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American Intifada: Israel, the Gaza War and the New Antisemitism
Why are progressives so hostile to Israel?
Listen to commentators and a pattern quickly the more liberal the speaker, the more likely they are to attack Israel. Worse, many liberals say things about Israel that are patently false. After the October 7 Hamas attack, Barack Obama said that Israel had “unclean hands” because of the “unbearable occupation”. The trouble was, there was no occupation. Israel had withdrawn from Gaza almost twenty years before.
With his acclaimed wit, historian Uri Kaufman answers the riddle by examining the phenomenon through the distorting lens of race. Simply put, Israelis are perceived as a white group of privilege, while Palestinians are perceived as people of color. For progressives, fighting for people of color is the core value that crowds out all other considerations, no matter the facts. It all results in a strange upside-down world where liberals attack Israelis who share their values, while embracing Palestinians who reject them.
Listen to commentators and a pattern quickly the more liberal the speaker, the more likely they are to attack Israel. Worse, many liberals say things about Israel that are patently false. After the October 7 Hamas attack, Barack Obama said that Israel had “unclean hands” because of the “unbearable occupation”. The trouble was, there was no occupation. Israel had withdrawn from Gaza almost twenty years before.
With his acclaimed wit, historian Uri Kaufman answers the riddle by examining the phenomenon through the distorting lens of race. Simply put, Israelis are perceived as a white group of privilege, while Palestinians are perceived as people of color. For progressives, fighting for people of color is the core value that crowds out all other considerations, no matter the facts. It all results in a strange upside-down world where liberals attack Israelis who share their values, while embracing Palestinians who reject them.
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Published September 4, 2025
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June 7, 2025
In Uri Kaufman’s “American Intifada: Israel, the Gaza War and the New Antisemitism,” the author examines how cognitive dissonance plays a role in the current antisemitism which he defines as,
“…when people are confronted with facts that contradict deeply held beliefs, they usually change the facts, not the beliefs…” (pg. 13).
In particular, Kaufman analyzes how progressives aka Social Democrats are able to somehow support terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah even though those groups—and their primary supporters in the Iranian regime—are misogynists, homophobics, hyperreligious, racists (not to mention antisemites), murderers, and rapists. For example, I saw videos of Hamas throwing gay people off of buildings…just because they were gay. My nephew is LGBTQ+, so there is NO way that I could ever support such an organization. And yet, it bewilders me that gay people in the United States can parade around with Hamas flags. The author includes a slew of other examples.
Let’s not mince the facts: I would definitely consider Kaufman a right-winger. But his political views aside, he does make some compelling arguments. I’m legally an independent voter, though I always vote a Democratic ticket. Within the past few years, I’ve increasingly identified as a progressive voter. After October 7th 2023, however, I started becoming disillusioned with the Social Democrats when many fellow far-left voters began engaging in virulent antisemitism. This same level of antisemitism can be found on the other end of the spectrum in the far-right MAGA movement. Unfortunately, Kaufman doesn’t address the far right’s actions regarding antisemitism—and as we already know, there are many. The author argues that,
“…For the first half of Israel’s history…Jerusalem could count on support from liberals and Democrats, while conservatives and Republicans often complained about the “Jewish lobby.” Starting sometime in the 1970s, the two sides gradually began trading places…” (pg 10).
However, the vast majority of Americans DO support Israeli democracy, with the exception of both of the extremes in American politics: MAGA and now far-left Progressives. Kaufman lauds Netanyahu by saying that Netanyahu was responsible for,
“…selling off state-owned companies, breaking up monopolies, and restructuring the tax system…[turning] Israel into one of the wealthiest countries in the world…”
Yet, according to Globes (https://en.globes.co.il/en/),
“…The poverty rate in Israel is relatively high compared with OECD countries. Israel is second only to Costa Rica in terms of poverty rate, while in OECD countries, the poverty rate is 11.6% on average. The country with the lowest poverty rate in the organization is the Czech Republic, where only 7% of households are defined as poor, compared with 20.7% in Israel…”
The author looked at the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the United States through the lens of cognitive dissonance, and I have to admit that a lot of that made perfect sense. Using numerous footnotes, Kaufman is an engaging writer. While I do believe that he focuses too heavily on bipartisan scolding, this book is informative and well-written.
“…when people are confronted with facts that contradict deeply held beliefs, they usually change the facts, not the beliefs…” (pg. 13).
In particular, Kaufman analyzes how progressives aka Social Democrats are able to somehow support terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah even though those groups—and their primary supporters in the Iranian regime—are misogynists, homophobics, hyperreligious, racists (not to mention antisemites), murderers, and rapists. For example, I saw videos of Hamas throwing gay people off of buildings…just because they were gay. My nephew is LGBTQ+, so there is NO way that I could ever support such an organization. And yet, it bewilders me that gay people in the United States can parade around with Hamas flags. The author includes a slew of other examples.
Let’s not mince the facts: I would definitely consider Kaufman a right-winger. But his political views aside, he does make some compelling arguments. I’m legally an independent voter, though I always vote a Democratic ticket. Within the past few years, I’ve increasingly identified as a progressive voter. After October 7th 2023, however, I started becoming disillusioned with the Social Democrats when many fellow far-left voters began engaging in virulent antisemitism. This same level of antisemitism can be found on the other end of the spectrum in the far-right MAGA movement. Unfortunately, Kaufman doesn’t address the far right’s actions regarding antisemitism—and as we already know, there are many. The author argues that,
“…For the first half of Israel’s history…Jerusalem could count on support from liberals and Democrats, while conservatives and Republicans often complained about the “Jewish lobby.” Starting sometime in the 1970s, the two sides gradually began trading places…” (pg 10).
However, the vast majority of Americans DO support Israeli democracy, with the exception of both of the extremes in American politics: MAGA and now far-left Progressives. Kaufman lauds Netanyahu by saying that Netanyahu was responsible for,
“…selling off state-owned companies, breaking up monopolies, and restructuring the tax system…[turning] Israel into one of the wealthiest countries in the world…”
Yet, according to Globes (https://en.globes.co.il/en/),
“…The poverty rate in Israel is relatively high compared with OECD countries. Israel is second only to Costa Rica in terms of poverty rate, while in OECD countries, the poverty rate is 11.6% on average. The country with the lowest poverty rate in the organization is the Czech Republic, where only 7% of households are defined as poor, compared with 20.7% in Israel…”
The author looked at the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within the United States through the lens of cognitive dissonance, and I have to admit that a lot of that made perfect sense. Using numerous footnotes, Kaufman is an engaging writer. While I do believe that he focuses too heavily on bipartisan scolding, this book is informative and well-written.
July 1, 2025
Simply a great read, that lends understanding to the troubling view toward Israel , adopted by so many in our day.
"For terrorists, there is no bad publicity—all publicity is good because it puts the cause back on the global agenda. This is doubly so for the Palestinians because they enjoy broad support in the International community, as well as in academia and media, no matter what atrocities they commit."
Isn't that the truth ?
"For terrorists, there is no bad publicity—all publicity is good because it puts the cause back on the global agenda. This is doubly so for the Palestinians because they enjoy broad support in the International community, as well as in academia and media, no matter what atrocities they commit."
Isn't that the truth ?
October 31, 2025
The book examines the prevailing response to the October 7 massacres, defined by moral inversion, selective outrage, and the rationalization (sometimes conscious and sometimes not) of terrorism. It does so by illustrating how this attitude has developed over the years across various institutions culminating in moments like the Harvard president’s infamous congressional testimony where she said that calls for the genocide of Jews "depended on context" , or in the silence of major women’s rights organizations that initially refused to address the documented use of sexual violence as a weapon of war during the attacks, only doing so later, reluctantly, and still falling short.
The author follows a pattern across different administrations, NGOs, peace processes, and media coverage. A recurring trend emerges, that of cognitive dissonance: When people are confronted with facts that contradict deeply held beliefs, they usually change the facts rather than the beliefs. For example, Israel was called an apartheid state even though Arab-Israelis served in a governing coalition with substantial political power and even held positions as Supreme Court justices. The Gaza Strip was still described as occupied even though Israel withdrew from it in 2005. It was still labeled as blockaded even though aid flowed into it and it also had an open crossing with Egypt, which many seem to forget, etc., and there are many such cases.
Now, the book has two issues. In my opinion, both are connected:
THE FIRST is that the style is too polemical, too enthusiastic in its critique, and too passionate in its denunciations, which makes it come off as biased in favor of certain figures while giving the impression of lumping everyone left of center into either the treasonous or the useful idiot camp (some cases do fall into this category but relying too heavily on them without balancing the argument makes the overall picture seem one-sided). But don’t get me wrong, even though I disagree with the style, I do not deny the substance. Israeli policy must be understood as one based on national survival and deterrence rather than the luxury of conciliation or accommodation with its enemies. The pre–October 7 approach of buying quiet and accepting “tolerable levels of terror” in exchange for normalcy is no more. I have been following this war since that Saturday two years ago, and there is an almost unanimous understanding that on the Israeli side something has changed from its prewar stance. There is now a determined insistence on security first and on prioritizing deterrence, making any act of terror or similar misadventure by Hamas as costly as possible. What is different this time is the near-total agreement on the need to disarm Hamas (which is why even though there is a ceasefire there are still occasional strikes against Hamas targets as of this writing, as one should expect Hamas to receive a similar approach to that toward Hezbollah, which is periodically targeted in precision strikes as it continues to hold Lebanon hostage and refuses to disarm as required by the ceasefire agreement ).
MY SECOND criticism is that this book cannot serve as an introduction for anyone whose understanding of the situation is limited. The polemical tone may be off-putting, so a reader must already have some background knowledge of the military, security, geographical, and religious dimensions of the issue. Many in the West (or anyone unfamiliar with the mindset of the Middle Eastern and MENA region) tend to fall into the fallacy of projecting their own concerns and motives onto the region. This is something the author himself rightly noted when he described how Israel assumed Hamas would prefer the continuation of Qatari money flowing into the strip and the increase of Gazan workers authorized to work in Israel over national suicide, only for Hamas to choose the latter. Such misreadings lead to a fundamental misunderstanding of the intentions of the parties involved.
Take just two of these dimensions: the military and geography. Without an understanding of the 1948 war, the Suez crisis, the Six-Day War, or the Yom Kippur War of 1973, one cannot grasp the Israeli fear concerning security or why Israel developed a reflexive response of overwhelming reprisal to any attack. A foreign observer may assume that the guiding principle of the region’s populations is “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This view ignores the stronger sectarian impulses of othering and tribalism. Israel exists within a hostile regional environment where minorities face extermination if they cannot defend themselves or if they happened to be without an army and a demonstrated readiness to use force offensively, they would end up like the Yazidis (remember them?) ,the Druze or Alawites (do they ring a bell?) .....groups nearly erased or forced into submission...again,There are many such cases.
Geography also plays a decisive role. take the West Bank for example: Unlike Gaza, which is flat, the West Bank is a mountainous and elevated region that overlooks Israel’s densely populated coastal plain and industrial heartland. This high ground represents a major security concern for Israel. We have already seen what Gazans managed to do from flat terrain with a stockpile of Iranian rockets after Israel withdrew. Imagine what could happen if a similar situation arose from the elevated terrain of the West Bank, which overlooks Israel’s core population centers and strategic assets such as Tel Aviv, the port of Haifa, Ben Gurion Airport..etc, These are located in a narrow coastal plain, much of it at or near sea level. Now imagine a coordinated effort between both the West Bank and Gaza, with the range of their rockets complementing one another.
Critics often abstract Israel into a universal rights argument without acknowledging this regional reality. Security policy must be judged against the threats a state actually faces, not against an idealized world.
In conclusion, the book’s tone may be off-putting but with the necessary background one can appreciate its finer details. It is informative and surprisingly detailed for a relatively concise work. I particularly liked the close-up on the judicial reform issue and the overview of the political structure. All in all, it is a good book, but best read by someone who is already sufficiently informed.
Rating: 4/5
The author follows a pattern across different administrations, NGOs, peace processes, and media coverage. A recurring trend emerges, that of cognitive dissonance: When people are confronted with facts that contradict deeply held beliefs, they usually change the facts rather than the beliefs. For example, Israel was called an apartheid state even though Arab-Israelis served in a governing coalition with substantial political power and even held positions as Supreme Court justices. The Gaza Strip was still described as occupied even though Israel withdrew from it in 2005. It was still labeled as blockaded even though aid flowed into it and it also had an open crossing with Egypt, which many seem to forget, etc., and there are many such cases.
Now, the book has two issues. In my opinion, both are connected:
THE FIRST is that the style is too polemical, too enthusiastic in its critique, and too passionate in its denunciations, which makes it come off as biased in favor of certain figures while giving the impression of lumping everyone left of center into either the treasonous or the useful idiot camp (some cases do fall into this category but relying too heavily on them without balancing the argument makes the overall picture seem one-sided). But don’t get me wrong, even though I disagree with the style, I do not deny the substance. Israeli policy must be understood as one based on national survival and deterrence rather than the luxury of conciliation or accommodation with its enemies. The pre–October 7 approach of buying quiet and accepting “tolerable levels of terror” in exchange for normalcy is no more. I have been following this war since that Saturday two years ago, and there is an almost unanimous understanding that on the Israeli side something has changed from its prewar stance. There is now a determined insistence on security first and on prioritizing deterrence, making any act of terror or similar misadventure by Hamas as costly as possible. What is different this time is the near-total agreement on the need to disarm Hamas (which is why even though there is a ceasefire there are still occasional strikes against Hamas targets as of this writing, as one should expect Hamas to receive a similar approach to that toward Hezbollah, which is periodically targeted in precision strikes as it continues to hold Lebanon hostage and refuses to disarm as required by the ceasefire agreement ).
MY SECOND criticism is that this book cannot serve as an introduction for anyone whose understanding of the situation is limited. The polemical tone may be off-putting, so a reader must already have some background knowledge of the military, security, geographical, and religious dimensions of the issue. Many in the West (or anyone unfamiliar with the mindset of the Middle Eastern and MENA region) tend to fall into the fallacy of projecting their own concerns and motives onto the region. This is something the author himself rightly noted when he described how Israel assumed Hamas would prefer the continuation of Qatari money flowing into the strip and the increase of Gazan workers authorized to work in Israel over national suicide, only for Hamas to choose the latter. Such misreadings lead to a fundamental misunderstanding of the intentions of the parties involved.
Take just two of these dimensions: the military and geography. Without an understanding of the 1948 war, the Suez crisis, the Six-Day War, or the Yom Kippur War of 1973, one cannot grasp the Israeli fear concerning security or why Israel developed a reflexive response of overwhelming reprisal to any attack. A foreign observer may assume that the guiding principle of the region’s populations is “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This view ignores the stronger sectarian impulses of othering and tribalism. Israel exists within a hostile regional environment where minorities face extermination if they cannot defend themselves or if they happened to be without an army and a demonstrated readiness to use force offensively, they would end up like the Yazidis (remember them?) ,the Druze or Alawites (do they ring a bell?) .....groups nearly erased or forced into submission...again,There are many such cases.
Geography also plays a decisive role. take the West Bank for example: Unlike Gaza, which is flat, the West Bank is a mountainous and elevated region that overlooks Israel’s densely populated coastal plain and industrial heartland. This high ground represents a major security concern for Israel. We have already seen what Gazans managed to do from flat terrain with a stockpile of Iranian rockets after Israel withdrew. Imagine what could happen if a similar situation arose from the elevated terrain of the West Bank, which overlooks Israel’s core population centers and strategic assets such as Tel Aviv, the port of Haifa, Ben Gurion Airport..etc, These are located in a narrow coastal plain, much of it at or near sea level. Now imagine a coordinated effort between both the West Bank and Gaza, with the range of their rockets complementing one another.
Critics often abstract Israel into a universal rights argument without acknowledging this regional reality. Security policy must be judged against the threats a state actually faces, not against an idealized world.
In conclusion, the book’s tone may be off-putting but with the necessary background one can appreciate its finer details. It is informative and surprisingly detailed for a relatively concise work. I particularly liked the close-up on the judicial reform issue and the overview of the political structure. All in all, it is a good book, but best read by someone who is already sufficiently informed.
Rating: 4/5
May 29, 2025
Cognitive dissonance is a psychological state of discomfort experienced when an individual's beliefs, attitudes, or behaviors contradict each other. For example, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol understood Gamal Abdel Nasser was completely serious when he said he was going to drive Israel into the sea. Yet the American State Department thought it was simply rhetoric and urged restraint.
From Osama bin Laden to Yahya Sinwar, these terrorists make it eminently clear what their goals are – the utter destruction of the West and the infidels that reside there. To which Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden similarly suggested restraint and calm. Obama and Biden have the luxury of cognitive dissonance, given that the 7,500 miles of border with Canada and Mexico are relatively calm. Israel's borders should only be so quiet.
Cognitive dissonance is a core theme in American Intifada: Israel, the Gaza War, and the New Antisemitism (Republic Books), an essential new book by Uri Kaufman. He is also the author of Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East.
Cognitive dissonance has turned Israel, the miracle on the Mediterranean, the start-up nation, into a pariah. It has simultaneously turned the Palestinians, whose leaders have been against the West and have been leaders in terrorism since the PLO was founded in 1964, into a group worth sympathizing with.
Real estate developer by day, author by night, Kaufman brings his excellent research skills and writing talent to every chapter of this insightful book.
The Navier–Stokes equations are partial differential equations that describe the motion of viscous fluid substances. They are some of the most complex equations in mathematics.
October 7, 2023, should be the opposite of Navier–Stokes, an equation that is eminently elementary: who is right and wrong, who is evil, and who is just. Yet it did not take long for organizations like the BBC, CNN, United Nations, New York Times, Human Rights Watch, and more to condemn Israel and sympathize with Hamas.
Kaufman asks in the book and tries to analyze how Israel has been made into the enemy when it is so clear they are in the right. He shows how it is rooted in cognitive dissonance. That is the only way someone like Jimmy Carter could be more pro-Palestinian than Anwar Sadat.
As to the Palestinian cause, it has long been used as fodder against Israel when countries themselves have long given the Palestinians short shrift. Sadat's predecessor, Nasser, said in 1970 that he had 'no interest' in the Palestinian cause.
The reason no Arab country wants to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza is the long history of predicaments that the Palestinians have brought to every host country. While progressives condemn Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, they are oblivious to how Palestinians are treated as third-class citizens in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. And oblivious that Gazans had more rights and freedoms when it was under Israel, as opposed to Egypt. But all of that is lost on the left, and progressives and their cognitive dissonance only enable them to see Israel through the lens of its enemies.
In chapter after chapter, Kaufman shows that the double standard is applied only to Israel. One of countless examples is that the Muslim Brotherhood-led Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) have taken over Sudan. Over 150,000 have been killed, 9,000,000 forcibly displaced, and 5,000,000 are starving. Daily, the SAF conducts airstrikes on hospitals, schools, churches, and mosques, destroying 86% of them. Besides the silence from the media and the UN on what is going on there, most people could not even find Sudan on a map.
The International Criminal Court has done nothing, and other countries have pretty much ignored the atrocities in Sudan and are obsessed with every minor trespass of Israel in Gaza. Yet when Israel launches an attack against Hamas, where there are casualties, the media accepts heavily inflated figures from the Hamas news bureau as if they were from a peer-reviewed journal.
Cognitive dissonance has long led the US to have fundamental misunderstandings of Iranian priorities. The nuclear program of Iran is to them as baseball and apple pie are to the US. Yet the US State Department naively expects them to put their nuclear program on a long-term thaw.
Tawriya is a concept in Islam where someone can say something with an intended meaning that is different from what is outwardly understood. It's a way to communicate without explicitly lying, allowing for a more nuanced expression. Iran used tawriya on steroids with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, yet the world was oblivious to it.
The book concludes with the observation that people eventually wake up and find themselves lying next to their enemy. Yet groups like Queers For Palestine (a group whose name should be the definition of irony) will find that they are next in the killing line of the Palestinian terror organizations. It's not ironic that Queers For Palestine does not seem to have any active living members in Palestine – you do the math.
Kaufman writes that he is an optimist. He ends with a prediction that one day, those who share Israel's liberal values will look back upon our time. They will look back upon progressives who hate everything about Palestinians and Iranians except their struggle with Israel. They will look back at the tortured truths progressives employed to support their strange biases. And, like racism itself, they will realize just how crazy the whole thing was. The progressive lunatics have taken over the asylum. It's disheartening to see how many organizations support Hamas when they would be first in the Hamas killing line.
If you decide to read this important book, start early in the evening. It's hard to put down. Kaufman is an engaging writer, and this is a fascinating read about an important topic.
From Osama bin Laden to Yahya Sinwar, these terrorists make it eminently clear what their goals are – the utter destruction of the West and the infidels that reside there. To which Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden similarly suggested restraint and calm. Obama and Biden have the luxury of cognitive dissonance, given that the 7,500 miles of border with Canada and Mexico are relatively calm. Israel's borders should only be so quiet.
Cognitive dissonance is a core theme in American Intifada: Israel, the Gaza War, and the New Antisemitism (Republic Books), an essential new book by Uri Kaufman. He is also the author of Eighteen Days in October: The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East.
Cognitive dissonance has turned Israel, the miracle on the Mediterranean, the start-up nation, into a pariah. It has simultaneously turned the Palestinians, whose leaders have been against the West and have been leaders in terrorism since the PLO was founded in 1964, into a group worth sympathizing with.
Real estate developer by day, author by night, Kaufman brings his excellent research skills and writing talent to every chapter of this insightful book.
The Navier–Stokes equations are partial differential equations that describe the motion of viscous fluid substances. They are some of the most complex equations in mathematics.
October 7, 2023, should be the opposite of Navier–Stokes, an equation that is eminently elementary: who is right and wrong, who is evil, and who is just. Yet it did not take long for organizations like the BBC, CNN, United Nations, New York Times, Human Rights Watch, and more to condemn Israel and sympathize with Hamas.
Kaufman asks in the book and tries to analyze how Israel has been made into the enemy when it is so clear they are in the right. He shows how it is rooted in cognitive dissonance. That is the only way someone like Jimmy Carter could be more pro-Palestinian than Anwar Sadat.
As to the Palestinian cause, it has long been used as fodder against Israel when countries themselves have long given the Palestinians short shrift. Sadat's predecessor, Nasser, said in 1970 that he had 'no interest' in the Palestinian cause.
The reason no Arab country wants to take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza is the long history of predicaments that the Palestinians have brought to every host country. While progressives condemn Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, they are oblivious to how Palestinians are treated as third-class citizens in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. And oblivious that Gazans had more rights and freedoms when it was under Israel, as opposed to Egypt. But all of that is lost on the left, and progressives and their cognitive dissonance only enable them to see Israel through the lens of its enemies.
In chapter after chapter, Kaufman shows that the double standard is applied only to Israel. One of countless examples is that the Muslim Brotherhood-led Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) have taken over Sudan. Over 150,000 have been killed, 9,000,000 forcibly displaced, and 5,000,000 are starving. Daily, the SAF conducts airstrikes on hospitals, schools, churches, and mosques, destroying 86% of them. Besides the silence from the media and the UN on what is going on there, most people could not even find Sudan on a map.
The International Criminal Court has done nothing, and other countries have pretty much ignored the atrocities in Sudan and are obsessed with every minor trespass of Israel in Gaza. Yet when Israel launches an attack against Hamas, where there are casualties, the media accepts heavily inflated figures from the Hamas news bureau as if they were from a peer-reviewed journal.
Cognitive dissonance has long led the US to have fundamental misunderstandings of Iranian priorities. The nuclear program of Iran is to them as baseball and apple pie are to the US. Yet the US State Department naively expects them to put their nuclear program on a long-term thaw.
Tawriya is a concept in Islam where someone can say something with an intended meaning that is different from what is outwardly understood. It's a way to communicate without explicitly lying, allowing for a more nuanced expression. Iran used tawriya on steroids with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, yet the world was oblivious to it.
The book concludes with the observation that people eventually wake up and find themselves lying next to their enemy. Yet groups like Queers For Palestine (a group whose name should be the definition of irony) will find that they are next in the killing line of the Palestinian terror organizations. It's not ironic that Queers For Palestine does not seem to have any active living members in Palestine – you do the math.
Kaufman writes that he is an optimist. He ends with a prediction that one day, those who share Israel's liberal values will look back upon our time. They will look back upon progressives who hate everything about Palestinians and Iranians except their struggle with Israel. They will look back at the tortured truths progressives employed to support their strange biases. And, like racism itself, they will realize just how crazy the whole thing was. The progressive lunatics have taken over the asylum. It's disheartening to see how many organizations support Hamas when they would be first in the Hamas killing line.
If you decide to read this important book, start early in the evening. It's hard to put down. Kaufman is an engaging writer, and this is a fascinating read about an important topic.
October 6, 2025
To summarize Douglas Murray's (and others) explanation of why the Moslem world hates Israel: jealousy. Humane considerations have nothing to do with it. Obviously.
To summarize why American progressives hate Israel: the have been provided a script to that they can cosplay that they are at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
I will give you one paragraph, on page 173:
The book can be sad and painful to read. Fortunately the author can be quite witty, which provides some gallows humor to help you through it.
Long live Israel.
To summarize why American progressives hate Israel: the have been provided a script to that they can cosplay that they are at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
I will give you one paragraph, on page 173:
The brilliant British author Douglas Murray has pointed out that generals aren't the only ones who fight the last war.' Cultural warriors do the same thing. The young people treating the quad at Columbia University as if it were the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma all aspire lo be a modern-day John Lewis, manning the ramparts as he did in the fight against racism. I saw the same thing when I was in college in the 1980s. Back then we called it "Sixties Envy." It often seemed, even then, that the civil rights movement had morphed into something akin to a societal autoimmune disease. It ran out of bacteria to destroy. So it started to attack healthy tissue.
The book can be sad and painful to read. Fortunately the author can be quite witty, which provides some gallows humor to help you through it.
Long live Israel.
May 13, 2025
I heard Uri Kaufman being interviewed by jonathan tobin and decided I needed to read this book. It was extremely interesting to learn new facts and see things from a new perspective. I’m still thinking about the book and processing the information. If you think you know a lot or even everything about the Gaza war, Israel and antisemitism in its current iteration, you need to read this book.
July 20, 2025
Great history, despite the title
I like how this book looked at the history of Israel's war on terrorism. I didn't know everything I thought I did about Israel having to trade prisoners for innocent hostages going back decades. Or Israel trying to make peace with Gaza.
This is a book every US higher ed student - and I'm not one - should have to read. Would clear the air.
I like how this book looked at the history of Israel's war on terrorism. I didn't know everything I thought I did about Israel having to trade prisoners for innocent hostages going back decades. Or Israel trying to make peace with Gaza.
This is a book every US higher ed student - and I'm not one - should have to read. Would clear the air.
August 13, 2025
An excellent, well researched book with coverage into the current Israel-Hamas war. I appreciated Kaufman's sections investigating and exposing biases in government, media, and NGOs. I would highly recommend this book to those wishing to know more about this ongoing conflict.
December 29, 2025
I enjoyed this book but felt the author had an axe to grind. I like history books much more so than a political book. This author did a good job at exposing the lefts hypocrisy and obsession with Israel but refused to acknowledge any mistakes the Israelis have made.
June 7, 2025
Excellent, timely read.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews