fish beyond the floating sewage, or that since 2005 Gaza has steadily been called either “an open air prison” or a “concentration camp”. On the same page Ben says again w/o evidence Hamas uses children as human shields and you are an anti-Semite if you (post 10/7) oppose “Israel’s actions” – Meanwhile, we are more then two years into the genocide and still nowhere near the death of Hamas. You will never defeat resistance to occupation.
Ben says, a Pew Research poll from 2015 found that 40% of Israelis identified as secular – for those 40% you don’t even have to be religious to take someone else’s land on the pretext of being religious. Right after October 7th (on page 69) Ben wrote of “our women raped” that day – over two years later and there’s STILL no evidence that happened, but in a book intentionally w/o footnotes, Ben doesn’t need evidence to rile his readers into hatred. On page 72, Ben comically states as his goal, “to destroy Hamas”. As the US discovered in Vietnam, it is fantasyland to think anyone can stop resistance to occupation. Note that the West Bank has no Hamas, yet Israel’s goal is the same – to stop resistance to occupation (for the 1st time in history). Tom Cruise would call this Mission Impossible. Ben’s only offered Israel/Palestinian solution (p.72) is pushing Egypt and Turkey to accept Palestinian refugees. With that logic, if Ben were a Nazi, that would mean permanently exiling every Jewish person in every Nazi held country out of their country of birth. The idea of Israel stopping its 77-year illegal occupation, or giving Palestinians in the OPT equal rights, clearly doesn’t enter Ben’s head. He knows, but won’t tell his readers, that in Israel and the OPT, Palestinians outnumber Zionists, so you can’t have your racist paradise in a democracy where you are numerically in the minority. An inconvenient truth.
On page 75, Ben says Israel “abides by the rules of law.” Saying that means Ben thinks teaching dogs to rape humans, targeting children with headshots, and committing genocide is somehow legal if the aggressors merely announce first that they are Jewish. When under attack, Ben likes to overuse the words “platitudes” and “moral equivalence” which means Ben is right so stop questioning him. Ben says (p.75) if Israel makes concessions to Palestinians (for blatantly stealing their land), then “Jew-murder is inevitable. Moral equivalence restored!” On page 76, Ben says (with zero evidence), that “hatred of Jews is the driving force behind hatred of Israel”, and that it is a lie “that anti-Zionism has nothing to do with antisemitism.” On page 79, Ben calls Linda Sarsour an “antisemite extraordinaire” and says if you think Israel has ever bombed a hospital, it is a lie. Meanwhile, in under 30 seconds, Google told me Israel since October 7th has bombed “almost all of Gaza’s 36 hospitals.”
On page 82, Ben’s calls pro-Palestinian supporters, “terrorist supporters”. If you want Israel to follow international law or even the Golden Rule, you can only be a terrorism supporter. But if you support Kashmiri independence, Western Saharan independence, or Tibetan independence, does that ALSO make you a terrorism supporter? Or do you first have to fantasize (like David Koresh or Jim Jones) that you were personally handpicked by God? On page 83, Ben writes “entire” when he means “enter”, apparently Ben can’t even fact check his grammar. On page 85, Ben says it is a “lie” that Israeli helicopters killed Israelis on October 7th. That’s not what Ben’s hero Yoav Gallant said when he publicly admitted that Israel executed the Hannibal Directive on October 7th. On page 86, Ben gets pseudo-intellectual calling the NYT “inexecrable”, says humans wanting proof of rape by Hamas is “obfuscation”, and that claiming Israel was “indiscriminate” in its bombing of Gaza is “ridiculous” and “to believe this, one must truly be an imbecile.” The more Ben I read, the more he sounds like the snobby little high school self-appointed bully we’ve all met, hiding behind fancy words to intentionally avoid fisticuffs. Woody Allen was once held up on the street and used words to get out of it (true); if that Ben had to use his words to get out of getting robbed, he’d get the shit kicked out of him.
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Then Ben calls Obama “a hardcore, anti-Israel fanatic” and “Jew hating”. But those who read, know war criminal Obama happily kissed Israel’s ass publicly dozens of times and EVEN obsequiously addressed AIPAC in 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2015. He even says Obama is surrounded by Israel haters, and he “always has” hated Israel. Sadly, Ben thinks his readers are incapable of basic fact checking. On page 6, Ben speculates that Muslims think “Passover matza” contains the “blood of non-Jewish children” and that “Iran is far from rational” even though Israel’s known list of war crimes against civilians is hundreds of times longer than Iran’s. On page 10, he intentionally conflates wanting Zionism to adhere to international law with the world directly fighting Judaism. On page 11, Ben repeats his canard that Hamas uses “women and children as human shields”. Everyone spend two minutes searching for video proof that Hamas uses human shields, then spend two minutes searching the same proof that Israel does what they are accusing. A search in Google video gets you LOTS of Israeli use of human shields and not ONE video proof of Hamas doing so. On page 12, Ben w/o evidence accuses even boring centrist CNN of having an “anti-Israel bias.” That’s like accusing Kermit of hating Big Bird. And where’s the proof?
On page 16, Ben strangely says “success is the ultimate indicator that your philosophy is evil.” Is the success of Christianity or Judaism proof that both are evil? The success of the Beatles proof they are evil? Does Ben even proofread his own books? Success is of course neither good nor bad – a successful murder is not a good thing – a successful souffle is not a bad thing. On page 17, Ben says “Israel is fair game because it is Jewish.” A minimum of 15% of Jews today are anti-Zionist – only an idiot would blame ALL Jews for the crimes of Israelis. But Ben and Zionism both demand that anti-Zionism is conflated with anti-Semitism, to INCREASE false anti-Semitism and sympathy for an unsympathetic ethnostate. Also on page 17, Ben parades as fact his fantasy that the ONLY reason Muslims might disagree with Israel is because it is Jewish. Ben demands conflation when on page 18 he writes, “Love Jews, love Israel”. That makes as much logical sense as, “Love the US? Then also love its Vietnam War, My Lai Massacre, Abu Graib, Jim Crow, lynchings, and Tulsa Massacre…” On page 19, he pretends the US and not the Soviets won WWII – those of us who read know 80% of Nazi deaths came on the Eastern Front. And we know from US military leaders (Leahy, LeMay) that the Japanese were clearly ready to surrender before the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings that gave Ben boners. Books like this with zero footnotes need to be relentlessly fact checked. On page 20, Ben says Obama would rather “disarm” Americans than stop “those who slaughter babies”. What babies? When and where, Ben? Even Goebbels and Göring would have given more propaganda detail so that it MIGHT be believable. On page 22, Ben attacks centrist-right Obama from the far right saying, “at least Chamberlain loved his country.” When you’re noticing Ben is addicted to passing off conjecture as fact, he steps it up further and conjectures Obama somehow wants Iran to take over the Middle East. Good grief. On the same page Ben adds, “At least Israel won’t drop a couple of bombs on Iran’s nuclear reactors.” What? Those of us who read know Israel struck Iranian nuclear facilities in mid-2025. Fact Check it yourself: Israel struck Arak, Isfahan, Natanz, Karaj, and Fordow nuclear sites. Why does Ben keep deliberately lying to his readers? On page 23 Ben pulls from his own ass that Obama said “F--- the Jews” and that Iran pursues terrorist activity, though Israel has a far more documented record of pursuing terrorist activity, good luck finding any evidence of Iran committing Terrorism. On page 24, Ben calls even known Zionist lapdog Chuck Schumer a “supposed” friend of Israel. Ben is vying to be a more extreme (and dangerous) Zionist than Dershowitz, Tishby or Netanyahu.
On page 25, Ben rightfully muses, “What if the people who engage in some cultures are more likely to engage in terrorism?” Ben is right – but it is Zionist culture and NOT Islam that since 1947 has committed the most documented cases of terrorism – settler-colonialism has always demanded terrorism because no people in history gave up their land without serious terrorism by the invader. On page 26 Ben calls refugee camps “hotbeds of rape and child abuse” – zero evidence supplied. Then Ben boldly says old racist trope Western “culture is superior” to others. Ben blathers on (p. 30) about the “destruction of radical Islam” even knowing that you cannot eradicate extremist anything – there will always be extremists – Ben should know – he’s a Zionist extremist – does anyone think that will change? On page 31, Ben tells you about “Palestinians who invade homes and slaughter old men and women” – zero evidence or footnote is supplied – Ben doesn’t need evidence to make wild accusations and instead relies entirely on jacking up the fear of his readers – could Goebbels or Göring propagandize better? Probably yes, actually, because this book eschews evidence for angry flamethrowing. On the same page Ben rolls on with the ‘every accusation is a confession’ saying, “radical Islam is a greater threat to human life than Christianity or Judaism.” Since October 7th, Israel has been a “greater threat to human life” and has a far bigger body count than radical Islam, so Ben once again says whatever he wants to his readers and facts be damned.
On page 32, Ben writes that Linda Sarsour has called for certain Muslims to have their genitals removed, which the internet clearly says is false and then Ben starts discussing the “Palestinian terror regime”. If Palestinians want Israel to follow international law, or end Israel’s 77-year illegal occupation, give Palestinians in the OPT equal rights, then to Ben, they can only be terrorists. Yawn… Then on page 33, Ben is off to call the UN “a hive of scum and villany” because it condemns Israel “publicly for exercising the most basic standards of morality.” So Israel training dogs to rape Palestinian prisoners, and raping Palestinians in the ass with metal sticks is considered by Ben “the most basic standards of morality”? On page 39, Ben says the IDF responds with restraint – if snipers targeting children and hospital workers intentionally with headshots, and boys in the groin or burying bound screaming Palestinian children alive by bulldozer is “restraint”, what does LACK of restraint look like? On the same page he calls the Palestinian’s 2018 March of Great Return “a slow-rolling terror assault”. Let’s parse that, shall we? During the ENTIRE March of Great Return no Israeli was killed – a single soldier was “slightly wounded” by shrapnel on May 14th according to Wikipedia. That’s constitutes the WHOLE of Ben’s shocking Palestinian “terror assault”. During that same March, Israel shot 8,000 Palestinians with live ammunition, injured 36,100, and killed 223. On page 40, Ben says “the West was founded on Jerusalem” – what on earth does that mean? Those of us who actually read would say the West was founded on white privilege, and unchecked brutal colonialism (see 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas and the openly racist Doctrine of Discovery). On page 42, Ben says w/o evidence Hamas “is evil. It celebrates evil.” Then he says “the international community is a joke” – which is Ben’s way of saying international law therefore has no right to judge anything Israel does.
On page 44, Ben says radical Islam is “responsible for an estimated 84,000 deaths in 2017” – let’s break that down: Of that number, around 48,164 were deaths of the extremists themselves, and 10,337 were security personnel. So, Ben is intentionally misleading his readers and even the Global Terrorism Index states the 2017 death toll is 25,673. Ben’s readers HAVE to fact check his wild conjectures, but he’s banking on them being too lazy to do so. On page 45, Ben switches to the Straw Man argument (favored by those who otherwise can’t win a debate) and recalls one of the “favorite ditties” the protestors used outside his talk at Berkeley was, “Speech is Violence”. There is zero evidence that ANYONE said that that day, let alone that it was a “favorite ditty”. Lefties are huge supporters of the First Amendment and the ACLU and there is a long record of Keir Starmer, Berlin courts, AIPAC and Canary Mission thinking “speech is violence”, rather than pro-Palestinian protestors thinking so. So, Ben blasts protestors for saying what there is ZERO record of them saying, then tells readers, “speech is not violence”, which should be obvious to any reader. On page 48, Ben says Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib “revel” in their anti-Semitism and “obvious Jew Hatred”. On page 52, Ben says the extrajudicial murder of Iran’s Soleimani was “richly earned.” So, war crimes are ok if Ben says they are ok. Lesson learned. On page 53, Ben again projects saying “Iran has been rogue for decades” when the US and Israel have openly acted as rogue states for decades. Compare Iran’s death toll to the US and Israel, look then at how Iran has complied with international law and FINALLY note that in the 1980’s Israel and the US voted together in the Security Council AGAINST a ICJ resolution urging all states compliance with international law. Israel & the US alone voting FOR the freedom to be the very definition of a rogue state.
Jeez, every accusation by Ben Shapiro is a confession. On page 54, Ben blames Iran for funding terrorism. Once again, those of us who read know that Ben’s hero Netanyahu funded Hamas (who Ben says only “celebrates evil”) for over a decade. Explain deliberately financing evil Ben. The story was covered in the New York Times, Times of Israel, and Haaretz – couldn’t miss it. On page 55 Ben mentions the boycotts of Nazi Germany but won’t tell readers about the 1933 Haavara Agreement where Zionists intentionally ignored the Nazi boycott to work directly WITH the Nazis and help all Zionist Jews in Germany at the EXPENSE of all non-Zionist German Jews. That sell-out Haavara deal gave lots of money to the Reich – check it yourself.
For those of us with intact morals, “Never Again” means “Never Again for Anyone”. We don’t want to see that evil WWII genocide happen again to ANYONE. On page 56, Ben wants you to think Never Again only means not even diaspora Jews but just fellow fellow Zionists – fellow paranoid Sabra who revel in Dahiya Doctrine, Hannibal Directive, and, one day, the Samson Option. On page 57, Ben says it is a myth that in order to have peace that Israel has to give back ANY of the land it stole. Reading Ben is like reading the private diaries of Jon Lovitz or Michael Rappaport. He makes Dershowitz almost look human. On both pages 59 and 69, Ben focuses on the Hamas Charter of 1988 which we all know was amended by a very reasonable Charter of 2017. But as a sometimes lawyer (like Dershowitz) Ben knows the value of inflaming the emotions of the jury when the facts won’t work in your favor. If Hamas is so evil, Ben, why did your hero Netanyahu fund it for over a decade (as those who actually read, read it in the New York Times, Times of Israel and Haaretz)? Ben, like Dershowitz, is a lawyer, and so historically feels compelled to ONLY show one side of a conflict, which forces his readers to be part of his propaganda experiment. This isn’t black/white thinking, this is grey thinking, and the less thinking his readers do, the better for Ben. Also on page 59 Ben says, “Hamas aims its rockets indiscriminately at civilians.” First off, rockets by definition, cannot be aimed. Second, the definition of missile, is a rocket that can be aimed (through a guidance system). Third, disingenuous Ben knows the difference but he wants to inflame not educate his readers. Fact check all Ben’s bits or become one of his “inflamed” Apaths breathlessly awaiting his next humorless diatribe.
On page 60, Ben repeats Noa Tishby’s intentionally misleading trope that, “Arabs are full citizens of Israel” while knowing full well that NO Arab in the Occupied Territories is a full citizen of Israel. Then Ben misleads readers saying Israel totally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 but won’t say, Israel since 2005 has Gaza under total siege, Gazans have had no freedom of movement, freedom of import or export, clean water, steady power, its fishermen have been drowned by the IDF merely trying to fish beyond the floating sewage, or that since 2005 Gaza has steadily been called either “an open air prison” or a “concentration camp”. On the same page Ben says again w/o evidence Hamas uses children as human shields and you are an anti-Semite if you (post 10/7) oppose “Israel’s actions” – Meanwhile, we are more then two years into the genocide and still nowhere near the death of Hamas. You will never defeat resistance to occupation.
Ben says, a Pew Research poll from 2015 found that 40% of Israelis identified as secular – for those 40% you don’t even have to be religious to take someone else’s land on the pretext of being religious. Right after October 7th (on page 69) Ben wrote of “our women raped” that day – over two years later and there’s STILL no evidence that happened, but in a book intentionally w/o footnotes, Ben doesn’t need evidence to rile his readers into hatred. On page 72, Ben comically states as his goal, “to destroy Hamas”. As the US discovered in Vietnam, it is fantasyland to think anyone can stop resistance to occupation. Note that the West Bank has no Hamas, yet Israel’s goal is the same – to stop resistance to occupation (for the 1st time in history). Tom Cruise would call this Mission Impossible. Ben’s only offered Israel/Palestinian solution (p.72) is pushing Egypt and Turkey to accept Palestinian refugees. With that logic, if Ben were a Nazi, that would mean permanently exiling every Jewish person in every Nazi held country out of their country of birth. The idea of Israel stopping its 77-year illegal occupation, or giving Palestinians in the OPT equal rights, clearly doesn’t enter Ben’s head. He knows, but won’t tell his readers, that in Israel and the OPT, Palestinians outnumber Zionists, so you can’t have your racist paradise in a democracy where you are numerically in the minority. An inconvenient truth.
On page 75, Ben says Israel “abides by the rules of law.” Saying that means Ben thinks teaching dogs to rape humans, targeting children with headshots, and committing genocide is somehow legal if the aggressors merely announce first that they are Jewish. When under attack, Ben likes to overuse the words “platitudes” and “moral equivalence” which means Ben is right so stop questioning him. Ben says (p.75) if Israel makes concessions to Palestinians (for blatantly stealing their land), then “Jew-murder is inevitable. Moral equivalence restored!” On page 76, Ben says (with zero evidence), that “hatred of Jews is the driving force behind hatred of Israel”, and that it is a lie “that anti-Zionism has nothing to do with antisemitism.” On page 79, Ben calls Linda Sarsour an “antisemite extraordinaire” and says if you think Israel has ever bombed a hospital, it is a lie. Meanwhile, in under 30 seconds, Google told me Israel since October 7th has bombed “almost all of Gaza’s 36 hospitals.”
On page 82, Ben’s calls pro-Palestinian supporters, “terrorist supporters”. If you want Israel to follow international law or even the Golden Rule, you can only be a terrorism supporter. But if you support Kashmiri independence, Western Saharan independence, or Tibetan independence, does that ALSO make you a terrorism supporter? Or do you first have to fantasize (like David Koresh or Jim Jones) that you were personally handpicked by God? On page 83, Ben writes “entire” when he means “enter”, apparently Ben can’t even fact check his grammar. On page 85, Ben says it is a “lie” that Israeli helicopters killed Israelis on October 7th. That’s not what Ben’s hero Yoav Gallant said when he publicly admitted that Israel executed the Hannibal Directive on October 7th. On page 86, Ben gets pseudo-intellectual calling the NYT “inexecrable”, says humans wanting proof of rape by Hamas is “obfuscation”, and that claiming Israel was “indiscriminate” in its bombing of Gaza is “ridiculous” and “to believe this, one must truly be an imbecile.” The more Ben I read, the more he sounds like the snobby little high school self-appointed bully we’ve all met, hiding behind fancy words to intentionally avoid fisticuffs. Woody Allen was once held up on the street and used words to get out of it (true); if that Ben had to use his words to get out of getting robbed, he’d get the shit kicked out of him.
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May 8, 2025
Quick little read. Loved the book. It’s crazy that this is even a discussion on whether or not Israel has the right to protect themselves against A SOCIOPATHIC TERRORIST GROUP. I cannot believe how far we have gone into the dystopian leftest nightmare of political terrorism and self-sabotage. They use WAY too much sympathy for terroristic sociopaths using their citizens and children as shields.
Leftist crazy whackadoodles blame ourselves and our allies for not being kind enough to heartless, gutless terrorists and say that is why they are killing and raping innocent people. Or maybe they are just crazy radical terrorists raised from birth to hate the United States and Israel. Maybe we should return to peace through strength because OBVIOUSLY peace through bending over and taking it in the rear is NOT working. Pardon my French.
Leftist crazy whackadoodles blame ourselves and our allies for not being kind enough to heartless, gutless terrorists and say that is why they are killing and raping innocent people. Or maybe they are just crazy radical terrorists raised from birth to hate the United States and Israel. Maybe we should return to peace through strength because OBVIOUSLY peace through bending over and taking it in the rear is NOT working. Pardon my French.
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