Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?
This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.
Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.
Jump in the discussion.
No email address required.
Notes -
Any suggestions for books to learn more about the modern conflicts in Israel, especially wrt Gaza? I figure that requires some amount of covering history, but my actual objective is to be able to understand the modern state of affairs, rather than to understand history for its own sake. Maybe 2-3 suggestions, to capture a range of political viewpoints.
Podcasts/blogs would be OK too, but I'd rather books.
For bonus points, please describe the political viewpoint of the book (left/right, or pro/anti Israel, etc)
These two lectures by Haviv Rettig Gur for Shalem College are an excellent primer on Israeli-Palestinian relations, one each from the Jewish and Palestinian perspectives respectively (note that both Gur and Shalem College are very much Zionist, not just Jewish).
Israelis: The Jews Who Lived Through History
The Great Misinterpretation: How Palestinians View Israel
It's very much a historical series, talking about the Aliyah in it's first stages during the Ottoman Empire and the interwar period, along with the experiences of the European/American Jewry (and the contrast that extends to today in their responses to Palestinian nationalism)
More options
Context Copy link
I read Enemies and Neighbours by Ian Black last year and found it expansive and informative. Drawbacks are a mild pro-Palestinian bias which becomes more apparent towards the end of the book and the fact it only goes up to 2017 (when it was published) means it is now 8 years out of date but I found it to be an engaging, relatively balanced and detailed account of how modern Gaza became the mess it is now.
What's his outlook towards the end of the book ? Is there a sense of deescalation with time, or is it the sort of hopeless resignation that I see from most experts ?
He's definitely gloomy about any future peaceful solutions. He paints a picture of perpetual violence and, at the end of the book, predicts no end to the conflict for the foreseeable future. I think one could safely say that the eight years since publication have proven that prediction correct so far.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt was published in 2007 and blew up the polisci academic space, it was the first book to openly address the odd relationship Israel has with the US (and the groups which make it possible). I think it gives a pretty good cross section of US-Israel relations as they were in 2007 and previously and is a great help explaining many of the current institutions/habits that have been placed under a great deal of stress since Oct. 7. While groups the like ADL have smeared it as antisemetic, it very much is not, it's not some conspiratorial "expose" but an academic investigation (one of the authors is a jew, too). Not very much emphasis wrt Gaza but they authors spend some time on Palestine.
As if it means anything. There are plenty of Jews embracing Hamas and yearning for destruction of Israel. Just as there are plenty of white people promoting "antiracism" and white evilness narrative (intersection of those two is also non-negligible). Especially the academia is a magnet for such people (for many obvious reasons). I mean I haven't read the book, maybe it's excellent, but "one of the authors is a jew" absolutely doesn't say anything about whether it's horribly biased against Jews or not.
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link
More options
Context Copy link