Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

A Reckoning

By: Peter Beinart

Narrated by: Peter Beinart

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A bold, urgent appeal from the acclaimed columnist and political commentator, addressing one of the most important issues of our time

“At this painful moment, Peter Beinart’s voice is more vital than ever. His reach is broad—from the tragedy of today’s Middle East to the South Africa he knows well to events centuries ago—his scholarship is deep, and his heart is big. This book is not just about being Jewish in the shadow of today’s war, but about being a person who cares for justice.” —Adam Hochschild, author of American Midnight and King Leopold’s Ghost

In Peter Beinart’s view, one story dominates Jewish communal life: that of persecution and victimhood. It is a story that erases much of the nuance of Jewish religious tradition and warps our understanding of Israel and Palestine. After Gaza, where Jewish texts, history, and language have been deployed to justify mass slaughter and starvation, Beinart argues, Jews must tell a new story. After this war, whose horror will echo for generations, they must do nothing less than offer a new answer to the question: What does it mean to be a Jew?

Beinart imagines an alternate narrative, which would draw on other nations’ efforts at moral reconstruction and a different reading of Jewish tradition. A story in which Israeli Jews have the right to equality, not supremacy, and in which Jewish and Palestinian safety are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. One that recognizes the danger of venerating states at the expense of human life.

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza is a provocative argument that will expand and inform one of the defining conversations of our time. It is a book that only Peter Beinart could write: a passionate yet measured work that brings together his personal experience, his commanding grasp of history, his keen understanding of political and moral dilemmas, and a clear vision for the future.

Illuminating in-depth analysis

This book should be a must read for all Jews and everyone else who is interested in understanding the deep seated fears governing the Israeli government’s views on the so called “Palestinian problem”. The title is a misnomer. This book has general applicability to shaping a new and hopeful future for the whole population of Israel. I have looked long and hard for a comprehensive analysis of the jewish-Palestinian dynamics. This is it!

Wasn’t quite what I expected…

…but was still unsurprisingly exceptional.I would love to reread this 2 or 3 more times at least to more deeply internalize Beinart’s clear and compelling analysis, as heartbreaking as it rightfully is at times. Highly recommend!

I was seeking a text that would help me as a Jew to reconceptualize my Jewish self and collective conception, but not so much. Or at least not as clearly that as I expected. I think re-reading will help me on that front, in addition to committing the data and analysis he shares to memory.

Required Reading for People of Conscience

Brilliantly researched, written, and narrated. I’m in awe of how thorough yet comprehensive and accessible this book is. It gave voice to and citations for my feelings these past few years, but much more skillfully than I could have. So grateful that Peter Beinart has made this critical contribution to the literature. It should be required reading for anyone of conscience (hopefully everyone). I will certainly be recommending it to the people in my orbit and beyond.

A new reckoning

This is such an important read. I applaud Mr. Beinart for asking us to take a close look at what we do and how we act.

Zionism's damage to Israel and world Jewry

With a passionate and intensely personal knowledge of Judaism and it's sacred texts, Professor Beinart shines a bright light on the damage that the dead-end European ideology of Zionist supremacy is wreaking on the dream of a Jewish homeland, while simultaneously offering an uncommonly realistic portrait of Palestinian lives under the 75-year stranglehold of occupation and Palestinians innately human desire to live in peace and equality under the rule of law of both man and God.