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After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation

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“A bruising blow in the cause of liberty, tolerance and good sense. Thank God he is on our side” – Jake Wallis Simons, editor, Jewish Chronicle

“A brutally honest analysis of how the world failed the test of Hamas’s brutality” – Eylon Levy, former Israeli government spokesman

After the Israel, 7 October and the Crisis of Civilisation is the explosive new book from celebrated columnist and author Brendan O’Neill.

It is an unflinching account of how the West failed the moral test of 7 October. It documents, in chilling detail, how the West’s academics, activists and commentariat ended up making excuses for Hamas’s pogrom – the worst act of violence against the Jews since the Holocaust.

On university campuses, on our streets and in the press, people took the side, not of the Jews, but of their murderous persecutors. We even witnessed the return of the twisted ideology of atrocity denial, as the activist class accused the Jewish State of exaggerating or even inventing the events of 7 October.

How did this happen? Why did so many in our educated elites shrug their shoulders over the worst pogrom in almost 80 years? Why did “anti-fascists” cosy up to the fascists of Hamas?

This book is an unsparing examination of the moral disorder of the 21st-century West. Frank, fearless and incisive, it argues that our moral failures after 7 October exposed just how far we have drifted from the path of Enlightenment. It is a must-read for everyone concerned about the safety of the Jews and the future of the West.

161 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 22, 2024

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Brendan O'Neill

15 books24 followers

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
Profile Image for Darryl Greer.
Author 10 books365 followers
December 23, 2025
In 2011, Melanie Phillips, award winning British journalist and author, published a non-fiction work called "The World Turned Upside Down". She wrote, among other things, of the gradual disappearance in society of reason and logic. Fast-forward thirteen years and what she was talking about becomes much clearer. Brendan O’Neill is another British journalist and author, chief political writer for the on-line publication, Spiked and a regular contributor to centre-right media. Which, to say the least, is interesting, given that in his earlier years he was allegedly a Trotskyist and a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. O’Neill has recently published his non-fiction work "After The Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation" in which he deftly analyses the events that took place in Israel on that dark day for humanity a year ago. Billed as “an unflinching account of how the West failed the moral test of 7 October…(and) how the West’s academics, activists and commentariat ended up making excuses for Hamas’ pogrom – the worst act of violence against the Jews since the Holocaust”, it is exactly that. O’Neill always writes candidly, lucidly and in depth and this book is no exception. Despite his hard-left-leaning misspent youth, in After The Pogrom, he has given short shrift to Marxist inspired, academically championed relativism and based his assertions on facts, common sense and logic. "After The Pogrom" should be mandatory reading for high school and university students. But don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
Profile Image for Joanne Hattersley.
Author 1 book6 followers
September 25, 2024
Ever since ‘A Heretics Manifesto’ came across my radar last year, I have been a fan of the writings of Brendan O`Neill. His latest book, “After the Pogram: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation’, is nothing short of a master piece. It’s honest, unflinching and raw. Brendan O`Neill is not afraid to call out those in the public eye who are on the left and appear to have supported the October 7 slaughter.
This unflinching and uncompromising piece of writing has been called, “A bruising blow in the cause of liberty, tolerance and good sense. Thank God he is on our side” by Jake Wallis Simons, editor, Jewish Chronicle.

It’s also been called, “A brutally honest analysis of how the world failed the test of Hamas’s brutality” in the words of Eylon Levy, former Israeli government spokesman.

While both of those statements are accurate, this book is so much more. It is a fearless narrative of what happened on October 7, 2023 and how the West responded to it. The book sharply critiques how Western societies fell short of expected moral standards in response to the attacks.

The book is written beautifully and documents in extreme and very telling detail how commentators, news media, academia and activists all stepped up….for the terrorists. The west supported Hamas and made excuses for the worst violence against Jews since the Holocaust.

On university campuses, on the streets of our villages, towns and cities, and in the media, many chose their side. That side being the murderous persecutors of the Jews. There was even a resurgence of a distorted ideology of denying atrocities, with some activists accusing the Jewish State of exaggerating or fabricating the events of 7 October.

We can ask how this happened. How so many felt that Hamas were in the right. We can question why so many educated don’t seem to care about the Jews and the slaughter that happened. We can wonder in disbelief how the people of the world support Hamas, a terrorist group that have kidnapped, raped and murdered individuals. While we can ask all these questions, what we must see is action.

When I began thinking about how I felt the West had failed, I went back to a section of the book that seemed to sum everything up for me. It demonstrated how the world has its priorities so drastically wrong. From chapter 7 of the book we read,

“So, we live in an era when you can be banished from a university for saying women don’t have penises, but you’ll be fine if you say ‘kill all Jews’.
We live in a time when asking someone where they’re from is considered a ‘racial micro aggression, but hollering ‘Globalise the intifada’ in the aftermath of an ‘intifada’ in which a thousand Jews were slaughtered is apparently okay.

We live in a culture in which students will demand access to ‘safe spaces’, complete with colouring books and bean bags, if a speaker they hate turns up on campus. And yet these same students who fear words like the rest of us fear death, will happily cheer the invasion of Israel and the murder of hundreds of its citizens. No safe space for Jews, it seems.

It was just two weeks after the pogrom that some students at George Washington University in Washington, DC projected that slogan, ‘Glory to our martyrs’, on to the exterior of a campus building. That is, glory to the mobs that had lately invaded the Jewish nation to rape and massacre innocents.”

In the end, these contradictions reveal the unsettling double standards that permeate modern discourse. We are witnessing times where free speech is selectively protected, where the vilification of some is met with outrage while others are tacitly supported. The troubling irony is that those who claim to champion inclusivity and safe spaces are, in certain instances, the very voices amplifying hatred and violence.

If our moral compass is so skewed that advocating for the destruction of a people is tolerated, yet benign questions or dissenting views are condemned, then we are failing as a society to uphold the very values we claim to protect.

2 reviews1 follower
October 12, 2024
This book explains the unholy alliance between academic Marxism and Islamic extremism. Their hatred of western culture and society. They consider themselves the enlightened thinkers that should have power and influence. capitalism creates a level playing field for people who can work hard and accumulate wealth and power. That’s something they despise. They should all be given a first class ticket to Iran expenses paid.
Profile Image for George Cowley.
9 reviews1 follower
December 1, 2024
I woke up on the morning of 8 October 2023 to read media accounts of what had been going down in Israel on 7 October. As the day went on, a fuller understanding of the torture, murder and abduction was unfolding. And in the fullness of time, we learnt it was rape as well. I could not have conceived of a clearer cut case of good versus evil. It was (and is) easy to side with the State of Israel. There were (and are) no shades of grey.
But to my shock, there were those, in fact many, who sided with evil. The gathering of the mainly Arab mob on 8 October at the Sydney Opera House and their genocidal chants was appalling but not that surprising. Earlier that day, a Sydney sheikh, Ibrahim Dadoun, rejoiced at the slaughter telling a Muslim crowd that he was ‘smiling’, ‘happy’ and ‘elated’. “It's a day of courage, it's a day of pride, it's a day of victory. This is the day we've been waiting for.”
As disgusting as that was, what I found to be more even more disgusting were the pathetic white European green left types mindlessly protesting at train stations, taking part in university encampments and chanting anti-Israel propaganda at rallies in the city. And it wasn’t like there were only a handful of them either. The Federal Labor Government was mainly silent but when it did speak out it was to urge Israel to exercise restraint. The Government has given succour to the antisemites who chanted the genocidal call ‘from the river to the sea’.
To me this was all signs of the disintegration of decadent society.
And so, with this backstory, I eagerly read Brendan O’Neill’s ‘After the Pogrom’ to get some better insight and understanding.
O’Neill argues that since the 1970s, the left, having lost faith in Enlightenment values, has been increasingly drawn towards radical Islam and its hostility to the West. By the 1990s, with Communism discredited, the radical left needed to be re-energised, and it enthusiastically found it in the form of radical Islam.
Meanwhile, the mainstream left, having moved beyond traditional class struggle, increasingly began to see the world through the lens of the oppressed versus the privileged. This simple binary of good versus evil matched the circumstances of Israel where, according to them, the white Jewish colonisers had usurped the brown native Muslims from the land. Of course this is a false narrative as most Jewish Israelis are, in fact, brown and the so-called colonisers are, in fact, indigenous to the land of Israel.
And thus, the connection between the hard-line left and radical Islam is borne. The Hamas terrorist is transformed from mass murdering rapist torturer into the virtuous freedom fighter. Islamists “gave an injection of ‘revolt’ to the leftists who were desperate for some momentum in the post-Cold war era.” If ever a country was ripe for decolonisation, it was Israel. Curiously, I wonder why those protesters who demand the decolonisation of Israel, that is, who demand that Israel be ethnically cleansed of Jews, exempt themselves from this requirement in this country. After all, if ever a country was a settler-colonial country, it is Australia. The hypocrisy is mind boggling.
Disturbingly, this radical Islamo-leftist alliance has seeped into elements of the mainstream left. For example, Jeremy Corbyn declared Hamas and Hezbollah to be his friends. And to this I can add that in Australia and much of the West, where left-of-centre parties are in power, Israel has received, at best, lack-lustre support by countries it could previously have relied upon to provide, at the very least, fulsome rhetorical support it in its latest existential struggle for survival.
This was an excellent book, and an easy read and O’Neill exposes the shallow hypocrisy of the left. The one criticism I have is that the book could easily have been distilled into a much shorter essay. Nevertheless, we live in dangerous times and Western civilisation is going through difficult times. This book plays an important role in shining a light into this crisis.
346 reviews3 followers
October 8, 2024
A very important book

This is by far the best book on the hypocrisy of the left's assaults on Israel and tolerance of overt, genocidal antisemitism in the post-October world we live in. A must read for anyone interested in this topic.
Profile Image for Mike Mchugh.
11 reviews4 followers
December 7, 2024
Great Overview of the Moral Decay and Rise of Bigotry in the West

In this book, Brendan O’Neill shows the moral hypocrisy and the intellectual vacuousness of those who hate Israel.

Numerous examples of bigotry and racism and intimidation against Jews and Israel are described in this book, which show the double standards and shallowness of leftist extremism.

Nevertheless, with enough people speaking out against this bigotry and Jewphobia and Israelophobia and with more books like this and articles being written to draw attention to it, then hopefully there can be a pushback against this evil.
27 reviews1 follower
November 24, 2024
A Necessary Read, Unfortunately.
Brendan puts the lie to the useful idiots protesting vs Israel’s right to defend herself. He looks at every argument from every angle, obliterating each one.
The book fits a scholarly rehash of the current invectives vs the “Zionists” into a manageable 170 pages.
Brendan is right. If the London Cable Street confrontation (1936) by British fascists vs the Jews and their working class allies occurred today, the Jews would be obliterated. Progressives would wear the defeat. Would they wear its shame?
Author 10 books1 follower
November 27, 2024
Slow start but excellent indictment

Time the promoters of Identity politics recognised they've more in common with 1930s Germany. This book is the wake-up call. Recommended.
Profile Image for Jim.
45 reviews3 followers
February 20, 2025
O’Neill is a feted polemicist, his searing pieces for Spiked Online blaze with anger from the position of what used to be the British left, before it lost it’s head with identity politics and got into bed with the barbarians of Hamas. Indeed that is the central theme of this short book, that the reactions of first world self-proclaimed progressives to the pogrom of 7 October 2023, the “Al Aqsa Flood”, show just how far the Left has lost it’s way, that it now supports the foulest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
O’Neill sees this as not just despicable and disastrous for Jews, but also indicative of the Left’s rejection of democracy and the scientific method, which seeks to overturn the achievements of the Enlightenment. In his inimitable style he rips apart each aspect of the Israelophobia demonstrated after the pogrom, it’s pathetic claims to be anti Zionist not antisemitic, it’s lies about decolonisation, it’s cultural appropriation and it’s sheer unapologetic hatred for the people who suffered the Holocaust.
It doesn’t quite hang together and reads like a collection of articles, which get a bit wearing to read all at once, and I would recommend taking a break between reading each of them. But this is an important book, it is right to mark the significance of the turn the Left has taken in it’s mistaken support for Hamas. It’s anger is deserved and the charges it levels against the academics, the unthinking youths, the politicians desperate to secure the Muslim vote and the mainstream news outlets are accurate, timely and hit their mark.
Profile Image for Mandy J.
238 reviews
August 5, 2025
I feel every one that has ever uttered “From the River to the Sea” or has declared they support globalising the intifada without a thought as to what either means MUST read this book. I feel the keffiyeh-wearers who march because it’s trendy and who have no idea what happened on 7 October MUST read this book. But I fear these people will not. I feel this book will only preach to the converted. I feel those are too far gone into the cult of Pro Palestine. I feel they will most likely burn a book explaining why their hateful slogan chanting and graffiti-ing and flag waiving and cheering for proscribed terrorists is all shades of wrong.
This is a tough book to read at times knowing the road some people have chosen to go down and with such thoughtless enthusiasm. The terror they have inflicted on Jews with their outright and unashamed hate. People I know. People I respected.
That these people side with those who treat females appallingly, who terrorise their own, who would rather exterminate LGBT+ than live side by side with them, is a scene I never thought I would see.
704 reviews1 follower
November 3, 2024
Bristling with passion as well as facts! I found O'Neill's insights into how we got to the disturbing intersectionality of Islamists with Marxists, both of whom want to destroy the West, bracing. The wresting of the Holocaust from Jews by inverting the slaughter of 2/3 of European Jewry into a story where Jews are the Nazis is a deliberate perversion in the quest to win the Suffering Marathon. Anger toward Jews stems from their place as winners in this bizarre unstated competition for 'most persecuted'. Since this cannot be allowed to happen, they are cast as White Privileged Oppressors. There much to be concerned about in this paradigm. The closing chapter that recalls for readers Mosely's gang, leaves one with hope that right thinking minds will prevail.
Profile Image for Mimi.
2,290 reviews30 followers
November 24, 2025
After the Pogrom: 7 October, Israel and the Crisis of Civilisation. provides a different way of looking at how this violent anti-Israel event has been perceived and why the subsequent protests have been supporting Hamas' vicious violent actions as opposed to the Israeli victims of this pogrom. After reading this, I read The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies and How to Them with Truth by Alan Dershowitz. These two novels together address the recent anti-Israel and antisemitic actions that have been proliferating since the events of October 7, 2023 in a world turned upside-down. Well-worth reading.
Profile Image for Gorana.
51 reviews81 followers
Currently reading
December 22, 2024

Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warti...
Saved page (December 22nd 2024): https://archive.is/zeCeu

So now it is a 'surprise attack' and all the rape perpetrated by Hamas is 'alleged' and only Israeli are 'alleging' it. Not that we have videos of them showing off and actively bragging with what they've done. But surely there must be another, 'more logical' explanation.


Amiright?
108 reviews1 follower
November 10, 2024
It is a total coincidence I read this on the day there was a pogrom of Jews in Amsterdam. This is essential reading for understanding the left's hypocrisy and siding with barbarism and rejection of civilisation. One generation who fought literal Nazis and 3 generations raised on "Never Again", but still the ancient hatred rears its ugly head in 21st century Britain. This poignant books explains clearly why.
Profile Image for Budd Margolis.
858 reviews13 followers
March 5, 2025
Few people want to understand what is behind the hatred & lies expressed across the campuses and cities of the world. Brendan O'Neill takes the subject and divides it up into manageable segemtns and then delivers truth and wisdom as he explains what is actually going on.

The fact that so many can be so easily duped is expertly exposed and explained.
Each comment and fact is scrupulously recorded and verified.
Profile Image for Mr..
50 reviews1 follower
October 8, 2025
What this books explores is the lefts response to the October 7th attack.

After years of comparing anyone who even questioning the lefts ideology to Hitler, to then see many deny the worst atrocity against the Jews since the holocaust in real time was shocking.

This book covers the reactions, or non reactions of those that saw the October 7th attack as justified. It is rough read.
Profile Image for Castles.
685 reviews27 followers
May 15, 2025
In this post October new sick and twisted reality, it is of a little comfort to see some minds did not go corrupt, and are capable of articulating the truth in such a clear manner. Excellent work of documenting history in real time. This book deserves a lot more attention.
Profile Image for Leah.
51 reviews2 followers
December 24, 2024
An eviscerating take-down of the absurd hypocrisy of western progressivism.
Profile Image for Corey.
144 reviews
February 5, 2025
Solid facts about a post-October 7th world and the widespread problem of anti-zionism/anti-semitism. More people should read and learn about this topic.
Profile Image for Kate.
102 reviews
February 19, 2025
A searing, concise, blunt, and truthful summary of all the madness.
Profile Image for Joshua Friesen.
3,217 reviews3 followers
March 28, 2025
Important book concerning the assault on Israel and tolerance of overt, genocidal antisemitism in the world.
Profile Image for Judy Lindow.
747 reviews51 followers
June 10, 2025
I cannot put this book down - only on chapter 3, but I'm ready to rate the a book a 5-star
Profile Image for Ruth.
81 reviews1 follower
June 28, 2025
I dare anyone who thinks they have a grasp on what is going on in the Middle East to read this book and challenge their ideologies.
2 reviews
October 22, 2025
Very good read, logically set out with plenty of sources at the end of each chapter. All those with questions about Israel and antisemitism in Britain should read this.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews

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