Uncovering the Bias and Prejudices against Israel: Alan Dershowitz’s The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies - The Guide for the Perplexed Young Adult
The book is a Guide for the Perplexed university student and young Jewish adult. In today’s post-truth world, anything can be presented as a “truth” or “alternative fact”. This has seen the demonization of Israel through irrational and illogical arguments.
Many universities in the United States, Eurocentric countries, and around the globe teach relativist ideals that culminate in young adults accepting incomplete submissions as absolute truths or temporary truths that can indeed leave young Jews convinced that the state of Israel in their ancestral homeland is indeed illegal.
The primary catalyst of The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies was the October 7 Attacks on Israel and its aftermath. In the past year, many proponents have weaponized international law to rationalize and justify the horrific attacks on Israelis, Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Prof Dershowitz clarifies the inherent conflict between good and evil triggered by the ongoing Gaza War. Since the book targets young American Jews and defenders of Israel on college campuses in the US and elsewhere, it provides tools to actualize the unique privilege of defending Israel in our generation.
The book proactively discusses lies and slander popularly concocted and directed at Jews in the name of legitimate criticism of Israel’s government or a few Israeli politicians.
Technically, the book The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies is like a tract or pamphlet written by philosophers to shape dominant ideas in their space and time.
These are the ten points presented as “Accusations” and demystified masterfully by Professor Dershowitz as nothing but pure LIES:
1. Israel Is a Colonial, Imperialist State: He clarifies Israel’s long history and attachment to the land of Israel for over 4,000 years. He proves that the establishment of the state of Israel is a rebirth of a new state by Jewish people from around the world with real Semitic roots. The book provides evidence that those who present Israel as a colonial and imperial entity are nothing but bigots.
2. Israel Denied Statehood to the Palestinian People: Palestinians could have had a state of their own on many occasions in history. They just refused to create one - and rather, positioned themselves as a pressure or resistance group against Israel. The Professor shows clearly that the root of Palestinian discontent and resistance is anything but Israel’s denial of a path to statehood for Palestinians.
3. Israel Caused the Refugee Problem of Palestinians: The book highlights the false hopes fueled by Arab states on defeating Israel militarily since 1947. This has given Palestinians a sentiment that they can always gain support from neighboring lands and reject any compromise to build a state or live side-by-side peacefully with Israel.
4. Israel Is an Apartheid State: The Prof shows what Apartheid is, and how it has thrived in modern history from the Jim Crow South to Apartheid South Africa. He establishes the plurality of Israeli society, the inclusion of all groups like Israeli Arabs (Palestinians who chose to live in peace with their Jewish neighbors). Then, a further comparison is made with neighboring states that show clearly that Israel is nothing like an Apartheid state by global and regional standards.
5. Israel Is Guilty of Genocide and War Crimes: Prof Dershowitz provides statistics that show that Israel has done a lot more to protect civilian lives in this war forced upon Israel by Hamas. Again, he proves that when compared to the global averages and the best-performing countries in reducing civilian casualties in urban warfare, Israel has attained superior results in going after Hamas fighters instead of civilians. New evidence produced after the publication of The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies proves that indeed Hamas’ Ministry of Health inflated the figures of civilian casualties to paint Israel in a bad light.
6. Israel is Engaging in Forced Starvation: The book builds on the fact that Israel was responsible for generously providing food to Gazans before October 7 – including the militants who attacked Israel. And since the war, Israel has allowed a constant flow of food and essential aid into Gaza. He shows that Israel has provided nearly 375,000 tons of humanitarian aid (p41). And a lot of other aid has been presented to the Gaza Strip. He points out clearly that Israel, a democratic state, is not on the same level as Hamas. This explains the dire humanitarian conditions resulting from Hamas’ inability to distribute aid effectively in the Gaza Strip to end famine and hunger. However, the distribution of aid and feeding all Gazans is outside Israel’s scope of responsibility.
7. Israel Engages in Illegal Occupation of Palestinian Territory: The watchword in this section is “not unlawful”. Where international law does not set specific limits, there is always room for maneuver. An exception is in the context of military occupation which results from necessity. The book points out the fact that there is an unending security risk in Palestinian communities that Israel needs to remove. This leads to various actions and processes to neutralize terrorist risks. This is not unlawful.
8. Israel’s Illegal Settlements in the West Bank Are a Barrier to Peace: At the Abraham Alliance Institute, we hold the position that when settlements are viewed by their property values, they can always be transferred when the conditions are right. Prof Dershowitz shows that the Two State Solution was proposed but never came with universally acceptable limits. Thus, in the face of wars and other legal battles, buildings have been erected in different areas. However, the bigger problem is the fact that when Israel folds up settlements and pulls out of any area as the case was in Gaza, the area becomes militarized and terrorist attacks are launched from there.
9. Israel Is Preventing a Two-State Solution: The book points out that radical Islamic militant groups ensure that any peaceful solution will be met with a military response. He establishes the fact that Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran want to establish an Islamic state from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea (p52). Indeed, this has been the mindset of radical groups that have stood against Israel since 1947. This is the reason Palestinians cannot accept any peaceful resolution to live side-by-side with Israelis.
10. Iran is not a Barrier to Peace: Iran’s destabilizing ideology is steeped in the regime’s fundamental ideology and survival technique. Prof Dershowitz demonstrates Iran’s expansionist strategy in the Middle East and how Israel remains central to that plan. This proves clearly that Iran is actually mobilizing and deploying deadly weapons and a hateful ideology that ultimately contributes to violence and destruction in Israel. The description is clear enough to get anyone to link Iran’s destabilizing actions with Hamas’ actions on October 7 and beyond.
The book concludes by showing how the radical anti-Israel elements in America and around the world focus disproportionately on Israel with little to no care for other major conflicts around the globe. More serious humanitarian suffering thrives around the world, but these elements do very little against more serious problems. The book points out:
“The Left singles out the Palestinians not because of the merits of their case but, rather, because of the alleged demerits of Israel and the double standard universally applied to Jews. That is the sad reality.” (p61)
The final words indicate that debate on Israel is legitimate and must be encouraged. However, it should be driven by objective truths and constructive discussions.
The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies is available for free for every college student in America, and can be picked up for a very low price of just $7.99. It was number 1 on Amazon’s list of best new releases. The book has been compared to Thomas Paine’s Common Sense (1775-1776) which set the tone for American independence. There is no doubt that The Ten Big Anti-Israel Lies is the Guide of the Perplexed for young adults in these unusual times.
