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The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza
Award-winning journalist's account of Israel's savage Operation Protective Edge.
On 8 July 2014, Israel launched an air and ground assault on Gaza that lasted 51 days. More than 2,000 people died, most of them civilians. The attack destroyed at least 10,000 homes and, according to the United Nations, displaced nearly 300,000 Palestinians.
Max Blumenthal was on the ground at the time. In this explosive work of reportage, he depicts the harrowing conditions endured by those under Israeli occupation and the cynical motivations behind Operation Protective Edge. Blumenthal presents shocking evidence, unearthed in the rubble of Gaza, detailing atrocities hitherto unreported in the world's media.
On 8 July 2014, Israel launched an air and ground assault on Gaza that lasted 51 days. More than 2,000 people died, most of them civilians. The attack destroyed at least 10,000 homes and, according to the United Nations, displaced nearly 300,000 Palestinians.
Max Blumenthal was on the ground at the time. In this explosive work of reportage, he depicts the harrowing conditions endured by those under Israeli occupation and the cynical motivations behind Operation Protective Edge. Blumenthal presents shocking evidence, unearthed in the rubble of Gaza, detailing atrocities hitherto unreported in the world's media.
261 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
36 people are currently reading
834 people want to read
About the author
Max Blumenthal
8 books279 followersMax Blumenthal is an American author, journalist, and blogger. He is a senior writer for Alternet and formerly a writer for The Daily Beast, Al Akhbar, and Media Matters for America. He is the author of two books including Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party (2009), which appeared on The New York Times bestsellers list, and Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel (2013).
Blumenthal joined Lebanon's Al Akhbar in late 2011 primarily to write about Israel-Palestine issues and foreign-policy debates in Washington, noting, upon leaving in mid-2012 in protest of its coverage of the Syrian Civil War, that it "gave me more latitude than any paper in the United States to write about ... Israel and Palestine". He ended his association with Al Akhbar in June 2012, over what he viewed as the newspaper's pro-Assad editorial line during the Syrian Civil War that he said was spearheaded by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb.
Blumenthal contributes weekly articles to Alternet where he has been a senior writer since September 2014. He focuses on the deepening crisis in the Middle East and its role in shaping political dynamics and public opinion in the US, particularly the special relationship with Israel. He occasionally covers domestic issues such as corporate media consolidation, the influence of the Christian right and police brutality. His reporting from the Gaza strip in 2014 was developed into a book, The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.
Blumenthal's articles and video documentaries have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, The Nation, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Independent Film Channel (IFC), Salon, The Real News, and Al Jazeera English, among other publications.
Blumenthal joined Lebanon's Al Akhbar in late 2011 primarily to write about Israel-Palestine issues and foreign-policy debates in Washington, noting, upon leaving in mid-2012 in protest of its coverage of the Syrian Civil War, that it "gave me more latitude than any paper in the United States to write about ... Israel and Palestine". He ended his association with Al Akhbar in June 2012, over what he viewed as the newspaper's pro-Assad editorial line during the Syrian Civil War that he said was spearheaded by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb.
Blumenthal contributes weekly articles to Alternet where he has been a senior writer since September 2014. He focuses on the deepening crisis in the Middle East and its role in shaping political dynamics and public opinion in the US, particularly the special relationship with Israel. He occasionally covers domestic issues such as corporate media consolidation, the influence of the Christian right and police brutality. His reporting from the Gaza strip in 2014 was developed into a book, The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza.
Blumenthal's articles and video documentaries have appeared in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Daily Beast, The Nation, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, Independent Film Channel (IFC), Salon, The Real News, and Al Jazeera English, among other publications.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
July 14, 2015
AN EYEFULL IN GAZA
"We've been suffering for more than sixty years . . . When I build a house, the Israelis bomb it. When I try to make a living, they destroy my business. When I try to raise a child, they kill him." - Resident of Gaza.
Max Blumenthal's "The 51 Day War" is a visceral collection of reportage on the 3rd major Israeli Assault on Gaza since their so-called disengagement in 2005. Blumenthal directly covers events in the latter half of the assault and in the immediate aftermath. The stories he tells are absolutely heart-rending, whole families torn apart by bombs, missiles and artillery, whole towns virtually pulverised, health clinics, hospitals, schools, work places and mosques destroyed and damaged. He also tells the story of the resistance, in particular the spirited defence put up at Shujaiya on the outskirts of Gaza City.
While the book is primarily focussed on Gaza, Blumenthal does take time to cover events in Israel where the politicians and military seem to be in a competition to sound the most like Nazi functionaries fighting partisans in Eastern Europe. He is also very sharp on the increasingly toxic nature of Israeli political life, and the post coup quislings in Cairo and amongst Abbas's West Bank clique. He turns his eye towards Washington too, the primary suppliers of munitions for the Israelis, where the insipid Obama and his waffling Secretary of State Kerry parrot lies delivered directly from Israel, mouth platitudes, and deliver arms to Israel.
The complete and utter disparity in power between the people of Gaza and the Israeli "Defence" Forces is evident from the casualty figures for the 2014 war: 66 Israel soldiers and 6 civilians including one child killed. In Gaza 2,200-2,300 were killed, only around a quarter of whom were combatants. Another quarter (551) were children. A further 1,000 children were left permanently disabled. What Blumenthal achieves in this book is to give names, and tell the stories, of some of those who make up these horrific numbers. Through these stories he exposes the horror of life under the Israeli siege of Gaza, and the periodic brutal assaults on those who live there, in a way that is immediate and clear for the reader. "The 51 Day War" is another important piece of testimony on the plight of the Palestinian people. It needs to be read widely.
"We've been suffering for more than sixty years . . . When I build a house, the Israelis bomb it. When I try to make a living, they destroy my business. When I try to raise a child, they kill him." - Resident of Gaza.
Max Blumenthal's "The 51 Day War" is a visceral collection of reportage on the 3rd major Israeli Assault on Gaza since their so-called disengagement in 2005. Blumenthal directly covers events in the latter half of the assault and in the immediate aftermath. The stories he tells are absolutely heart-rending, whole families torn apart by bombs, missiles and artillery, whole towns virtually pulverised, health clinics, hospitals, schools, work places and mosques destroyed and damaged. He also tells the story of the resistance, in particular the spirited defence put up at Shujaiya on the outskirts of Gaza City.
While the book is primarily focussed on Gaza, Blumenthal does take time to cover events in Israel where the politicians and military seem to be in a competition to sound the most like Nazi functionaries fighting partisans in Eastern Europe. He is also very sharp on the increasingly toxic nature of Israeli political life, and the post coup quislings in Cairo and amongst Abbas's West Bank clique. He turns his eye towards Washington too, the primary suppliers of munitions for the Israelis, where the insipid Obama and his waffling Secretary of State Kerry parrot lies delivered directly from Israel, mouth platitudes, and deliver arms to Israel.
The complete and utter disparity in power between the people of Gaza and the Israeli "Defence" Forces is evident from the casualty figures for the 2014 war: 66 Israel soldiers and 6 civilians including one child killed. In Gaza 2,200-2,300 were killed, only around a quarter of whom were combatants. Another quarter (551) were children. A further 1,000 children were left permanently disabled. What Blumenthal achieves in this book is to give names, and tell the stories, of some of those who make up these horrific numbers. Through these stories he exposes the horror of life under the Israeli siege of Gaza, and the periodic brutal assaults on those who live there, in a way that is immediate and clear for the reader. "The 51 Day War" is another important piece of testimony on the plight of the Palestinian people. It needs to be read widely.
July 17, 2015
How can I - or anyone - assign a star rating to this book? It may be the most important book of the year, and it's certainly one of the most depressing. Mr. Blumenthal gives us a day-by-day, blow-by-blow, description of the cruel assault on the Gaza strip during the summer of 2014. Most upsetting to me was the aftermath, in which daily assaults and indignities simply continue unchecked. The picture of little Wadie Abu Khesi, who froze to death in the bitter winter of 2014-2015, is terribly upsetting. But he is just one of hundreds of child victims.
What will it take for the world to recognize the humanity of the Palestinian people? Books like this can only help, if readers can force themselves through them. The prose is awkward from time to time, but the reporting is awe-inspiring, as is the courage, dignity, and generosity of many of the people Blumenthal and his colleagues encounter. Highly recommended. I wish every American who aspires to office would read it and think about it.
What will it take for the world to recognize the humanity of the Palestinian people? Books like this can only help, if readers can force themselves through them. The prose is awkward from time to time, but the reporting is awe-inspiring, as is the courage, dignity, and generosity of many of the people Blumenthal and his colleagues encounter. Highly recommended. I wish every American who aspires to office would read it and think about it.
February 20, 2016
Blow by blow account of the horrors inflicted on Gaza during the summer of 2014. Will leave you with a heavy heart.
October 27, 2015
This book is an outrageously bad, offensive, reductionist polemic against everything Israel. Israel is portrayed as a fascist state whose own citizens long to escape but can't (???). The totemic, black/white reductionism assumes that the reader is an ignorant, illogical, simpleton. The author strives to portray Palestinians as powerful, all-conquering military Goliaths and, at the same time, as naive innocents always striving for a just, fair, equal peace. Conversely, Israel is depicted as a nation weak and cowardly with feckless soldiers who are "hapless in close quarters combat", "badly atrophied," and and bent on genocide at all costs. Hamas is lauded as "dictating the extent and length of the [Gaza War]" while simultaneously being peaceable and fair.
There must be a book out there that actually takes an even-handed, neutral approach. This most definitely is NOT it. If you want more information based on facts rather than boiling rhetoric, look elsewhere.
There must be a book out there that actually takes an even-handed, neutral approach. This most definitely is NOT it. If you want more information based on facts rather than boiling rhetoric, look elsewhere.
October 18, 2015
Max Blumental's The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza is probably the best work out there on the recent Israeli military campaign in Gaza (Operation Protective Edge). Blumenthal provides an excellent narrative on Operation Protective Edge and also provides essential historical backgrounds for the Israeli incursion in Gaza. The IDF continues to use the controversial Hannibal Directive, an order to saturate an area with mortars and bombs to kill one of their captured soldiers to prevent a future prisoner exchange between the Israeli government and Hamas. The IDF also has formulated the Dahiya Doctrine, a tactic they have perfected in the war in Lebanon (in I think 2006?), which surmounts to the collective punishment of Palestinians. Israel continues to "mow the lawn" and punish the Palestinians for resisting Israeli settler-colonialism and ethnic cleansing. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
July 20, 2015
A work so lacking in balance, I think it could be categorised as propaganda. Is there such a category on Good Reads?
It's a worthless, exaggerated account which may have been written before the 'brave' writer stepped foot in Gaza (if he did) - a shame because a balanced account of the the latest terrible Gazan war would help both sides.
Oh well.
It's a worthless, exaggerated account which may have been written before the 'brave' writer stepped foot in Gaza (if he did) - a shame because a balanced account of the the latest terrible Gazan war would help both sides.
Oh well.
November 27, 2017
Review soon.
February 7, 2019
This is the first book I've read of Max Blumenthal's - and it's very good. He's a decent writer, and a good reporter (most of the time, in my opinion). I've learned a lot about Israel's 2014 assault on Gaza, and heartbreaking, first-hand stories from Palestinians Max interviews. He went to Gaza, along with Dan Cohen, near the end of Operation Protective Edge. You should watch the movie he directed, along with Cohen, called "Killing Gaza." A lot of it is video and audio of these interviews Max writes about.
Israel is brutal, torturous, and absolutely savage to Gaza. While the West Bank has it easier, it is still an atrocious situation. One kid tells Max he wants to be a fighter when he grows up - because Israeli soldiers killed his brother. His older brother, Salem, was searching for his family in Shujaiya with the International Solidarity Movement, and was wearing a green vest to identify himself with the volunteers. The IDF had marked a "red line" through the center of Shujaiya - if you crossed it, or were in the street, you were shot. Salem, crossing through the rubble and blocks of cement, was in the red line. He was sniped, shot three times to his death. There's a famous video of this which went viral; you might have seen it.
I was not aware of this until now: IDF troops often vandalize Palestinian homes they occupy, or UNWRA schools, with Jewish graffiti, such as the Star of David. Pictures by Dan are shown throughout the book. I found this be particularly illuminating. Israeli troops often asked civilians if they spoke Hebrew; if they did, they were shot on the spot. Max asks "Were the men shot because the soldiers feared Hebrew-speaking Palestinians might be able to decipher their orders? Were orders issued to kill them?"
Max interviews one teenager - my age- who claims he was stripped, blindfolded, and used as a human shield in house windows by IDF troops while they shot at their targets. Although Israeli officials and media often claim that Al-Qassam fighters use Israelis or IDF troops as human shields, there is no real evidence of this. Indeed, Norman Finkelstein has a chapter on human shields in his book on Gaza: he, using organizations like Amnesty International as evidence, says the IDF uses human shields, not the other way around.
The Hannibal Directive is not supposed to be talked about in Israeli society. After 1986, Israel could not face the public humiliation and loss that came with exchanging hostages. So, the plan was to forcibly never have Israeli hostages again. In 2014, 30 minutes before the famous ceasefire was supposed to go into effect (and therefore broken), Al-Quassam fighters to the east of Rafah abducted an Israeli soldier. The order, from a General loved by Israelies, was declared: Hannibal. Meaning, to find where "our guy" is held hostage and to kill the hostage-takers, and if we can't get our guy back, to kill him, too. Anything is better than to have Israeli hostages held by Hamas or the Al-Qassam fighters.
The International Red Cross succumbs to Israeli orders - if Israel orders them to stay out of a town or village - they stay out. The Israeli government also issues gag orders, where the press cannot report on whatever the gag order is focused on: The Hannibal directive being used in 2014, etc. The media obey.
If you go onto r/Israel, read Israeli (or American, for that matter) media, or pay attention to Israelis on social media, you notice on thing: they always talk about how they are always living in fear of rockets, of Palestinians, all day of every day, and this serves as a sort of moral justification for the attacks on Gaza. The reality, though, is that Israelis inside Israel experience very little terror. Finkelstein, not sarcastically, calls the Hamas rockets "bottle-rockets" or "fireworks," because they rarely kill or hurt any Israeli citizens, and barely do infrastructure damage. Gazans are actually bombed, their cities burned to ash, their children shot, their families forever separated or dead. The 2014 war on Gaza was a direct war on civilians, and IDF higher-ups indirectly, and proudly, admit to war crimes. All the human rights journals and NGO's are in agreement.
Israel is committing politicide of the Palestinians - "the calculated destruction of part of an entire community of people in order to deny them self-determination. 'Murders, localized massacres, the eliminations of leadership and elite groups, the physical destruction of public institutions and infrastructure, land colonization, starvation, social and political isolation, re-education, and partial ethnic cleansing are the major tools used to achieve this goal.'" (p. 111, a Kimmerling quote.)
The Israeli anti-war left is attacked, and often savagely, by the Jewish nationalists. There was even a ban on public demonstrations against the Operation. Indeed, Gidean Levy, a well-known critical writer for Haaretz, had to have a bodyguard hired for him by his employer during the 2014 war.
At a ground level, Israel did not do so hot. After the second attempt at a 72 hour ceasefire was over, Israel mostly using its air force to punish Gazans. Of course, Gaza has no real air force or the means to fight drones and fighter jets. Interestingly, Israel never does too well in her ground operations; see Lebanon in 2006. Max cites Theodore Postol - often referenced by Chomsky - to make a point about the inefficiencies of the Iron Dome.
"The combined payload of the four thousand or so rockets launched into Israel during the war equaled approximately a dozen missiles of the kind the Israeli air force launched on Gaza from their F-16s."
Near the end of the war, after 3 Al-Qassam fighters were killed by a drone strike, one of them was thought to be a spy. The next day, 25 "accused collaborators" were publicly executed by Al-Qassam fighters (154). "Palestinians killed Palestinians who had gotten Palestinians killed while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas undercut the negotiating position of Hamas" (156). If you do not know, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority are favored by the US, Israel, and Egypt, and are the native contractors working for the Israeli settler-colonialists in the West Bank.
It is no secret that Israel bombs schools, UN centers, houses, even hospitals. However, they went even further this time by going into the middle class downtown of Gaza City - 2 apartment towers which housed professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers, were demolishing; a 4-story shopping mall; the Rafah border terminal; a 13-story media center that was a cultural cornerstone to Gazan life.
After 51 days, talks were happening (with Hamas excluded, of course), and the war ended. But the siege is stronger than ever, the Gaza strip flattened, and nothing was garnered for the Palestinians except an extension of the limit which fishers can go out to sea: from 3 miles to 6 miles out. The international talks of aid to Gaza, for reasons we can guess, never discussed the Israeli crimes, or why Gaza needed so much aid. The aid was, essentially, the classic neoliberal "shock doctrine" theory imposed on an occupied population, with no efficient means to actually advance Gaza's economy, let alone rebuild it, under the heavy embargo.
Sorry for the jumbled mess; this is more for me than anyone else.
Israel is brutal, torturous, and absolutely savage to Gaza. While the West Bank has it easier, it is still an atrocious situation. One kid tells Max he wants to be a fighter when he grows up - because Israeli soldiers killed his brother. His older brother, Salem, was searching for his family in Shujaiya with the International Solidarity Movement, and was wearing a green vest to identify himself with the volunteers. The IDF had marked a "red line" through the center of Shujaiya - if you crossed it, or were in the street, you were shot. Salem, crossing through the rubble and blocks of cement, was in the red line. He was sniped, shot three times to his death. There's a famous video of this which went viral; you might have seen it.
I was not aware of this until now: IDF troops often vandalize Palestinian homes they occupy, or UNWRA schools, with Jewish graffiti, such as the Star of David. Pictures by Dan are shown throughout the book. I found this be particularly illuminating. Israeli troops often asked civilians if they spoke Hebrew; if they did, they were shot on the spot. Max asks "Were the men shot because the soldiers feared Hebrew-speaking Palestinians might be able to decipher their orders? Were orders issued to kill them?"
Max interviews one teenager - my age- who claims he was stripped, blindfolded, and used as a human shield in house windows by IDF troops while they shot at their targets. Although Israeli officials and media often claim that Al-Qassam fighters use Israelis or IDF troops as human shields, there is no real evidence of this. Indeed, Norman Finkelstein has a chapter on human shields in his book on Gaza: he, using organizations like Amnesty International as evidence, says the IDF uses human shields, not the other way around.
The Hannibal Directive is not supposed to be talked about in Israeli society. After 1986, Israel could not face the public humiliation and loss that came with exchanging hostages. So, the plan was to forcibly never have Israeli hostages again. In 2014, 30 minutes before the famous ceasefire was supposed to go into effect (and therefore broken), Al-Quassam fighters to the east of Rafah abducted an Israeli soldier. The order, from a General loved by Israelies, was declared: Hannibal. Meaning, to find where "our guy" is held hostage and to kill the hostage-takers, and if we can't get our guy back, to kill him, too. Anything is better than to have Israeli hostages held by Hamas or the Al-Qassam fighters.
The International Red Cross succumbs to Israeli orders - if Israel orders them to stay out of a town or village - they stay out. The Israeli government also issues gag orders, where the press cannot report on whatever the gag order is focused on: The Hannibal directive being used in 2014, etc. The media obey.
If you go onto r/Israel, read Israeli (or American, for that matter) media, or pay attention to Israelis on social media, you notice on thing: they always talk about how they are always living in fear of rockets, of Palestinians, all day of every day, and this serves as a sort of moral justification for the attacks on Gaza. The reality, though, is that Israelis inside Israel experience very little terror. Finkelstein, not sarcastically, calls the Hamas rockets "bottle-rockets" or "fireworks," because they rarely kill or hurt any Israeli citizens, and barely do infrastructure damage. Gazans are actually bombed, their cities burned to ash, their children shot, their families forever separated or dead. The 2014 war on Gaza was a direct war on civilians, and IDF higher-ups indirectly, and proudly, admit to war crimes. All the human rights journals and NGO's are in agreement.
Israel is committing politicide of the Palestinians - "the calculated destruction of part of an entire community of people in order to deny them self-determination. 'Murders, localized massacres, the eliminations of leadership and elite groups, the physical destruction of public institutions and infrastructure, land colonization, starvation, social and political isolation, re-education, and partial ethnic cleansing are the major tools used to achieve this goal.'" (p. 111, a Kimmerling quote.)
The Israeli anti-war left is attacked, and often savagely, by the Jewish nationalists. There was even a ban on public demonstrations against the Operation. Indeed, Gidean Levy, a well-known critical writer for Haaretz, had to have a bodyguard hired for him by his employer during the 2014 war.
At a ground level, Israel did not do so hot. After the second attempt at a 72 hour ceasefire was over, Israel mostly using its air force to punish Gazans. Of course, Gaza has no real air force or the means to fight drones and fighter jets. Interestingly, Israel never does too well in her ground operations; see Lebanon in 2006. Max cites Theodore Postol - often referenced by Chomsky - to make a point about the inefficiencies of the Iron Dome.
"The combined payload of the four thousand or so rockets launched into Israel during the war equaled approximately a dozen missiles of the kind the Israeli air force launched on Gaza from their F-16s."
Near the end of the war, after 3 Al-Qassam fighters were killed by a drone strike, one of them was thought to be a spy. The next day, 25 "accused collaborators" were publicly executed by Al-Qassam fighters (154). "Palestinians killed Palestinians who had gotten Palestinians killed while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas undercut the negotiating position of Hamas" (156). If you do not know, Fatah and the Palestinian Authority are favored by the US, Israel, and Egypt, and are the native contractors working for the Israeli settler-colonialists in the West Bank.
It is no secret that Israel bombs schools, UN centers, houses, even hospitals. However, they went even further this time by going into the middle class downtown of Gaza City - 2 apartment towers which housed professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and engineers, were demolishing; a 4-story shopping mall; the Rafah border terminal; a 13-story media center that was a cultural cornerstone to Gazan life.
After 51 days, talks were happening (with Hamas excluded, of course), and the war ended. But the siege is stronger than ever, the Gaza strip flattened, and nothing was garnered for the Palestinians except an extension of the limit which fishers can go out to sea: from 3 miles to 6 miles out. The international talks of aid to Gaza, for reasons we can guess, never discussed the Israeli crimes, or why Gaza needed so much aid. The aid was, essentially, the classic neoliberal "shock doctrine" theory imposed on an occupied population, with no efficient means to actually advance Gaza's economy, let alone rebuild it, under the heavy embargo.
Sorry for the jumbled mess; this is more for me than anyone else.
April 17, 2024
Holy shit
January 28, 2025
thank you to my grandmother for gifting me this book. very clearly written, very eye opening, and very dreadful in the context of the palestinian genocide ongoing today.
July 10, 2015
Well researched, poignant account of a great crime
To those wary of Blumenthal's reputation as left-wing polemicist, you should know this book is 99% facts, 1% opinion. You needn't hold any particular ideology to realize that too many innocent people were knowingly harmed by Israel, and that there is a term for its actions in Gaza --war crimes. Although you can't get through this book without feeling a bit depressed, I believe that thanks to social media and brave reporting from people like Blumenthal, that Israel was surprised and somewhat thwarted by the pushback it got from the international community. We were collectively horrified by the words and images pouring out of Gaza. Much like the effect that smart phone cameras have had on abusive cops, Israel is now on notice that its atrocities will come to light. Hopefully this will serve as a check on their barbarism.
To those wary of Blumenthal's reputation as left-wing polemicist, you should know this book is 99% facts, 1% opinion. You needn't hold any particular ideology to realize that too many innocent people were knowingly harmed by Israel, and that there is a term for its actions in Gaza --war crimes. Although you can't get through this book without feeling a bit depressed, I believe that thanks to social media and brave reporting from people like Blumenthal, that Israel was surprised and somewhat thwarted by the pushback it got from the international community. We were collectively horrified by the words and images pouring out of Gaza. Much like the effect that smart phone cameras have had on abusive cops, Israel is now on notice that its atrocities will come to light. Hopefully this will serve as a check on their barbarism.
July 22, 2015
A five star topic of paramount importance diminished by the author's penchant for hyperbole. Civilians identify supersonic aircraft type at night; every Gazan shot was fleeing (so who was doing the fighting?); Israeli raids are fascist, hyper-national while Qassam raids are audacious or bold. This obvious spin draws back the curtain on the authors bias and damages his credibility. After the first few dozen pages his exaggerations incited me to question the general veracity of his work, too bad because he obviously has much to say, perhaps some of it useful or important. Stylistically he was hard to believe.
March 2, 2016
If you want to understand what happened in Gaza in 2014, this is a very good starting point.
March 11, 2016
A must read for everyone who supports Israel
December 21, 2023
المراجعة العربية تحت المراجعة الإنجليزية.
Arabic version of my review in the bottom of the article.
Its author, American journalist Max Blumenthal, narrates the terrifying facts of the aggressive war launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip in 2014. He does not narrate it from the air-conditioned office of one of the international newspapers or news networks, but rather he narrates it from the battlefield, where he worked in Gaza and occupied Palestine for a long period, including this period. the war.
Blumenthal traces the preliminaries of the war, going back in history to the dawn of the millennium, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, the rift between Fatah and Hamas, and the role of Israel and the West in inciting this rift. However, in 2012 it became clear that reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah was a matter of time, which was the case. What did not please Israel, which had previously launched an attack on Gaza, the stronghold of Hamas, in 2006, an attack that the United Nations described in its reports as a deliberate and unprovoked attack that targeted civilians. In early July 2014, a group of Israeli settlers, instigated by a Knesset member, kidnapped The Palestinian child, Muhammad Abu Khudair, was tortured and burned to death, which was condemned by the world at the time, and ignited protests throughout occupied Palestine. This is something that Israel had been waiting for, as it claimed that it was forced to launch a pre-emptive attack on the Gaza Strip to prevent possible missile attacks from the Strip in response to the incident. Then it began a comprehensive invasion of the Gaza Strip, using its full land, naval and air forces, but the success of the resistance in confronting the aggression in Gaza, and its response to the aggression by comprehensive bombing of all Israeli cities for the first time in its history, forced the Israeli aggression, which realized the impossibility of eliminating the resistance, to change its goals. , to kill the largest possible number of Palestinians, and destroy everything that could be destroyed, and by the end of August, Israel was forced to end the aggression. According to United Nations reports, the number of Palestinian victims of the Israeli aggression reached about 2,200 people, and Blumenthal confirms that among the victims were more than five hundred children.
If Blumenthal had limited his book to these first chapters in which he monitored the political and historical backgrounds of the conflict, and then the escalation of events during the 2014 aggression, his book should have been at the forefront of this corner of the contemporary library devoted to the Palestinian issue, but Blumenthal goes beyond political documentation and history. Blumenthal documents numerous eyewitness accounts and interviews with Palestinian civilian victims, all of whom agreed to support the Palestinian resistance. Through these witnesses, Blumenthal gives voice to those who have remained excluded from the global media, showing them as human beings and not just numbers. Just as Blumenthal recorded the testimonies of the Palestinians, he records the testimonies of the Israelis, who seemed divided between those who wish to live in peace with the Palestinians and demand that they be granted their rights, and those who adopt radical and criminal views.
In his book, Blumenthal documents many crimes of the Israeli occupation, such as the Israeli army’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields, the deliberate targeting of civilians by bombing and snipers, the arbitrary arrest of civilians, and the policy of collective punishment. Then, through an analysis of his encounter with the Israeli military, he examines the culture that led them to all this crime and brutality.
In conclusion, it is necessary to read such a book, not because it impartially chronicles one of the tragic episodes of the Palestinian issue, but because it presents a non-stereotypical human picture of this issue in the Western media, which is addicted to regurgitating the Israeli narrative, and also provides answers to the questions of the moment.
The book was published in March 2020, by the leftist Leftward Publishing House, based in New Delhi, India, in about 290 pages, and is also available on Amazon in Kindle digital book format. As for the author, Max Blumenthal, he is an American journalist who worked in many prestigious press institutions. In the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, he has many important books on the Israeli issue, including Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel.
عنوان الكتاب باللغة الإنجليزية The 51 Dy War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza، أو حرب الأيام الإحدى والخمسين، الخراب والمقاومة في غزة. ويروي مؤلفه الصحفي الأمريكي ماكس بلومنثال الوقائع المرعبة للحرب العدوانية التي شنتها إسرائيل على قطاع غزة عام 2014، وهو لا يرويها من مكتب مكيف بأحدي الصحف العالمية أو المحطات الفضائية الشهيرة، ولكنه يرويها من ميدان القتال، حيث عمل في غزة وفلسطين المحتلة فترة طويلة منها فترة هذه الحرب.
يرصد بلومنثال مقدمات الحرب، راجعًا بالتاريخ إلى مطلع الألفية، وانسحاب إسرائيل أحادي الجانب من غزة، والشقاق ما بين فتح وحماس، ودور إسرائيل والغرب في التحريض على هذا الشقاق، ولكنه في العام 2012 أصبح من الواضح أن المصالحة بين حماس وفتح مسألة وقت، وهو الأمر الذي لم يعجب إسرائيل، والتي سبق أن شنت هجوم على غزة، معقل حماس عام 2006، هجومًا وصفته الأمم المتحدة في تقاريرها بأنه هجوم متعمد وغير مبرر استهدف المدنيين، وفي مطلع يوليو عام 2014 قام مجموعة من المستوطنين الإسرائيليين، بتحريض من نائبة في الكنيست، باختطاف الطفل الفلسطيني محمد أبو خضير وتعذيبه وقتله حرقًا، وهو الأمر الذي أدانه العالم وقتها، وأشعل الاحتجاجات في أرجاء فلسطين المحتلة، وهو الأمر الذي كانت إسرائيل تنتظره، حيث زعمت أنها مضطرة لشن هجوم استباقي على قطاع غزة لمنع الهجمات الصاروخية المحتمل اطلاقها من القطاع ردًا على الحادثة، ومن ثم بدأت غزو شامل لقطاع غزة مستخدمة كامل قوتها البرية والبحرية والجوية، ولكن نجاح المقاومة في التصدي للعدوان في غزة، وردها على العدوان بالقصف الشامل لجميع مدن إسرائيل لأول مرة في تاريخها، أجبر العدوان الإسرائيلي، وقد أدرك استحالة القضاء على المقاومة، بتغيير أهدافه، لتصبح قتل أكبر عدد ممكن من الفلسطينيين، وتدمير كل ما يستطيع تدميره، وبنهاية أغسطس اضطررت إسرائيل إلى إنهاء العدوان. تبعًا لتقارير الأمم المتحدة فإن عدد ضحايا العدوان الإسرائيلي من الفلسطينيين بلغ نحو 2200 شخص، ويؤكد بلومنثال أن من بين الضحايا ما يزيد عن خمسمائة طفل.
لو أكتفى بلومنثال من كتابه بهذه الفصول الأولى التي رصد فيها الخلفيات السياسية والتاريخية للصراع، ثم خط تصاعد الأحداث خلال عدوان 2014، لكن حري بكتابه أن يتصدر هذا الركن من المكتبة المعاصرة المخصص للقضية الفلسطينية، ولكن بلومنثال يمضي إلى أبعد من التوثيق السياسي والتاريخ. يقوم بلومنثال بتوثيق العديد من روايات شهود العيان واللقاءات مع الضحايا من المدنيين الفلسطينيين، والذين اتفقوا جميعًا على دعم المقاومة الفلسطينية، ومن خلال هذه الشاهدات يمنح بلومنثال الصوت لهؤلاء الذين ظلوا مستبعدين من الإعلام العالمي، ليظهروا بشرًا وليس مجرد أرقام. وكما قام بلومنثال بتسجيل شهادات الفلسطينيين، يقوم بتسجيل شهادات الإسرائيليين، والذين بدوا منقسمين ما بين من يرغب في العيش في سلام مع الفلسطينيين ويطالب بمنحهم حقوقهم، وهؤلاء الذين يتبنون أراء متطرفة وإجرامية.
يوثق بلومنثال في كتابه العديد من جرائم الاحتلال الإسرائيلي، مثل استخدام الجيش الإسرائيلي للمدنيين الفلسطينيين دروعًا بشرية، والاستهداف المتعمد للمدنيين بالقصف والقنص، والاعتقال التعسفي للمدنيين، وسياسة العقاب الجماعي. ثم هو يبحث من خلال تحليل لقاءته مع العسكريين الإسرائيليين، الثقافة التي أدت بهم إلى كل هذا الإجرام والتوحش.
ختامًا، من الضروري قراءة مثل هذا الكتاب، لا لأنه يؤرخ بحيادية لأحدى حلقات القضية الفلسطينية المأسوية، ولكن لأنه يقدم صورة إنسانية غير نمطية لهذه القضية في الإعلام الغربي الذي أدمن اجترار السردية الإسرائيلية، ويقدم أيضًا الإجابة حول أسئلة اللحظة.
صدر الكتاب في مارس 2020، عن دار نشر لفتوارد اليسارية، ومركزها في نيودلهي بالهند، في نحو 290 صفحة، كما هو متاح على موقع أمازون في تنسيق كتب كيندل الرقمية، أما المؤلف ماكس بلومنثال، فهو صحفي أمريكي، عمل في العديد من المؤسسات الصحفية المرموقة في الولايات المتحدة وكندا والشرق الأوسط، وله العديد من الكتب المهمة حول القضية الإسرائيلية، منها كتاب (جالوت، الحياة والكراهية في إسرائيل الكبرى Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel).
Arabic version of my review in the bottom of the article.
Its author, American journalist Max Blumenthal, narrates the terrifying facts of the aggressive war launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip in 2014. He does not narrate it from the air-conditioned office of one of the international newspapers or news networks, but rather he narrates it from the battlefield, where he worked in Gaza and occupied Palestine for a long period, including this period. the war.
Blumenthal traces the preliminaries of the war, going back in history to the dawn of the millennium, Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, the rift between Fatah and Hamas, and the role of Israel and the West in inciting this rift. However, in 2012 it became clear that reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah was a matter of time, which was the case. What did not please Israel, which had previously launched an attack on Gaza, the stronghold of Hamas, in 2006, an attack that the United Nations described in its reports as a deliberate and unprovoked attack that targeted civilians. In early July 2014, a group of Israeli settlers, instigated by a Knesset member, kidnapped The Palestinian child, Muhammad Abu Khudair, was tortured and burned to death, which was condemned by the world at the time, and ignited protests throughout occupied Palestine. This is something that Israel had been waiting for, as it claimed that it was forced to launch a pre-emptive attack on the Gaza Strip to prevent possible missile attacks from the Strip in response to the incident. Then it began a comprehensive invasion of the Gaza Strip, using its full land, naval and air forces, but the success of the resistance in confronting the aggression in Gaza, and its response to the aggression by comprehensive bombing of all Israeli cities for the first time in its history, forced the Israeli aggression, which realized the impossibility of eliminating the resistance, to change its goals. , to kill the largest possible number of Palestinians, and destroy everything that could be destroyed, and by the end of August, Israel was forced to end the aggression. According to United Nations reports, the number of Palestinian victims of the Israeli aggression reached about 2,200 people, and Blumenthal confirms that among the victims were more than five hundred children.
If Blumenthal had limited his book to these first chapters in which he monitored the political and historical backgrounds of the conflict, and then the escalation of events during the 2014 aggression, his book should have been at the forefront of this corner of the contemporary library devoted to the Palestinian issue, but Blumenthal goes beyond political documentation and history. Blumenthal documents numerous eyewitness accounts and interviews with Palestinian civilian victims, all of whom agreed to support the Palestinian resistance. Through these witnesses, Blumenthal gives voice to those who have remained excluded from the global media, showing them as human beings and not just numbers. Just as Blumenthal recorded the testimonies of the Palestinians, he records the testimonies of the Israelis, who seemed divided between those who wish to live in peace with the Palestinians and demand that they be granted their rights, and those who adopt radical and criminal views.
In his book, Blumenthal documents many crimes of the Israeli occupation, such as the Israeli army’s use of Palestinian civilians as human shields, the deliberate targeting of civilians by bombing and snipers, the arbitrary arrest of civilians, and the policy of collective punishment. Then, through an analysis of his encounter with the Israeli military, he examines the culture that led them to all this crime and brutality.
In conclusion, it is necessary to read such a book, not because it impartially chronicles one of the tragic episodes of the Palestinian issue, but because it presents a non-stereotypical human picture of this issue in the Western media, which is addicted to regurgitating the Israeli narrative, and also provides answers to the questions of the moment.
The book was published in March 2020, by the leftist Leftward Publishing House, based in New Delhi, India, in about 290 pages, and is also available on Amazon in Kindle digital book format. As for the author, Max Blumenthal, he is an American journalist who worked in many prestigious press institutions. In the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, he has many important books on the Israeli issue, including Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel.
عنوان الكتاب باللغة الإنجليزية The 51 Dy War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza، أو حرب الأيام الإحدى والخمسين، الخراب والمقاومة في غزة. ويروي مؤلفه الصحفي الأمريكي ماكس بلومنثال الوقائع المرعبة للحرب العدوانية التي شنتها إسرائيل على قطاع غزة عام 2014، وهو لا يرويها من مكتب مكيف بأحدي الصحف العالمية أو المحطات الفضائية الشهيرة، ولكنه يرويها من ميدان القتال، حيث عمل في غزة وفلسطين المحتلة فترة طويلة منها فترة هذه الحرب.
يرصد بلومنثال مقدمات الحرب، راجعًا بالتاريخ إلى مطلع الألفية، وانسحاب إسرائيل أحادي الجانب من غزة، والشقاق ما بين فتح وحماس، ودور إسرائيل والغرب في التحريض على هذا الشقاق، ولكنه في العام 2012 أصبح من الواضح أن المصالحة بين حماس وفتح مسألة وقت، وهو الأمر الذي لم يعجب إسرائيل، والتي سبق أن شنت هجوم على غزة، معقل حماس عام 2006، هجومًا وصفته الأمم المتحدة في تقاريرها بأنه هجوم متعمد وغير مبرر استهدف المدنيين، وفي مطلع يوليو عام 2014 قام مجموعة من المستوطنين الإسرائيليين، بتحريض من نائبة في الكنيست، باختطاف الطفل الفلسطيني محمد أبو خضير وتعذيبه وقتله حرقًا، وهو الأمر الذي أدانه العالم وقتها، وأشعل الاحتجاجات في أرجاء فلسطين المحتلة، وهو الأمر الذي كانت إسرائيل تنتظره، حيث زعمت أنها مضطرة لشن هجوم استباقي على قطاع غزة لمنع الهجمات الصاروخية المحتمل اطلاقها من القطاع ردًا على الحادثة، ومن ثم بدأت غزو شامل لقطاع غزة مستخدمة كامل قوتها البرية والبحرية والجوية، ولكن نجاح المقاومة في التصدي للعدوان في غزة، وردها على العدوان بالقصف الشامل لجميع مدن إسرائيل لأول مرة في تاريخها، أجبر العدوان الإسرائيلي، وقد أدرك استحالة القضاء على المقاومة، بتغيير أهدافه، لتصبح قتل أكبر عدد ممكن من الفلسطينيين، وتدمير كل ما يستطيع تدميره، وبنهاية أغسطس اضطررت إسرائيل إلى إنهاء العدوان. تبعًا لتقارير الأمم المتحدة فإن عدد ضحايا العدوان الإسرائيلي من الفلسطينيين بلغ نحو 2200 شخص، ويؤكد بلومنثال أن من بين الضحايا ما يزيد عن خمسمائة طفل.
لو أكتفى بلومنثال من كتابه بهذه الفصول الأولى التي رصد فيها الخلفيات السياسية والتاريخية للصراع، ثم خط تصاعد الأحداث خلال عدوان 2014، لكن حري بكتابه أن يتصدر هذا الركن من المكتبة المعاصرة المخصص للقضية الفلسطينية، ولكن بلومنثال يمضي إلى أبعد من التوثيق السياسي والتاريخ. يقوم بلومنثال بتوثيق العديد من روايات شهود العيان واللقاءات مع الضحايا من المدنيين الفلسطينيين، والذين اتفقوا جميعًا على دعم المقاومة الفلسطينية، ومن خلال هذه الشاهدات يمنح بلومنثال الصوت لهؤلاء الذين ظلوا مستبعدين من الإعلام العالمي، ليظهروا بشرًا وليس مجرد أرقام. وكما قام بلومنثال بتسجيل شهادات الفلسطينيين، يقوم بتسجيل شهادات الإسرائيليين، والذين بدوا منقسمين ما بين من يرغب في العيش في سلام مع الفلسطينيين ويطالب بمنحهم حقوقهم، وهؤلاء الذين يتبنون أراء متطرفة وإجرامية.
يوثق بلومنثال في كتابه العديد من جرائم الاحتلال الإسرائيلي، مثل استخدام الجيش الإسرائيلي للمدنيين الفلسطينيين دروعًا بشرية، والاستهداف المتعمد للمدنيين بالقصف والقنص، والاعتقال التعسفي للمدنيين، وسياسة العقاب الجماعي. ثم هو يبحث من خلال تحليل لقاءته مع العسكريين الإسرائيليين، الثقافة التي أدت بهم إلى كل هذا الإجرام والتوحش.
ختامًا، من الضروري قراءة مثل هذا الكتاب، لا لأنه يؤرخ بحيادية لأحدى حلقات القضية الفلسطينية المأسوية، ولكن لأنه يقدم صورة إنسانية غير نمطية لهذه القضية في الإعلام الغربي الذي أدمن اجترار السردية الإسرائيلية، ويقدم أيضًا الإجابة حول أسئلة اللحظة.
صدر الكتاب في مارس 2020، عن دار نشر لفتوارد اليسارية، ومركزها في نيودلهي بالهند، في نحو 290 صفحة، كما هو متاح على موقع أمازون في تنسيق كتب كيندل الرقمية، أما المؤلف ماكس بلومنثال، فهو صحفي أمريكي، عمل في العديد من المؤسسات الصحفية المرموقة في الولايات المتحدة وكندا والشرق الأوسط، وله العديد من الكتب المهمة حول القضية الإسرائيلية، منها كتاب (جالوت، الحياة والكراهية في إسرائيل الكبرى Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel).
July 9, 2015
Find Out the War Crimes before the ICC Proceedings
Max Blumenthal meticulously documents the War Crimes committed by the Israelis in Gaza last Summer. Max was one of the few American journalists to be in Gaza while the war occurred. He also goes beyond being one the finest investigative journalists of our time and humanized the people he got to know in Gaza. As I write this two Israelis are reported "missing" in Gaza which is eerily familiar. Will the Israelis "mow the lawn" in Gaza a year early and kill hundreds and thousands of civilians again? If people heed Max's cautionary tale maybe not but that's the only glimmer of hope for this literal Hell on Earth because of the war and especially the ongoing siege.
Must read.
Max Blumenthal meticulously documents the War Crimes committed by the Israelis in Gaza last Summer. Max was one of the few American journalists to be in Gaza while the war occurred. He also goes beyond being one the finest investigative journalists of our time and humanized the people he got to know in Gaza. As I write this two Israelis are reported "missing" in Gaza which is eerily familiar. Will the Israelis "mow the lawn" in Gaza a year early and kill hundreds and thousands of civilians again? If people heed Max's cautionary tale maybe not but that's the only glimmer of hope for this literal Hell on Earth because of the war and especially the ongoing siege.
Must read.
September 5, 2015
War is futile.
If the the people in Israel-Palestine do not manage to establish a democracy, this sadistic violence will continue for decades.
Trying to exert control over a ficticious demographic threshold is not only racist, but also inhuman..
The United States of America seem to emulate this strategy through apartheid with one hand, while preaching democratic values with the other.
Brighten Up, People!
If the the people in Israel-Palestine do not manage to establish a democracy, this sadistic violence will continue for decades.
Trying to exert control over a ficticious demographic threshold is not only racist, but also inhuman..
The United States of America seem to emulate this strategy through apartheid with one hand, while preaching democratic values with the other.
Brighten Up, People!
March 23, 2016
As I think I said in my review of Blumenthal's Goliath, he is an outstanding reporter who more than any other Western journalist has investigated the Israeli/Palestinian issue from BOTH sides. His contacts and networks are outstanding. And his career has suffered from his empathy with the Palestinian people. Please read his books, and those of Anna Baltzer and Norman Finkelstein, all Jews, and of Alison Weir. They all have videos on YouTube as well.
August 9, 2015
This is required reading. I still have a lot to learn about the situation in Palestine and this was a helpful if depressing guide.
September 13, 2015
An important book.
September 30, 2015
Outstanding
Didn't know these atrocities happened in Gaza, very shameful. Where is the U.N. when these things happen??? Shame, Shame !!
Didn't know these atrocities happened in Gaza, very shameful. Where is the U.N. when these things happen??? Shame, Shame !!
November 30, 2015
Insightful and well written account of the current situation in Gaza. Sadly the book really does highlight the inevitability of the continued trauma Moses on these people.
November 15, 2015
Harrowing but an essential read.
July 14, 2021
A well-written and documented account of the Israeli vicious attack on Gaza in 2014. Blumenthal was living in Gaza before, during, and after the 51-day was on Gaza civilian life.
In this book, one reads about the massacres wreaked upon Palestinian families, about airstrikes on hospitals and UNRWA schools, about people murdered trying to flee their about-to-be-struck houses and neighborhoods, about people shot dead because they knew Hebrew, language of occupier, and about attacks on Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza sea.
Blumenthal gives his book a novel-like and cinema dimension, which one cannot but be immersed in.
The book is not only about Gaza war, but also about Israel violation of human rights in the West Bank and the 1948 cities.
In this book, one reads about the massacres wreaked upon Palestinian families, about airstrikes on hospitals and UNRWA schools, about people murdered trying to flee their about-to-be-struck houses and neighborhoods, about people shot dead because they knew Hebrew, language of occupier, and about attacks on Palestinian fishermen in the Gaza sea.
Blumenthal gives his book a novel-like and cinema dimension, which one cannot but be immersed in.
The book is not only about Gaza war, but also about Israel violation of human rights in the West Bank and the 1948 cities.
July 31, 2025
Palestinians don’t hate the Israelis because they are Jewish, but because the Israelis murder their children when they are playing soccer on the beach, turn their houses into rubble, make them live in filth by prohibiting them from producing their own utilities, shatter their businesses and industry, and deny them the opportunity to ever re-build from the destruction they have wrought. The state of Israel is anything but free, liberal, and civilized: it’s socialist, bloodthirsty, and depraved.
August 9, 2023
Such a great and at the same time daunting read.
At times I found myself having to pacing through the book and stop reading because it is really emotionally tough, the reporting is very detailed and a punch to your gut.
It should be recommended read if you want to really understand what is going on.
At times I found myself having to pacing through the book and stop reading because it is really emotionally tough, the reporting is very detailed and a punch to your gut.
It should be recommended read if you want to really understand what is going on.
May 6, 2018
This is an eye-opener to the fact that there are no "good guys" in the Israel / Palestine conflict.
February 13, 2019
Super nice book to read and very detailed. The book made me look at war a lot more different and made me look at it how the victims would.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
September 4, 2019G
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
May 3, 2024Gut-wrenching to read about specific hospitals and neighborhoods knowing that they will be rubble in less than a decade.
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