We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel

by Eric Alterman

A bestselling historian uncovers the surprising roots of America’s long alliance with Israel and its troubling consequences 

Fights about the fate of the state of Israel, and the Zionist movement that gave birth to it, have long been a staple of both Jewish and American political culture. But despite these arguments’ significance to American politics, American Jewish life, and to Israel itself, no one has ever systematically examined their history and explained why they matter. 

In We Are Not One, historian Eric Alterman traces this debate from its nineteenth-century origins. Following Israel’s 1948–1949 War of Independence (called the “nakba” or “catastrophe” by Palestinians), few Americans, including few Jews, paid much attention to Israel or the challenges it faced. Following the 1967 Six-Day War, however, almost overnight support for Israel became the primary component of American Jews’ collective identity. Over time, Jewish organizations joined forces with conservative Christians and neoconservative pundits and politicos to wage a tenacious fight to define Israel’s image in the US media, popular culture, Congress, and college campuses. Deeply researched, We Are Not One reveals how our consensus on Israel and Palestine emerged and why, today, it is fracturing. 

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Israel, Middle East, Religion, Jewish

512 pages, Hardcover

Published November 22, 2022

About the author

Eric Alterman is a CUNY Distinguished Professor of English and Journalism, a media columnist for the Nation, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, and the author of seven books, including the national bestsellers What Liberal Media? and The Book on Bush. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 5 out of 5]

The thing about the Israel-Palestine debate in contemporary American Judaism is that there is no such thing. The matter is settled. American Jews are supposed to shut up, get in line, and support Israel no matter what. And despite large divergences in culture and politics, aside from some quiet grumbling, that's how it's worked. And if anything, American Jews are actually less supportive of Israel than the average American, and certainly less supportive than the average politician or media figure, who'd rather slit their own throat than cross the Israel lobby. In We Are Not One, Alterman masterfully traces the origins and consequences of this unswerving support.

The book opens with a 2019 quote from then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, "If the capitol crumbles to the ground, the one thing that'll remain is our commitment to Israel", a statement less metaphorical after Trump's January 6th coup attempt. Republicans are even more ardently pro-Israel than Democrats in a rare bipartisan consensus.

At Israel's founding, American support for the new state was far from given. While FDR was cosmopolitan and had many Jewish friends and staffers, Harry Truman had the typical provincial antisemitism of the time, yet came around as a strong supporter. The Jewish community was internally divided on the Zionist question, with the leading American Jewish Committee unable to reach a position and various rabbis dueling for priority. The romance of the Israeli War of Independence, and a cannily organized PR campaign around the novel and movie Exodus by Leon Uris helped link American sentiments to Israel.

While the sentimental attachment to Israel was amplified by victories in the Six Day War, and disaster into victory of the Yom Kippur War, American Jewish support for Israel was financial and political, but rarely personal. The number of American Jews who made aliyah was always vanishingly small. Israel was an idea, a Zionist imaginary of "next year in Jerusalem", rather than an actual move to Tel Aviv.

But the action practice of Zionism, an ethnic nationalist movement which requires perforce the salami-slicing occupation of land inhabited by Palestinians, was anathema to mainstream American Jewish liberal sensibilities. For much of the 20th century, this cognitive dissonance was carefully managed. Jewish liberalism ended at Israeli borders. Three interlocking political factors ensured this cognitive dissonance didn't boil over.

The first was a minority neoconservative movement, a hard anti-communist rejection of both traditional American conservative isolationism and Nixon's détente. In this new political movement, with many ideological Jewish Americans, Israel was a bastion of American values against the Soviet-backed Arab states, against the conventional wisdom that oil and population meant the United States should buddy up to Arabs who could support American economic interests. The second was the rise of political Evangelical Christianity. The return of Jews to the Holy Land is a key part of Evangelical eschatology, a necessary prelude before Revelations. And third was the capture of American institutional Judaism by billionaire donors with hard Zionist views, primarily the late Sheldon Adelson (and may his memory be a bight). AIPAC became not merely a Jewish or even pro-Israel lobbying group, but specifically a pro-Likud organization with the barest pretense of larger Jewish values, much more comfortable with billionaires and evangelicals than actual Jews.

This state of affairs has had several effects, both in America and Israel. The first is the enervated state of contemporary Reform Judaism. Pragmatically, culturally there's not much to distinguish Reform Judaism from a mainstream Protestant denomination, when Judaism has often been defined by deliberate difference from surrounding gentiles, and mainstream Protestantism has had a rough 20th century as well. But as Jewish leaders urgently see younger Jews (myself included) drifting away from the faith and marrying outside the religion, which is reasonably caused by the fact that aside from Zionism and Holocaust remembrance, there's barely any there there in Reform Judaism, their reaction has been to triple down on the Zionist card.

The second is the AIPAC noise machine, which is centered on AIPAC but supported by a wide range of longstanding Jewish organizations and hastily spun-off PR fronts. Jews certainly don't control the media, or the banks, or government, but crossing AIPAC is a bad idea. If you're a politician, you'll be primaried with your opponent raking in hefty support. If you're a professor, a journalist, or other public intellectual, even the mildest criticism of Israeli policies, such as referring to the state of affairs as an occupation, apartheid, saying "Palestinian homeland", or remarking that maybe Israel should consider American wishes given the hundreds of billions of dollars of aid they have received, will invite a swarm of criticism from ardent Zionist culture warriors. And third, while at the same time arguing that accusations of "dual-loyalty" are an anti-Semitic attack, AIPAC will label any Jew who speaks against them as self-hating, and demand an unflinching primary loyalty to Israel.

The last consequence is an active disdain for American Jews on the part of the Israelis, and for American political priorities. Israelis don't much like American Jews. They don't regard Reform Judaism as a valid religion. And while they'll happily agree to anything at various peace conferences, not a single Israeli prime minister has ever done more than briefly halted settlements in the occupied territories or given the most perfunctory rebuke to extrajudicial Israeli security service actions. The Israeli future has no peace plan, simply a large question mark and then "and no more Arabs", and we should be honest about that.

Alterman's book is comprehensive, deeply sourced, and utterly damning in its conclusions. It's provoked a serious rethinking of my own relationship to institutional Judaism. Something is going to break, but I can't yet tell you what it is.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is brilliant and essential. Alterman takes aim squarely at the mythos of the Israel-US relationship and its effect on the Jewish community. He's on the left, and AIPACers will despise this book, which shows the US government as effectively weak and helpless.

Alterman largely avoids the worst pitfalls: He's careful in his characterization of the Israel lobby and emphasizes how so much of it is controlled by a small handful of big donors who do not represent the views of a large number of American Jews. He also highlights how the Israel lobby, with its ties to Christian evangelicals, has become distinct from the mainstream Jewish community, and how it's become increasingly right wing, peaking in their attitude to Obama. He correctly points out that a lot of the focus on the Jewish neocons under Bush was misguided and that the Bush administration had its own, non-Jewish, not even particularly pro-Israel, reasons for its actions.

The pro-Palestinian left, for its part, is largely portrayed as ineffective and unorganized. Palestinian voices are marginalized in the media and politics, and Alterman is very clear about how mainstream media is unwilling to air those opinions, but he shies away from the trope of the perfect victim. He doesn't "both sides" it--clearly, one side has more power than the other--but he is fair. Not everyone who opposed Israeli actions did so for good reasons, such as some of the State Department Arabists.

He is unsparing in his critique of how the Jewish community in the US has been weakened and damaged, and the negative effects of how we push our children to "believe in Israel" in simplistic ways. This is a powerful message and one that we as a community need to hear: we need to stop internalizing messages about Diaspora inferiority.

[Preston Pfau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left me speechless. It is a journalistic achievement in every sense.

Eric Alterman weaves an engaging web of connections between wealthy donors, American evangelical and Jewish organizations, and statesmens' manipulations where the now-falling PR status of america's long-time ally makes sense not as a concrete relationship, but as the often organic (and even more often inorganic) result of conflicting interests intersecting quite luckily for the government of Israel, and obscenely unluckily for the Palestinians under occupation.

It is immaculately researched and wonderfully written with the courage to criticize not just the state of Israel and its allies, but Palestinian leadership and student activists where criticism is due as well. Alterman also quite bravely tackles head-on the points at which legitimately anti-semitic conspiracy theories and actual reality intersect in unnerving ways that may otherwise be ignored.

This book honestly deserves a place as a touchstone in Israel-Palestine discourse along with established ones like the Hundred Years' war on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi from the Palestinian perspective or Jewish/Israeli points of view like Noam chomsky and Ilan pappe's ouevres on the subject. The particular involvement of America and American media and politics in the conflict deserves as much interrogation as the ongoing occupation it enables.

[Read-n-Bloom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn’t really like this book, so I DNF. Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC and for the opportunity to read.

[Bruin Mccon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is most certainly NOT an easy, unbiased read. But if you’re willing to learn from a journalist turned media critic. The PR part of the story is interesting for crisis comms folks.

[Max Fudim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking book. For me at least

[Clif · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zionism, with only minority support within Judaism, was limping in its project to create a homeland for Jews in Palestine prior to WW2. Though anti-semitism remained widespread across the Western world, it took the horror of the holocaust to make the issue undeniable, demanding action.

But again across the Western world, no country was willing to open its borders to the surviving Jews stuck in the displaced persons camps. This was the opening that Zionism needed and just the thing to assuage the guilt of countries that wished to be seen doing something and, in the United States in particular, viewed the Arabs as alien whose only importance came from their possession of lots of oil.

Why not line up behind Zionism, salving the guilt without any responsibility by placing the unwanted Jews in a distant land lived in by helpless Arabs who had no political standing? Political realism being what it is, the only serious objections came from those who feared the reaction of the oil rich Arab countries, nobody pausing a moment to consider the Palestinians about to be swept from their native land.

And so Israel came to be, accompanied by a story every bit as mythological as that of the winning of the American west. In this story, the European Jews were entitled to Palestine due to following the same religion as those who lived there 2000 years ago. The land was essentially empty. God spoke in favor from the pages of the Bible where He had given the land to one people alone, and behold here they were looking for a land! Zionists were portrayed as having to fight the unreasonable Palestinians, but not too many of them since most quickly fled their homes under the command of broadcasts from Arab countries telling them to do so. Mythology.

But psychology too. The anti-semitic view of the Jew as a bent over physically weak but conniving genius was replaced by the muscular bronzed Zionist not sniveling but shooting, not hiding but heroically going over the top without fear.

We Are Not One is the true story of Israel, an account of exactly how the state came to be by going behind the scenes to examine how Jews, the we of the title, looked at Zionism from its beginning in the 19th century right up to the first term of Joe Biden. In particular it describes the increasing rift between Jews in Israel and those in America.

As mentioned, at first Zionism was considered within Judaism to be outrageous with few volunteering to go to Palestine. Then came Zionist terrorism during the British mandate over Palestine with an uncompromising effort to get Jews to Palestine that had a big cheering section in the US regardless of religion and uniformly pro-Zionist reporting in US media. Labor Zionism gained the respect of the world for the hard working Israelis getting their hands dirty in agriculture. Mythology took hold with Leon Uris' book, Exodus, followed by the blockbuster movie starring Paul Newman. America was captured. American Jews gave unquestioning support financially and with lips sealed in public on any questioning of Israel. With the 1967 war that Israel won in six days, admiration turned to awe. There seemed to be nothing Israel could not achieve against any odds.

The Israel lobby was starting to roll. Though it had its beginning with just a handful of people in the days of Chaim Weizmann having the ear of Harry Truman, it now began showing real political power.

The holocaust being the greatest justification for Israel despite the fact that it was a European phenomenon that had nothing to do with the Palestinian Arabs, went from being something of shame within many Jewish families, now was proclaimed. Holocaust remembrance was heavily promoted in the US, with museums opening and legislation passing in many states requiring holocaust education in public schools before high school, notably without mention of the expulsion of the Palestinians that was a direct result. See Norman Finkelstein's book, The Holocaust Industry.

Behind events, Eric Alterman tracks the views of American Jews. They were historically, and remain, liberal in outlook, reliably voting 75% Democratic in presidential contests and, for most of the history of Israel, supporting Israel without question even as that country moved more to the right, cracking down more heavily on the stateless Palestinians while taking more land though settlements, defying the verbal censure of American administrations without consequences and using American weapons to bring war from the air to helpless neighborhoods in Gaza. In response, came more weapons and money from Congress, where support of Israel was all but unanimous and never open to debate.

The rift in American Jewish support of Israel finally came between the old and the young, the billionaire donors and the middle class. Israelis throughout continued to expect unquestioning support from all American Jews, retaining the right of the orthodox rabbinate to say who was a Jew, what variations of Judaic practice were acceptable and openly looking down on the Americans for not being authentic Jews by moving to Israel to walk the walk.

As I write this review, Israel is in an uproar with thousands taking to the streets in protest. The prime minister is attempting to push legislation through that would allow a vote in the Knesset (Israeli parliament) to overrule any decision of the Israeli High Court by a simple majority vote, neatly in keeping with his intent to avoid prosecution.

Though long indifferent to the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation who have no civil rights at all, Israelis are outraged at the prime minister attempting to take the law into his own hands via the Knesset. This hypocrisy is not lost on American Jews, some of whom have been seen demonstrating against a visit to the US by the Israeli finance minister, a promoter of settlements who voices the claim that the Palestinians do not exist as he pushes American purchases of Israeli bonds

Nor is it lost on young American Jews that eternal occupation and settlement if not annexation of the West Bank has nothing to do with liberty and justice for all, the credo of a United States that has time and again done Israeli bidding, entirely due to the power of the Israel lobby.

Exhibit one for that power is the move of the US embassy to Jerusalem, long a Israeli request, due to the multi-million dollar donations of casino billionaire and fanatical supporter of Israel, Sheldon Adelson, to the Trump presidential campaign. Significantly, no other countries have followed this US move (Australia did, then retracted it) and President Biden has not reversed it.

The tail wags the dog. We Are Not One will tell you exactly how this has come about. The author does not leave out the great importance of the evangelical Christian right in the story. He goes into detail on the operation of AIPAC and covers the personal relationships between Israeli prime ministers and presidents, usually chilly if not hostile, that didn't stop Israel getting its way.

Of the many books I have read about Israel and the Middle East, this is the one that I would recommend to anyone unfamiliar with the history of Zionism, Palestine and Israel. In no case has it been more evident that ignorance within the electorate can allow the direction of a democracy to be chosen by a few.

[David Curry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eric Alterman’s WE ARE NOT ONE: A HISTORY OF AMERICA’S FIGHT OVER ISRAEL is an important contribution to one of the most important, and perplexing, continuing debates on contemporary world and domestic issues.

Among the many ironies Alterman traces is the way in which, in the beginning of this debate, concentration on Zionism and statehood deflected attention from the growing horror of the Holocaust and the plight of European Jews, although later “Never again!” would become the all-justifying rallying cry of Zionism.

The pattern for official U.S./Israel relations was established early on and has not altered significantly through the years:

“Inside the Truman White House, according to the U.S. diplomat Richard Ford, writing in 1961, one found ‘an informality not normally associated with the high-level ties found between two sovereign states.’ The casualness was the product of the long-standing relationships between Zionist leaders, Truman’s advisors, the leaders of both U.S. political parties, and countless members of Congress. And these connections, combined with the political and financial support of American Jews, left the Israelis free to pursue whatever goals they felt appropriate without concern for much pushback. Assorted Jewish leaders, and often the president’s close friends and political advisors as well, countered every State Department complaint. Inevitably, President Truman would decide he did not need another domestic headache and leave the Israelis to do whatever they likely would have done anyway.”

During the Eisenhower administration, there was even talk among top advisors of expelling Israel from the United Nations, but in the end the U.S. has always come back to a laissez-faire stance with regard to its “closest ally.” Time and again, the U. S. A. and Israel have been the lone dissenters in U.N. efforts to restrain Israel. and insist that it honor international law.

Inconsistencies and hypocrisy abound as Alterman traces the private anti-Semitism and public pro-Israel stance that characterized the Nixon/Kissinger administration and the basic meaninglessness of the Carter administration’s hard-won Camp David Accords when, au fond, the signature of Prime Minister Menachem Begin on an agreement meant nothing.

Along the way, there are memorable asides, as when Alterman counters the most enduring popular impression of Harry Truman as the President whose desk in the Oval Office featured a plaque reading “The buck stops here.”

“As president, Truman appeared at sea when facd with the need to deal with complex, competing priorities. Unlike Roosevelt, he had no gift for hiding his plans and potential machinations until the proper moment arrived to spring them. Often appearing to change his mind on key questions depending on who happened to be the last person to brief him, Truman gave his inherited team of long-serving Roosevelt aides the impression that he could be cajoled into doing whatever they thought best, however much he might complain along the way. This inspired a constant tug-of-war between his advisors until decisions became impossible to reverse. The buck may have stopped with Truman, as the plaque on his desk said, but it bounced around quite a bit before finally settling down in one place.” I finished that paragraph disturbed to think that a rather iffy failed haberdasher had the final word when it came to endorsing the formation of the Jewish state and dropping atom bombs on Japanese cities and civilians. And, as Alterman points out, before and after his endorsement Truman routinely indulged in stereotypical anti-Semitic remarks.

Another memorable aside: The movie based on Leon Uris’s deplorably spurious but influential novel Exodus ran to an exhausting 208 minutes. At the premiere, comedian Mort Sahl stood up late in the screening and shouted: “Otto Preminger (the director) — let my people go!”

It’s also interesting to note that in 1996 Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the rising intermarriage of American Jews with gentiles as a “silent Holocaust.”

One of the most disturbing elements of the book is chapter 18, “War of Words,” which covers treatment of the Arab/Israeli debate on American college and university campuses, particularly in the aftermath of 9/11 as faculty critics of Israel came under increased attack and lost tenure.

In his concluding chapter, Alterman raises some hope:

“One of the great changes in the larger U.S. debate over Israel in recent times that has helped to fundamentally transform its content has been the Internet-enabled explosion of available information about the region from virtually every ideological perspective. For the first time in the more than 80-year battle for control of the narrative of the Israel/Palestinian conflict, one can now find just as many journalists covering the Palestinians’ plight as are singing Israel’s praises.”

Even as understanding and attitudes in the general public may shift, however, Alterman makes it clear that entrenched public policy, well funded by deep pockets, is likely to continue.

Here’s how Alterman brings his compelling and vital project to a close:

“The much admired essayist and novelist Joan Didion once observed that while the ‘question of the U.S. relationship with Israel was discussed with ‘considerable intellectual subtlety in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv,’ this was not so in the United States. ‘In New York and Washington and in those academic venues where the attitudes and apprehensions of New York and Washington have taken hold,’ she said, the topic turned everythinmg ‘toxic.’ The issue of Israel has become ‘unraisable, potentially lethal, the conversational equivalent of an unclaimed bag on a bus. We take cover. We wait for the entire subject to be defused, safely insulated behind baffles of invective and counter-invective. Many opinions are expressed. Few are allowed to develop. Even fewer change.’

“Didion was inspired at the time by Harvard University professor and former secretary of the treasury Lawrence Summers, whom she quoted as saying that ‘criticisms of the current government of Israel could be construed as anti-Semitic in their effect if not in their intent’ She was speaking to an audience at the New York Public Library in late 2002, but her statement would have been just as relevant had she made it 50 years earlier or 10 years later. In this book, I have tried to tell the story of why that is, and why it matters, not just for Israel and for America, but for the sake of civil discourse upon which all hopes for democracy must finally rest.”

Alterman will inevitably be vilified by the the pro-Israel establishment, which tends to find the very notion of even-handedness repugnant and rejects and attempts to silence any criticism of Israel whatsoever, even in the face of policies and actions as blatantly indefensible as the unprovoked and ruthless attack on Lebanon in 1982. It remains imperative to defend free dialogue and open inquiry on the Arab/Israeli issue, just as on any other issue. Any attempt to discredit or defame Alterman should receive close scrutiny.

[Rebecca Brenner Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

historian Eric Alterman offers an analytical, engaging, measured account of Jewish debates over Israel in the U.S. We Are Not One knows what it is and isn’t: not American foreign policy in the Middle East, not Palestinian experiences, and not a history of Israel. it’s a careful account of Jewish-American perspectives regarding the world’s only Jewish nation. well-defined scope enables Alterman to parse out complex issues. how can we critique American Israeli relations without succumbing to antisemitic tropes? Jewish American conversations illuminated through Alterman’s historical analyses hold the answers.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poem for Joy
Dedicated to the Creek Tribe of North America by June Jordan

Dreaming
Colorado where the whole earth rises
marvellous high hard rock
higher than the heart can calmly tolerate:
the hawk swoons from its fierce precipitation
granite in its rising opposition to the bird or rabbit
Sapling leaf loose among the chasmic crevices
dividing the continent stretch
And dazed by snowlight settled like a glossary
of diamonds on the difficult ice-bitten mountain trails
that lead to fish rich waters I reach the birthplace
acreage that scars two million memories of
forest blueberry bush and sudden
mushrooms sharing dirt
with footprints
tender as the hesitations of your hand who know
obliteration who arise from the abyss
the aboriginal as definite as heated
through as dry around the eyes as Arizona
the aboriginal as apparently inclement
as invincible as porous as the desert
the aboriginal from whom the mountains
slide away afraid to block the day’s deliverance
into stars and cool air
lonely for the infinite invention of avenging fires
And now the wolf
And now the loyalty of wolves
And now the bear
And now the vast amusement of the bears
And now the aboriginal
And now the daughter of the tomb.
And now an only child of the dead becomes
the mother of another life,
And how shall the living sing of that impossibility?
She will.

I start my review with this poem about the genocide of indigenous peoples in the U.S. I start here because there is so much to learn from indigenous perspectives all over the globe, and in some arenas the Palestinians are the most recent indigenous people of the disputed area, and in some the Jewish people are. So there is history repeating, connections over space and time. There is and was attempted genocide of Jewish people and attempted genocide of Palestinian people. I have read a lot about the conflict, and I am all about AND.

As AOC has said, there is actually no way to talk about this with angering and saddening people, and they are all convinced of their position from history, fear, justice, etc. I am no expert on the subject, and I read when I can, which means, I can’t always read this heartbreaking stuff. Just like with racism, I am privileged to be able to read about it without it arriving at my front door, but I am also able to take care of myself.

How does the living sing of the impossibility of new life when life is taken? How does that song, singing of the impossible, sound? What sounds does your heart make when you hear it? June Jordan’s question is the most important one, and it involves heart, mind, and soul.

Not that any of that was in this book, and I had hoped for some impartiality, as from a historical perspective, but there may be no impartial person on the planet, because even if you took an alien from another planet, if they had ever learned about oppression and holocaust, they would possibly naturally take sides unless they had evolved from our somewhat limited human brains that are bathed in the musts, shoulds, the either/or, whataboutism, and pains of their situations and lives and so they can’t not take a side. That is where we start, and I wish it was a conversation that could be had by brilliant minds to break free from the cycles of hate and violence.

This book was a good review of the American policy and actions in the region, and I liked that part of it since history is often tainted by one or two anecdotes: a president in his public facing words said one thing but said and felt other things so if they two had been united, would things have been different? Did he really try or not? In this current heartbreaking, soul shaking iteration, I just don’t know what happens when Biden does call for a cease fire and nothing happens, the Israelis do not cease, Hamas does not release hostages, what then? Sanctions? More violence? It coming to my front door? And that is a thought that upends all our other beliefs. So this book is a good place to learn the history so if that time comes, we have more information to make decisions.

But most people can’t or won’t read a book like this, they are so used to not deeply understanding something, just superficially, good vs bad, evil vs saintly, your team vs their team. So how do we use our hearts, minds, and souls AND harness that propensity, habit, issue with the people? Great minds are working on it. I pray.

[Jurij Fedorov · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it as it had great reviews talking about how fair and balanced the book is at presenting all point of views and the historical setting. This is just not true it's only one point of view and he skips most history to instead focus on the morality of each action Israel takes. So I can't even judge the history here as there is not enough of it. He gets some correct and some wrong. Largely it's just a waste of my time.

The author does have a modern bias. It feels like he interprets everything for a modern American point of view analyzing decisions and outcomes without really telling us how he came to the conclusion. Making Israel unrecognizable as he doesn't fully gets into their culture. But I think it's on purpose as this is for American readers about American Jews. He's a very left-wing American who is fighting against the right-wing sentiments in USA and sees Israel as part of this ideology and culture as you can see on his social media online. Hence this book is a very critical look at the connection between USA and Israel.

At one point he uses the documentary Tantura to point out war crime cover up in Israel yet the documentary is panned in real life for being faux history. And if you go over the "evidence" in the documentary it's so weak you wonder how a critical author could overlook this. The main evidence for a war crime is that "there could be a mass grave there hence proving mass killings". Yet no mass grave has ever been found and the 250 death claim is so huge it's practically impossible.

It is an America good and Israel bad book. But the main issue is that it doesn't even try to represent the Israel point of view as we always stay in USA looking at Israel from a distance. Settlements in West Bank are evil. Any war Israel takes part in is an embarrassment to him. He even proposes Egypt didn't plan to attack in 1967 as they were not ready so it would never happen. Ignoring the fact that they were way less ready in 1973 and did attack and nearly defeated Israel because this time Israel didn't strike first. Yet some vague statements by Israel's leaders in 1967 prove Egypt wouldn't attack? That's what Egypt was preparing for they were waiting for the right moment to strike even if they knew they would lose. The author never really considers alternative explanations.

This was an anti-Israel verbiage on every page. For the first half of the book I was kinda following his arguments. Yet he is so extremely negative that it becomes too much. Like a political Twitter rant made into a whole book. And that's exactly how it reads like. A ton of forced logical arguments without any critical thinking and way too little history. American Jews are glorious progressive saviors in the world and Israeli Jews are fascist dirtbags? It grows stale pretty fast when he spends hundreds of pages attacking the right-wing yet never is critical of his own side. And Israel is presented as extremist right-wing and Jews in USA as progressive. Often ignoring the various groups making up Jews in both nations.

He is very pro-Palestine and anti-Israel. Yet the book could have made his argument in half the page count. There is nothing new here at all. It's all moral arguments repeated.

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Some really surprising things in here that I had no idea about (Israel may have been tracking Khashoggi for the Saudis..., Zionists discouraged a British effort to settle Jewish refugees during WWII because the Brits wouldn't simultaneously declare that mandatory Palestine was "Jewish," likely leading to the eradication of many European Jews who could have been saved, and also Israeli Jews frequently do not recognize conversions performed by American rabbis). The book's focus is on charting how a variegated discourse about an idea representing different hopes to different people calcifies into a uniform discursive practice that works to police American political discourse in often anti-democratic fashion. It also centers on the many contradictions of Jewish identity in American life and makes for a rich study.

American Jewish organizations purport to speak for their constituents all the while representing a minority of American Jewish voices. The way that these organizations have dishonestly used charges of anti-Semitism to shut down discussion (only here, not in Israel where there is ironically a more vigorous debate) also voids American Judaism and Jewish identity of any real theological core. As someone who was the product of a Jewish/gentile marriage, raised agnostic by a parent whose whole Jewish identity was framed by the triad of Holocaust, Israel, anti-Semitism and who now can say that I barely register as having a Jewish identity, it's hard not to disagree with Alterman's closing thoughts. Had American Jewish organizations faced the problem of dwindling numbers of practicing Jews in America by spending enormous sums on education and cultural outreach rather than shutting down good faith criticism in this country, they may have been able to strengthen and continue Jewish traditions in America. Instead they've created a situation where those who purport to speak for an entire faith actively work to suppress thoughts and defeat candidates that a majority of American Jews support. And now we're in a situation where many parents can barely recognize their children - new generations who no longer take their parents' shibboleths for granted.

Big LOL at the Evangelical reviewer who "didn't really like this book." Alterman really highlights the insanity and opportunism of Netanyahu's international coalition of supporters and where Israeli leaders choose to look the other way on anti-Semitism...

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one took me a long time to finish. Not because it was boring or anything. Instead it is very dense with information to sit with to try and understand what is happening. I have “known” of this conflict and wanted to understand it better. Because it is a complicated issue, this book was just not enough to fully flesh it out (I don’t think any single book could do that).

It was very interesting in getting this perspective. A number of things stood out to me including how some of what the US does is directly related to “western” ideals and the defeat of “communism” (like pretty much errthang the US does in terms of international policy) as well there being discussion about criticism of Israel’s government policies leads to charges of anti-semitism and thus any legitimate critiques are shut down.

I also got a bit of a differing look at how evangelical Christians are in this, particularly when a large chunk are legit antisemitic.

Overall, definitely worth the read to get a better grasp on the ongoing conflict, how it got where it is and maybe some potential thinking of what can be done to maybe end it. This is a book I will most likely read again, to pick up on more of the nuances in the discussions being had.

[Peter Eckstein · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning of the book I found better than the end. He describes the development of Zionism in the context of an oppressed people looking for a solution to fight persecution. Later in the book Zionism becomes totally demonized - as if he divorced its origins from the current reality. I'm not saying he is wrong in this, but I feel that his attempt to criticize Israeli policies is transformed into a total rejection of Zionism, which is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

One thing that really annoyed me. When describing the conflict over the Temple Mount/Haram Al Shariff, he uses the term "allegedly" in describing the location of the Second Temple. This is a-historical to the point where it seems that the author was bending over backward to show his criticism of Zionism. Really turned me off.

Yes, it's an important work for people who care about Israel/Palestine, but only in the sense that it presents a different side of the conflict. By no means is it an objective account, not that there are any.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eric Alterman's "We Are Not One: A History of America’s Fight Over Israel," is a detailed and well-documented retelling of how Israel has figured into American politics over the last 75 years or so. However, it is clear from the start of the book that Alterman has a clear bias against Israel, granting them or the Americans who ally with them little grace, as if every action taken by Israel goes against both America and Israel's interest. Compared to the softer and less judgmental way he describes the Palestinians (in one case, he describes the Palestinian decision to ally with Saddam Hussein as "terrible political judgement") and it's tough to take him seriously.

[Rick Burcik · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the past, when I read one of Eric Alterman's books, I found it a good idea to keep an air-sickness bag close at hand. Imagine my surprise when I opened "We Are Not One" and found that the first half of this book was well written and informative. Sadly, Mr. Alterman then returned to his usual snarky and far-left style that serves no one. Thus, I give his book three stars -- five stars for the opening chapters and one star for the rest.

[Alan Ramo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of the relationship between the American Jewish Community and the State of Israel. Numerous insights into the politics of big established US Jewish organizations and how Israeli Zionists perceive American Jews. The Palestinian-Israel issues are front and center, and the evolution particularly as it affects young American Jews is amazing. No ultimate truths that resolve all questions here, the writer leaves that to the reader to work it out in practice.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative regarding the ongoing conflict between American Jews and Israeli Jews. Intense. I learned some very disturbing facts about Israel, and they ARE facts. Many footnotes, but I didn't like they were at the end. It would have worked for a print book, but my copy was an e-book provided by NetGalley. I do recommend it.

[Melinda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very very well written, obvious and thoughtful analysis of the research and a thoroughly readable and informative book.

This book was published in Nov 2022. I am reading this after the events in Israel on 07 Oct 2023, and this book has certainly provided to me, much needed context on this event…and all the things that led to this new violence happening in the Middle East. So heartbreaking.

[Rolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly comprehensive and thorough. Sometimes the author’s language choices seem to endorse the common sense of any given era and not be very carefully chosen, but it is still an incredibly helpful review of what that common sense was about Israel in American politics, from the founding of Israel during the Truman administration to the present.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are Not One by Eric Altimman is a great examination on how we as Americans look at and feel about Israel. From the movies in books to the resistance that built up on all elite college campuses and much much more The 1st+ I can say about this book is it was definitely fair and balanced and discuss both sides opinion I was also surprised to learn that not since Jimmy Carter has any president spent time in defense of the small country that seems to have enemies from every side. Maybe because I lived in a bubble but when I was younger and heard about the persecution of the Jews all I could think is why? From mid evil times back to biblical days and even now there’s people who hate Jews and as an adult I still can only wonder why? Heat is corrosive and unfortunately I cannot see a time now in in the future where it’s not prevalent in society,Hate is also contagious all we can do as intelligent modern people is t be kind two others and if someone’s life doesn’t affect you on a daily basis why rise up against them. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, The great research and the easy to read writing style and I highly recommend this book. I received this book from NetGalley in the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in awe. Alterman is the best I've read since David Halberstam. Incredible education on something that should matter to every American citizen. I read a library copy but I may now have to invest in my own as a reference manual; obviously the story continues to be written.

[Claudia A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very eye-opening history of American and Israeli relations

I have lived through this entire relationship and I am embarrassed by how much of it I didn't know. I have to read this book again

[Dave Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very scholarly, informative, interesting, and timely, but also extremely dense and cram packed with highly specialized terminology and acronyms, which was probably unavoidable, given the topic. Still, not a wasted effort, and I've sought out other work by the author.

[Sarah Weiner]

Note to self in notes on phone

[Constance Palaia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I needed this book. It was accessible and incredibly well researched. I learned so much.

[Mcbuben]

Extremely well written, well-balanced, and very informative from both perspectives.

[Almir Osmanovic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essential read. If anything, this book will give you enough referenced books to keep you busy for the rest of the year. Well written, and well referenced.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent history of America's love affair with Israel. While it will be at times disturbing and perplexing, this is essential reading to grasp our current state of affairs.

[Jesse · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic, sobering read that reminds me not of what I necessarily learned at our synagogue when I was a kid, nor Sunday school, where I didn't really pay close attention (though our teachers were hardline pro-Israel types whose eldest son joined the IDF after high school), but more the sense of the world I intuited. I recall being vaguely affronted when our next-door neighbors, a Lebanese family, referred to "Palestine." This was maybe 1978 or so. Alterman helps me understand those impulses in much greater detail, in the sense that they were the product of a long, concerted campaign, or maybe better an emotional temperament, involving American Jews' romanticizing an Israel that has never reciprocated that love, has steadily moved rightward, and has done what it wants to the Palestinians, and in the world, without much bothering about anyone else's opinion. His through-line is the almost complete failure of the American leadership class to stand up to Israel and call it on its misdeeds, with the brief exceptions of Carter and Bush I, who he sees as uniquely willing to stand up to leaders who regularly lectured them on geopolitical realities they understood, occasionally gestured in the direction of moderation, and then mostly just did what they were going to do anyway.

I feel like I knew pieces of this, but to see it all in one place, and in a longer frame of American understandings, or mostly mis-, of Israeli reality (worse, from my perspective, are his frequent citations of generally admirable Israeli writers and intellectuals, the work of some of whom, like Amos Oz, I've taught, whose consistent position is that American Jews are weak and pointless parasites), stemming from how Uris's Exodus told an imaginary, romanticized tale of a Jewish hero who doesn't look Jewish (as Paul Breines's Tough Jews first taught me) and then maintained in the face of evidence for the next 60 years. Ultimately a sobering, angering, and extraordinarily frustrating tale of how much a few rich people can presume to speak for the whole American-Jewish community, even as that community's center of political gravity moves further and further away from the official maximalist Likud position.

There's a weird sporadic degree of repetition early on (he'll use the same unusual word in consecutive sentences) that suggests inattention, but things get going well later, and he's in fine fettle for most of the book, with sharply-argued phrasing that cogently highlights the major hypocrisies that abound here. Among the lines I wrote down: "American Jewish leaders squirmed over Israeli statements that consistently likened them to quislings frightened before their Christian overlords." Dwight Eisenhower had never met a Jew before the age of 25, and he was surprised to learn that they still existed outside his Bible. As with Sacco's book, which quotes Moshe Dayan's admission that, were he Palestinian, he'd be incredibly angry at being displaced, there's another bluntly honest admission from Ben-Gurion: "They only see one thing: We have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that?" The funniest line is that, as Exodus sloooowly makes its way to the end, after 3 1/2 hours, Mort Sahl stood up and shouted, "Otto Preminger. Let my people go!" He notes that Begin may have been bipolar, adding that "Israel's lobbyists on Capitol Hill did their best to domesticate Begin for American audiences." And wow, the ADL. AIPAC I had a general sense of, though nowhere near a full-enough vision of its actions. One of Abe Foxman's top lieutenants told a regional rep, "Your little Christian-Jewish dialogue is very nice, but remember, whatever you do with your inter-group relations, the end game is always Israel."

So much here to learn. I've been recommending it left and right.