Terror Tunnels: The Case for Israel's Just War Against Hamas

by Alan M. Dershowitz

At a time when Israel is under persistent attack―on the battlefield, by international organizations, and in the court of public opinion―Alan Dershowitz presents a powerful case for Israel’s just war against terrorism. In the spirit of his international bestseller The Case for Israel , Dershowitz shows why Israel’s struggle against Hamas is a fight not only to protect its own citizens, but for all democracies. The nation-state of the Jewish people is providing a model for all who are threatened by terrorist groups―such as ISIS, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram. Having himself been in one of the Hamas terror tunnels, Dershowitz explains why Israel had no choice but to send in ground troops to protect its civilians against Hamas death squads. Dershowitz wrote this book to warn the world that unless Hamas’s strategy of building terror tunnels and firing rockets from behind human shields is denounced and stopped―by the international community, the media, the academy, and good people of all religions, ethnicities, and nationalities―it will be coming soon “to a theater near you.” Covering all the hot-button issues―from the BDS movement, to the rise of anti-Semitism, to the charge of war crimes, to the prospects of peace― Terror The Case for Israel’s Just War Against Hamas is a must-read for all who care about Israel, peace in the Mideast, human rights, and fairness.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, War, History, Israel, Terrorism

238 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 2014

About the author

Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He is known for his career as an attorney in several high-profile law cases and commentary on the Arab-Israeli conflict.

He has spent most of his career at Harvard, where, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor in its history, until Noam Elkies took the record. Dershowitz still holds the record as the youngest person to become a professor of law there.

As a criminal appellate lawyer, Dershowitz has won thirteen out of the fifteen murder and attempted murder cases he has handled. He successfully argued to overturn the conviction of Claus von Bülow for the attempted murder of Bülow's wife, Sunny. Dershowitz was the appellate advisor for the defense in the criminal trial of O.J. Simpson for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

Reviews

[Ana-Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enervant de repetitivă.

[Naomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had watched the author discuss this book on RedEye and it piqued my interest. I thought I'd like this book, but found this book to be excellent with well laid out arguments. It is told through a series of essays based on first person account on topics in the Israel/Palestine "war".

I am not, in general, a fan of Mr. Dershowitz's legal books so, to be honest, I went into this with some trepidation. This book was engrossing and excellent for debate on the topic. It is thoroughly researched, "backed up" and documented.

I ended up reading this in one sitting. I found this book to be an absolute must read for anyone who truly wants to understand the Israel/Palestine conflict. Those who don't will hate this book.

Reviewed for publisher through Edelweiss Review Program.

[JennShooky · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you kind of hate Israel, hold her to a different standard than her neighbors, or support BDS of Israel (but no other country), and further, think it has nothing to do with the fact that Israel is a Jewish state, I would recommend this book. Among other things of course.

[Ionuț · Rating 2 out of 5]

Un chin sa termini aceasta carte. Aceleasi argumente, expuse repetitiv, cu nuanțe puternic subiective, avocatul israelian colerându-si puternic eforturile spre o victimizare la un moment dat jenanta, atata timp cat atatea institutii, printre care si Curtea Penala Internationala au cerut lamuriri si dovezi cu privire la actiunile IDF din Gaza, lovindu-se de refuzuri neîntemeiate. Aceleasi motive mereu, repetate obsesiv. Da, Hamas are vina principala, corect si de condamnat, dar erau de ajuns 50 pagini, nu 260… Raman multe intrebari si putine raspunsuri… Din pacate nu vad vreo soluție pacificatoare in urmatorii ani in acea zona…Intre timp, in propagarea autoapărarii Israelului, In Gaza mor zilnic oameni si nimeni nu intervine. Recomand Google, gasiti aceleasi informatii, poate chiar mai mult.

[Jordan Mcculloch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erie to read this book now. Basically the same strategy being used. Only downside to this book is it is a collection of articles with no real story line or flow of timelines.

[Victor Bălăcescu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Una dintre cele mai slabe cărți pe care le-am citit în ultimii ani. Și asta nu pentru că nu ar conține și idei valide, argumentate, ci pentru că este ÎNGROZITOR DE REPETITIVĂ. Autorul abuzează fără nicio jenă ce câteva argumente pe care le utilizează în absolut fiecare articol din care este compusă cartea. Acesta a fost un alt aspect negativ, că nu există o continuitate, articolele fiind parcă aruncate în carte, uneori nefiind respectată nici măcar ordinea cronologică.
Legat de conținut, toate articolele reprezintă un drum cu un singur sens. Cu alte cuvinte, autorul susține până în pânzele albe poziția Israelului, ignorând una dintre principalele reguli ale argumentării: pentru a fi cu adevărat convingător trebuie să oferi și contraargumente. Fără să susțin că nu are dreptate în multe dintre ideile prezentate, cartea este, totuși, o mare mostră de propagandă israeliană. Nu o recomand, nu aș putea să recomand astfel de pierdere de timp.

[Budd Margolis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dershowitz reputation has been soiled.
But, he has some good & important points, rarely heard but repeated often.
Back in 2014 the Hamas tunnel/kidnap strategy was known.
This book shows that the war has been predictable.

[Linda Abraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of Dershowitz's articles in connection with the Gaza war.

As always, well argued and written.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Profoundly important.

[Malcolm Murrell-Byrd · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book deserves less than a one star rating. I only care to read it to see how Israel successfully spreads its propaganda and narrative of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It's a one to one match. Palestinians are murdered, imprisoned, and more as Dershowitz helps Israel silence their voices.

Dershowitz's collection of small papers lacks evidence, analysis, and ultimately echoes Israeli-zionist propaganda against the Palestinians existence. What is a popular American lawyer doing having dinner with Israel's prime minister and why would Netanyahu seek from courting him. Dershowitz did not interview, speak to, or include any Palestinian voice in this book. The only evidence he cites are from newspapers and largely newspaper articles that heavily pro-Israel. Where is the historical analysis? Where is the compassion and empathy for human life?

Some background on Dershowitz is needed to understand a pattern in his recent defense cases. He was on the defense team for O. J. Simpson in 1995, Jeffery Epstein in 2006, Harvey Weistein in 2018, and Donald Trump during his impeachment trail in 2020. He believes Israel is a Jewish state, a state for the Jews by the Jews, which discounts the 2 million Israeli-Palestinian citizens inside the state who are Muslim and Christian. He supports Israel's strategy of "mowing the lawn" in Gaza, worst of all he supported Israel's response after January 7th which had quickly turned into a genocide. The first digital genocide perhaps. One in which the whole world watched on their phones as 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza faced annihilation. Bombing densely packed fish in barrel. How does Israel bare no responsibility for the war crimes it committed? How does the US veto UN resolutions several times as the whole world backed ceasefire resolutions in the General Assembly and yet there is no accountability for compliancy in genocide.

He receptively groups together Hamas with other extremist groups like ISIL, Boko Haram, and Hezbollah as one group "Terrorists." This ignores their differences in ideologies, cultural and historical contexts. For instance Hamas was democratically elected and Hezbollah has many elected representatives in the Lebanese government. Boko Haram's ideology is that any constitution is an innovation which is to them against their Islamic interpretations. Therefore they do not participate in elections in Nigeria. ISIL is a deep consequence to the illegal US invasion of Iraq. The Iraqi people, the Syrian people, the Kurds, and even Al-Qaeda were against ISIL.

Dershowitz justification for Israel's military actions is strongly tied to the justification of America's war on terrorism. Essentially, if America does it so can Israel. This conclusion of a "just war" hold no water. The war on terrorism is essentially terrorism en masse. The drone assassination campaign, exempt from any judicial process, only has a success rate of 1/10. Imagine if any other country carried out the same in the US with no resistance or accountability.

[Ana-Maria Bujor · Rating 3 out of 5]

The translated book only had Terror tunnels on the cover, so I started out with the wrong expectations. There is little information about the tunnels per se (which is what I wanted to learn about), it's more about Israel's right to defence. Now, there are some strong arguments (indeed other countries have done similar things with few repercussions, indeed, one cannot just sit and watch rockets coming their way, indeed human shields have been used). But the arguments are very repetitive, probably because the book is a compilation of articles. And some arguments are flimsy - first we learn that significantly more combatants were killed in comparison with civilians and then we are told that mostly civilians were killed because they were used as human shields, while also casting doubt whether they were in fact civilians. So which one is it? Also sweeping many things under the rug while only putting emphasis on critics of Israel with bad arguments. Good book if you want to get this side of the conflict, but there are more detailed and better documented books out there.

[Vic Lauterbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

While most of the events related in this micro-history have been overtaken by more recent events, it provides valuable background that will inform an unbiased reader about the roots of the current Gaza conflict. The understanding gained reinforces the old maxim that truth is the first casualty of war. Like the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), military operations in the Gaza have always been overshadowed by a ferocious, world-wide ideological conflict. Supporters of the Arab Socialist Ba'athist agenda (essentially Nationalist, anti-Imperialist) are determined to prevent the defeat of Hamas by political means. Unlike the Stalinists who dominated the Spanish Republicans, they may well succeed. As we learned in 1933-39, the Western Democracies tend to fail the test when called on to resist tyranny of any kind, especially tyranny hidden under the sheep's clothing of morally righteous populism. The only certainty is that the ordinary people of Gaza will pay the highest price regardless of who 'wins' this war or its future iterations.

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a collection of articles written by the author than a regular book. This does make the book an easier read (newspaper articles usually are written in a way that's easy to read since they target a very wide audience).

This leads to A LOT of repetition. If this were re-written as a book it could probably be half as long and twice as good.

Being a collection of op-eds also means that the content is not nearly as in depth as I would have liked in a non-fiction book. Despite that, the author does go into some detail and highlights a lot of important topics.

Despite this, I do find this book to be useful and overall do recommend it if you're looking to learn more about the topic. But be prepared for lots of repetition and in many cases only a fairly surface level discussion.

[Bull Weaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this is anywhere near as good as his Case For Israel, then this must be a superbly researched and reasoned book. I kept thinking as I read The Case For Israel (2003) that it needed to be updated to take into account all that has happened since he sent that manuscript to the press. This book offers a more specific update in that it deals with these moslem radicals most recent and glaring, unfounded, causeless animosities

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Appreciated the first "chapter" or two but ultimately the style and format was irritating. I think this is a collection of essays / articles. So, it's repetitive and one chapter doesn't naturally build on the previous one.

[Rich Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dershowitz makes a strong case. But since the book is a collection of papers, he makes the same case again and again. The 3-star rating reflects the repetitiveness of the collection, not the author’s arguments.

[Damian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Selection and Conformation bias writ large. So many strawman arguments you could feed a horse. There is no danger of Dershowitz commiting the sin of empathy to a people whose land was stolen out from under them in 1948.

[Michael Albalah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Few legal arguments, minimal law, tons of conclusions. He’s obsessed with refuting the Goldstone report. A lion doesn’t mind the opinion of sheep, but Dershowitz is the shepherd.

[Yanet · Rating 1 out of 5]

GARBAGE BOOK BY A ZIONIST PROPAGANDIST 🤮

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, but also the most repetitive book I've ever read. TERROR TUNNELS is a collection of independent essays culled from various newspapers, which means that each chapter exists in a vacuum and is therefore oblivious of the information that came beforehand.
Dershowitz eloquently describes how the terrorist group Hamas has intentionally put Palestinian civilians in harm's way so that, whenever these civilians are tragically hurt or killed, the international media can take plenty of gruesome photos and make the Israeli government look like a bunch of big meanie heads for simply protecting themselves from Hamas' rockets and kidnapping tunnels. The notion that Hamas is responsible for last year's violence in the Gaza Strip strikes me as absurdly obvious, yet a disturbing amount of people would prefer to heap blame on the soldiers who accidentally kill hostages than on the hostage-takers responsible for endangering their lives in the first place. Dershowitz also shows how the recent criticism of Israel's self-defense policy is hopelessly steeped in hypocrisy, naiveté, and blatant anti-Semitism (sadly on the rise once again).
I don't necessarily recommend reading the whole book, due to the constant repetion of every single fact and opinion. But, if you can get this from a library, definitely take a look at the introduction, as well as the debate transcript at the very end. A debate in which Dershowitz absolutely destroys his esteemed opponent on this issue.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is essentially an anthology of articles written by Professor Dershowitz about the two most recent was between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Professor Dershowitz argues passionately for the need for a clearer, more balanced approach to the ongoing conflict.

Some will take issue with his conclusions. I found the book to provide a cogent rehearsal of the events of recent years along with a cogent and passionate response to these events from one of the most articulate commentators on the subject.

Even if one does not agree with all if Professor Dershowitz's analysis, I believe he offers a compelling case for viewing the conflict

Of special not is the transcript if his "debate" with Justice Dugard of South Africa in the aftermath if the war of summer 2014.

[Andrea Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's not a long book - 123 pages, of which the final 10 are footnotes and references. In fact, it isn't really a book, rather a collection of newspaper articles/essays, so there is a fair bit of repetition. Dershowitz is a well-known lawyer, so he knows whereof he speaks in discussions of "proportionality" and the like. All in all very interesting and enlightening. The sad thing, of course, is that those who need to read this book are the ones who certainly won't.

[Pcdoctorswr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book made a valid point, but did not have to repeat it in every chapter. I got it the first time.

[Dr. Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat redundant because it is a collection of articles written over a period of time, so some of the same points made again and again.

[Christian Shute · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent arguments. Well thought out.

[Kieran Miles]

My god, he's right-wing!