(Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Beirut in 2024)

Before the 1975-76 Lebanese Civil War, Beirut was considered by many as the Paris of the Middle East. During the next decade, the city was periodically under bombardment and by mid-June 1982 Israeli forces besieged West Beirut. Israel’s goal was the removal of more than 11,000 PLO fighters and their leader Yasser Arafat who had established a mini-state in Lebanon which was used to launch attacks against Israel . The removal of these forces took place in August and September 1982 as the PLO was relocated to Tunisia.

On September 14, 1982, Lebanon’s newly elected president, Bashir Gemayel was assassinated resulting in the Lebanese Phalangist militia, in an act of revenge, entering the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps and killing between 3000-3500 Palestinian and Lebanese civilians as Israeli forces stood by. International pressure on Israel resulted in an Israeli withdrawal from Beirut by late 1982. Three years later the Israelis would create a security zone in the southern part of the country and would remain until 2000 when they unilaterally withdrew.

This shattered history led to the radicalization of the local Shia population which fostered the creation and growth of Hezbollah, the Party of God, supported by Iran. As Hezbollah spread its influence throughout Lebanon civil war continued which brought about a multi-national peacekeeping force. However, on October 23, 1983, suicide bombers attacked the US Marine Barracks at their headquarters at the Beirut International Airport killing 241 Marines and wounding 100 more. The attack was carried out by Islamic Jihad, an organization linked to Iran and Hezbollah. By early 1984 the Marines, part of the multinational peacekeeping force, were withdrawn from Lebanon by the Reagan administration.

On January 18, 1984, as violence and terror continued to plague Lebanon, Malcom Kerr, the President of the American University of Beirut was assassinated by gunmen outside his office. The chaos in the city allowed for no investigation of the murder and the perpetrators were never caught leaving the Kerr family in the dark to this day.

(Ann and Malcom Kerr)

In her latest book Emmy award winning journalist Kim Ghattas, the author of BLACK WAVE which develops the forty year competition between Iran and Saudi Arabia, has produced a marvelous work that seeks to uncover the truth about the Kerr assassination entitled THE BEST KIND OF AMERICAN. The title itself is somewhat misleading as the book presents as more of a history of Lebanon’s plight from the last quarter of the twentieth century to the present. The story of Malcom Kerr’s career and beliefs and his death are woven into the larger picture of Lebanese history as Ghattas seems to move on from the assassination about halfway through the monograph. The second half of the book brings into focus an insightful presentation and analysis of the second half of the 1980s through the present. This period was highlighted by the Iran-Contra scandal and Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. Further, how Hafez al-Assad manipulated events in Lebanon including the intricacies of hostage taking and negotiations to bring about their release. Ghattas also explores how Syria and Iran came together, the creation of the Hamas-Hezbollah-IRGC axis that allowed Iran to penetrate the Palestinian issue, and control events in Lebanon. Throughout this period the incompetence of American Middle East policy would repeatedly manifest itself.  Finally, Ghattas delves into the Kerr family odyssey trying to ascertain who killed their father.

Ghattas explores Kerr and his wife Ann’s commitment to the Lebanese people. They gave up a wonderful career situation in the United States to return to Lebanon as President of the American University Beirut (AUB) in March 1982, for Kerr it was a dream come true. Both his parents had worked at the university, and he was born in Beirut, and met his wife Ann there. When he arrived on campus Beirut was still war torn, but the AUB campus seemed safe, and another Israeli-PLO ceasefire was holding. Kerr would find himself navigating treacherous terrain inside the university. AUB was a microcosm of Lebanon, its students and faculty reflected every political trend but also the country’s deep divisions from rural poor, arrogant Christians, downtrodden Shia, and far-left revolutionaries. Kerr also had to worry about being seen as a CIA operative by some or dealing with other suspicions from the Christians that he harbored sympathy for the Palestinian cause. According to Ghattas, Kerr’s perceptions of Lebanon were shaped by Ras Beirut, a culturally diverse upscale neighborhood in Beirut overlooking the Mediterranean, summers in Ainab, the mountain slopes above Beirut, and by the American Arabist tradition of being sympathetic to Arab nationalism. Kerr firmly believed in improving relations between the Arab world and the United States as he “was anchored in the region’s history going back decades and had become one with it.”

(Malcolm and Ann Kerr with their four children)

Kerr had a reputation of being very critical of American and Israeli policy toward the Palestinians and had a good relationship with Yassir Arafat, the Head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). But on June 6, 1982, Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Lebanon as part of Israeli General Ariel Sharon’s goal of installing a new friendly Christian-dominated government, cut Syria down to size, and most importantly send the PLO into exile which would facilitate Israel’s task of controlling the West Bank and remake the Middle East and create an era of Israeli supremacy. Sharon believed he had the support of the United States through Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who did not voice any opposition to the Israeli invasion. Sharon would achieve the exile of the PLO, but Lebanon would become Israel’s Vietnam because of its hubris which led to incalculable errors fostering the creation of Hezbollah.

Reading Ghattas’ work one can relive the horrors of the death and destruction that Lebanon has experienced for decades. She carefully recreates what I would call the ambiance of war through the eyes of Kerr family members and Lebanese civilians who had to navigate the obstacles that the violence created on a daily basis as if it were a type of normality – pop up checkpoints, snipers, kidnapping, shelling etc. She describes the complexities of the different Muslim and Christian political factions and militias and how they impacted the bloodshed that encompassed Lebanon. Ghattas also explores Israel’s disingenuous approach to the United States be it the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, its machinations dealing with Iran-Contra, or other examples that should include Benjamin Netanyahu’s influence of Donald Trump which led to the invasion of Iran seven months ago.

Ghattas delves into the positions of the major players in the region including Bashir Gemayel and his brother Amine, Ayatollah Khomeini, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Menachem Begin, Hafez al-Assad, Yasser Arafat, Philip Habib, Rafiq Hariri, members of the Reagan administration, and the leadership of the various political factions and militias active in Lebanon during this period. Ghattas carefully explains the goals of the major characters and tries to untangle the tortured web of Lebanon’s multi-ethnic and religious power structure. Important examples of the realpolitik pursued include Assad’s attempts to control events in Lebanon in creating his “Greater Syria,” by assassinating Bashir Gemayel, the Christian president of Lebanon, and the funding and training Islamic militants or Reagan’s emotional attachment to freeing hostages clouding his memory and judgement.

(President of Syria from 1971 to 2000)

Israel’s involvement in Lebanon has been a disaster, and it is still paying the price for its 1982 invasion. I agree with Ghattas that the invasion was a watershed moment for Israel and the region. It left an indelible mark on Israeli society shaping the psyche of its army and people. The vocabulary the Israelis developed for Lebanon would seep into the same way they talked about Gaza and the West Bank: “eradicating the enemy, destroying enemy infrastructure, cleanup operations,” and by 2024 they would be bombing entire cities in Gaza, leveling them to the ground.

The American approach to Lebanon has also been a disaster that resulted in the Marine barracks massacre in 1983 and the Reagan administration’s lack of a concrete policy as Marines were confused about their role in Lebanon and constantly complained they were “sitting ducks” and their military position was indefensible. This was due to the lack of knowledge of the intricacies of what was occurring in Lebanon. Reagan and company saw things through a Cold War lens and mostly ignored the end goals of the Islamic Republic. Its policy of keeping the Iran-Iraq War going would only increase alienation by both sides against Washington. The Cold War lens can also be seen in the Iran-Contra fiasco as Colonel Oliver North developed a plan to use the money obtained from shipping weapons to Iran through Israel to fund the Contras in their fight against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. In addition, much like the Israelis, the United States was unable or unwilling to understand the impact of the Iranian Revolution, especially its inroads with Lebanese Shias.

(Ayatollah Khomeini)

Ghattas is correct as she argues that the perceived divide between moderates and hardliners in Iran was the holy grail for American diplomacy for decades. Understanding this distinction and correctly acting upon it has proven almost impossible for Washington. All you need to look at are the goals of the Trump administration in invading Iran, decapitating its perceived hardline leadership, and replacing it with moderates. The result has been the opposite as the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khameini has led to his replacement by his son Mojtaba who is in line with the radical policies and anti-Americanism of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Council.

Ghattas’ assessments are shrewd. She unmasks Assad as an opportunist who got into bed with Shia fundamentalists of Iran and an opportunist who was overwhelmed with gratitude from the Reagan administration when the TWA hostages were released, who at the same time were creatures of the Syrian state. She further argues that Israel’s decision to supply Iran with modest amounts of weapons throughout the 1980s is not as strange as it seems as many in Israel sought to reinstate Iran as a friend and strategic partner as it had been under the Shah.

In closing it is clear that Ghattas sees Kerr, his wife Ann, and Michel Seurat, a French Sociologist who was seized by Islamic Jihad in 1985 and later executed as heroes as Christopher de Bellaigue argues in his New York Times Book Review of October 12, 2026, “The Professor Who Knew Too Much. And Wound Up Dead” writes, they “rejected Iran’s doctrine of divinely ordained conflict as well as Edward Said’s celebrated skewering of Western scholars of the Middle East in his polemic ORIENTALISM. Like Kerr, Seurat was an “innocent” who sought to “close the gap between civilizations,” Ghattas writes, but while in some respects the gap has indeed narrowed since the 1980s, this has been brought about less by knowledge and integrity than by the exercise of economic and military might. If the best kind of American is one whose view of the Middle East is disinterested, benevolent and untainted by thoughts of commercial or strategic hegemony, Ghattas’s excellent book commemorates a breed that is all but extinct.

(Plumes of smoke rise after Israeli strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, March 11, 2026)

(Turkish-backed Syrian rebels stand on the back of a truck at Manbij countryside, December 29, 2018. Turkey-backed rebels have been mobilizing for an attack on Manbij in nearby areas that have been under Turkey’s control since it swept into northern Syria in 2016, part of its effort to roll back the YPG).

Syria is a country that has been at war with itself for almost fifteen years.  It survived the Assad family which ruled Syria for more than five decades. Hafez al-Assad seized power in a 1970 military coup, creating a brutal, authoritarian regime. Following his death in 2000, his son Bashar al-Assad assumed the presidency.  Bashar, who was educated in England raised hopes that his reign would be more liberal than his father.  But that was not to be.  He callous rule would foster the brutal suppression of the 2011 protests which triggered a civil war.  This resulted in a government that sought to retain power at any cost and committing incalculable atrocities against its own people including the use of chemical weapons.  There were a number of rebel groups that sought to overthrow Assad, including extremist factions and the rise of ISIS.  In his new book, journalist Anand Gopal creates a far reaching, disturbing, and novelistic account of the Syrian Civil War entitled; DAYS OF LOVE AND RAGE: A STORY OF ORDINARY PEOPLE FORGING A REVOLUTION.

(Bashar al-Assad in 2018)

Gopal focuses the northern Syrian city of Manbij and a small group of people who developed a movement to try and overthrow the Bashir al-Assad dictatorship.  The author collected over 2000 interviews, viewed hundreds of war-time videos and read a myriad of books to tell the story of six ambitious people from a remote provincial town that many Syrians have never heard of until these rebels helped unleash a war and the revolution that encompassed it.  Among the rebels are a pair of best friends torn apart by political polarization, a mother who stands up to a misogynistic culture, and a worker who risks everything in the hope of establishing a democracy.

Gopal’s work provides the reader an insightful approach to the horror that was Syria as people tried to overthrow the Assad regime, the ensuing civil war that created many factions, many of which turned against each other, and produced another brutal dictatorship in the form of the Islamic State of Syria.  Gopal focuses on a group of individuals who lived in Manbij, a strategic city in the northeast Aleppo Governorate of northern Syria, located roughly 30 kilometers west of the Euphrates River and 12 kilometers from the Turkish border. Historically an ancient and diverse hub, the city became part of the battleground that was Syria during this period.  The fighting produced a Revolutionary Council to govern the city made up of elites which led to an opposition under the heading of the Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM) which believed that the needs of the masses were not being addressed.  The factionalism that eventually evolved pitted friends and relatives against each other as the fabric of the city fell to extreme poverty and violence.

The key characters include Ibrahim Kasem, who originated from the village of Little Hyena where his family worked on the land until they learned of the construction of a dam that would submerge his farm and fostered a rage within.  Kasem and his family would move to Manbij as a laborer where his anger increased against far away forces he did not understand.  Nasan Fefi, lived in Manbij and loved to read and write poetry.  He would be arrested and tortured by the Assad regime and was sent to the notorious Palmyra Prison where he was offered his freedom in return for spying for the regime.  Abdul Qader Oseb, a Kurd who lived in a hamlet near Manbij was known as Abel O.  A laborer and karate expert he left home very young and returned when his father died taking over his business.  He would be sucked into dealing with loan sharks who got the regime police to pressure him.  Mina Saba , a teacher would try and improve the condition for women within an Islamist society and will eventually create a women’s freedom movement.  Gopal offers wonderful chapters describing these characters and how their experiences eventually brought them together to overthrow the regime in Manbij.  Gopal explains the dual nature of Syrian society where a small rich class centered in Damascus supported Assad and the smaller cities and villages throughout the country that resented the regime.  Over the years poverty and drought were not dealt with by the regime resulting in a lack of bread and other necessities.  By 2008 and the world economic crisis would devastate the Syrian economy.

(Anand Gopal)

In February 2011, the Arab Spring had broken out in Tunisia and would spread to Egypt giving people in Syria false hope for a better life.  Men like Oday al-Hema had always supported Assad because of the government’s modernization program and services it offered.  However, when the masses in the south did not experience any benefits torture, beatings, and murder on the part of the regime turned Oday against the government.  Soon demonstrations against the Baath Party headquarters in Damascus broke out.

Gopal does an effective job weaving aspects of Syrian history into his narrative to highlight contemporary events.  For example, the massacre of demonstrators at Daraa is juxtaposed against Hafez el-Assad’s destruction of Hama were 50-60,000 people were killed.  By 2012 a massacre in Homs and reports of other massacres and shootings by regime soldiers helped radicalize many who had been supporters of Asad.  Among those are Oday and Abel O.  These men would ally with others to create “flash demonstrations” against the government resulting in their arrest.  Gopal goes on to describe in detail the horrors faced by these men in Assad’s Gulag and how prisoners were forced to depend on each other for survival.

As the narrative continues Gopal introduces more characters who greatly impacted the overthrow of the regime in Manbij.  Abdul Hadi Bisher, a former promising soccer player was convinced by Abel O. and Oday to join a protest movement against the government.  Another ally of this developing group was Abdul Hadi would be arrested by security forces as was Oday and others were they would be tortured and forced to admit they were terrorists to gain their release.  Increasingly, more protests developed and a burgeoning military component against the regime was formed.  The end result is the regime is over in Manbij is overthrown leading to the 2011 Syrian uprising in the city. Gopal will chronicle a remarkable 18-month democratic experiment before being torn apart by political polarization and economic inequality.

When the citizens of Manbij overthrew the regime, they created their own grassroots system from the ground up. For a brief window, this included citizen assemblies, free civic organizations, and local newspapers to replace forty years of authoritarian silence.  The problem that developed was that people grew tired of waiting for things to improve as bread prices skyrocketed and the masses blamed the new Revolutionary Council as being elitist and not addressing the economic needs of people and focusing too much on creating overly democratic institutions.  This will spark an opposition which will split Manbij and create an opening for the arrival of ISIS by 2013.

Gopal will trace the fighting against the Assad regime and the horrors it perpetrated against the Syrian people.  The situation was exacerbated by the defacto embargo on weapons by the Western powers who feared radical Islamists and terrorist groups benefiting from their aid as opposed to damaging Assad.  With the Arab Spring, the Gulf states feared for their own regimes. As Iran sent Hezbollah to fight to save the Assad government the situation in the small cities and villages deteriorated further.  Finally, Jordan and Turkey would begin to arm the rebels.  The Obama administration did little and even after he announced a “Red Line” if Assad resorted to chemical weapons – once sarin gas was used Obama did nothing.  This was after a period when the CIA worked to make sure rebel groups did not acquire lethal weapons.

(The ISIS-controlled area of Deir-ez Zor appears to be greatly damaged by artillery and aerial bombing, while the government section of the city has suffered relatively minor damage. An explosion was possibly caused by a rocket-propelled grenade fired from a government position, May 24, 2015)

Within Manbij a civil war of its own broke out between elements of the Revolutionary Council and the RYM over who was in charge of the city.  Both sides were guilty for intransigence in trying to reach a settlement in what can be seen as a class war as Abel O upon reflecting on events compared life in prison to life dealing with the split between the Revolutionary Council and the RYM.  The debate according to Gopal centered on what type of government Manbij should have.  The author develops the arguments over democracy, freedom, and a more authoritarian rule.  The issues of secularism on Islamism come center stage as Islamists argue that secularism is what led to the brutal Assad regime and an inability of the Revolutionary Council to meet the needs of the people.

As these debates and conflict proliferate Gopal does an exceptional job discussing how ISIS was able to ingratiate itself into the Manbij community.  However, once some of their efforts emerged the people of Manbij threw them out only having them return a month later taking over the city as the price of bread skyrocketed.  ISIS would take over the RYM and the result was a split between Abdul Hadi and Oday and their followers highlighting the convoluted political situation in Manbij that was in the background throughout 2012 and 2014.  The factionalism that was on display is a major theme of the book and a reason for the devastation caused by the Assad regime and the arrival of ISIS.

(A young woman crosses a street in Ghazi Ayaash, a residential neighborhood of Deir-ez Zor a few hundred feet from the frontline, after a mortar attack from an ISIS position. The city is an outpost of modernity surrounded by ISIS-controlled areas where strict Islamic law is enforced, May 20, 2015.)

One of the many strengths of Gopal’s work is his description of what it was like to live under ISIS rule.  He is particularly effective employing Mina’s experiences in dealing with day to day life under extreme Islamist rule i.e., the almost hourly arrival of trucks with loudspeakers blaring the rules that one must live by under the new ISIS regime.  Gopal explained that people came to follow ISIS because they needed security and were willing to trade for freedom.  The Islamic State achieved what the Revolutionary Council could not.  For Oday, people succumbed to a collective delusion.

As Gopal describes the fighting for Manbij in 2014 as American backed Kurdish forces and other rebel groups fought ISIS he delves into Oday’s seizure.  Once he is taken he is tortured by ISIS which is emblematic of the split between the old revolutionary embodied in Oday and his former compatriot, Abdul Hadi.  The author describes Oday’s courage and unshakeable commitment to freedom which eventually results in ISIS’ defeat which at the same time chronicle’s Abel O’s fight for survival under a reign of bombs.  The most interesting character at this point is Abdul Hadi who founded the RYM and morphed into an ISIS leader.  As the slaughter and bombs he experiences extreme guilt for his life’s path because of his belief in the Caliphate.  Gopal portrays these friends on different sides of the revolution who have come full circle.  It is a morose description of what war can do to friendship and commitment to the same cause.

Charles Glass’ review in the March 5, 2026, entitled, “This Story of Ordinary Syrians Who Fought Tyranny is a Masterpiece” in the New York Times captures the essence of what Gopal achieved in his excellent monograph that at times reads like a novel.  As Glass writes he captures the dichotomy the people of Manbij faced; “As Gopal follows his characters around the city streets, he interlaces personal dramas with political conflicts, hopeful gatherings of aspiring democrats with the torture of young idealists, citizens uniting for liberty with families torn apart, the poor fighting for a share of resources against extortionate merchants, of government apparatchiks switching allegiances to join the revolution, of local soccer and karate heroes finding themselves on opposite sides of the barricades, of hope as much as despair.  Many of the young people who emerged as revolutionary leaders were at first loyal followers of Assad, of whom they said, “Our president is a good man.” Government attacks on peaceful protesters requesting simple reforms turned them into rebels determined to rid the country of a leader and a system they blamed for the wretchedness of their lives. Gopal plays fair, pointing out that Baathist rule provided the peasants of Manbij with electricity, education, roads, health care and land reform that took them out of feudal bondage. In exchange for security, all they sacrificed was freedom.”

(Demonstrators in Daraa rally in celebration after Bashar al-Assad’s collapse in December 2024)

Glass accurately evaluates Gopal’s monograph as he brings Manbij to its present situation; “As they had fought Assad, the people of Manbij turned against ISIS and, with the assistance of the Free Syrian Army and the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (S.D.F.), expelled it in 2016. The largely Kurdish S.D.F. proved as repressive in Manbij as Assad had been. “The Syrian Democratic Forces were democratic in name only,” Gopal writes. “There was no freedom of speech or assembly, no free and fair elections. The government in Manbij was a dictatorship.”

Politics can be a dirty business, but in Days of Love and Rage, Gopal makes the enduring optimism of his subjects movingly clear. For 40 years, everything from labor unions to chess clubs had been subject to the dictatorship. “Yet when the people of Manbij overthrew the government, independent councils and assemblies and newspapers and charities and unions appeared overnight,” Gopal writes. “In other words, the people of Manbij started doing politics.”

Despite falling under tyranny again, the city’s inhabitants learned from their mistakes and banished the subservience to power inherited over four centuries of Ottoman rule, 26 years of French occupation and, since 1949, local dictatorship.

When Assad fled to Moscow in December 2024, ending the civil war, Gopal and many of the town’s exiles returned to Manbij. A new council, Gopal writes, “appointed officials who had been tainted by corruption allegations during the revolution.” The people protested, marching and chanting in the streets and squares. “They came out simply because it is who they are,” Gopal concludes, “because of what has been awakened, because of the fire that cannot be put out.”

[4/20]

(A woman holds a bag on her head at a souk in Manbij city, December 29, 2018. Manbij has changed hands three times since the Syrian conflict began in 2011. Free Syrian Army rebels seized it from President Bashar al-Assad’s government early in the conflict. Then it fell to Islamic State which declared it part of its ‘caliphate’)

A few months ago, I had a conversation with an old friend from my Yeshiva days in Brooklyn.  At Yeshiva and in high school we were very close, and it is the case with many people we drifted apart over the years but intermittently we kept in touch.  Holiday greetings, a periodic email, or phone call were our communication over the decades, and I still have fond memories of our relationship.  It was during that conversation and his reaction to a number of my book reviews which I posted on my web site that I realized that a wall might be developing between us.  The foundation of our disagreement involved our reactions to events in Gaza that followed Hamas’ brutal attack of October 7, 2023, when over 1200 Israelis were slaughtered and 250 hostages were seized by the Palestinian terrorist group.  In our last conversation we “agreed to disagree” as he said so we could continue our friendly catch up conversation.  The crux of our disagreement rested on Israel’s reaction to the October 7^th massacre which led to the destruction in Gaza making large parts of the territory almost inhabitable.

(Evgenia Simanovich runs to the reinforced concrete shelter of her family’s home, moments after rocket sirens sounded in Ashkelon, Israel, on October 7. “In Ashkelon, residents have just seconds to seek shelter before a rocket launched from Gaza could strike,” photographer Tamir Kalifa told CNN. “Evgenia yelled for me to follow her, and I pressed my camera’s shutter as we sprinted to her home a few meters away.” )

I went to the Gaza Strip in the spring of 1984 when I had a Fulbright Fellowship at Hebrew University.  It was a time of war after Israel invaded Lebanon to root out Palestinian terrorists who were making life miserable for Israelis living near their northern border.  When I visited Gaza I witnessed many of the living conditions that made refugee camps that were run down and squalid.   At the same time, I was amazed at the beauty of the Mediterranean coast that bordered the Palestinian enclave.  As a Ph. D in history who focused and published on Arab Israeli relations I am keenly aware of the positions of both sides, Arab and Jew when it came to the riots of the 1930s, the Holocaust, and events surrounding the 1948 War that led to the bifurcation of the region between differing viewpoints.  I have always held the belief that peace between the two sides was almost impossible based on ideology, the emotional attachment to the land by all parties, the leadership in the region, and the role of major powers.

(Palestinians walk past the rubble of buildings destroyed during the Israeli offensive, amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip).

With my mindset I was fortunate to come across Peter Beinart’s latest work; BEING JEWISH AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF GAZA where the author lays out the issues for people who have undying loyalty to the Israeli state, born of the Holocaust, seeing it always morally and ethically correct because of the neighborhood in which it resides, and those who find that the Netanyahu government, dominated by right wing nationalists had gone too far in trying to completely destroy Hamas.  No one can defend the abhorrent behavior of Hamas, but at what point do we draw the line when contemplating the destruction of an entire society through collective punishment.

It seems that every Jewish person has had the conversation with friends, relatives, and acquaintances over whether as Jews we can still support a government that engages in war crimes.  I realize “war crimes” is a difficult term to apply, but I must ask how else can you describe the discriminatory bombing and food deprivation of civilians who are being held hostage by Hamas that has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.  It is difficult to hold these discussions with people who firmly believe that Jewish goodness and integrity translates into Israeli virtue and exempts the Netanyahu government from the normal laws of humanity.  As Beinart writes, “we are not hard wired to forever endure evil but never commit it.  That false innocence, which pervades contemporary Jewish life, camouflages domination as self-defense,” which is at the core of the debate.

Over the years the author has been a stalwart supporter of Palestinian rights, even as he attends shul arguing that Jews are fallible human beings.  His goal as Benjamin Moser writes in the May 4, 2025, New York Times is “to wrestle with the knottiness and ambiguity in our sacred texts and correct for the omissions in the mythology of purity that so many of us were taught as children and that many continue to subscribe to as adults.”

(Palestinians walk past the rubble of houses and buildings destroyed during the war, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, January 20, 2024).

Beinart relies on Jewish texts and draws lessons from South Africa, where his family is from, to confront Zionism and what he sees as complicity from the American Jewish establishment in Palestinian oppression. He argues for a Jewish tradition that has no use for Jewish supremacy and treats human equality as a core value.  In his book, he appeals to his fellow Jews to grapple with the morality of their defense of Israel.  Beinart has a history of changing his opinions be it his support  for the Iraq War or tolerating workplace sexual harassment.  Beinart’s plea is for the Jewish community to reexamine their views that would require a painful about face concerning views they have held for most of their lives.

Beinart called on American Jews “to defend the dream of a democratic Jewish state before it is too late,” especially in light of the policies perpetrated by a government whose leader is under indictment who clings to power by accommodating the right wing minority in his cabinet.  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seems to prosecute the war on Gaza as a vehicle to remain in power which would avoid a trial and his possible imprisonment.  Whether you agree or disagree with the author he should be commended for his courage for standing up to what he believes is correct and accepting the consequences of the loss of friendships, anger from family members, and constant criticism and ostracization by his many critics.

One of Beinart’s major themes revolves around the argument that victimhood often feels like the natural state for Jews throughout history.  But this mentality covers up the fact that Jews can be “Pharoah’s too.”  This selective vision permeates Jewish life.  Jews employ the bible to refute the claim that Israel is a settler-colonial state.  Anything that contradicts this contemporary narrative is not accepted.  Interestingly the author weaves the ideas of Vladimir Jabotinsky, an important historical figure for right wing Israelis into the narrative, i.e.; the ideology of virtuous colonization, which today has been replaced by virtuous victimhood to support his views.

(Palestinians wait to buy bread in Gaza City, February 3, 2024)

To Beinart’s credit he recounts the brutal Hamas attack of October 7 in detail.  He delves into the impact on Israeli families and society and accurately concludes the entire country was a victim on that horrendous day of murder, rape, and kidnappings, not just those who experienced the immediate impact.  He even points out how Israeli progressives and leftists in the United States and Europe, ones, political partners reacted with indifference to the attack and many justified Hamas’s actions.  The message that was conveyed is that the killing of Jews was nothing new, it’s just the way it has always been.

Many Jews have compared October 7 to the Holocaust, but Beinart concludes there is a fundamental difference .  “To preserve Israel’s innocence, it has transforms Palestinians from a subjugated people into the reincarnation of the monsters of the Jewish past, the latest manifestation of the eternal, pathological, genocidal hatred that to the Passover Haggadah, in every generation rises up to destroy us.” 

(Hamas fighter outside the myriad of tunnels under Gaza)

Beinart tries to understand Hamas’s actions; in doing so he tries to explain the Palestinian mindset as they see themselves as victims of colonialism.  They, like other victims in the past, have no army, so they do not follow the rules of warfare and commit barbaric acts characteristic of colonial revolt.  However, countries like China and Russia have armies and they do not follow the rules of law in Ukraine, Georgia, Crimea, Chechnya, and in China’s case the victims are the Uyghur population and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups who can be considered genocide victims. 

In trying to understand, it is clear “that violent dispossession and violent resistance are intertwined.”  In the end Israeli oppression is not the only course of Palestinian violence.  It is Palestinians, like all people who are responsible for their actions.  However, Israeli oppression makes Palestinian violence more likely.  It comes down to despair for the Palestinian people as it is clear there is no way the Netanyahu government will accept a two-state solution.

(Israeli soldiers carry the casket of reservist Elkana Yehuda Sfez, who was killed in combat in Gaza, during his funeral at the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, on Jan. 23, 2024).

In analyzing death figures put out by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and the Gaza Health Ministry it is clear that over 50,000 people have died and 20% are probably children.  Beinart relies on many sources to verify these numbers, but Israeli leaders minimize the toll and shift blame onto Hamas arguing that Hamas uses human shields, seizes food and supplies targeted for Palestinian civilians, and murders any opposition.  However, Beinart’s argument that Hamas’s actions are typical of other insurgent movements is no excuse and to absolve them of one iota of legitimacy is wrong and their actions are considerably heinous when compared to other insurgent movements.  But Israel’s strategy to deliver as much destruction as possible in order to shock the Palestinians and get them to turn against Hamas has not been effective.  Blaming the Palestinians for Hamas’s 2006 victory at the polls is not valid since the Palestinian people had little choice.  Another Israeli argument that they must destroy Hamas to be safe, but it is an impossible task because the alternative Israel must offer, the ability to vote, a high degree of autonomy, and a future state will not be forthcoming so why should Palestinians opt for peace?  They need a viable alternative for Hamas which is not forthcoming.  In reality, as long as Israel tries to destroy each insurgent group, their actions foster the next generation of insurgents.  As Palestinians believe they are not safe, they will do their best to make sure Israelis are not safe also.

In reading Beinart’s work I wondered if there is such a thing as “Jewish exceptionalism” that makes Israel unaccountable for the type of warfare they are waging.  Historically I do not see it as other nations/groups have engaged in atrocities and war against civilians have been condemned with sanctions etc.

(Israeli protesters attempt to block the road as aid trucks cross into the Gaza Strip, as Israeli border police watch over them, at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, southern Israel, Jan. 29, 2024)

Another major issue that Beinart raises is that of the “new anti-Semitism.”  Israel has equated any criticism of its actions as anti-Semitic as a vehicle of deflecting criticism of what they are doing in Gaza.  In doing so they turn the conversation about the war into a conversation about the motives of people who oppose their actions.  What is clear is that when Israel kills Palestinians, what is perceived to be anti-Semitism increases, but the Israeli government conflates anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism in order to depict Palestinians and their supporters as bigots, therefore turning a conversation about the oppression of Palestinians into a conversation about the oppression of Jews.  In the end Judaism and Israel are separate and Jews, the world over should not be blamed for the actions of the Israeli government.

A great deal of Beinart’s discussion revolves around the actions of American Jews who support Israel’s policies.  It seems as progressives in the United States turn against Israel they are forcing Jews to choose; defend exclusion in Israel or inclusion in the United States and some of America’s leading institutions are choosing the former.

(Israeli soldiers practice evacuating wounded people with a helicopter during a military drill in northern Israel, in preparation for a potential escalation in the conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, on Feb. 20, 2025)

Beinart offers a comparison of historical situations that are somewhat similar to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  He delves into apartheid in South Africa and the fears of white Afrikaners; he discusses the hatred and fears that existed in Northern Ireland until a settlement was reached overcoming Protestant fears of the IRA; the Reconstruction period in the late 19^th century in the United States is explored as southern whites feared the newly freed black population and fueled by northern liberals.  In these situations, the key to avoiding as much violence as possible was to give the aggrieved party the vote and a voice to express their concerns because inclusion yields greater, not total safety.

I do not believe that Beinart is naive enough to support the idea that if a settlement ever arrives between Israel and the Palestinians that peace will break out in the Middle East.  In a region where Iran, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and numerous other terrorist groups abound violence will lessen, but the author’s emotional and heart felt appeal for reconciliation is really the only hope for the future no matter how impossible that appears today.  I admire Beinart’s beliefs and the professional risks he has taken to engage the public in a proper debate – that should be allowed in a free society and the back and forth between those who disagree should be civil, not based on fear.

(Memorial candles line the charred desks in the destroyed command center of Nahal Oz base, February 23, 2024.) 

One of this morning’s lead articles in the New York Times read “Fate of Bibas Family Recalls Trauma of October 7, Renewing Fears of Gaza Truce.”  The crux of the article centered on the return of three Israeli citizen’s bodies, two babies and their mother.  The problem emerged that the body of the mother was misidentified, it was another victim of this war.  According to the article the “news set off a paroxysm of fury and agony in Israel rarely seen since the tumultuous days that followed the Hamas led attack on Oct. 7, 2023, when up to 1,200 people were killed and 251 were abducted, including Ms. Bibas and her sons, on the deadliest day in Israeli history.

For Palestinians, the devastation wrought by Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7 raids — a reaction that, among other consequences, razed Palestinian burial grounds and killed thousands of children including some younger than Kfir Bibas — has long overshadowed Hamas’s terrorist attacks at the start of the war.”

(Nahal Oz Kibbutz residents Miri Bernovsky-Tibon and Amir Tibon) 

But Israelis remain deeply traumatized by the October assault, and the return of the Bibas boys, coupled with the uncertainty about their mother’s whereabouts and the disrespectful way that Hamas paraded the coffins on Thursday, revived the torment.  The war has resulted in the death of between 40-50,000 Palestinians according to the Arab Red Crescent and the near total destruction of Gaza and its infrastructure.

The brutal attack by Hamas and the Israeli response has set the Middle East on fire resulting in an Israeli invasion of Lebanon targeting Hezbollah, a “pseudo-war” with Iran, and a long range conflict with the Houthis in Yemen.   Currently, the region is experiencing a ceasefire in Gaza, which is only in its first phase and there are doubts it will continue to the next phase.  The question is how did we get here, what was the experience of the attack like, and historically what events led to the attack.  Answers to these questions are discussed and analyzed in Amir Tibon’s THE GATES OF GAZA.  The superb monograph is part memoir as Tibon and his family reside in Nahal Oz, a Kibbutz that borders the Gaza Strip, and a historical look at events and outcomes as Tibon is an award-winning diplomatic correspondent for Haaretz, Israel’s paper of record.

One of the questions that is repeatedly asked is why Israelis settle on land so close to the Gaza border where rockets, snipers, intruders are a constant threat.  The answer lies in Israeli defense policy that emerged in October 1953 when Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and General Moshe Dayan argued that the border with the Gaza Strip needed more military installations in order to be totally fortified.  The border itself was not an “internationally recognized” border, but a cease fire line drawn to end the 1948-9 Israeli War of Independence.  As Tibor writes, “there needed to be civilian life at the border – especially agriculture – before the region would be completely safe.  A permanent population to detect and deter attacks and to convince the Arab world that the young recently founded state of Israel was there to stay.”  The kibbutz which the Tibon family settled on and was attacked on October 7 was founded by sixty men and women members of a military unit called Nahal in 1953.

(Israeli tanks enter the city for the first time since 2002, in Jenin, in the northern West Bank, Feb. 23, 2025.)

The title of the book was derived from a speech given by General Moshe Dayan on a day when four couples were to be married.  Instead, it became a funeral oration, “the Gates of Gaza,” which originated from the biblical story of Samson fighting the Philistines.  In this case the speech was to honor Roi Rothberg who had been murdered by Egyptian fire as he patrolled the boundaries of the kibbutz and tried to return Palestinians who had crossed the “demarcation line” and entered Israeli territory.  The Egyptians did return the “mutilated body” of their victim.

(Children’s toys and personal items lie on the bloodstained floor of a child’s bedroom, following a deadly infiltration by Hamas gunmen, in Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, October 17. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

If one fast forwards to 2025 nothing has really changed between Palestinians and Israelis.  Wars seem to break out every few years, constant rocket fire from Gaza with the inevitable Israeli response, border incursions from both sides leading to numerous deaths, and leaders on both sides whose ego’s, lust for power, and what I guess is called ideology dominate.  Tibon focuses on these aspects throughout the narrative, along with his family’s personal journey and survival on October 7.

(Israeli military officers stand by a container in which bodies of the dead are stored before their relatives are called to identify them, in Ramla, Israel, October 13. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

Tibon structures his book with alternating chapters.  First we have the attack of October 7, then a history lesson.  He moves on with chapters alternating between the events he and his family experienced on October 7, continuing with a careful historical analysis of events and personalities leading up to today.  Tibon integrates the Hamas attack on his family, their escape into the “safe room” in their house to wait out the violence occurring outside the front door.  Tibon assumed that the “all clear” would be sounded within a few hours as usually is the case, but much to his surprise this was different as the bullets, mortars, and rockets continued.  Tibon would soon realize that this was not a random attack by a terror cell, but a large well planned operation that would not be over quickly.  The key for Tibon was his two toddlers, Carmel and Galia, and his wife Miri.  The task was to keep the children quiet as not to give the terrorists another family to murder. Tibon did not realize how bad the situation had become with a nearby military base overrun by Hamas and the hundreds of bodies scattered between Nahal Oz and the base – throughout the early hours, Tibon wondered where the Israeli Defense Force was.  Women and children were being murdered, and the IDF was nowhere to be found.

(Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu)

The historical narrative and analysis are succinct and damning in terms of Israeli and Palestinian Authority and Hamas leadership.  Tibon chooses certain historical aspects as a means of explaining how the Israeli and Palestinian people have reached the abyss they now found themselves in.  A key turning point was reached in 1987 as Palestinians could no longer accept the loss of prime agricultural land, which in part led to the first Intifada.  Interestingly, Yasir Arafat and the PLO ;leadership were totally caught off guard by events.  As a result of the violence Sheik Ahmed Yassin and Palestinian Islamists formed a new organization called Hamas – Islamic Resistance Movement.  The Intifada turned Hamas into a central force in the Palestinian community.  The more forceful the Israel response, the more Hamas’ popularity and ideology were enhanced, reducing the influence and power of the PLO.

Two villains emerge in Tibon’s discussion.  First is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has been in office most of the last two decades.  In 1993 Tibon argued that Netanyahu worked to prevent a peace settlement following the Oslo Accords.  He worked to incite Israel’s right wing which led to the assassination of then Israeli Prime Minister and architect of Oslo, Yitzhak Rabin.  Netanyahu would defeat Shimon Peres in the next election and slowed down the peace process increasing Hamas’ popularity at the expense of Arafat.  He then ordered the assassination of Khaled Mashal, the head of Hamas’ Political Bureau.  After the attempt was botched, Netanyahu agreed to release Shiek Ahmed Yassin, Hamas’ spiritual leader, and blocked the extradition of Mussa Abu-Marzouk who raised millions of dollars to fund Hamas, allowing him to settle in Jordan.  If one fast forwards to October 7, Netanyahu’s fingerprints are all over the disaster even though he was thrown out of office in 1999.

(An aerial view shows damage caused following a mass infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Kibbutz Beeri in southern Israel, October 11. REUTERS/ Ilan Rosenberg)

Netanyahu would return to power in 2009 and would later be accused of corruption. The Israel Police began investigating Netanyahu in December 2016 and subsequently recommended indictments against him. On 21 November 2019, Netanyahu was officially indicted for breach of trust, accepting bribes, and fraud, leading him to legally relinquish his ministry portfolios other than prime minister. His legal problems led to legislation by the Israeli right wing in the Knesset designed to reduce the power of the Israeli Supreme Court which provoked enormous demonstrations in Israel in 2022 and 2023.  For many, Netanyahu’s legal problems were a national security threat for the state of Israel as he put his own personal quest for power to escape prosecution above the needs of the Israeli people.  Netanyahu’s behavior and policies further emboldened Hamas as he approved Qatari funding of Hamas whereby millions of dollars were used to build the tunnel infrastructure that allowed for attacks against Israel for years and finally the events of October 7.

(Israeli soldiers inspect the Al Shifa hospital complex, in Gaza City, November 15. via Israel Defense Forces)

Netanyahu also approved the trade of 1027 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier seized by Hamas in 2007.  Among those released in 2011 was Yihyia Sinwar, the Hamas tactician and ideologue who designed  the plan that was carried out on October 7.  Further damning of Netanyahu took place in 2016 as Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman warned him, a right wing member of Likud that Israel intelligence uncovered a plot which would be catastrophic for Israel: “a secret plan by Hamas to cross the border fence at several points simultaneously, attack a long list of Israeli communities near Gaza, murder hundreds of citizens, and take dozens of hostages into Gaza.  With this evidence and the fact that Hamas was using Qatari money to build tunnels and rockets, Netanyahu did nothing.

There are obviously others who deserve condemnation for the events of October 7.  Yasir Arafat’s refusal to make peace in 2000, the corruption of the PLO and later the fecklessness of Arafat’s replacement Mahmoud Abbas and his corruption laden administration in the Palestinian Authority which was defeated by Hamas in elections and the battlefield.  Sinwar is also a key figure who spent years in an Israeli jail for murdering Israeli citizens.  While in prison he learned Hebrew and studied every aspect of Israeli life and politics he could and began to develop his plan for a massive incursion of Israel from Gaza.  Even when released from prison Sinwar worked methodically applying Qatari money, Netanyahu’s errors, and the fact that by March 2023 Israel was being torn apart from the inside with many reserve soldiers and pilots refusing to carry out orders because of the demonstration by Israeli citizens against Netanyahu’s cohorts in the Knesset’s attempts to reduce the power of the Israeli Supreme Court for the benefit of its Prime Minister.  Sinwar would ramp up attacks in the West Bank in the summer of 2023 in hindsight a diversion for October 7.  Netanyahu sent 30 battalions of soldiers to the West Bank, leaving only 4 to defend the kibbutzim on the Gaza border.  As this was occurring Netanyahu encouraged Qatar to continue to send millions to Hamas.

(Israeli military vehicles manoeuvre during the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as seen in an image released on November 13. Israel Defense Forces/via REUTERS)

A key event which Tibon uses to tie Israeli history to the events of October 7 revolves around the first time Nahal Oz was attacked in 1956 when Palestinian fedayeen encouraged by Egyptian president Gamal Nasser crossed the border and killed Roi Rotberg, a young member of the kibbutz, and taking his mutilated body back to Gaza.  As Max Strasser writes in his November 4, 2024, New York Times  book review entitled “The Reckoning”; “The next day, Moshe Dayan, then the military’s chief of staff, delivered the most famous eulogy in Israeli history.

“For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate,” Dayan said. “How did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate, and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation? Have we forgotten that this group of young people dwelling at Nahal Oz is bearing the heavy gates of Gaza on its shoulders?”

(Israeli soldiers take position during the ongoing ground operation of the Israeli army against Hamas, in a location given as Gaza, in this image released on November 13. Israeli Defense Forces/via REUTERS)

This was, Tibon writes, “a rare recognition by an Israeli leader of the Palestinian Nakba.” Dayan had identified Israel’s tragic endowment — a country built on displacement — and declared that the only response could be strength, a country where thriving in a kibbutz on a border forged in war would help secure peace.

But Tibon does not offer the whole quote. “We are the generation of settlement,” Dayan went on. “Our children will not have a life if we do not dig shelters, and without barbed wire and machine guns we will not be able to pave roads and dig water wells.”

In the epilogue, Tibon goes back to visit his deserted, bullet-scarred kibbutz and stands looking over the border at the rubble of Gaza. He rereads Dayan’s eulogy and wonders if his former neighbors at Nahal Oz will someday be able to return if peace with the people on the other side of the border is conceivable. It’s certainly hard to imagine, so long as the people of Gaza live with barbed wire and machine guns.”

(Shiri Bibas and her children Kfir and Ariel)