Making David into Goliath: How the World Turned Against Israel

by Joshua Muravchik

Overview

During the Six Day War of 1967, polls showed that Americans favored the Israelis over the Arabs by overwhelming margins. In Europe, support for Israel ran even higher. In the United Nations Security Council, a British resolution essentially gave Israel the terms of peace it sought and when the Arabs and their Soviet supporters tried to override the resolution in the General Assembly, they fell short of the necessary votes.

Fast forward 40 years and Israel has become perhaps the most reviled country in the world. Although Americans have remained constant in their sympathy for the Jewish state, almost all of the rest of the world treats Israel as a pariah.

What caused this remarkable turnabout? Making David into Goliath traces the process by which material pressures and intellectual fashions reshaped world opinion of Israel. Initially, terrorism, oil blackmail, and the sheer size of Arab and Muslim populations gave the world powerful inducements to back the Arab cause. Then, a prevalent new paradigm of leftist orthodoxy, in which class struggle was supplanted by the noble struggles of people of color, created a lexicon of rationales for taking sides against Israel. Thus, nations can behave cravenly while striking a high-minded pose in aligning themselves on the Middle East conflict.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781594037351
Publisher:	Encounter Books
Publication date:	07/08/2014
Pages:	296
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Joshua Muravchik, a Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, is the author of hundreds of articles appearing in all major U.S. newspapers and intellectual magazines and is the author of nine previous books including Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism, Exporting Democracy: Fulfilling America's Destiny, and Trailblazers of the Arab Spring: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Preface to the Paperback Edition ix

Introduction xxix

1 When Israel Was Admired (Almost) All Around 1

2 The Arab Cause Becomes Palestinian (and "Progressive") 20

3 The Uses of Terrorism 35

4 The Power of Oil 52

5 The Arabs Take Over the United Nations 66

6 Europe's Socialists Go Third World 85

7 Edward Said Conquers Academia for Palestine 98

8 Israel Shows a Less Endearing Face 123

9 Israel Spawns Its Own Adversary Culture 137

10 On the Wrong Side of the Left's New Paradigm 171

11 Israel in the Dock 201

Conclusion Israel Imperiled 229

Notes 235

Index 267

Editorial Reviews

“A great book . . . a must-read for anybody who cares about peace in the Middle East, who cares about the survival of the state of Israel, who cares about America’s relations with Israel.” — Alan Dershowitz

“compelling, thoughtful, and highly readable . . . Muravchik is not an apologist for Israel or the mistakes it has made, but he is an advocate for fairness and balance—and for one having one set of standards to judge Israel and its neighbors. Rarely has a book been more timely.” — Ambassador Dennis Ross

“At once impassioned and clear-headed, this abundantly-researched discussion of Israel’s decline in world public opinion is necessary reading for all who care about this highly vulnerable country.” — Philip K. Jason, Jewish Book World

“One of the very best books ever written on the ongoing war the Arab/Muslim world has been waging against Israel since the day it came into existence.” — Norman Podhoretz

“An exciting and essential read for anyone who cares about Israel's survival.” — Martin Peretz

“A . . . fascinating book about the origins of ideology.” — Tevi Troy’s “favorite books from this year,” National Review

“Remarkable . . . lays out the best liberal pro-Israel arguments . . . The very arguments raging today against Israel . . . are all discussed and masterfully defeated.” — Elder of Ziyon blog

“This book may not lift your spirits, but if you want to understand why the world seems to love to beat up on Israel it should be at the top of your summer reading list.” — Aaron Leibel, Washington Jewish Week

“A powerful indictment of the West’s serial moral failures regarding Israel and the Middle East conflict.” — Sol Stern, Mosaic Magazine

“The best source available to show readers how and why Israel is seen as a victimizer and oppressor, not as a David facing a vast array of Arab reactionaries” — Ronald Radosh, The Weekly Standard

“The campaign to delegitimize Israel is a call to arms, a danger . . . If things were ordered rationally, Making David into Goliath would stop that campaign dead in its tracks.” — David Pryce-Jones, National Review

From the Publisher