Israel: What Went Wrong? by Omer Bartov review
An erudite account of the foundation of the state and its subsequent moral and political decline
TL;DR
- Israel's actions, including its recent attack on Iran, are seen as a culmination of its degeneration, marked by occupation, ethnic cleansing, and alleged genocide.
- Initially perceived as a progressive, democratic state with international sympathy, Israel is now regarded as an apartheid state accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- The International Court of Justice found a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza, and the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Netanyahu.
- Omer Bartov's book examines the evolution of Zionism from a liberal dream to a perceived nightmare, attributing Israel's decline to the failure to resolve the tension between its Jewish and democratic identities and the logic of settler-colonialism.
- The Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948, is described as an ongoing process that has escalated in Gaza, with the destruction of cities and displacement of populations.
- Bartov suggests that a better future requires understanding the hopes of others and acknowledging past errors, offering a faint hope that Israel's historical license is expiring.