Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza: A Reckoning

Written 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 28, 2025
• ISBN: 9798217074051

Peter Beinart

Peter Beinart is an associate professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York and a senior fellow at the New America Foundation. He is the senior political writer for The Daily Beast and a contributor to Time. Beinart is a former fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and the author of The Good Fight. He lives with his family in Washington, D.C.

Reviews for Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza

[ehclocw · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you want to understand the long history of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and potential resolution that honors BOTH parties - and NOT favoring Israel's most profound sense of victimhood, as Jewish writers and leaders are SO prone to do - THIS is the Jewish author and book to engage in with. Replete with parallels of various groups who erroneously thought that the only way to insure they would never be oppressed was to become/remain THE OPPRESSOR. A very profound piece of work!

[Elah Weiss · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Doesn’t really provide any realistic solutions to a complex problem

[vive_livre · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A moral case against the approach of the Israeli state in this affair. It’s short, but so clear that there’s no reason to belabor the point.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Short and heartfelt about the disaster Israel’s government—with the support of too many of its people—is inflicting on Palestinians. Beinart grew up in apartheid South Africa and doesn’t hold back on the comparisons. I guess that means the Trump regime would call him an antisemite; he is speaking from the heart of our tradition.

[nivramkoorb · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have read articles by Beinart and being Jewish I have been exposed to many views about the Israeli/Palestinian situation. My views totally align with Beinart's. This is a 125 page book that should be read by all people because it does a great job of putting Israel's role in an objective light. He does not condone 10/7 but understands the frustration of the 7 million Palestinians living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. Only 30% are Israeli citizens and they are 2nd class. The rest are under the control of Israel as non-citizens. Beinart cites example after example of. how Israel treats Palestinian lives as not important and that Israel's existence as a Jewish state transcends all other issues. Read this book. It will most certainly give you enough information to truly see that Israel is an apartheid state and has been labeled that by many organizations. Israel exerts control and supremacy over the Palestinians and that is apartheid. I can continue but Beinart does an excellent job of describing the current situation and how it can be addressed so that both Jews and Arabs can live together in Israel in peace. Read this along with "The Message" by Ta-Nehisi Coates to get insight into the current situation. Also try and see 'No Other Land" which won the Oscar for best documentary. It is a collaboration between a Palestinian and Israeli journalists about the bulldozing of Arab settlements in the West Bank by the Israeli military.

[akblanchard_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this brief but thoughtful and well-considered book, South African-American Jewish author Peter Beinart examines the roots of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He attributes the current bloody war in Gaza to Israeli colonialism and exceptionalism. Israel is an apartheid state that denies Gazan Palestinians basic rights such as the right to vote, he writes, and it is in no way antisemitic to point out such inequalities.

As a reader with no particular connection to the region, I found this book helpful in enhancing my understanding of the current situation in the Middle East.

[carolee888 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza by Peter Beinart. It is so clarifying and has parallels with American history. Peter Beinart points them out and also the parallels with apartheid in South Africa where he grew. What he is controversial, I agree, but I found that I agreed with his premise and conclusions and his writing made it crystal clear to me.

My background in Jewish history was sketchy but he filled in the gaps and explained how the crisis and the demolition in Gaza happened. His book contains some suggestions to a solutions but my gut feeling that this terrible situation will continue forever. So it is also very depressing book. But that does not mean that you should not read. Please read it!

[michael · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The author drank the leftist Cool Aid much like Jews who sided with Nazi Germany.