Draft:Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning is a non-fiction book by American journalist Peter Beinart, published by Penguin Random House on January 28, 2025. Opening with a "note to my former friend," Beinart interrogates stories that are told in the Jewish community (which he claims are likewise echoed by some American politicians), which have the effect of justifying what he deems to be unjustifiable: Not seeing Palestinians as full human beings.

Title, aims, and structure

Beinart was purposeful in his selection of the work’s title. He explains that he chose to frame his arguments as those in a context After the Destruction of Gaza rather than that After October Seventh because he believes that many Jews understand the horror of that day, but not sufficiently that of the days that followed and preceded it. He argues that Jewish tradition depicts Jews in a multitude of ways, but that there is a tendency amongst the community to boil those narratives down to that of victimhood and survival—Jews “history’s permanent, righteous victims”. Beinart elaborates that seeing complexity in tradition is the key to understanding what is happening between Israel and Palestine. The theme Beinart drives home is that without this more nuanced understanding—devoid of the binary framework of victimhood—one cannot understand the violence that threatens both Israelis and Palestinians.

Chapters

The book is organized into five chapters:

1. They Tried to Kill Us, We Survived, Let's Eat
2. To Whom Evil is Done
3. Ways of Not Seeing
4. The New New Antisemitism
5. Korach's Children

These chapters are preceded by A Note to My Former Friend and a prologue entitled We Need a New Story.

Reception

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning was well-received by prominent actors in the realm of Palestinian studies, diplomacy, and journalism. Rashid Khalidi, author of The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, called the book "timely", saying it "constitutes a reckoning with the vast gulf between the Jewish tradition that Beinart cherishes and what has replaced it in the practice of the state of Israel". Daniel Levy, the President of the US-Middle East Project and former Israeli peace negotiator, noted that “Beinart unflinchingly peels away the layers of propagandist misdirection deployed to defend Israel’s actions," calling the book "both humane and hopeful".

The book has also received some criticism from both Palestinian advocates and Zionists. Some Palestinian advocates argued that while Beinart publicly criticizes Israel and calls for a two-state solution, he still prioritizes Zionist perspectives and Jewish experiences. Another point of criticism was that the book presents Israel’s ongoing military involvement in Gaza as a philosophical dilemma for Jews rather than a humanitarian catastrophe. Finally, some commentators argued that Beinart reduced Palestinian armed resistance to simply a security concern.

On the other hand, some Zionist commentators criticized Beinart’s work, arguing that it minimizes concerns about antisemitic incidents linked to anti-Zionist activism.