Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel by Max Blumenthal (PDF)

Description

2014 Lannan Foundation Cultural Freedom Notable Book Award In Goliath, New York Times bestselling author Max Blumenthal takes us on a journey through the badlands and high roads of Israel-Palestine, painting a startling portrait of Israeli society under the siege of increasingly authoritarian politics as the occupation of the Palestinians deepens. Beginning with the national elections carried out during Israel’s war on Gaza in 2008-09, which brought into power the country’s most right-wing government to date, Blumenthal tells the story of Israel in the wake of the collapse of the Oslo peace process. As Blumenthal reveals, Israel has become a country where right-wing leaders like Avigdor Lieberman and Bibi Netanyahu are sacrificing democracy on the altar of their power politics; where the loyal opposition largely and passively stands aside and watches the organized assault on civil liberties; where state-funded Orthodox rabbis publish books that provide instructions on how and when to kill Gentiles; where half of Jewish youth declare their refusal to sit in a classroom with an Arab; and where mob violence targets Palestinians and African asylum seekers scapegoated by leading government officials as “demographic threats.” Immersing himself like few other journalists inside the world of hardline political leaders and movements, Blumenthal interviews the demagogues and divas in their homes, in the Knesset, and in the watering holes where their young acolytes hang out, and speaks with those political leaders behind the organized assault on civil liberties. As his journey deepens, he painstakingly reports on the occupied Palestinians challenging schemes of demographic separation through unarmed protest. He talks at length to the leaders and youth of Palestinian society inside Israel now targeted by security service dragnets and legislation suppressing their speech, and provides in-depth reporting on the small band of Jewish Israeli dissidents who have shaken off a conformist mindset that permeates the media, schools, and the military. Through his far-ranging travels, Blumenthal illuminates the present by uncovering the ghosts of the past — the histories of Palestinian neighborhoods and villages now gone and forgotten; how that history has set the stage for the current crisis of Israeli society; and how the Holocaust has been turned into justification for occupation. A brave and unflinching account of the real facts on the ground, Goliath is an unprecedented and compelling work of journalism.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Max Blumenthal is an award-winning investigative journalist whose insight and integrity I trust, and I don’t really trust all that many people.I put off reading this book for quite a while, even for two months after purchasing it sat on my bookcase waiting its inevitable turn. I knew that I would face emotional and ethical conflicts from its contents, this is not a book to be read lightly.Simply put, “Goliath” is powerful, much like the mythical character that is its namesake. It is a brutal reminder of the uncivilized origins of Judaism and not only through the state of Israel, but in its influence around the world as Judaism’s barbaric offspring continue daily to assault reason.You find that Israel learned too well the cruelties of ethnic and religious persecution from the Spanish Inquisition, Russian pogroms, Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa, and pre-Civil Rights United States and used these places as blueprints for their new ethno-state starting in 1947.The tactics employed daily throughout the occupied territories are eerily reminiscent of these historic mistakes and its tactics and propaganda are now being reimported to the United States in particular.I now find myself reluctant to call Israel a nation as that lends an air of respectability to what has be perpetrated. Interestingly, utilizing largely American taxpayer money to foster the narrative of “civilization”, “democracy” and “progress”, a ethno-fascist regime has grown in place of these ideals.The culture of Israel shamelessly continues to use the atrocities of The Holocaust as a propaganda smokescreen to obscure the behavior that so well mirrors the villains of that same history. I never thought I would feel a sense of shame in participating in the opening ceremonies of my local Holocaust Museum as a child, but the quoted words and fanatical behavior of Israelis definitely pushes me in that direction. As I continued to read of the daily desecration of that memory in the name of ethnic nationalism I must say that I am disgusted.”Goliath” covers some of the background of the Israeli colonial territories in the Arabic Peninsula as far back as 1947, but mainly focuses on the era of 1990-2012, with an emphasis on the 5 year period Blumenthal spent witnessing history in Israel firsthand. He came to know its internal politics and struggles intimately as this was made easier for him due to his Jewish ethnic background. From besieged Gazan villages to the halls of the increasingly fascist Knesset, Blumenthal probes the striated layers of Isreali-Palestinian social constructs to the best of his ability.I won’t go into too much detail, but I must say that this book will turn your stomach one way or another. It may also turn your views on the subject as well, whether you actually care for human rights, international integrity and democratic ideals or whether you have fallen for the Israeli propaganda that the revisionists have sold to the world and US in particular. You will not forget this document, ever.If Israel is truly the shining beacon of democracy in the middle-east, then religious ethno-nationalism should be its mortal enemy. However, in this troubled land, that enemy has been embraced with open arms and panicked heart, a slap in the face to all Holocaust victims and survivors, Jewish or otherwise, alike.”Tapuz, a website for Israelis living abroad, hosted a 2005 forum on the topic of leaving Israel. According to the site’s administrator, Limor Abis, the most frequently cited explanation for why they left was, ‘The question is not why we left, but why it took so long to do so’.” (Chapter 73, “Exodus”)This discussion is not over, unfortunately in many ways it is still just warming up and beginning to burn through the fog of state and religiously-sanctioned propaganda shrouding this small territory. All it may take for this fascist kettle to boil over is one more rash action. Whether the action of a government with no standing Constitution after 70 years, its ghetto-living minority, or of their neighbors, the cousins of the ghetto-living minority. If you wish to be prepared to understand this nearly inevitable day, this book is an excellent place to begin your education.

⭐I must confess, there is every reason under the blooming sun for me to read, and to thoroughly enjoy my reading of, this book, but so far, after more than one year of owning it, I have only dipped my toes in it. Why? The very last thing I want is some excuse to hate Israel more than I already do, for the barbaric treatment that it has doled out since 1948 to the Palestinians. I have been to Israel a number of times. I am an American Jew; someone who not only takes great pride in being Jewish, but one who considers himself Jewish before being American. I have read widely in the literature about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict-by now the slow annihilation of the Palestinian people by a rabidly chauvinistic Israeli government, and its mobilized ranks of racist, Zionist fanatics, as well as an infrastructure dedicated to wiping the historic memory of the Palestinians, and Israeli respect for their human and civil rights, off the page. For many years I taught college-level courses on the Conflict and on Middle Eastern history. Blumenthal offers my views to be confirmed, in spades. Again, if you want a rather hostile look at Israeli government and society, in its treatment of the Palestinians, this book is recommended. If you are a confirmed Zionist, or support the existence of the State of Israel in its present form, I do not at all recommend this book.

⭐Max Blumenthal is not only a great speaker. He is also a great writer. He weaves together facts and anecdotes to paint a picture of contemporary Israel that our media never presents. Max goes beyond the media filters of Manufactured Consent, to tell us what contemporary Israeli society is really like. It is a frightening portrait of a nation that has operated with impunity for the last 50+ years. shielded from accountability by the USA. Max’s book was shunned by the MSM, which tells you that is provided unfiltered truth. As usual, Max was met with the de rigeur smear that his criticism of Israeli policy means that the is “anti-semetic.” Fortunately, Max has enough fortitude to withstand these baseless smears that are intended to stifle criticism of Israeli policy. A very good read.

⭐This book is a masterpiece. It is informed by a very deep and humane intelligence. Blumenthal reveals with detail upon accreting detail just how horrific life is in Israel (and the occupied territories), and not just for the Palestinians who are daily humiliated, abused, intimidated, attacked, shot at, murdered or imprisoned, but also for the occupiers themselves. After all to run a massive jail, you have to become the jailer.He makes a strong case that Israel has drifted very far from its western Ashkenazy roots and with a massive influx of Eastern jews from the old Soviet Union, it has become an extreme right-wing race to the bottom with a rabble of political demagogue trying to outdo each other in the extremeness of their pronouncements, actions and laws, in appealing to the baser instincts of their constituents.He writes so so well, this is a terrifically well-crafted expose of life in the most dysfunctional ‘democracy’ on the planet. Each chapter reads like a very good quality magazine article and as a whole it all flows very well.

⭐This is one of the most heartbreaking yet necessary books to read if one is to understand the seemingly inexplicable explosion of violence in the Middle East. Max Blumenthal writes with great passion and extraordinary attention to detail. His unmasking of the chief war criminals will antagonise and enrage pro Israel supporters, but tyranny and injustice fears the truth and seeks to avoid it.The book is surprisingly short however with much room given to notes and bibliography. Written in a series of essays and covering the major intifadas, it is post Oslo agreement and exposes the naked hypocrisy of several Israeli governments. He also sheds light on the right wing extremist groups in the Occupied Territories and in Israel proper. He writes about the mainstream figures in Israeli politics as well, exposing their shallowness and short sightedness, along with their inherent racism. He has travelled to Israel many times and has witnessed the ongoing human tragedy first hand. As an American Jew he is also a dual citizen and he outlines his rights as a citizen compared to an Israeli Arab citizen or a Palestinian in the Occupied Territories.Blumenthal pulls no punches and reminds me of a quote by Israeli journalist Amira Hass, who also criticises the Israeli government’s Occupation and Settlements policies. She says that the sacred task of journalists is to ‘hold the centres of power to account.’ It has cost her dearly in Israel and like Blumenthal she is largely marginalised by the mainstream press. Like Hass, he takes the view that the Occupation is essentially immoral and ultimately destructive to Israeli national character and moral fibre. It brutalises the oppressor and the oppressed and until the settlements are withdrawn and Palestine becomes a state of its own, or in the case of a one state solution with equal rights for all and one nation for two peoples, Israel will become like the albatross, flying in ever decreasing circles until it swallows itself up.After reading the book I was depressed and angered by the things he’s seen but it’s necessary to read it if you want to unshackle yourself from the mythology of Israeli superiority and the mainstream view and walk a mile in another’s shoes. As has been said before, the truth will set you free but first it will enrage you.On closing, the book was published before the 51 day war on Gaza so there’s nothing of that massacre in this book but he has written another book exclusively on that massacre. An extremely well written if depressing book.

⭐I have read a few chapters so far, but will be set to return to it soon. The man is a good writer, and chronicles the Palestinian struggle for liberation as well as anyone out there. like Ken O’Keefe, George Galloway, RamsyBaroud and others to numerous to mention. Yes! Israel has a right to exist, but so do the Palestinian’s, so no better writer than Blumenthal to level the playing field so to speak.

⭐The situation in Palestine cannot be understood or addressed today without an in-depth knowledge of the history of the development of Israel in this region. Max Blumenthal does this by being on the ground and talking to the people.

⭐This book is full of alarming information regarding the intentions of the Zionist agenda in Isrealhell

Keywords

Free Download Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel in PDF format
Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel PDF Free Download
Download Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel 2013 PDF Free
Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel 2013 PDF Free Download
Download Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel PDF
Free Download Ebook Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel